KFPE-Newsmail

News & General Information

SFIAR Award 2011 - Call for Proposals
The Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) offers an annual Award for scientists working for a Swiss institution in agricultural research for development. The SFIAR intends to award new, innovative and result oriented research. The SFIAR Award 2011 (prize sum: CHF 10'000.-) is restricted to research teams. Deadline for applications: 4 July 2011. For more details

Doctoral Programme North-South at the University of Basel:
start-up PhD grants
The Doctoral Programme North-South (DONOS) offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the dynamics of social, political and cultural change in Europe and the ‘global South’ (with a focus on Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia). Drawing on conceptual and methodological insights from political science, sociology, African studies and Islamic/Middle Eastern studies, it focuses on violent conflict and peacebuilding, statehood, identity formation through the appropriation (or rejection) of social and cultural norms, as well as on the perception of and reaction to natural and man-made hazards. Doctoral students in political science, sociology, African studies and Islamic/Middle Eastern studies affiliated to DONOS will benefit from both training in a specific subject matter and exchanges with related academic disciplines. As a member of the International Graduate School North-South DONOS offers doctoral students integration into a vast network of academic institutions in Switzerland and eight regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe with a long-standing experience in research on global change and sustainable development. Deadline for application: 15 May.
More information

TWAS South-South Fellowships Programme 2011
The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) is promoting various fellowship programmes for postgraduate training, postdoctoral and advanced research. The fellowships are offered to scientists from developing countries and are tenable at centres of excellence in various countries in the South, including Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand. Women scientists are especially encouraged to apply. Deadlines for submission of applications vary -> See web site of TWAS

Research Fellow Partnership Programme (RFPP)
The current RFPP call is now launched. Deadline for submission of PhD and Postdoc proposals is 30 June 2011. RFPP aims at generating development relevant knowledge, training young scientists and establishing research partnerships (in Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources). RFPP is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and is managed by the North-South Centre of the ETH Zurich. SDC will finance the program until the end of 2012 allowing 3 calls. More Information

Swiss South African Joint Research Programme (SSAJRP)
The University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute have issued a Seed Money Call within the framework of the Swiss South African Joint Research Programme (SSAJRP). The call supports original research cooperation between academia and industry in order to create synergies between private and public sectors. The one-year projects focus on the research areas of "Public Health and Bio-Medicine" as well as "Bio- and Nanotechnologies". Deadline for submission of applications is 30 April 2011. More Information
List of Calls of all Bilateral Research Cooperation Programs

A New Platform of the Swiss NGOs Active in Disaster Risk Reduction (DDR)
SDC and Swiss NGOs initiated in July 2010 a dialogue on the importance of DRR and Adaptation to Climate Change (ACC) practices and experiences. Subsequently, interested Swiss NGOs promoted the creation of a DRR Platform. By April 2011, the preparatory work for the formal institution is completed and the following NGOs are interested to join the Platform: CARITAS, HEKS/EPER, Helvetas, Intercooperation, MEDAIR, SWISSAID, SOLIDAR Switzerland, Swiss Red Cross (SRC) and Terre des hommes. The Swiss NGO envision their DRR Platform as a network of NGO professionals seeking to be more effective in their humanitarian, development and advisory oriented work by capturing the diversity of knowledge and experience related to DRR. More Information

Redetipps
Nebst Projektarbeit in Entwicklungsländern nimmt die Basler Syngenta Stiftung für Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft (SFSA) aktiv an vielen internationalen Konferenzen teil. Aktuelle Beispiele führt jeweils www.syngentafoundation.org auf. SFSA-Mitarbeitende sind gefragte Redner und Diskussionsteilnehmer. Unter http://www.syngentafoundation.org/db/1/937.pdf finden Interessenten auch Tipps für gut vorbereitete Reden in der Öffentlichkeit.

