Emma Frobisher

Emma Frobisher joined the African Studies Centre Leiden as a Junior Researcher in December 2017. Her research is part of a joint project between the African Studies Centre Leiden and the department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University in Nijmegen, in cooperation with the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. This collaboration was established in response to a specific NWO call for proposals on scrutinising the Theory of Change of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Dialogue and Dissent policy framework, and aims to provide input for future policy development by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs on the institutional design of advocacy aid chains. The study examines how the institutional design of aid chains enables and constrains CSOs to perform political roles, focusing on the case study of Hivos's Women@Work programme which advocates for improved labour rights for female flower-pickers in the Kenyan horticultural industry.

Emma holds a Master's degree in Development, with a major in Social Policy for Development, from the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam, from which she graduated in December 2016. Prior to joining the ASCL, she worked at the global health NGO, Malaria Consortium, in London. She has held various voluntary NGO positions including in Peru and in Malaysia. She has previous field research experience in Sierra Leone, where she worked on the Breaking down Barriers project researching advocacy for children and young people with disabilities as part of a joint initiative between the ASCL and the Dutch NGO, Liliane Fonds.