Activities and Events 2014
RLC Bonn PhD Student Willis Okumu visited by his advisor Dr.Papa Saw (ZEF) during his field research in Kenya
Willis Okumu, PhD student at RLC Campus Bonn, has been conducting his fieldwork in Samburu North district in Kenya since July 2014. His research is centered on the effects of cattle raids on Turkana and Samburu communities' livelihoods, therefore drawing on reports and documentation from local individuals and public and private organizations as well as colonial archives.
RLC Bonn PhD student Divya Swaminathan at Third Young Investigators Meeting
Divya Swaminathan (RLC Bonn PhD student) attended the Third Young Investigators Meeting held at Leibniz University Hannover, on November 5th, 2014, where she met with other Indian PhD students working in Germany/ Europe and Directors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
Further there is also a new publication by Divya Swaminathan (RLC Bonn PhD student)
Kumaran, T.V. and Swaminathan, D.R.: "Local Action Planning for Pro-Poor Urban Governance in the Southern Megacity of Chennai, India", In: Urban Development Challenges, Risks and Resilience in Asian Mega Cities Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences 2015, pp 175-19
RLC Bonn at United Nations Day in Bonn
RLC Campus Bonn participated at the United Nations Day in Bonn on October 25th, 2014. Under the theme “Education for Sustainable Development” RLC Bonn introduced its work to a larger public audience and linked up with other international development related organisations based in Bonn. Visitors had the chance to learn about our work, to participate in a quiz on “Alternative Nobel Prize” Laureates, to talk to our staff and PhD students, and to choose from a wide range of information materials.
Since 1996, the founding of the United Nations is annually celebrated in Bonn with an all-day public information and culture programme on the cities’ main market square. This year, 18 different Bonn-based United Nations organizations, federal ministries as well as international NGOs and research institutes working in the nexus between education, development
RLC Campus Bonn at BMBF/UNESCO Conference on Education for Sustainable Development
The RLC Bonn team participated at the BMBF/ UNESCO Conference “10 years of Education for Sustainable Development in Germany”, the national closing event of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, on September 29, 2014, at the World Conference Center Bonn. Together with our partners from the Youth Future Project and the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, we held a plenary session where we introduced our educati
New Publication by RLC Bonn PhD student Willis Okumu on “Conflict on Grazing Land in Kenya”
Mr. Willis Okumu, PhD student at the RLC Campus Bonn, published a paper on "Conflict over Ltungai Conservancy A Case of Fatal Competition over Grazing Land and Water among the Samburu and Pokot in north-western Kenya", in: Mulugeta Gebrehiwot Berhe (eds.) “A Delicate Balance Land Use, Minority Rights and Social Stability in the Horn of Africa”, Institute of Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), Addis Ababa University.
Mr. Okumu is pursuing his PhD research at Center for Development Research in Bonn under the title "Cattle Raids, Violence and Institutional Change in Northern Kenya: The Case of Samburu and Turkana Pastoralists". He is currently doing field research in northern Keny
Fourth RLC Bonn PhD Student started her research at Center for Development Research (ZEF)
Miss Juliet Wanjiku Kamau from Kenya has been awarded the fourth RLC Bonn PhD Scholarship funded by DAAD for 3 years. She is planning to start her research on “Productivity and Sustainability of Ecological Organic Agriculture Systems in Kenya” in October, 2014. She received her Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics at the University of Nairobi and her Master of Science in International Agricultural and Food Marketing from Newcastle Univ
Workshop– Empowering Research Methodologies Training
What is my role as a researcher? What is the role of science in society? And is empowerment relevant for research?
From 28. – 31. August, 2014, a training workshop in Empowering Research Methodologies was organised by the Youth Future Project e.V. (YFP) and the Right Livelihood College Bonn. Transformative approaches like these ones are gaining ground in many scientific disciplines today, with empowering aspects taking a central role in the development towards transdisciplinarity and sustainability.
This training workshop was dedicated to explore empowering research methods based on Participatory Action Research with techniques of visualising knowledge and ideas. Its aim was to enable young researchers to work cooperatively with the communities in which they research, and to apply methodologies which empower and support communities in achieving sustainable development. The idea to this workshop came up during a prior cooperation between the YFP and RLC Bonn and we were happy to cooperate with YFP in this effort!
16 young researchers from 11 countries participated in the workshop, which was characterised by a high degree of communication and cooperation, as well as creativity. They all expressed great satisfaction with the outcomes of the workshop and everyone agreed on the importance of participatory and empowering research, with many participants actively trying to incorporate these methods into their researc
7th Right Livelihood College debuted in India
The Right Livelihood College campus was formally launched at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai on August 18, 2014.
