News

As part of continuous growth, INESAD and Development Roast are bringing on board a host of new interns. Join us in welcoming our newest addition Surabhi Karambelkar:

Surabhi is a currently pursuing a Master’s in Environment and Sustainable Development at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) at the University College London (UCL). She started her work in the environmental sector by focussing on wildlife conservation where she worked as a freelance volunteer and wildlife expert with the local organizations National Education Foundation and Naturewalk. Through engaging with forest communities on wildlife conservation projects she realized that they were increasingly dependent on the forest to meet their needs. This indicated that social development and environmental issues are intrinsically linked and convinced to her broaden her focus to encompass the two areas.

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July is a month of celebration at INESAD. It has been seven years since the institute began its life and it has come incredibly far. It has earned a sterling reputation for rigorous research and policy impact, a fact that was reflected in the 2012 international think tank survey of more 6,500 institutions by the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). UPenn’s Think Tanks and Civil Society Program (TTCSP) named INESAD the best think tank in Bolivia and placed it in the top percentile of think tanks in the World that focus on environmental issues.

The energy and commitment to their work make INESAD staff stand out. It was their ability to achieve a lot with very little that made INESAD a prime candidate for the International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Think Tank Initiative (TTI) that first provided a significant grant for INESAD’s institutional development in 2010.

Since the TTI boost, INESAD has grown from a handful of employees to a lively and bright office of more than 20 people. And, through internships and visiting research posts, it has provided dozens of young researchers with the opportunity to get involved with hands on, important work in areas of climate change and economic development, both on the ground and remotely. Read More »

As part of continuing growth, INESAD and Development Roast are bringing on board a host of new interns. Join us in welcoming our newest addition: Jillian Cordes.

Jillian going into her last year of undergraduate studies at Northwestern University in Illinois, United States. She is studying Economics and Global Health and enjoys the different perspectives the two fields bring. Jillian has done a lot of international travel but it was her trip to Haiti a few years ago that really sparked her interest in international development and health inequalities.

With Professors Eduardo Engel and Roberto Rigobón confirmed as distinguished speakers,  the Fifth Bolivian Conference on Development Economics is gathering momentum. We are now seeking high quality article submissions and invite you and your colleagues to participate. A travel stipend of 700 USD will be offered to some of the successful applicants. Papers from all geographical regions are welcome.

Background

The Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD), the Society of Bolivian Economists (SEBOL), the Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (UPSA), the Chamber of Industry, Commerce, Services and Tourism of Santa Cruz (CAINCO), the Bolivian Academy of Economic Sciences (ABCE) and the School of Economists of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (CESC) are jointly organizing the Fifth Bolivian Conference on Development Economics, to be held at the Faculty of Entrepreneurial Science at UPSA in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, on November 14 and 15, 2013.

The conference aims at bringing together local and international scholars for the exchange of ideas and discussion of recent results within theoretical and applied development economics research. We particularly encourage female researchers and young Bolivian researchers to submit papers on all topics within the field of development economics. The Conference features keynote speakers Eduardo Engel (Yale) and Roberto Rigobón (MIT). Read More »

As part of continuous growth, INESAD and Development Roast are bringing on board a host of new interns. Join us in welcoming our newest addition Carissa Faulkner:

Carissa has always held a deep curiosity for the reasons behind the extreme social and economic imbalances existing throughout the world.  As a way to further understand the past and current events shaping global demographics, as an undergraduate student in the United States, she majored in International Relations while double minoring in History and Philosophy/Religious Studies. During her senior year she spent a semester in Prague and returned with the aspiration to pursue a career with international organizations that tackle development issues. Her internship with an NGO housing and educating orphans in Latin America ultimately convinced her to look for work within the NGO field.

