Institute of Development Studies
Alumnews Newsletter
Issue 28 (Spring 2011) - Word from the Chair
Dear all
Since the last edition of Alumnews, the Alumni ambassadors have been working hard. In India, Ranjani Murthy has been generating a great deal of interest for the MA Gender and Development, BRIDGE and the Pathways to Women’s Empowerment RPC, by forging links with colleagues and organisations including the Indira Gandhi National Open University, SNDT Women's University and the Indian Institute of Technology. In Mexico, Roberto Castellanos has been promoting IDS MAs through direct personal contacts. While pursuing his PhD on subjective wellbeing and its relevance for anti-poverty policies in Mexico, he is looking for opportunities to contribute to discussions and debates on issues around developement. If you are in Mexico and interested to get in touch email Lucy Tyler for his contact details.
The Alumni Association is hosting a celebration of the work of Robert Chambers on May 27 2011 at IDS. The book marks the launch of the book, Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the work of Robert Chambers. We are very pleased to note that over 120 participants from across the world will be attending.
My personal highlights from current work at IDS this spring are a summary report of the 10 year Citizenship research centre ‘Blurring the Boundaries: Citizenship Action Across States and Societies’ which concludes that the 'good governance' agenda is due for a citizen-led upheaval and alumna Lyla Mehta's Shit Matters: The potential of community-led total sanitation.
Best wishes
Paul Harvey
Chair Alumni Association
Word from Director of Teaching and Alumni Relations
Dear Alumni
We have been busy this year embarking on a teaching review of all our MA programmes. With the help of many here at IDS we have reviewed all our courses and we are currently developing a set of possible options for future programmes. I would very much like to hear your views on the issues raised and our ideas for the future, and will be getting in touch with you over the coming months.
This year IDS celebrates its 45 year anniversary and Sussex University is celebrating its 50th! We are hosting a lunch at IDS on 10 September for our alumni, to coincide with Sussex University’s celebrations and I hope to see some of you then.
I would also like to welcome and introduce you to Lucy Tyler l.tyler@ids.ac.uk. Lucy, who joined IDS at the beginning of the year, will be responsible for the alumni database and supporting the Alumni Association.
Best wishes
Robert Nurick
Director of Teaching and Alumni Relatinos
Alumni news
IDS sent their thoughts and wishes to partners and alumni in Japan following the Tsunami and earthquake in March this year, Japanese alumni Atsuko Miwa, Yonekura Yukiko and Hisaaki Mitsui shared their experiences. They all expressed their concern at the safety of nuclear power plant and the radiation levels and leaks. Atsuko Miwa said ‘Pro-nuclear industries and politicians together with scholars have all been chanting a mantra that 'the nuclear power plant is safe'. They perceive that the media play down their role from fear of losing sponsorship - the electric power companies. It is certainly a matter of development and governance in Japan. Hisaaki argued that 'Japan is a resource poor country, with over 30 per cent of electricity generated from atomic power plants located all over the country: 'We have to make our country consume much less energy in the near future so that we do not have to depend on nuclear energy as much.'
Current IDS student Ayako Torii in collaboration with other students organized a four-day charity event on Sussex campus. They raised £9,288.25 and sent to the Japan Red Cross Society. Aykao said, 'I am sure that our experience of solidarity with Japan will bring a hope to overcome this difficult situation.' The students also provided their reflections on the disaster on the IDS website.
During February Fairtrade Fortnight was recognised throughout the UK. Fairtrade Foundation’s Director and IDS Alumni Harriet Lamb was interviewed by the Telegraph about its success so far and her commitment to furthering its goals. Fairtrade has excelled in the mass market, but it still needs encouragement and commitment from those with the most influence on what we buy. Living in India as a child, Harriet saw farmers work their way out of terrible deprivation. It persuaded her of the power of trade to combat poverty.
Also in February, IDS DPhil Luka Biong Deng, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Khartoum, Sudan gave his opinion on the referendum being conducted in Sudan in the UK Guardian. He said it would put an end to the continuous struggle by the people of southern Sudan since the country's independence in 1956. The preliminary results announced during the February elections indicated that nearly 99 per cent of southern Sudanese voters chose secession. So far the referendum has surprised many observers who expected the process to be bloody and to fall below international standards of fairness and transparency. In fact, the people have shown the world that they can express their choice not only with determination but also civility. IDS Alumna Jennifer Adams, a former Marshall Scholar now a State Department Foreign Service Officer currently based in Beijing, reflects on her experiences as a foreign student studying at IDS in the 1980's. Along with reminisces about austerity and a simpler way of life, she gets nostalgic over Brighton's faded elegance and the song 99 red balloons, a big hit in the UK at the time.
IDS Events
Celebrating the Work of Robert Chambers
The IDS Alumni Association will be hosting a celebration of the work of Robert Chambers on 27 May. This will mark the launch of the book, Revolutionizing Development: Reflections on the Work of Robert Chambers, edited by Andrea Cornwall and Ian Scoones. The book will be linked to a new BLDS archive of Robert's written works due to be launched at the end of May. The Archive, a digital repository containing a complete bibliography of Robert Chambers' writings on participatory development will span four decades of research at IDS and beyond, the archive includes almost 400 items and provides searchable full text access to over 70 per cent of these, including rare and unpublished documents.
