News and events

Three graduate students at the Centre for Development Studies won New Zealand Aid Programme Awards for Postgraduate Field Research in February 2012. This award is made available by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) to assist Doctoral and Masters students to contribute to the cost of carrying out field research in developing countries. More information on postgraduate field research awards.

Susan Crabtree, a PhD student at the Centre, was awarded $6,000 towards data collections in Papua New Guinea. Her research explores how human rights can be used as a critical feminist tool for improving maternal health in developing countries. This is especially important in Papua New Guinea where rates of maternal death have double over the past decade. Susan is also a New Zealand registered Midwife. Her supervisors are Dr Yvonne Underhill-Sem and Dr Anita Lacey (Political Studies).

Measina Meredith and Rachel Faleatua were awarded MA scholarships to carry out research in Samoa later this year. Measina is examining the operationalisation of the right to water in that country. From a human rights perspective, the state has an obligation to ensure safe and potable water for all, especially where marginalised and vulnerable groups exist. Since the formation of the Water and Sanitation Sector min Samoa, however, there remain concerns about water equity in terms of access to and acceptability of water services and facilities. Rachel is analysing the contemporary cultural construction of teenage pregnancy in Samoa and its probable association with discrimination and lack of engagement in development opportunities. She is using human rights and female empowerment frameworks to address cultural sex-gender systems, structures of power and lack of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The Centre for Development Studies at The University of Auckland is pleased to host the 2012 International Development Conference: Integrating Research, Policy and Practice.

The eighth in a series of DevNet conferences,DevNet is the International Development Studies Network of Aotearoa New Zealand, idc 2012 will provide an international forum for development scholars, researchers and practitioners to explore the linkages between the three areas that constitute international development work; research, policy and practice. Research is the critical foundation that informs policy and grounds development practice, which in turn ensure the relevance and currency of research through conceptual and empirical engagements.

As the arena of international development is changing with the influx of new actors, methods and technologies, there is an increasing need to interrogate development work to ensure its equitable and sustainable nature. Development policy is adjusting to new geo-political configurations and global challenges, while development practice is transformed by rising demands for evidence of impact and effectiveness. These shifts shape development research to ensure its continued significance. DevNet and academic international development studies departments are uniquely positioned to examine and foster these linkages.

The 2012 International Development Conference: Integrating Research, Policy and Practice, will critically explore the interrelated fields of development work, in Aotearoa and globally, in a dynamic and interactive environment. Leading international keynote speakers, high level scholarly papers and expert panels will examine the multifaceted and complex connections between research, policy and practice. The conference format will reflect the multiplicity of international development, combining academic papers by established scholars and students, with panel discussions and roundtables by researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activists with workshops and exhibitions.

For more information, including the call for papers, visit www.idc2012.org.nz

Dr Carmel Williams, Research and Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Development Studies returned from the US on a Fulbright Travel Award to commence teaching the Centre’s (and New Zealand’s) first course in Health and Human Rights.

The FXB Health and Human Rights Center in the Harvard School of Public Health hosted Carmel. Carmel worked with her fellow editorial colleagues, planning the future of the Health and Human Rights Journal. Carmel has a strong interest in publishing, stemming from her experience in health publishing in New Zealand and her commercial experience is helping the Harvard team work to develop a viable and compelling academic journal addressing health and human rights (hhrjournal.org).

Carmel visited other researchers and practitioners in the health and human rights arena discussing the promotion of health rights in practice. Carmel believes the right to health has practical application. “It was invigorating to meet with, and work alongside, leaders in a health rights movement. We all believe that observance of health rights strengthens our research, and our programmes. I am now working with some of these researchers to undertake collaborative research in the Pacific. Importantly, this research will then inform practical interventions to address health inequities, and to assist countries to fulfil their right to health obligations.”

Carmel believes that many people want to adopt rights-based approaches to their programme work, but do not really know how to engage with these concepts practically. “I’m hoping that this new course is a start in making the right to health meaningful and practical.”