In a recent Poverty and Social Protection Hub seminar, Dr Keetie Roelen spoke about the importance of including a "human face" in policies that aim to reduce poverty and improve well-being. The session was divided into three parts: setting the scene, identifying five blind spots, and highlighting policy and research implications.
‘Decent Work and Social Protection: Putting Dignity in Practice for All’ is the theme of this year’s UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty held on the 17 October. Enabling these outcomes and practices is more pertinent than ever. According to recent reports, the world is currently off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 on ending extreme poverty by 2030.
The Executive Dean at the OU recently welcomed colleagues from partner institutions in South Asia, including Prof Vikas Maniar from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India and Prof Dr Md. Abdul Halim, Prof Dr S M Hafizur Rahman, and Prof Mohammad Nure Alam Siddique from the Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Martha Nicholson is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education, and Language Studies at The Open University. She previously worked in sexual and reproductive health and rights for non-governmental organisations.
Jane Magaya is a PhD candidate interested in girls’ education and social justice. Her work explores the education experiences of marginalised girls in Zimbabwe.
Bertina - a primary school teacher in Ghana’s Akuapem South District - tells us about an interaction she had with the mother of one of her pupils. The child had been coming to school late, and infrequently, and Bertina had called the mother to school to discuss the issue.
Aaron Faro Mvula is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education, and Language Studies (WELS) at The Open University. He previously worked as a lecturer in social work at the University of Zambia and as a senior social worker under the University Teaching Hospital HIV and AIDS Programme (UTH-HAP) in Zambia.
How do we engage rural women and girls in our research processes? This was the question the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD) focused on in our recent event at the NGO Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)67 Forum. The Forum is a platform for civil society organisations organised in parallel to the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
Funded by the EdTech Hub, our collaborative OU-Dhaka University project, 3MPower (Mobile Learning for Empowerment of Marginalised Mathematics Educators) is generating evidence on technology use for Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in Bangladesh, with a particular focus on children’s foundation numeracy skills in schools serving marginalised, low-income, rural communities.
Elizabeth Ascroft previously worked on programme design and research in the sexual and reproductive health and rights space in international development settings before starting her PhD at The Open University. Sexuality can often be seen as a taboo topic and Elizabeth’s work looks at creating safe spaces for people to discuss sensitive and taboo subjects such as sex, gender, and pleasure.
As I review the data gathered during one of my field trips to Nigeria, where I worked with young women, I'm particularly struck by this quote:
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