News & Events

This book, a co-publication of the ASCL and IFRA (Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique), is the first to consequently use quantitative data in addition to qualitative data about violence in Nigeria in very different fields: from oil production to cattle breeding, radical Islam to motor accidents, land conflicts to witchcraft; quantitative data that was previously unavailable or inaccessible. The authors underline the necessity of a trend analysis to decipher the patterns and the complexity of violence in these fields. Open access!

The Netherlands has been an active supporter of international development aid. Dutch development cooperation started in response to Truman’s 'Four point programme' announced in 1949. It began as technical assistance, channelled through multilateral channels. Bilateral aid started in 1962 and was introduced by (then) Minister for Development Cooperation Berend-Jan Udink. Since then, the priorities, target countries and budget of Dutch development cooperation have continuously shifted. This thematic map illustrates how the partner countries for Dutch development cooperation have changed throughout the years.

The research project 'Defining, targeting and reaching the very poor' has resulted in field reports on Bangladesh, Benin, Jeldu (Ethiopia), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and a synthesis report. Anika Altaf is a PhD candidate whose research aims to discover how extremely poor people can benefit on a long-term basis from poverty-alleviation initiatives. In addition, she attempts to find out who the ultra poor are and what struggles they face.

In October 2014 a massive popular uprising in Burkina Faso, spearheaded by the trade unions, toppled the regime of Blaise Compaoré. The unrest bore a striking resemblance to that of January 1966, when the trade unions led widespread demonstrations that ousted the country’s first president, Maurice Yaméogo. On neither occasion was the trade union movement sufficiently united to define a new political agenda for the country. Professor Craig Phelan (Kingston University London) will discuss the pros and cons of trade union pluralism in Burkina Faso on 21 April.