Our ambitions are to develop further Noragric’s “tradition” in the field of rights & development, constituting an arena for critical- reflexive approaches and debate on policy and governance-oriented research and assignments.
------------------------------------------------------------------- CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Rights, power and civic action: Comparative analyses of human rights-basedapproaches and civic struggle in development contexts. (2010) Partners: Noragric, University of Oslo (Norwegian Centre of Human Rights). Noragric contact: Prof. Bill Derman Funded by: NFR
Title: Agroinvestments in Africa (2010) Project leader: Ruth Haug Others involved at Noragric: Randi Kaarhus Funded by: NORAD
Title: Developing nutrition interventions for improved health and productivity (2010) Partners: Noragric - Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania Noragric Contact: Randi Kaarhus Funded by: MFA Pantil Programme
Title:Farmer empowerment (2010) Partners: Noragric - Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania Noragric Contact: Randi Kaarhus Funded by: MFA Pantil Programme Title: In the shadow of a conflict:Impacts of Zimbabwe’s land reform on rural poverty and development in Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia” (2007 - 2010) Partners: Noragric - Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of Western Cape, South Africa Project leader: Bill Derman Others involved at Noragric: Randi Kaarhus, Poul Wisborg and Espen Sjaastad Funding: NFR
Title: Land Rights and Agrarian Change in Rural South Africa. (Until March 2010) Partners:University of Oslo (Norwegian Centre of Human Rights) and the Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of Western Cape, South Africa. Noragric contact: Prof. Bill Derman Others involved at Noragric: Funded by: UiO / PLAAS
--------PhD research:--------
Title:After Doha – Bringing the Rights back In: A strategic choice exploration of prospects for a social clause in the WTO (2006-2010). Contact: Simon Pahle
Title:Between conservation and development: Traditional communities' struggle for access to natural resources in the Ribeira Valley, Brazil (2009 - 2013) Contact: Kjersti Thorkildsen
------------------------------ WORKING STRATEGY ------------------------------ The Cluster strategy aims to build and develop arenas for discussion and follow-up of on-going research projects, including PhD projects and teaching activities, but also be an arena for new, independent initiatives. Our 3-years’ working strategy will include the concretization and implementation of the following ideas:
• Continue organizing seminars, the Cluster taking the initiative, but with an open invitation to all at Noragric. We want to invite people from the outside, too, to give presentations and participate in these seminars. Seminars could be open to interested Master students (and BA students). Members can inform the students they supervise on relevant seminar topics.
• The cluster could in the future be invited to come up with proposals within the NORAD framework agreement. It could be a good idea to involve the Cluster as such, and not only individuals in developing interesting and relevant projects/assignments under the NORAD Agreement, starting with plans for next year.
• The cluster will provide a ‘larger circle’ around PhD students’ projects. Here the cluster could have a special role in serving as an arena for e.g. the Mid-term seminars. Ideas to be further concretised.
• The cluster can serve as a venue for discussion and ‘peer-review’ in relation to teaching specific courses. It can be an arena for discussing/reviewing course quality, in addition to the existing measurement of ‘student satisfaction’ organised centrally at UMB. The idea is that a Cluster member who is responsible for a course present the curriculum for a “review discussion” at a cluster meeting. The cluster can in this way also become an arena for developing closer links between research and teaching. Ideas to be further concretised.
• Arena for researchers working on Latin America? Depending on future funding and institutional collaboration arrangments, the cluster could also serve as a focal point for Noragric researchers with particular interest in developing research in Latin America.
• The Cluster should contribute to making Noragric more visible to the outside world, through organizing an international seminar/workshop aiming at a publication on a topic where we have special competence (a special issue of a journal/book). Theme suggested: Rights & Power. Timing: Starting in 2010.
