Future events
- 2026-03-19T13:30:00+01:00
- 2026-03-19T14:30:00+01:00
19
ThursdayZEF public lecture: poverty and livelihood choices
Aspirations - the forward-looking goals individuals set for their lives - have been increasingly considered as a concept for understanding poverty persistence and livelihood decisions in developing countries. This presentation asks what we have learned from employing this concept and what further potential it has for better understanding poverty mechanisms and for designing relevant interventions. Drawing on the literature and my group’s research, I review the conceptual foundations of the aspirations framework, discuss how aspirations are formed (and possibly eroded), and examine their role in productive efforts and livelihood choices. Evidence shows that moderately ambitious aspirations motivate effort to improve livelihoods, while aspirations far removed from current reality can lead to frustration and inaction. Consequences for designing helpful interventions, however, are not immediately clear or seem to differ little from what has been suggested based on other types of analysis.
- 2026-03-24T17:00:00+01:00
- 2026-03-24T18:30:00+01:00
24
TuesdayWorld Water Day Webinar
In line with the UN’s 2026 World Water Day campaign ‘Where water flows, equality grows’, the Bonn Water Network invites you to its debate on changing roles of women in water management and governance. Two key questions are at the center of our debate: 1. How does water access affect men and women differently? and 2. Which opportunities for inclusive water governance emerge, and which approaches have proven useful? Following input by our four experts on the two key questions, the floor will be open for discussion. The event will be moderated by Annabelle Houdret, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
- 2026-03-26T13:30:00+01:00
- 2026-03-26T14:30:00+01:00
26
ThursdayZEF public lecture: toward a political animism
This ZEF public lecture focuses on the struggles for water and biodiversity in a typical Andean ecosystem, the páramo. Focused specifically on the páramo of Santurbán, this biotope in northern Colombia is mainly threatened by gold mining activities. Social movements in the region are waging a long legal, social, and environmental battle to protect this ecosystem. The last significant event took place in July 2025, when Santurbán was declared a subject of rights. About the speaker: Dr. Nataly Botero is an associate professor in communication studies, mainly in semiotics and media discourse analysis. Her research mainly focuses on ecology (pesticides, air pollution, programmed obsolescence). Recently, she has recently been working on the rights of nature in Colombia.
- 2026-03-26T15:00:00+01:00
- 2026-03-26T16:00:00+01:00
26
ThursdayINTERFACES Colloquium: gender and agriculture in Ghana
The relationship between gender and sustainable agriculture has gained increasing attention in the face of climate change and food security challenges. While existing research shows that gendered power relations shape farmers’ vulnerability and adaptive capacity, gender, intersecting other identity markers, does not fully explain persistent inequalities within gender groups. Drawing on qualitative research in northern Ghana using interviews, focus groups, and participatory methods, this study explores how interpersonal dynamics influence farming practices and the adoption of sustainable agriculture. The findings reveal that access to agricultural resources is shaped less by formal gender roles than by social recognition, symbolic status, and everyday interactions. Performative behaviors help construct reputation and legitimize unequal hierarchies, sometimes reinforced through gender-based violence.