Personalwechsel
Ende 2010 wurde der langjährige SFSA-Projektmanager Felix Nicolier pensioniert. Ebenfalls altershalber verabschiedet hat sich Konsulent Andres Binder. Im November kam Ian Barker, ehemals CIP Nairobi, zur Stiftung. Ab Mai 2011 verstärkt Robert Berlin das Team von Direktor Marco Ferroni. Berlin arbeitete zuletzt für die NGO Intercooperation in Bern. Barker und Berlin kümmern sich primär um SFSA-Partnerschaften. Seit 2010 ist die SFSA auch anerkannte Einsatzstelle für den Schweizer Zivildienst. Kommunikationsmanager paul.castle@syngenta.com freut sich auf Bewerbungen für die Nachfolge des ersten ‚Zivis‘ der Stiftungsgeschichte, Adrian Meier.

Call for Pre-proposals - Optimus Study on Protecting Children
The UBS Optimus Foundation seeks to commission research on child sexual abuse prevalence and service provision in an African and a Latin American country in a project that will last from October 2011 through 2015.
Submission deadline is August 31 2011. More Information

Courses

Training Series 2011 of the Centre for Peacebuilding at swisspeace:
- Designing and Facilitating Dialogue (28-30 September)
- Dealing with Survivors of Traumatizing Violence (6-7 OctOctober)
- Conflict Sensitivity in Practice (18-19 October)
- Peacebuilder’s Security Management: A Road Map (7-8 November)
More Information

Certificate of Advanced Studies in Management of Development Projects
This programme proposes an integrated and interdisciplinary approach and targets professional in both Northern and Southern countries who wish to pursue a career in development or international cooperation and/or individuals from government, NGOs, IOs, IGOs, or the private sector who want to broaden their understanding of development issues.
· e-Learning: 3 October 2011 – 19 February 2012
· Bangalore, India: 27 February 2012 – 11 March 2012
· Individual Projects: 12 March 2012 – 06 May 2012
Full and/or partial grants may be offered to participants which are not able to cover the total costs. Priority will be given to participants from developing or emerging countries. Deadline for Applications: 31 July 2011
More Information

Events

International Cooperation and the Private Sector: What to expect from each other?
3 May 2011, 14:00-16:00 at SDC (Room A 2023)
SDC is pleased to invite you to the next TRAVERSE with Hans Joehr (Nestlé), Dorje Mundle (Novartis), Urs Leimbacher (Swiss Re), Denise Laufer (SwissHoldings) and Jan Atteslander (economiesuisse). More Information

Responsible management and the challenges of the 21st Century
26 May 2011 in Lausanne 17:00-19:00
Economic globalisation, information revolutions, depletion of the earth’s resources, accelerating production cycles, weakening of the nation-state… These are just a few of the challenges facing us in the 21st century. In the HEC Lausanne centennial debate, a distinguished panel of business leaders and intellectuals will attempt to answer and discuss these questions.
More Information

The Construction of Civil Society and development: Spanning innovation, subsidiarity and political action.
8-10 June 2011, XXVIIth ATM Development Days - University of Fribourg
The symposium’s goal is to identify the specific role played by civil society actors in formal and informal institutional change in three main areas:
· Economic freedoms and social rights
· Territory appropriation and migration dynamics
· Cultural freedoms as confronted with the establishment of universal justice standards. More Information

Scaling Up the Impacts of Standard Systems - Iseal Alliance Conference
8-10 June 2011 under the patronage of the North-South Centre at the ETH Zurich.
Iseal is the global authority on voluntary standards that include agriculture, fisheries, labour rights, child labour, biofuels, ecological footprints and many more. On Wednesday, 8 June 2011, the Iseal Alliance and its members – Fairtrade, the Rainforest Alliance/SAN, FSC, MSC and many others – open the door to a Public Day of networking that attracts leaders from business, the financial sector, NGOs, government and academia. Discussions on Thursday and Friday, 9 and 10 June 2011, are open to Iseal members and affiliates only.
More Information

Food Security, Health and Impact
1st Africa College Internat Conference 22-24 June 2011, University of Leeds, UK.
Conference questions: How can the results of basic science and inter-disciplinary research lead to increased impact on food security and human health? How can partnerships between research and development organisations deliver innovation and impact? More Information

