Past events
- 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).
- 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.
- 2026-03-11T11:00:00+01:00
- 2026-03-11T12:00:00+01:00
11
WednesdayZEF CPC Colloquium: iakumama 2050
This presentation will introduce “Iakumama 2050”, a new ZEF-CPC research project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Iakumama 2050 explores how “environmental peace”–a concept that reconciles humans with nature–can be collectively imagined and enacted in the Colombian department of Caquetá, a region profoundly impacted by armed conflict, extractivism, and deforestation. Developed in partnership with an Inga community, the project integrates digital humanities, environmental peace research, and indigenous epistemologies. It combines three experimental components: (1) the co-creation of an AI-based chatbot on environmental futures; (2) a collaborative podcast on local environmental conflicts and long-term imaginaries; and (3) the revitalization of an Inga women’s ritual (Atunpumsha) as a form of eco-political dialogue. This talk will discuss the conceptual foundations, methodological risks, and epistemological implications of this radical transdisciplinary approach.
- 2026-02-26T15:00:00+01:00
- 2026-02-26T16:00:00+01:00
26
ThursdayINTERFACES Colloquium: Integrated Soil Fertility Management
Rainfed cereal production in northern Ghana is highly variable due to rainfall uncertainty, soil constraints, and low-input fertility management. Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) can improve productivity, but outcomes depend on climate and site conditions. Using the SIMPLACE model, this study evaluated interactions among ISFM practices, sowing dates, soil depth, and climate risk at a representative site. Simulations combined four fertility treatments (control, inorganic, organic, combined), contrasting soils, multiple sowing dates, historical climate, and +2.0 °C warming across >300 GCM-based ensembles. Kernel density estimates of yield and biomass showed that control and organic treatments had low yield potential but high stability. Inorganic fertilization maximized yields but was most unstable, while combined organic–inorganic management improved biomass stability and yield distributions, supporting ISFM as a climate-resilient adaptation strategy in northern Ghana.
- 2026-02-26T13:30:00+01:00
- 2026-02-26T14:30:00+01:00
26
ThursdayZEF public lecture: Women’s Water Resources in India
Based on the lessons from the Women’s Water Resources Council in India a women collective in the Trilateral Wadden Sea Research has been planned for 2025-2028. Out of 110 people involved in the ongoing research, there are 40 women researchers: Two (out of 12 ) as Principal Investigators and more women PhD candidates than men. The women collective is intended to build a network; Women of Wadden, aiming to increase the presence and participation of women professionals in the Wadden science, technology, engineering, arts and allied fields. The objective of Women of Wadden is to acknowledge the women’s participation by documenting and disseminating their activities, ideas, and thoughts. The idea is to amplify the role and responsibilities women carry in Wadden Sea science and societal activities in order to create an environment for more acceptance of women leadership among the policy and funding and leaving a legacy for the future women professionals in the Wadden as well as in general.