EADI eNewsletter #6/2 2023 | Debt, Migration, Resource Grabbing & More

2nd Issue June 2023

Editorial

Our flagship event, the EADI/CEsA Lisbon Conference is less than three weeks ahead, and we are in the last stages of preparation. But before heading to Lisbon, on 3 July we cordially invite you to a critical online discussion on the various debt-based instruments for financing the green transition. In this context, we’ve got four new blog posts for you, which we highly recommend to everybody working on climate finance and related issues. And there’s a little correction from the last newsletter: the public Kapuscinski Development Lecture during the Lisbon conference takes place on 11 July and not on the 12th as mistakenly announced. Apart from that, we’ve got two new open access books to recommend, and some brand-new publications  around migration.

Debt and Green Transition Blog Series
Blue bonds: Shifting the responsibility innovatively « Blue bonds are the latest frontier in increasing the financial resources to be channelled to the blue economy. However, the way financial responsibility is allocated for climate change mitigation and adaptation through blue bonds raises doubts as to their alignment with the principle of equity. » argues the author of this post. « Alhthough Small Island States are net sinks for greenhouse gas emissions, they are pushed to make a choice between indebtedness for adaptation or consequences of climate change. » Read the post

Who benefits from mobilising private sector investment for climate transition? This post summarises the main points of critique of private sector climate finance and claims that « Debt relations did not disappear with a growing support to private sector investment. They only became more subtle, and less visible. » And, what’s more, the « discourse about aligning private sector investment with climate goals misses one crucial point: that is not about whether private sector should be part of climate action, but about how and for whose benefit. »  Read the post

What does green mean in green microfinance? « When financial returns remain largely central in the equation, it may still mostly target the most rewarding economic practices within the prevalent socio-economic structure, possibly focusing on some technical fixes e.g. in the fields of climate change adaptation or mitigation. », argues the author of this post, adding that  « it still risks maintaining or even intensifying the relations and conditions that shape processes of social exclusion and environmental degradation/governance; even with a green label. » Read the post

Green Finance under the Escazu Agreement This post connects green bonds in Latin America, i.e. debt securities labelled as climate-environment-related and issued to borrow money from the financial market, to the Escazú Agreement on environmental participation. « What is the liability when the investment in a green bond funds environmental and human rights violations? », the author asks: « What is the liability when greenwashing misleads investors and communities? » Read the post

To the blog overview

Poverty Reduction – Rethinking Policy and Practice Call for proposals – due by 30 June 2023 Our Working Group on Multi-Dimensional Poverty and Poverty Dynamics is organising an international  research workshop at The Open University on 27 and 28 September 2023 to rethink the most appropriate and effective ways to reduce poverty. Proposals across the methodological spectrum including mixed methods approaches are welcome. Read more

Latest EADI Event to Watch Online With Shandana Khan Mohmand from IDS The 2022 floods in Pakistan left an impact of unimaginable proportions in terms of the loss of lives, assets, livelihoods, and infrastructure, and in their implications for health, nutrition, and food pricing. But these were also a disaster of both internal and external governance. This talk looks at these factors and their underlying politics and structures and explores what it might take to get the governance of disaster and crisis management right. Watch the video

Upcoming EADI Events (Online) 03 July, 15:00-16.30 CEST Indebting the green transition If your research is somehow related to climate finance, don’t miss this discussion! Authors of the posts in the EADI blog series will discuss the relationship between debt and climate governance, in conversation with academics and activists who are working at the intersection between climate breakdown, political economy, and socio-ecological justice. Read more and register 10 July, 19.00 CEST (hybrid) Development Studies in an Age of Crisis With Alfredo Saad-Filho.
As usual, the traditional Dudley Seers Lecture is part of our General Conference and is open to the public. It will examine the challenges of current crises to developing countries, to the prospects for development, and the lessons for Development Studies, in the light of the foundational contributions of Dudley Seers.
Read more and register
  11 July, 20.00 CEST (hybrid) Soft Authoritarianism: Marching to a Different Drum of Democracy With Shalini Randeria. We are very happy to have teamed up with the Kapuscinski Development Lectures for our conference. The talk will delineate how new political practices of « soft authoritarianism » use very similar instruments across various societies, which allow soft authoritarian leaders to also keep in step with one another. Read more and register

Highlight:
Handbook of Land and Resource Grabbing Global land and resource grabbing has become an increasingly prominent topic in academic circles, among development practitioners, human rights advocates, and in policy arenas. This open access book sustains this intellectual momentum by advancing methodological, theoretical and empirical insights. It presents and discusses resource grabbing research in a holistic manner by addressing how the rush for land and other natural resources, including water, forests and minerals, is intertwined with agriculture, mining, tourism, energy, biodiversity conservation, climate change, carbon markets, and conflict. Read more

Highlight:
EU Development Finance in Perma-Crisis Our world is in deep trouble. We are experiencing what IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva described as the era of shocks, and the ECB President Christine Lagarde and others referred to as an age of perma-crisis. This study by the European Centre for Development Policy Management regroups brief insights from some key actors on concrete ways the EU, its member states and their (financial) institutions for development can best respond to the challenges of our times in a more strategic, developmentally sustainable, impactful and inclusive manner, in the context of the international and European financial architecture for sustainable development. Read more

Thematic Focus:
Migration
Refugee settlements are highly exposed to extreme weather conditions
PNAS – Sonja Fransena et al. – UNU Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology UNU-MERIT

Why do rural people temporarily migrate to other rural areas? Insights from northern Bangladesh
Sohel Rana & Matin Qaim – Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung ZEF