Chronische Krankheiten - eine globale Herausforderung
25.-26. August 2011, Universität Basel
In unserer stets wachsenden Gesellschaft nimmt die Häufigkeit chronischer Erkrankungen drastisch zu. Mehr als die Hälfte der Weltbevölkerung lebt heute in einem urbanen Umfeld und ist Veränderungen in Lebensstil und Umwelt ausgesetzt. Die WHO und die Weltbank warnen bereits vor den gesundheitlichen und wirtschaftlichen Folgen einer globalen Epidemie und haben Aktionspläne zu deren Prävention erarbeitet. Wo steht diese Entwicklung in der Schweiz und weltweit? Weitere Informationen

Rethinking development in an age of scarcity and uncertainty: New values, voices and alliances for increased resilience
19-22 September 2011, University of York, UK
The EADI-DSA 2011 conference seeks to maximise the opportunity of working together and to revisit and rethink ‘development’, to generate new ideas, new narratives and new thinking whenever possible globally co-constructed with partners in global-South. More Information

Development on the Margin - Tropentag 2011
October 5-7 2011 in Bonn, Germany
Tropentag is a development-oriented and interdisciplinary conference. It addresses issues of resource management, environment, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, nutrition and related sciences in the context of rural development, sustainable resource use and poverty alleviation worldwide.
AGRINATURA will grant 8 students from AGRINATURA members institutions (excluding German universities) by a Travel grant of 500 €.
More Information

More events: http://www.kfpe.ch/events/

Publications

Social Inclusion and Cultural Identity of Roma Communities in South-Eastern Europe.
Editor: Gabriela Mirescu (66 pp). A new working paper (1/2011) of swisspeace

Global Policy Brief: Planning Urban Sanitation
March 2011 saw the release of a new NCCR North-South global policy brief: “Local solutions for sanitation” by Christoph Lüthi and others. It introduces a step-by-step strategy for planning sanitation in low-income, informal settlements, especially in urban areas. To the Global Policy Brief

Regional Policy Brief: Peace and Prosperity through Tourism
The NCCR North-South Regional Coordination Office in South Asia has published a new regional policy brief titled “Community-based and peace-sensitive tourism”. It describes tourism’s potential to promote peace and shared economic growth in Nepal. To the Regional Policy Brief

Research for Development? The Role of Southern Research Organisations in Promoting Democratic Ownership
This paper examines factors that affect the supply of and the demand for policy-relevant research in partner countries, and the ways in which donors can help Southern research organisations to strengthen broad-based democratic policy ownership. This study was conducted in response to a request from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and aims to contribute to the Work-Stream on ‘Democratic ownership, Capacity Development for country leadership’ for Cluster A of the OECD/DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. It is based on an analysis of the available literature.
A Discussion Paper by the European Centre for Development Policy Management

What are the projected impacts of climate change on food crop productivity in Africa and South Asia?
DFID Systematic Review, Final Report (77 pp)
The review focussed on eight food crops, namely rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and sugarcane, which collectively account for over 80% of total agricultural production in Africa and South Asia.
More Information

World in Transition – A Social Contract for a Great Transformation
German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU)
In this report, the WBGU explains the reasons for the desperate need for a post-fossil economic strategy, yet it also concludes that the transition to sustainability is achievable, and presents ten concrete packages of measures to accelerate the imperative restructuring. If the transformation really is to succeed, we have to enter into a social contract for innovation, in the form of a new kind of discourse between governments and citizens, both within and beyond the boundaries of the nation state. In English and German (Summary 34 pp)

Climate Innovation Centres: A New Way to Foster Climate Technologies in the Developing World?
This research report examines Climate Investment Centres (CIC) as ways to address the barriers that impede developing countries from the transfer, development and deployment of advanced climate technologies for both domestic use and export. It finds that CICs, if customized and designed to meet local needs, can help locally appropriate climate innovation in developing countries. To the Report

