This series tracks news and views from our ‘Evidence-Based Policy Research Methods’ (EPRM) course. Many participants work at the highest of levels, both nationally and internationally, including for other parts of the UN system. They come to Maastricht for this unique blended learning programme, covering three weeks in class and 10 weeks online. This time we speak with Agata Petrelli, an award-winning child rights researcher. … Congratulations on winning the Mac Robertson Scholarship from the Un...

In my dissertation, I am looking at the link between a popular form of social protection – cash transfers – and child nutrition. Previous research has shown a mixed effect, sometimes positive, sometimes no effect, so I was interested in investigating this issue in more detail. I was also interested in examining how intra-household dynamics could play a role in the impact of cash transfers on child nutrition. I used data from an impact evaluation of a cash transfer programme in Ghana (LEAP 1000) ...

Charlotte Mueller’s PhD research focuses mainly on the African nations of Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Somalia — and she has travelled to all these countries over the last three years to collect data. Yet, as a European researching African issues, she is acutely aware of various Eurocentric assumptions, and that African development is still frequently discussed from an external, third person perspective. In this post, Charlotte argues that the 2030 Agenda will only succeed across Afric...

The United Nations University in the Netherlands (UNU-MERIT) is pleased to announce an agreement with the World Food Programme to provide long-term monitoring, evaluation, analysis and policy guidance in support of WFP’s work with refugee and vulnerable communities in Kenya. Worth USD $2 million over the next four years, this project will be led by Dr. Nyasha Tirivayi of UNU-MERIT. Her team of dedicated researchers will monitor and evaluate the effects of long-term aid programmes to Kenya’s popu...

In a remote corner of northwest Kenya, 800km from the capital Nairobi, lies a sprawling urban settlement built from tin sheet and tarpaulin provided by various UN agencies. Kakuma, the name shared by a town and one of the largest refugee settlements in Africa, is a remote place in a geographic, moral and economic sense; in Swahili, the regional language, Kakuma simply means ‘Nowhere’. On the one hand, it is a place of respite from conflict and famine for tens of thousands of inhabitants. On the ...

This series tracks the progress and priorities of our full-time PhD fellows. Some are new recruits living in Maastricht, others are working abroad while waiting to defend. This time we caught up with Mariajose Silva Vargas, a PhD fellow from Bolivia who recently won two grants to fund her fieldwork in East Africa. … You’ve won two grants to carry out your fieldwork. Who are they from and what are you doing with them? Yes! We are really happy about it. My co-author Francesco Loiacono ...

A joint post by Prof. Shyama V. Ramani and Dr. Sanae Okamoto ‘The road to hell,’ goes the age-old proverb ‘is paved with good intentions’. In the 21st century, there can be no clearer example of this than the millions of underused or abandoned toilets in the developing world built for Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation. Yes, technology and innovation can speed up economic growth and inclusive development, but they are clearly NOT enough. What’s missing, say Prof. Shyama...

I found out about the UNU-MERIT PhD programme through an online scholarship subscription. Initially, I was a bit surprised that governance and economics could be combined to form a single PhD programme – but then I saw how the two tracks work side-by-side in a complementary way....

Migration across the Mediterranean is often portrayed as the new societal and political ‘crisis’ of our time; EU nations are struggling to agree over a few rescue boats, while narratives of “invasion” and “call-effect ” have become part of the political discourse. Yet, migration across the Mediterranean is nothing new; in fact, the Mediterranean is one of the most ancient channels of migration. From North to South, East to West, various civilizations have settled and resettled its shores. In fac...

In line with UN commitments ‘to leave no one behind’, social protection is a strategic approach for cutting poverty and improving resilience, based on strengthening the links between humanitarian aid and development. Extending coordinated social protection provisions to refugees could be the bridge from rapid response measures in crisis situations to medium and long-term development targets as sought by the Social Protection Inter-Agency Coordination Board (SPIAC-B). This post tackles the comple...