Channeled into a Transnational Street Vending Hub. Senegalese Street Hawkers in Buenos Aires
Migration and Society – Ida Marie Savio Vammen – Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

How the EU has used the war in Ukraine to expand its border regime
Mark Akkerman et al. – Transnational Institute TNI

Where Goes the Neighbourhood? Refugee Resettlement and Urban Development in a Disempowered City
Open access book – Chiara Moslow – The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)

Punjabi Sikh Migrants in Lazio: A Political Analysis
Ansley Langham – Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale (CeSPI) Premium Members Publication Picks

The Climate Justice Community: Theoretical Radicals and Practical Pragmatists?
Global Society  – Andrea Schapper, Linda Wallbott, Katharina Glaab – Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric)

Dried up Bt cotton narratives: climate, debt and distressed livelihoods in semi-arid smallholder India
Climate and Development –  Ambarish Karamchedu – Department of International Development King’s College London (DID)

The Commons. Drivers of Change and Opportunities for Africa
Stéphanie Leyronas, Kako Nubukpo, Benjamin Coriat – The Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Comparing the sanctions against Russia and Iran: VAR modelling of the political-economic impact of sanctions
Peter van Bergeijk, Sajjad Faraji Dizaji – International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

Adaptation finance to local food systems in Kenya
Daniel Adeniyi – European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM)

Displaying Demons: Processions at the Crossroads in Multi-religious Indonesia
Asian Ethnology – Kari Telle – Chr.Michelsen Institute (CMI)

When Complex is as Simple as it Gets: Guide for Recasting Policy and Management in the Anthropocene
Emery Roe – Institute of Development Studies (IDS)

Evaluation of Interventions for Climate Change Adaptation. Synthesis Report
Martin Noltze, Alexandra Köngeter, Isabel Mank, Kevin Moull, Mascha Rauschenbach – German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval)

Aligning European export credit agencies with EU policy goals
Lukas SCHLÖGL, David PFAFFENBICHLER, Werner RAZA – Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE)

Questioning global health in the times of COVID-19: Re-imagining primary health care through the lens of politics of knowledge
Nature Communications  – Ritu Priya, Amitabha Sarkar, Sayan Das, Rakhal Gaitonde, Prachinkumar Ghodajkar & Mohit P. Gandhi – The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)

Economic impacts of investment facilitation
Edward J. Balisteri, Zoryana Olekseyuk – German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Read more about EADI Members
Opinions
Why are we blocking a highway as scientists? It is a justified response to the violence of climate change
Thea Hilhorst, Klaas Landsman – International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

Learning from Entrepreneurship Programming for Women’s Economic Empowerment
Jodie Thorpe, Alisha Ault, Iana Barenboim et al. – Institute of Development Studies (IDS)

How digitalisation and technology empower women working on the ocean and along the Amazon River
Ramona Hägele, Juliana Arcoverde Mansur – German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

The men on the roundabout (Sudan blog)
Reem Abbas – Chr.Michelsen Institute (CMI)

Migration governance not in line with UN principles
Anja van Heelsum, Barak Kalir – Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR)

The World Health Assembly and the Imagined Citizens of the World
Amitabha Sarkar – The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID)

World Environment Day: Bridging the Gap between Gender and the Environment
Sanjana Rajasekar et al. – Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung ZEF

Summit for a New Global Financing Pact: what conditions for success?
Damien Barchiche – Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI)

After the pandemic storms, digital trade offers LDCs rays of sunshine
Annette Ssemuwemba – OECD Development Centre OECD/DC

Understanding the gender imbalance at the international climate negotiations
Fernanda Alcobé & Elaine Harty – International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

How do climate shocks impact children’s development: evidence from Vietnam
Vu Thi Thu Thu – Oxford Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House (ODID)

Upcoming elections in Sierra Leone – a relapse to violence?
20 June 2023  –  Markus Bayer & Fiona Wilshusen – Institute for Development and Peace (INEF)

The inescapability of local traditions in women’s peace roles in Dagbon
Felix Dade – Nordic Africa Institute (NAI)

Voices from the ground – protracted displacement economies
Sunit Bagree – United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)

Introducing ‘Felt Externalisation’: Exploring the Human and Environmental Impacts of EU Borders
Ahlam Chemlali – Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)

See more blogs and opinions on the EADI website

Trainings
International Development Summer Course, 27-30 June (online)
Centre for African and Development Studies CESA-ISEG

Master in Cooperation and Development, University of Pavia
Application Deadline 30 June 2023 – Center for Global Strategic Engagement (GLOBEC)

PhD Programme Social and Political Change
Application Deadline: 7 July 2023 – Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin (CPS)

See more courses and trainings on the EADI website

Calls
Request for Proposals: Paper Award Economics and Governance of Global Value Chains in Africa
Deadline: 15 July 2023- German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

See more calls on the EADI website

Jobs
Senior Quantitative Research Officer – Young Lives
Deadline: 22 June 2023 – Oxford Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House (ODID)

Senior Researcher (f/m/diverse) on Transformation of political (dis-)order
Deadline: 05 July 2023 – German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Researcher ‘Quantitative social policy research’
Deadline: 17 July 2023 – Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA)

PhD scholarship in quantitative analysis of social investment in high-skilled refugees
Deadline: 17 July 2023 – Higher Institute for Labour Studies (HIVA)

Quantitative researcher in the field of Poverty
Deadline: 15 September 2023 – Chr.Michelsen Institute (CMI)

See more job offers on the EADI website