April 2011
KFPE Newsmail
KFPE-Newsmail News & General Information SFIAR Award 2011 - Call for Proposals The Swiss Forum for International Agricultural Research (SFIAR) offers an annual Award for scientists working for a Swiss institution in agricultural research for development. The SFIAR intends to award new, innovative and result oriented research. The SFIAR Award 2011 (prize sum: CHF 10'000.-) is restricted to research teams. Deadline for applications: 4 July 2011. For more details Doctoral Programme North-South at the University of Basel: start-up PhD grants The Doctoral Programme North-South (DONOS) offers an interdisciplinary perspective on the dynamics of social, political and cultural change in Europe and the ‘global South’ (with a focus on Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia). Drawing on conceptual and methodological insights from political science, sociology, African studies and Islamic/Middle Eastern studies, it focuses on violent conflict and peacebuilding, statehood, identity formation through the appropriation (or rejection) of social and cultural norms, as well as on the perception of and reaction to natural and man-made hazards. Doctoral students in political science, sociology, African studies and Islamic/Middle Eastern studies affiliated to DONOS will benefit from both training in a specific subject matter and exchanges with related academic disciplines. As a member of the International Graduate School North-South DONOS offers doctoral students integration into a vast network of academic institutions in Switzerland and eight regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe with a long-standing experience in research on global change and sustainable development. Deadline for application: 15 May. More information TWAS South-South Fellowships Programme 2011 The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) is promoting various fellowship programmes for postgraduate training, postdoctoral and advanced research. The fellowships are offered to scientists from developing countries and are tenable at centres of excellence in various countries in the South, including Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and Thailand. Women scientists are especially encouraged to apply. Deadlines for submission of applications vary -> See web site of TWAS Research Fellow Partnership Programme (RFPP) The current RFPP call is now launched. Deadline for submission of PhD and Postdoc proposals is 30 June 2011. RFPP aims at generating development relevant knowledge, training young scientists and establishing research partnerships (in Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources). RFPP is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and is managed by the North-South Centre of the ETH Zurich. SDC will finance the program until the end of 2012 allowing 3 calls. More Information Swiss South African Joint Research Programme (SSAJRP) The University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute have issued a Seed Money Call within the framework of the Swiss South African Joint Research Programme (SSAJRP). The call supports original research cooperation between academia and industry in order to create synergies between private and public sectors. The one-year projects focus on the research areas of "Public Health and Bio-Medicine" as well as "Bio- and Nanotechnologies". Deadline for submission of applications is 30 April 2011. More Information List of Calls of all Bilateral Research Cooperation Programs A New Platform of the Swiss NGOs Active in Disaster Risk Reduction (DDR) SDC and Swiss NGOs initiated in July 2010 a dialogue on the importance of DRR and Adaptation to Climate Change (ACC) practices and experiences. Subsequently, interested Swiss NGOs promoted the creation of a DRR Platform. By April 2011, the preparatory work for the formal institution is completed and the following NGOs are interested to join the Platform: CARITAS, HEKS/EPER, Helvetas, Intercooperation, MEDAIR, SWISSAID, SOLIDAR Switzerland, Swiss Red Cross (SRC) and Terre des hommes. The Swiss NGO envision their DRR Platform as a network of NGO professionals seeking to be more effective in their humanitarian, development and advisory oriented work by capturing the diversity of knowledge and experience related to DRR. More Information Redetipps Nebst Projektarbeit in Entwicklungsländern nimmt die Basler Syngenta Stiftung für Nachhaltige Landwirtschaft (SFSA) aktiv an vielen internationalen Konferenzen teil. Aktuelle Beispiele führt jeweils www.syngentafoundation.org auf. SFSA-Mitarbeitende sind gefragte Redner und Diskussionsteilnehmer. Unter http://www.syngentafoundation.org/db/1/937.pdf finden