Narratives are essential. Humans are, after all, “helpless story junkies”. Business and economic success depend much more than is commonly acknowledged on getting the narrative right. And if there is a narrative where getting it right or wrong matters hugely, it is the narrative about Africa’s industrial development....
It is still unclear what circumstances led to the deaths of 39 people who were found in the refrigerated trailer in a lorry park outside London. It is not known how these 31 men and eight women, some of whom are thought to be Vietnamese nationals, ended up in the trailer, where they thought they were going, who put them there, and to what extent they went voluntarily or were forced. And why would migrants, refugees or other stowaways make the decision to travel like freight, and do they know the...
“Good morning class!” “Good morning professor, how are you?” With these words teachers generally open teaching sessions in African classrooms, but today they were also the opening words at the Africa-Europe Conference on Higher Education Collaboration at the European Commission, 25 October 2019. In short, education fuels development. In sum, higher education for African Master and PhD students prepares the experts and leaders needed for the sustainable development of African countries. While SDG...
Little is known about what’s happening in Mozambique’s labour market, except that jobs are scarce for young people. Shutterstock Last week we published some initial reactions to the Nobel Prize in Economics 2019, which was jointly awarded to Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Esther Duflo (MIT) and Michael Kremer (Harvard) for their work to alleviate poverty. There was praise for the latest batch of laureates — but praise with a fair few caveats. Prof. Franziska Gassmann was among those interviewed a...
Earth, air, fire and water – not Afropop from the 1970s but essential elements from the ancient Greeks – which in our modern “comms ecosystem” roughly equate to website, press, events and media. Bear with me a moment and let me explain! Our website is the core, press gives oxygen, events are the crucible, and media (whether audio, video or social) are channels to the outside world. Here’s how they fit together at UNU-MERIT – and how a new “fifth element” ramps everything up to another level. Ear...
A UN Day 2019 message from UNU Rector and UN Under-Secretary-General David M. Malone ••• United Nations Day (24 October) is a time to reflect on how the UN benefits us all by addressing vital issues that are the common concern of all humankind. The UN Charter was written in the name of “We the peoples of the United Nations,” but the UN is inherently an organisation of its member states. The paradox is that it relies tremendously on public support, as the struggle against climate change makes cle...
A new book on ‘Socio-economic inequality and education outcomes’ by Prof. Louis Volante shows that while it is possible to raise disadvantaged children’s academic achievement, socio-economic education gaps are still high and in many countries increasing. Much more needs to be done to help students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to succeed. Download the policy brief here The book discusses how relevant education policies have evolved and evaluates across countries how suc...
Capacity building is a term heard frequently in academic and development circles – but what does it actually mean? There are many definitions depending on the background of the user, but one general definition is “the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment and other resources needed to do their jobs competently or to a greater capacity.” What does that mean in practice, though? And what does that mean when we’re talking...
"I think that the award is a well-deserved recognition for the field of development economics. I was not surprised that these three scholars were awarded the prize: they really changed the way we now think about evaluating the effectiveness of development (policy) interventions." Prof. Eleonora Nillesen...
The idea that we are living in an entrepreneurial age, experiencing rapid disruptive technological innovation on a scale amounting to a new “industrial revolution” is a pervasive modern myth. Scholars have written academic papers extolling the coming of the “entrepreneurial economy”. Policymakers and investors have pumped massive amounts of funding into start-up ecosystems and innovation. Business schools, universities and schools have moved entrepreneurship into their core curricula....