Past events
- 2026-04-29T10:00:00+02:00
- 2026-04-29T11:00:00+02:00
29
WednesdayPublic lecture: Rice Innovation for Food Systems Transformation
This ZEF public lecture will present the International Rice Research Institute’s 2025–2030 Strategy, which sets a clear direction for transforming rice-based agri-food systems toward a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future. The strategy repositions IRRI – an international research for development organization credited for spurring the Green Revolution in rice-based systems in the 1960s in Asia - as a demand-driven and impact-oriented organization that integrates science, partnerships, and delivery to address country-specific needs across Asia and Africa. The lecture will highlight how IRRI is evolving its research and partnership model to become more integrated, agile, and collaborative in response to a rapidly changing global landscape. It will also explore the role of strategic partnerships, data and digital innovation, and South–South collaboration in scaling solutions and accelerating food systems transformation.
- 2026-04-27T14:00:00+02:00
- 2026-04-27T15:00:00+02:00
27
MondayThe True Cost of Coffee Production in Uganda
Global food systems generate substantial social externalities that are rarely reflected in market prices. Among these, child labor represents a particularly severe yet often hidden cost in smallholder-based agricultural value chains. Using primary household- and child-level survey data from coffee-producing communities in five regions in Uganda, this study examines the prevalence, drivers, and educational implications of child labor in coffee production. Results show that 13.9% of children are engaged in child labor with boys being significantly more engaged than girls. Turning to coffee-specific activities, 42% of children participated in at least one coffee-related task during the last two agricultural seasons, with slightly higher participation among boys than girls. Regression results show that child labor is strongly associated with children’s age, school attendance status, the relation to the household head, and the educational attainment of the household head.
- 2026-04-23T16:00:00+02:00
- 2026-04-23T17:00:00+02:00
23
ThursdayINTERFACES colloquium Strengthening rice farmers' resilience
In Senegal, agricultural production is affected by increasing land degradation – i.e. in the Senegal River valley, an important rice-growing area. The main causes are deforestation, overgrazing, the abandonment of sustainable agricultural practices, and the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Farmer Field School approach integrated the System of Rice Intensification and involved training producers. This was followed by a comparative analysis of the effects of traditional practices on rice production and sustainable land management. Subsequently, the most effective and sustainable practices were identified and promoted. In a context of climate change, land degradation, and declining yields, SRI appears to be a promising farming practice for sustainable land management, improved natural resource management, and enhanced resilience of family farms. Join via zoom! (See link below)
- 2026-04-23T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-04-23T14:30:00+02:00
23
ThursdayPublic lecture: Does transdisciplinary research actually work?
Transdisciplinary research is widely advocated as an approach to address complex sustainability challenges. Yet it has rarely been evaluated whether participants actually learn, change their practices, or benefit from the collaboration. This talk presents a framework for evaluating collaborative learning processes from the perspective of societal stakeholders —i.e. smallholder dairy farmers in Nakuru County, Kenya. Drawing on a two-year collaborative learning process aimed at co-developing innovations to reduce milk losses, I integrate Kirkpatrick's four-level evaluation scheme with second-order cybernetics and organizational learning theory (Learning Loops) to assess: what farmers found useful about the process, what they learned, how their new knowledge translated into changed practices, and what concrete benefits they experienced. Results show that farmers engaged in single-, double-, and triple-loop learning, with an average increase in milk production of 80% across both groups.
- 2026-04-15T10:00:00+02:00
- 2026-04-15T11:00:00+02:00
15
WednesdayColloquium: Power-Sharing in Post-Conflict Contexts
In post-conflict contexts, rent-generating institutions are often captured by political factions for rent-seeking purposes. Yet some institutions stay relatively effective. Why? Using a comparative analysis of Afghanistan’s Ministries of Interior Affairs and of Finance, it examines why two ministries with comparable rent-generation potential, levels of international engagement, and exposure to factional distribution produced divergent outcomes. While the Min. of Interior was marked by factional capture, the Min. of Finance retained relative credibility and effectiveness. Drawing on institutionalist theory, a qualitative Most Similar Systems Design, and social network analysis, the study explores: (1) the conditions under which political factions refrain from state capture; (2) how capture persists despite reform pressures; and (3) how patronage can be systematically measured in fragile settings, thus contributing to debates on institution building and reform in post-conflict societies.
- 2026-04-09T13:30:00+02:00
- 2026-04-09T14:30:00+02:00
9
ThursdayZEF public lecture: Power and politics in food systems
Power and politics shape how we produce, trade and consume our food – i.e. food systems. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers recognize that power relationships at different levels influence the equity and sustainability issues in food systems. However, existing evidence has been mostly qualitative due to epistemological and methodological discrepancy. As a result, we lack understanding whether and how much power relationships lead to material consequences, and what methodologies can be employed to unpack the quantitative consequences of power. This lecture gives an overview of current food systems debate on power and politics, existing evidence that links power relationships and food system livelihoods, sustainability and equity, and emerging evidence that links power and economic and livelihood outcomes based on a case study of aquaculture sector in Vietnam. We discuss the methodology that captures certain aspects of power and politics in food systems.
- 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.
- 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 been working on the rights of nature in Colombia.
- 2026-03-25T11:00:00+01:00
- 2026-03-25T12:00:00+01:00
25
WednesdayZEF CPC Colloquium: Care work in Ghana's urban informal sector
This proposal investigates, across four panel waves tracking the same households, how unpaid care and gendered time poverty constrain livelihoods in Ghana's urban informal sector. Using the ISSER–Yale longitudinal dataset with interviews and focus groups in Accra and Kumasi, it will analyse effects on income, working hours, assets and mobility, and inform debates on urban labour markets, social protection and economic constraints shaped by unpaid care.
- 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).