Interessenten auch Tipps für gut vorbereitete Reden in der Öffentlichkeit. Personalwechsel Ende 2010 wurde der langjährige SFSA-Projektmanager Felix Nicolier pensioniert. Ebenfalls altershalber verabschiedet hat sich Konsulent Andres Binder. Im November kam Ian Barker, ehemals CIP Nairobi, zur Stiftung. Ab Mai 2011 verstärkt Robert Berlin das Team von Direktor Marco Ferroni. Berlin arbeitete zuletzt für die NGO Intercooperation in Bern. Barker und Berlin kümmern sich primär um SFSA-Partnerschaften. Seit 2010 ist die SFSA auch anerkannte Einsatzstelle für den Schweizer Zivildienst. Kommunikationsmanager paul.castle@syngenta.com freut sich auf Bewerbungen für die Nachfolge des ersten ‚Zivis‘ der Stiftungsgeschichte, Adrian Meier. Call for Pre-proposals - Optimus Study on Protecting Children The UBS Optimus Foundation seeks to commission research on child sexual abuse prevalence and service provision in an African and a Latin American country in a project that will last from October 2011 through 2015. Submission deadline is August 31 2011. More Information Courses Training Series 2011 of the Centre for Peacebuilding at swisspeace: - Designing and Facilitating Dialogue (28-30 September) - Dealing with Survivors of Traumatizing Violence (6-7 OctOctober) - Conflict Sensitivity in Practice (18-19 October) - Peacebuilder’s Security Management: A Road Map (7-8 November) More Information Certificate of Advanced Studies in Management of Development Projects This programme proposes an integrated and interdisciplinary approach and targets professional in both Northern and Southern countries who wish to pursue a career in development or international cooperation and/or individuals from government, NGOs, IOs, IGOs, or the private sector who want to broaden their understanding of development issues. · e-Learning: 3 October 2011 – 19 February 2012 · Bangalore, India: 27 February 2012 – 11 March 2012 · Individual Projects: 12 March 2012 – 06 May 2012 Full and/or partial grants may be offered to participants which are not able to cover the total costs. Priority will be given to participants from developing or emerging countries. Deadline for Applications: 31 July 2011 More Information Events International Cooperation and the Private Sector: What to expect from each other? 3 May 2011, 14:00-16:00 at SDC (Room A 2023) SDC is pleased to invite you to the next TRAVERSE with Hans Joehr (Nestlé), Dorje Mundle (Novartis), Urs Leimbacher (Swiss Re), Denise Laufer (SwissHoldings) and Jan Atteslander (economiesuisse). More Information Responsible management and the challenges of the 21st Century 26 May 2011 in Lausanne 17:00-19:00 Economic globalisation, information revolutions, depletion of the earth’s resources, accelerating production cycles, weakening of the nation-state… These are just a few of the challenges facing us in the 21st century. In the HEC Lausanne centennial debate, a distinguished panel of business leaders and intellectuals will attempt to answer and discuss these questions. More Information The Construction of Civil Society and development: Spanning innovation, subsidiarity and political action. 8-10 June 2011, XXVIIth ATM Development Days - University of Fribourg The symposium’s goal is to identify the specific role played by civil society actors in formal and informal institutional change in three main areas: · Economic freedoms and social rights · Territory appropriation and migration dynamics · Cultural freedoms as confronted with the establishment of universal justice standards. More Information Scaling Up the Impacts of Standard Systems - Iseal Alliance Conference 8-10 June 2011 under the patronage of the North-South Centre at the ETH Zurich. Iseal is the global authority on voluntary standards that include agriculture, fisheries, labour rights, child labour, biofuels, ecological footprints and many more. On Wednesday, 8 June 2011, the Iseal Alliance and its members – Fairtrade, the Rainforest Alliance/SAN, FSC, MSC and many others – open the door to a Public Day of networking that attracts leaders from business, the financial sector, NGOs, government and academia. Discussions on Thursday and Friday, 9 and 10 June 2011, are open to Iseal members and affiliates only. More Information Food Security, Health and Impact 1st Africa College Internat Conference 22-24 June 2011, University of Leeds, UK. Conference questions: How can the results of basic science and inter-disciplinary research lead to increased impact on food security and human health? How can partnerships between research and development organisations deliver innovation and impact? More Information Chronische Krankheiten - eine globale Herausforderung 25.