News archive
06/12/2010 - Armando Barrientos is interviewed on the impacts of social protection on children for the UNICEF Child Poverty Insights series. The interview is available in English, French and Spanish at the UNICEF website.
11/2010 - Armando Barrientos writes on 'The Boundaries of Social Protection' in a special edition of Poverty in Focus published by the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. The Edition relates to a South-South dialogue organised by IPC-IG and held in Johannesburg from 11 to 14 October 2010:'Can Social Protection Help Promote Inclusive Growth?'
23/11/2010 - Armando Barrientos –Welfare without welfare states: Poverty reduction in the South. Essay published in 'Re-Public', an online journal focusing on innovative developments in contemporary political theory and practice.
13/11/2010 - 'Honduras: 'We are burying kids all the time'. Three young people are murdered every day in Honduras. BWPI's Dennis Rodgers comments in The Guardian on the rise of the 'maras' youth gangs that form a chain of drugs, extortion and violence.
21/10/2010, 11.00 am - Tackling challenges of development: Some recent experiences in Bangladesh
Professor Jamilur R Choudhury
Professor Choudhury has recently retired as the Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, one of Bangladesh's leading private universities and the Brooks World Poverty Institute's leading research partner in South Asia. He is Bangladesh's leading civil engineer and his work on infrastructure development in low-income countries and disaster management has the highest international reputation. His contributions have been in three related areas: higher education and professional development; designing and constructing major infrastructure developments; and as a leading actor in civil society. Professor Choudhury receives an Honorary degree from the University of Manchester on 20 October 2010.
20 October 2010, Foundation Day and Honorary Degree Ceremony
Mr. Rory Brooks will be presented by the Chancellor with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters during the University Foundation Day Ceremony on 20 October.
Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury former Vice-Chancellor of BRAC University, the Brooks World Poverty Institute's leading research partner in South Asia will be presented with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Engineering.
14 October 2010 - UK Launch of UN Information Economy Report on Technology, Enterprise and Poverty
The Brooks World Poverty Institute and University of Manchester Centre for Development Informatics will host the UK launch of the global Information Economy Report 2010 on the afternoon of Thursday 14 October.
This year's IER, produced by the UN Conference on Trade and Development with significant contributions from staff at Manchester, focuses on information and communication technologies, enterprise and poverty.
It includes analysis of the poverty alleviation impacts of digital technology as mediated by enterprise, the growing impact of mobiles on small and micro-enterprise, and recommendations to governments and development agencies on maximising benefits of new technologies for the poor.
A free copy of the report will be provided to those attending the launch event.
If you would like to attend, please email: richard.heeks@manchester.ac.uk
Urban Poverty and Conflict Interview
Read an interview with , BWPI Senior Research Fellow, Dennis Rodgers on 'Urban Poverty and Conflict' in the International Review of the Red Cross, 2010 - No. 878
September 2010 International Conference - Ten Years of War Against Poverty
Over 300 delegates attended the 'Ten Years of War Against Poverty - What have we learned' conference in Manchester - follow the blogs and twitter feeds at the Chronic Poverty Research Centre website.
15 June 2010 - Book launch at ODI
'Just Give Money to the Poor' and 'What Works for the Poorest'.
Authors of Just Give Money to the Poor, Armando Barrientos, Joseph Hanlon and David Hulme (What works for the Poorest) discuss ideas from their books at this launch, with comments from DFID’s Tim Conway.
Live streaming at ODI website (13:00-14:30)
May 2010 - Research paper on Uganda in Journal of Development Studies
How Important is the Capacity of Local Governments for Improvements in Welfare? Evidence from Decentralised Uganda.
Susan Steiner, Research Fellow.
Published in the Journal of Development Studies, Volume 46, Issue 4.
April 2010 - Professor David Hulme interviewed on BBC Radio 4
David Hulme speaks to BBC Radio 4 'You and Yours' programme about his new book 'Just Give Money to the Poor' that he co-authored with Armando Barrientos and Joseph Hanlon. Listen to the interview.
March 2010 - BWPI researchers to study poverty and climate change in Bangladesh
Dr Manoj Roy and Prof David Hulme will lead this ESRC-DFID Research Programme. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers and policy activists will explore how to effectively address the problems of poor urban people, in a context of rapid climate change in Bangladesh. See press release.
