ADAPTED

Dr. Gabriele Bäcker and Simon Rahn report on the start of the project at ADAPTED partner universities

ERADICATING POVERTY:
PATHWAYS TOWARDS ACHIEVING THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 956909.

ADAPTED PhD candidates started their work at ADAPTED partner universities

Although the official project start date of ADAPTED was 1 January 2021, a lot of preparatory work had to be completed this year and ADAPTED members are now ready to start working intensively on the research agenda.

After an intensive summer period, the recruitment of 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) working towards their PhD under the umbrella of ADAPTED has been completed and all ESRs started their work at ADPAPTED partner universities in Turkey, France, the Netherlands, and Germany.

At the IEE, we are happy to welcome four ESRs as part of our team: Muhammad Saleh from Pakistan is working on the ESR project 1: “The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment and Official Development Assistance on Job Creation and Poverty Reduction”, jointly supervised by Prof. Löwenstein (IEE) and Prof. Chauvet from University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. Akua Afaribea Martinson from Ghana is working on ESR project 10: “The effects of governmentally enforced minimum wages on formal sector employment”, jointly supervised by Prof. Löwenstein (IEE) and Prof. Bazillier from University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. Natalia Zakharchenko from Kyrgyzstan is working on ESR project 11: Rights-based social assistance schemes, jointly supervised by Prof. Kaltenborn (IEE) and Prof. Cornelisse from VU Amsterdam. Finally, Irene Among from Uganda is working on ESR project 12: “Building coherent social protection systems”, jointly supervised by Prof. Kaltenborn (IEE) and Prof. Fischer from the International Institute of Social Studies which is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The team is completed by Simon Rahn, who started working at the IEE from mid-November and is supporting the coordination of ADAPTED.

ADAPTED working groups established

As one of the first steps in initiating exchange within the network, the ADAPTED ESRs established peer learning groups which usually come together once per month and are open to other PhD students working in thematically linked fields. In working group 1, Muhammad Saleh from Pakistan, Beatrice Gibertini from Italy, Enkhzul Algangerel from Mongolia, María Moraga Fernandez from Spain, and Shrada Parashari from India work on topics related to Validating pathways to poverty reduction in Bochum, Istanbul, and Paris.

Valentine Nandako Masika from Kenya, Johann Langenbach from Germany, Eszter Szedlacsek from Hungary, Luiza Leite de Queiroz from Brazil, and Akua Afaribea Martinson from Ghana form working group 2 with their research aiming at studying interactions between poverty reduction and other policy areas. They work with ADAPTED partners in Istanbul, Paris, Amsterdam, and Bochum.

Finally, Natalia Zakharchenko from Kyrgyzstan, Irene Among from Uganda, Ahmed Elassal from Egypt, Petronilla Wandeto from Kenya, and Guido Maschaupt from the Netherlands are addressing questions on how the optimisation of the impact of poverty reduction-related policies can be realized. Being all located quite close together, either in Bochum or The Hague, they used the opportunity for a first in-person meeting of their working group in The Hague in November 2021.

ADAPTED website updated

The 15 ESRs, 18 academic supervisors, many of the ADAPTED development practice partners, partners from African universities, and advisory board members can already be “met” virtually on the still growing ADAPTED website at www.adapted-eu.org. After having been updated, the website also gives more detailed information about ADAPTED’s research and training agenda, the people behind these projects, and regular news updates from the different ADAPTED working groups. Currently, an interview with Prof. Löwenstein with the RUB’s biannual scientific magazine, Rubin, is available there. With the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the spotlight of the current Rubin edition, the interview points out the lack of long-term models that depict absolute poverty in developing countries and effective measures to fight poverty in a sustainable way. ADAPTED members are hoping to change this via their research. A further report gives insight into the latest meeting of Work Group 3 in The Hague. In addition, information and dates regarding upcoming training elements and in presence meetings can be found on the website in the section “Training Calendar.”

ADAPTED first annual meeting in February 2022 and further network-wide training

For further exchange on their research agenda, ADAPTED members plan for their first annual meeting to be held in February 2022 in Bochum. Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, the ADAPTED consortium still hopes for an in-person meeting of all its members to support intensive networking. Furthermore, the African network partners will join virtually to enable establishing first links with the ESRs for the planning of field research stays.

While the presentation and discussion of the ADAPTED research topics will take place during a two-day SDG forum, research training sessions for ESRs as well as a career orientation workshop will supplement the agenda of the meeting.

Further, network-wide training will be offered outside the schedule of the annual meetings, including methodology-oriented training in qualitative case study analysis, design of questionnaires and interview guidelines, and organisation and analysis of large data sets.

In preparation for the annual meeting, ADAPTED ESRs will also have the opportunity to take part in an online presentation workshop in January 2022.

Dr. Gabriele Bäcker Executive Director

Simon Rahn ADAPTED Coordinator