The day will include a series of panel discussions on themes reflecting Robert’s many influential contributions, including 'poverty, livelihoods and vulnerability', 'power and participation' and 'participatory methods', among others. The discussions will be kicked off with short presentations by some of the contributors to the book, including Ravi Kanbur, Louise Fortmann, Richard Jolly, John Gaventa, Ros Eyben, Barbara Harrell-Bond and of course Robert himself. The day will be recorded in various ways, participants will be interviewed and podcasts of presentations throughout the day will be made available. Keep an eye out on the IDS website nearer the time for more information.
A Robert Chambers facebook page is available for all your messages, anecdotes and photos. If you want to make a contribution, click ‘like’ and options will be made available.
Dangerous ideas in Development
In March, Mick Moore, IDS Fellow, alumni and Chief Executive of the newly established International Centre for Taxation and Development (ICTD), led a panel discussion at the House of Commons in Westminster. Part of IDS’ Dangerous Ideas in Development series, Mick welcomed the change in attitudes towards revenue collection and taxation in developing countries within the international development community. Leading organisations such as the IMF, OECD and European Parliament are all actively debating how taxation represents a far more reliable source of funding for developing countries than international aid. Better systems of taxation in turn lead to improved governance, greater accountability and more positive and active engagement between citizens and the state. More about this event.
Social Protection for Social Justice Conference
The World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations are all currently working on strategies and initiatives that put social protection centre stage. The Centre for Social Protection (CSP) at IDS which provides a global focus for research, policy analysis and capacity building in social protection held a three day conference in April to connect with this momentum and push it forward. Read more about the conference and the work of the Centre for Social Protection.
Alumni Ambassadors
IDS Alumni Ambassadors are responsible for galvanising activity in their particular country or area, co-ordinating alumni roundtable discussions or social events and acting as a point of contact for recruitment activity (in particular responding to enquiries from offer holders and prospective students).
We don't provide a budget, but can sponsor some inaugural activities (i.e. pay for a drinks reception/ room hire etc) to help get the Association off the ground. We also encourage personal face to face contact between alumni ambassadors and IDS staff by encouraging IDS staff visiting your country to meet with you.
Currently our overseas Associations and Ambassadors are not asked to undertake fundraising activity, although one of our more independent Associations has a scholarship fund which they administer and manage themselves.
If you would be interested in being an IDS alumni ambassador, helping to activate IDS alumni networks in the countries where you are based please contact Lucy Tyler the Alumni Coordinator, to discuss further details.
Contact Sussex University alumni, if you would like to receive the latest news, invitations and the free alumni magazine.
Updates on MA Teaching Programme
IDS now runs eight MA courses and includes the new addition, the MSc Climate Change and Development, run in collaboration with the School of Global Studies and the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU). The MSc produces qualified professionals with an understanding about the science of climate change and its implications for development. More details on MSc Climate Change
Window, the Magazine of Western Washington University mentions Fulbright Scholar Michaela Williams, currently studying MA Poverty and Development Studies.
IDS Publications
IDS Virtual Bulletin, Impact and Aid Effectiveness: Mapping the Issues and their Consequences. In this virtual Bulletin we bring together ten articles dating from across three decades, that all address impact. There are a number of common threads and ideas that stretch across all the articles: The implicit emphasis of all the articles on complexity; the breadth and depth of impact analysis, from the national level to the individual; the importance of knowing the audience for any evaluation or impact assessment; the virtuous cycle that can be created by using insights into impact to adjust interventions and the dependency of that virtuous cycle on participation and engagement of programme staff and clients.
Rethinking How to Tackle Child Poverty. Children account for an average of a third of the population in developing countries and over half in the poorest countries. But demographics are not the only reason, however, to advocate for a greater focus on child poverty and wellbeing in development research and policy: Children are more likely to be poor, making up a disproportionate number of the total poor. IDS Fellow Andy Sumner’s Child Poverty, Evidence and Policy: Mainstreaming Children in International Development is a new book that proposes a new focus on raising children's visibility, voice and vision in both knowledge generation and policy processes.
IDS Bulletin: Political Economy of Climate Change. Despite the inherently political nature of international negotiations on climate change, much of the theory, debate, evidence-gathering and implementation linking climate change and development assume a largely apolitical and linear policy process. As the issue continues to dominate agendas, it is timely to propose a new political economy of climate change and development in which explicit attention is given to the way that ideas, power and resources are conceptualised, negotiated and implemented by different groups at different scales.
British Library for Development Studies (BLDS)
- IDS alumni can become members of BLDS at a reduced fee of £50 per year (general membership is £100 per year
- Non-members can visit the library (for reference use only) at no charge
BLDS Updates are FREE subject or region specific emails giving details of the latest published material that has been added to the BLDS collection: Use the Updates to keep informed of the latest publications in your field of interest. - Ask the BLDS helpdesk about publications and information resources, or for help with any development research queries. Simply email the trained BLDS librarians.
- Use the BLDS Subject Guides and Country Profiles (pre-designed searches of the catalogue prepared by our librarians) in your research: BLDS provides access to a range of full-text electronic resources accessible from any PC on campus (no logins or passwords required): Unfortunately we cannot provide or renew Athens passwords for IDS alumni or external members, but articles from the BLDS collection can be provided via our document delivery service A list of free e-journals is also available.
- In addition, if you are working for an organisation in a developing country your organisation can apply: For free document delivery from BLDS (including journal articles)
- To become a BLDS Exchange partner; exchanging copies of your organisations’ publications for online/ print access to the IDS Bulletin. Contact blds@ids.ac.uk for details.
- For free online journal access from HINARI, OARE, and AGORA. Please see BLDS’ Resources for Developing Countries webpage for details.