After graduation, Carissa spent three years with a children’s medical NGO, Operation Smile, obtaining and tracking funds. She had the opportunity to travel with the organization to various countries in Africa and the Middle East and to work with many inspiring mentors from around the world. Her experience left her with a longing to further research development issues, particularly the effectiveness of development aid, and to live abroad.    Read More »

As part of continuous growth, INESAD and Development Roast are bringing on board a host of new interns. Join us in welcoming our newest addition Valerie Giesen:

Valerie is currently studying Social Anthropology and Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Before starting her degree, she facilitated informal education projects with the Instituto Politécnico Tomás Katari for children on the outskirts of Sucre for 15 months. Engaging with her Bolivian colleagues’ perspectives and being an outsider herself led her to question the effectiveness of external development actors. Also, living and participating in the social microcosm of the Mercado Campesino for over a year was a formative experience which sparked her interest in the issues that labor migrants face and the country’s current identity politics. This also led her to study Quechua at the University of Chuquisaca and learn how to spin wool, which opened many doors. During countless weekends on the market discussing the week’s events and listening to tales from the countryside, she decided to study Anthropology – hoping that it would allow her to repeat similar long-term stays abroad.

Back in Germany, Valerie coordinated fundraising activities for Bootschaft, an organization that builds floats from recycled material and hosts film screenings and workshops on the rivers of Berlin. This equipped her with the invaluable lesson that it is possible to build up viable projects even with few resources. Read More »

(This article has been republished from Foodtank. Click here to see the original post)

It is important to recognize the challenges facing workers in the food system. These challenges include issues such as fair living wages, better treatment of farm workers, and other basic human rights. According to the 2009 Global Employment Trends report of the International Labour Organization (ILO), over one billion people worldwide are employed in the agricultural sector. Here are nine innovative ways that food workers and organizations are fighting for justice:

1. Coalition of Immokalee Workers: March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food: In March of this year, the CIW took part in the two-week march to the headquarters of one of Florida’s largest grocery chains, Publix. The original March for Dignity, Dialogue & a Fair Wage in 2000 fought for higher, more just workers’ wages, and helped develop the Fair Food Program. The Fair Food Program uses a penny-per-pound increase in the price that growers pay for picked tomatoes to enable farmers to provide crucial benefits to workers, such as a higher wage, shade tents in the field, education on farmer’s rights, and a code of conduct for growers to follow. While many Florida grocers and national restaurants have signed on to the Fair Food Program, Publix has refused to do so. Read More »

The Spring 2013 issue of the Tropical Agriculture Association‘s (TAA) Agriculture for Development journal featured a report on food security and livelihoods of the rural populations of Guatemala by INESAD’s Ioulia Fenton. The paper summarizes the results of fieldwork research carried out by Ioulia in the province of Solola that focused on rural-urban linkages approach to development. The report makes practical recommendations for projects and policies that could begin to tackle some of Guatemala’s worst poverty and malnutrition problems. These include focusing on more sustainable farming methods, reverting to agricultural production geared for the local (rather than export) markets, and setting up knowledge transfer initiatives to teach people to conserve fresh produce by drying, salting or pickling it.

The article is available for free exclusively to Development Roast readers and can be downloaded from Ioulia’s Academia.edu site:

Fenton, Ioulia (2013) Rural-urban linkages in development – is strengthening agriculture the best way forward- A case study from Guatemala.

To purchase the full issue of Agriculture for Development, please visit the TAA site here. Read More »

One of INESAD’s specialties is to work together with the Bolivian Government and donors to facilitate the design of effective, efficient, and equitable development policies and projects in Bolivia. We are pleased to announce the latest example of this.

INESAD is currently partnering with the Danish Embassy to help them work with the government to formulate the Program for Integral and Sustainable Management of Forests and Energy in Bolivia for the period 2014-2018. This Program supports the Joint Mechanism of Mitigation and Adaptation for the Integral and Sustainable Management of Forests and Mother Earth with about US $26 million. It will also support the development of renewable energy sources in order to reduce the use of highly subsidized and contaminating diesel for the generation of energy in northern Bolivia. Read More »

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was today ordered to leave Bolivia. According to the British Broadcasting Association (BBC), President Evo Morales accused the agency of ‘seeking to “conspire against” the Bolivian people and his government.’

USAID has been working in the country for over fifty years and has a current spending budget of around US$50 million. Here is some of the media features of the story and its analysis:

En Español:

El Universo: Bolivia Expulsa a la USAID

AVN: Presidente de Bolivia expulsa a la USAID de su país Read More »