Current research

Research in International Development at Sheffield is conducted by staff located in many departments. Much of this is cross departmental and interdisciplinary linking for example Economics and Politics, Geography and Town and Regional Planning.

Among current and recent projects are the following examples form the departments of Politics, Economics, Geography, Town and Regional Planning, Sociological Studies and the School of Health and Related Research.

Children's rights in Latin America

Democratization by Jean Grugel
Professor Jean Grugel has published widely on democratization, citizenship, rights and governance in the developing world and her work has been supported by five ESRC grants since 2004.

She is currently engaged in research on rights and advocacy in Latin America; governance after financial crisis; regionalism, citizenship and social movements in comparative perspective; and children's rights. She was awarded funding from the ESRC in 2008 to bring children's rights practitioners from Latin America in order to develop guidelines for local NGOs.

The Political Economy of Poverty Alleviation

Professor Paul Mosely has recently completed or is working on projects on:
  • The political economy of pro-poor adjustment (with J. Grugel, Sheffield and B. White, St Andrews) ESRC, £210,000, finishes 2009
  • Community development finance institutions; an assessment of social impact (with K. Dayson, Salford) Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Barclays Bank and Dept of Trade and Industry, £108, 000, finishes 2010
  • Debt and health (with E. Goyder, SCHARR) Sheffield Regional Health Consortium, £29000, finishes 2008
  • Agricultural policies for rural poverty reduction in developing countries (with B. Chiripanhura and A. Suleiman), £12500, finished

Embedding Poor People's Voices in Local Governance

Seeing the State by Stuart Corbridge, Manoj Srivastava and Rene Veron
Dr Glyn Williams' research addresses three key themes: poverty and participation; state power and political practices; and environmentalism and environmental governance.

Although a geographer by training, his research is interdisciplinary, addressing issues of interest to planning, human geography, political science and development studies. His empirical work to date has been based in India, where he has undertaken extensive field-based research (funded by ESRC, DFID and the British Academy) in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

He is currently conducting a DFID/ESRC funded project, Embedding Poor People's Voices in Local Governance, which runs from January 2008-December 2010 and examines decentralized governance initiatives in Kerala and West Bengal.

The human dimensions of environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa

Debora Sporton has a number of strands to this research funded through grants from DFID and the ESRC:
  • Policy, Poverty and Livelihoods in Southern Africa
  • Policy, Poverty and Population Issues in sub-Saharan Africa
  • An ESRC-funded research project on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on elderly natural resource based livelihoods

The Social Dimension of Regionalism in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Global Social Policy & Governance by Bob Deacon
Bob Deacon's work has so far focussed upon global social governance and global social policy is currently addressing the extent to which regional associations of countries such as ASEAN, AU, MERCOSUR in Asia, Africa and Latin America are developing a social dimension to their regional integration projects.

This research is with support from the British Academy and in association with the United Nations University Centre for Regional Integration Studies (www.cris.unu.edu).

Adaptation to environmental and climatic variability amongst natural-resource dependent populations

Chasca Twyman's research investigates, among other aspects, how natural resource-dependant societies in the developing world, particularly southern Africa, respond and adapt to climatic variability and shocks such as drought and floods.

It also looks at how these responses may better inform an understanding of likely 21st century responses to global warming-induced climate change.

The relationship between health, well-being and development processes

Graham Jones' work focuses upon the relationship between health, well-being and development processes, especially for marginalised and impoverished people especially in a West African context.

He is Co-founder of Information Development for Empowerment Advocacy and Sustainability (IDEAS). This is an interdisciplinary research and applied project developed by scholars in ethnomusicology, information studies, sociological studies, and health and development at the University of Sheffield and the University of Loughborough.

The objectives are to study and facilitate local knowledge maintenance and transfer within African communities. Three demonstration studies are planned in communities in Gambia, Ghana, and Cameroon.

The Social Construction of Childrens' rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Afua Twum-Danso's current research interests include:
  • The implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child particularly in developing countries
  • Children's participatory rights particularly within the family context in developing societies
  • The social construction of childhood and the implications for the concept of children's rights
  • The dynamics of parent-child relationships and the impact on children's rights

Social structure, the middle class and development policy

Morocco - Globalization and its Concequences by Shana Cohen and Larabi Jaidi
Shana Cohen's research focuses on social change and international development and is currently investigating social mobility and the quality of life among middle-income and low-income families in Morocco, with the intention of debating the concentration on poverty among development studies scholars and policy officials.

She is also developing a research project on how social work reflects state investment into class structure, class relations, and principles of public altruism.

The nature of 'street level' bureaucracy in Tanzania

Graham Harrison is undertaking research on the nature of 'street level' bureaucracy in Tanzania with Nuffield foundation funds.

Taking the street level notion from Michael Lipsky, he is exploring the tensions and contrasts between the abstract and centralised paradigms of state reform that dominate the Tanzania Local Government Reform Programme, and the ways in which district administration works in local context shaped by material scarcity and specific cultural repertoires.

Scattered governance: understanding the multiple ways in which residents manage their everyday lives (2009) Funded by TRP Research Stimulation Award

Dr. Paula Meth's work builds on my ‘Men´s experiences of violence’ project (2006-8) by bringing together the everyday accounts of how men manage their lives, with the views of the local leadership of the South African settlement of Cato Crest (Durban). Key findings are that the formal institutional structure (Ward Committee) is overshadowed by the dominance of ANC party political structures in the area, that community partnerships with the police to manage crime are very powerful, and that residents use a host of semi/in-formal practices to manage their daily lives, including witch doctors, Christianity and forms of political protest. These informal practices are largely denied by the settlements’ leadership.