The collaboration with TISS deepens connections between the work of the 19 Right Livelihood Laureates based in South Asia in the fields of livelihoods, social innovation, social justice and empowerment and the university’s activities, such as research initiatives, public lectures and involvement of the Institute’s M.A. programme in Social Work in Livelihoods and Social Entrepreneurship.
RLC Workshop in cooperation with DW Global Media Forum
The RLC Campus Bonn, in cooperation with Deutsche Welle, organized an international workshop on “Media and Development: From Individual Participation to Mass Mobilization” from June 28 – July 3, 2014.
Eight RLC fellows from seven different countries participated in the Global Media Forum (GMF), a congress with international reach on media and politics in Bonn. Before joining GMF, the RLC fellows presented their research at ZEF and shared their experiences among each other. On Monday, June 29th, Right Livelihood Awardee Amy Goodman, Journalist and Co-Founder of Democracy Now!, gave a talk at ZEF on "Global Media in a Time of War", speaking about her experiences as an independent journalist reporting from conflicted areas. After her talk, the eight RLC fellows had the chance to meet Amy Goodman and speak to her. The following day, Ms. Goodman joined a panel at GMF on political opinion-making in the digital age, organized by the RLC Bonn in cooperation with Deutsche Welle.
All participants enjoyed the workshop and conference very much. We hope to host them again in the future.
You can watch Amy Goodman's talk on ZEF's Youtube channel.
Juliet Wanjiku - RLC Bonn student
Juliet Wanjiku Kamau from Kenya became RLC Bonn’s latest PhD researcher, writing on “Productivity and Sustainability of Ecological Organic Agriculture Systems in Kenya” in cooperation with RLA Laureate Hans Herren’s Biovision Africa Trust.
From Penang to Bonn: RLC Global Secretariat based at ZEF from now on!
In the picture: May 26, Bonn. Anwar Fazal officially hands over the RLC insignia to Solvay Gerke. Bonn's Mayor Jürgen Nimptsch hosts the event. Photo by Michael Sondermann.
Right Livelihood Campus Bonn at ZEF extends capacities and becomes RLC Global Secretariat
Since 2011, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) has been hosting the German Campus of the “Alternative Nobel Prize”, the Right Livelihood College (RLC). In the previous year, a conference on the occasion of the 30th year jubilee of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” had been held in Bonn. Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the University of Bonn, the RLC Campus Bonn is now one out of seven worldwide.
In May 2014, RLC’s headquarter for global research and education, the Global Secretariat, has moved from Penang, Malaysia, to Bonn.
The opening ceremony of the RLC Global Secretariat was held in the Old City Hall of the City of Bonn on Monday, May 26, 2014.
At the opening ceremony of the RLC Global Secretariat talks were given by: Jürgen Nimptsch, Mayor of Bonn, Prof. Solvay Gerke, co-director of RLC and ZEF-director, Prof. Dr. Hans van Ginkel (Chairman of ZEF’s International Advisory Board (former Under-Secretary General of the UN), Monika Griefahn, co-chair RLA Foundation, and Prof. Dr. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak (President of the International Association of Universities IAU).
Read press release in German here.
http://www.zef.de/index.php?id=2184
International workshop on Mobilization for change: Participatory research and the empowerment of the marginalized
From May 24 – 29, 2014, scientists, policy makers and PhD students from all over the world participated together with the “Right Livelihood Award” laureates Dipal Barua (Bangladesh), Anwar Fazal (Malaysia), and Raul Montenegro (Argentine) in an international workshop at ZEF in Bonn. This event focused on local level participatory research in rural areas of developing and transition countries and its role in empowering disadvantaged and marginalised people and communities. The participants presented their research findings, discussing them in an engaged, cohesive and transdisciplinary way. Workshops on participatory research methods and a series of public lectures by the laureates and scholars invited by ZEF were held. The workshop could thus build on each participant’s individual expertise and experience and promote friendship and exchange among a very diverse group of participants.
RLC PhD Student admitted as a Fellow of AGGN
Our RLC PhD Student Willis Okumu was admitted as a Fellow of the Africa Good Governance Network (AGGN) of the DAAD in January 2014. AGGN is a network of African scholars linked with German Universities. It is aimed at promoting good governance in the economic and political transformation of sub-Saharan Africa