-26. August 2011, Universität Basel In unserer stets wachsenden Gesellschaft nimmt die Häufigkeit chronischer Erkrankungen drastisch zu. Mehr als die Hälfte der Weltbevölkerung lebt heute in einem urbanen Umfeld und ist Veränderungen in Lebensstil und Umwelt ausgesetzt. Die WHO und die Weltbank warnen bereits vor den gesundheitlichen und wirtschaftlichen Folgen einer globalen Epidemie und haben Aktionspläne zu deren Prävention erarbeitet. Wo steht diese Entwicklung in der Schweiz und weltweit? Weitere Informationen Rethinking development in an age of scarcity and uncertainty: New values, voices and alliances for increased resilience 19-22 September 2011, University of York, UK The EADI-DSA 2011 conference seeks to maximise the opportunity of working together and to revisit and rethink ‘development’, to generate new ideas, new narratives and new thinking whenever possible globally co-constructed with partners in global-South. More Information Development on the Margin - Tropentag 2011 October 5-7 2011 in Bonn, Germany Tropentag is a development-oriented and interdisciplinary conference. It addresses issues of resource management, environment, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food, nutrition and related sciences in the context of rural development, sustainable resource use and poverty alleviation worldwide. AGRINATURA will grant 8 students from AGRINATURA members institutions (excluding German universities) by a Travel grant of 500 €. More Information More events: http://www.kfpe.ch/events/ Publications Social Inclusion and Cultural Identity of Roma Communities in South-Eastern Europe. Editor: Gabriela Mirescu (66 pp). A new working paper (1/2011) of swisspeace Global Policy Brief: Planning Urban Sanitation March 2011 saw the release of a new NCCR North-South global policy brief: “Local solutions for sanitation” by Christoph Lüthi and others. It introduces a step-by-step strategy for planning sanitation in low-income, informal settlements, especially in urban areas. To the Global Policy Brief Regional Policy Brief: Peace and Prosperity through Tourism The NCCR North-South Regional Coordination Office in South Asia has published a new regional policy brief titled “Community-based and peace-sensitive tourism”. It describes tourism’s potential to promote peace and shared economic growth in Nepal. To the Regional Policy Brief Research for Development? The Role of Southern Research Organisations in Promoting Democratic Ownership This paper examines factors that affect the supply of and the demand for policy-relevant research in partner countries, and the ways in which donors can help Southern research organisations to strengthen broad-based democratic policy ownership. This study was conducted in response to a request from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and aims to contribute to the Work-Stream on ‘Democratic ownership, Capacity Development for country leadership’ for Cluster A of the OECD/DAC Working Party on Aid Effectiveness. It is based on an analysis of the available literature. A Discussion Paper by the European Centre for Development Policy Management What are the projected impacts of climate change on food crop productivity in Africa and South Asia? DFID Systematic Review, Final Report (77 pp) The review focussed on eight food crops, namely rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, millet, cassava, yam, plantain and sugarcane, which collectively account for over 80% of total agricultural production in Africa and South Asia. More Information World in Transition – A Social Contract for a Great Transformation German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) In this report, the WBGU explains the reasons for the desperate need for a post-fossil economic strategy, yet it also concludes that the transition to sustainability is achievable, and presents ten concrete packages of measures to accelerate the imperative restructuring. If the transformation really is to succeed, we have to enter into a social contract for innovation, in the form of a new kind of discourse between governments and citizens, both within and beyond the boundaries of the nation state. In English and German (Summary 34 pp) Climate Innovation Centres: A New Way to Foster Climate Technologies in the Developing World? This research report examines Climate Investment Centres (CIC) as ways to address the barriers that impede developing countries from the transfer, development and deployment of advanced climate technologies for both domestic use and export. It finds that CICs, if customized and designed to meet local needs, can help locally appropriate climate innovation in developing countries. To the Report