ZEF at network meeting of the DAAD Centres of African Excellence
February 11, 2011.
ZEF-Director Prof. Dr. Solvay Gerke represented ZEF at the network meeting of the DAAD Centres of African Excellence taking place in Cape Town, South Africa, at the end of January, 2011.
The network meeting brought together representatives of the five DAAD Centres of Excellence that have been established in Africa under the African Excellence initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. African and German research institutes cooperate closely in all Centres.
ZEF has established in cooperation with the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Legon in Accra, Ghana, a Division of Development Research (GGDDS) at the University of Ghana in 2008. This division is part of the German-Ghanaian Centre of Development Studies and Health Research. At the network meeting in South Africa in January, the GGDDS was represented by Prof. Dr. Solvay Gerke of ZEF, and Dr. Adobea Y. Owusu and Dr. Felix Asante, both of ISSER.
During the meeting, all centres presented and discussed their academic work so far. For the GGDDS, Dr. Adobea Y. Owusu presented a paper on Gender, Land Tenure Dynamics and Livelihoods in the Volta and Central Regions of Ghana.
Besides having an academic exchange to foster collaborative research activities between the centres, a business meeting was held dealing with issues such as networking activities, the inclusion of Alumni into the centres’ work, and with the organization of a summer school and a PhD conference to be held in 2012. Prior to the network meeting, PhD and MA students from all centres met to discuss their work and exchange experiences.
