Transparency is often seen as a means of improving governance and accountability of investment, but its potential to do so is hindered by vague definitions and failures to focus on the needs of key local actors.
In a new report focusing on agribusiness, forestry, and renewable energy projects (“land investments”), the Colombia Center on Sustainable Investment grounds transparency in the needs of project-affected communities and other local actors. Transparency efforts that seek to inform and empower communities can also help governments, companies, and other actors to more effectively manage operational risk linked to social conflict.
Read more.
Posted: 15th June 2021 by Coordinator
LAND-at-scale Knowledge Management Launch
Knowledge management and learning is at the heart of RVO’s LAND-at-scale program. For this reason, RVO is excited to announce a partnership with LANDac and the International Land Coalition for the implementation of an integrated knowledge management component as part of the program.
LAND-at-scale has kicked off with projects in 14 different countries. Through our knowledge management strategy, we aim to achieve maximum impact of those country projects by gaining a deeper understanding on the conditions required to create structural and positive change.
Join us at a LANDac conference pre-event on June 29th at 2 PM CEST to learn more about our approach and to give us your feedback. Click here to register for the event*.
We hope to see you there!
*Registration for the LANDac conference is not required to attend the launch.
Posted: 15th June 2021 by Coordinator
PhD Dissertation “In the Aftermath of the Jatropha Boom: Exploring socio-political and ecological dynamics in ‘failed’ jatropha spaces in Ghana”
Abstract
The thesis addresses the knowledge gap in research on large-scale land investment, focusing on investment failure and their aftermath. It provides an in-depth analysis of how investment trajectories transformed jatropha spaces in Ghana, and what happened to these spaces after the investment failed. The thesis gives an overview of how the heightened global interest in jatropha resulted in large-scale land investments in many developing countries especially: Mexico, India, China, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana. In all of the countries studied, promoters, including government and private investors, took a ‘wait-and-see’ approach, hoping for an economic boom. Consequently, when jatropha investments failed, the promoters were unprepared to deal with unexpected social, economic and environmental impacts of the failure. The thesis further zoomed into three case studies of former jatropha spaces created by large-scale investments in Ghana. The results provide a clear view of impacts of investment failures on local ecology, livelihoods and governance, as the investment failures led to total abandonment and/or to investment diversification. Overall, the case studies show that the investment trajectories from jatropha boom to bust have affected vulnerable migrants and common pool resource users. The challenges were rooted in underlying social inequality, resource entitlement, rural development capacity and resource distribution. The thesis in conclusion emphasize the importance of building land investment strategies based on solid understanding of local contexts and discusses opportunities to critically evaluate investment failures in order to integrate inclusive sustainable development strategies in land investments.
Last Updated: 15th June 2021 by Coordinator
Handbook of Translocal Development and Global Mobilities
Edited by Annelies Zoomers, Professor of International Development Studies and Maggi Leung, Kei Otsuki and Guus Van Westen, Associate Professors, Department of Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
This timely Handbook demonstrates that global linkages, flows and circulations merit a more central place in theorization about development. Calling for a mobilities turn, it challenges the sedentarist assumptions which still underlie much policy making and planning for the future.
Download the flyer here.
Posted: 31st May 2021 by Coordinator
CCSI: Transparency for Whom? Grounding Land Investment Transparency in the Needs of Local Actors
Transparency is often seen as a means of improving governance and accountability of investment, but its potential to do so is hindered by vague definitions and failures to focus on the needs of key local actors.
In a new report focusing on agribusiness, forestry, and renewable energy projects (“land investments”), the Colombia Center on Sustainable Investment grounds transparency in the needs of project-affected communities and other local actors. Transparency efforts that seek to inform and empower communities can also help governments, companies, and other actors to more effectively manage operational risk linked to social conflict.
Read more.
Last Updated: 31st May 2021 by Coordinator
CCSI: More Contracts and ESIAs: OpenLandContracts.org
CCSI: More Contracts and ESIAs: OpenLandContracts.org
The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment’s online database of contracts and associated agribusinesses, forestry and renewable energy projects, OpenLandContracts.org, has greatly expanded. The database now includes:
Posted: 31st May 2021 by Coordinator
IHS – Course on Sustainable Urban Management (Scholarships available)
Course dates: 3 January – 25 March 2022 (dates are still subject to change)
Scholarship OKP application date: 13 June 2021
Today more people live in cities than ever before. This creates opportunities and challenges which requires experts with combined skills in infrastructure, economic development, affordable land and housing markets, sustainable planning and resilience to climate change in order to manage increasingly complex cities.
The course on Sustainable Urban Development gives you the opportunity to merge an academic specialisation course with a multidisciplinary project where you apply theory into practice.
More information
Posted: 28th May 2021 by Charlotte Stam
Opportunity: Two co-editor positions at The European Journal of Development Research (EJDR)
Deadline for expressing interest: July, 31st, 2021
The EJDR is seeking to recruit two new co-Editors to join its Editorial Team. They are looking for research-active scholars or practitioners with extensive experience of publishing, editing and reviewing for high-ranking academic journals. They encourage applicants from minorities and the Global South. They are looking for one with expertise in International Development Practice and one with expertise in the Sociological and Anthropological perspective and analysis of International Development.
The co-Editors will join an active Editorial Team, amongst which management of the paper review process is shared to ensure that Editors manage papers within their area of expertise.
The co-Editor roles available are:
Read more about the positions and the application process here.
Posted: 19th May 2021 by Charlotte Stam
The Land Portal & Open Data Charter: Open Up Guide on Land Governance
The Land Portal and Open Data Charter are launching the Open Up Guide on Land Governance, the latest addition to a lauded series of practical guides for governments to address key policy changes. This launch comes as part of the Open Gov Week (OGW), an annual call-to-action to transform the way governments serve their citizens.
This Open Up Guide on Land Governance is a practical resource to be used by governments from developing countries to publish land-related data to improve data quality, availability, accessibility and use for improved citizen engagement, decision making and innovation. It sets out:
The public is invited to contribute to the Open Up Guide, which will be accepting public comments until July 31. Land experts, data practitioners, and other stakeholders are encouraged to share comments or suggestions to improve the Guide.
Read more on the website of The Land Portal.
Read and contribute to the guide, here.
Posted: 19th May 2021 by Charlotte Stam
Job opportunity: Assistent professors in Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies (UvA)
University of Amsterdam (UvA) – Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences – Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies
Deadline: 31st of May
The Department of Geography, Planning and International Development at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) invites applications for three tenure-track Assistant Professor positions.
The department is looking for colleagues with an innovative research agenda and teaching interests across several thematic, methodological and disciplinary fields. Candidates whose training and/or experience covers several of the following fields are specifically encouraged to apply.
They are especially interested in strengthening the department’s thematic and methodological expertise in the following areas:
Visit the website, for more information!
Posted: 30th April 2021 by Coordinator
Fragile Truths Podcast: Grounded Ligitimacy. Strengthening Local Land Registration in Conflict-Affected Northern Uganda
Although a key policy intervention for addressing conflict, land reform programs have complex implications for legitimacy of (inter)national and local actors. In this second episode of KPSRL & NWO-WOTRO's pilot podcast mini-series 'Fragile Truths', Sudi Suleiman (Policy Officer at the Dutch MFA) talks to David Betge (Senior Specialist Land Rights at ZOA) about his research project on this relationship, illustrated by the case of Northern Uganda. Are NGO and policy officers paying enough attention to how land reform interventions impact the perceived authority of local actors, or their own legitimacy? How can interventions be better attuned to this ‘unmeasured’ local impact?
Listen to the podcast here!