Deo Namwira

A native of the D.R. Congo, Deo Namwira completed his PhD in International Development at the University of Birmingham, UK (Nov. 2020). His work concentrated on institutions, sustainable livelihoods, and ecosystems management in the context of conflict, with fieldwork conducted in Lake Tanganyika shoreline communities of Tanzania and the D.R. Congo.  His research examined the connections between the social and ecological systems of a transboundary lake in a transdisciplinary study approach that combined insights from social and natural sciences.  Deo is currently a Faculty Fellow at the Canadian Mennonite University and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Manitoba, in the Anthropology Department. Deo’s postdoctoral research builds on his doctoral work on Lake Tanganyika, expanding it to Lake Victoria to include Tanzania, D.R. Congo, Uganda and Kenya. Connected to the Dried Fish Matters project (DFM), this research project intends to investigate the export and import markets of African Great Lakes’ dried fish, which have been growing in the Global North, including Canada. The research examines the socioeconomic and ecological impacts and sustainability of both ends of the dried fish value chain.  Thus, my project links economic development in Africa, the need for natural resource conservation, and the potential problems of the long-term sustainability of global fish and people’s livelihoods.

In addition to his research experience, Deo has academic teaching achievements in both in the UK and Canada. Courses taught include Critical Approaches to Development, Introduction to Economics, International Economy, Introduction to Microeconomics, Introduction to Macroeconomics, Introduction to International Development, and Environmental Sustainability. Through these courses, he helps students to expand their knowledge in the way that can benefit human societies.

Prior to the University of Birmingham, Deo was the International Grants Manager, for Mennonite Central Committee Canada for 10 years. Deo has over 30 years of experience in International Development, programme design and management as well as capacity building as instruments of poverty reduction and sustainable development. He has worked on a range of humanitarian, conflict resolution and development projects with several NGOs, local and international, both in Africa and in Canada. Deo has visited professionally more than 60 countries located in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America, facilitating workshops, acquiring training, experience and exposure, as well as attending conferences on several key international development issues.