March 2010 - Funding award for joint GURC/BWPI programme on urban conflict
Prof Caroline Moser (Global Urban Research Centre) and Dr Dennis Rodgers (BWPI) will lead a two-year research programme entitled 'Understanding The Tipping Point of Urban Conflict: Violence, Cities, and Poverty Reduction in the Developing World', which has been awarded £496k from ESRC-DFID.
February 2010 - Dennis Rodgers interviewed on Swiss television about the global proliferation of slums.
In an interview for Swiss television, Dennis Rodgers, BWPI Senior Research Fellow, discusses the global proliferation of slums. See his interview (in French) here.
February 2010 - Duncan Green on the impact of the financial crisis on poverty in the South
Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam GB, gives us his assessment of the impact of the financial crisis on poverty in the South. Listen to the interview. (4MB MP3 File)
January 2010 - ESRC Research Grant for project on poverty and undernutrition in rural India
Dr Katsushi Imai, a Faculty Associate of BWPI has secured a research grant (£59, 473, 1st April 2010-31st March 2011) from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for a project entitled “On the Change of Poverty and Undernutrition in Rural India”.
Overseas collaborators/ consultants are Prof. Raghav Gaiha (University of Delhi), Prof. Raghbendra Jha (Australian National University) and Dr. Veena S. Kulkarni (Arkansas State University). Woojin Kang at the School of Social Sciences will work as a research officer for the project.
December 2009 - Professor Kunal Sen awarded Pathfinder Research Grant from the ESRC
Professor Kunal Sen of IDPM (and Professorial Fellow, BWPI) has been awarded a prestigious Pathfinder Research Grant from the ESRC, with two co-investigators based in India, Dr Vinish Kathuria of IIT-Mumbai and Dr Rajesh Raj Natarajan of CMDR, Dharwad. The specific objective of Professor Sen’s research grant is to understand the micro-foundations of pro-poor growth by examining how economic restructuring has affected the performance of manufacturing firms in India, especially those based in the informal sector, using state-of-the-art econometric methodologies.
December 2009 - Professor Kunal Sen awarded Pathfinder Research Grant from the ESRC
Professor Kunal Sen of IDPM (and Professorial Fellow, BWPI) has been awarded a prestigious Pathfinder Research Grant from the ESRC, with two co-investigators based in India, Dr Vinish Kathuria of IIT-Mumbai and Dr Rajesh Raj Natarajan of CMDR, Dharwad. The specific objective of Professor Sen’s research grant is to understand the micro-foundations of pro-poor growth by examining how economic restructuring has affected the performance of manufacturing firms in India, especially those based in the informal sector, using state-of-the-art econometric methodologies.
December 2009 - Launch of the report Moving Forward in Zimbabwe - reducing poverty and promoting growth, with special guest Dr Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe Minister of Finance.
Friday 11th December, 3pm, Lecture Theatre A, University Place.
Presentation of the report by Dr Admos Chimhowu (BWPI) with discussant Dr Desire M. Sibanda, Zimbabwe Secretary for Economic Planning and Investment Promotion.
Click here to go to the Report.
Media Coverage
BBC World Service - 12 December 2009 - listen to the programme
BBC Today Programme - 12 December 2009 - listen to the programme
December 2009 - Is the microloan bubble about to burst?
In Business, BBC Radio 4, 9:30pm Sunday 6th December
Microloans have brought credit to millions of poor people shunned by the conventional banking system, but now commercial financial institutions are jumping on the microlending bandwagon.
This programme incluces commentary from a number of people, including BWPI Honorary Senior Fellow Stuart Rutherford and Syed Hashemi of the BRAC Development Institute.
Listen to the programme
Book publication: Youth Violence in Latin America: Gangs and Juvenile Justice in Perspective
Edited by Gareth A. Jones and Dennis Rodgers, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan.
BWPI Senior Research Fellow Dennis Rodgers is co-editor of this book on gangs and youth violence in Latin America.
'Criminal violence has come dramatically to the forefront in contemporary Latin America, to the extent that it is widely considered the critical social concern of the present. Youth are among the principal victims but also the primary perpetrators of this new panorama of brutality. At the same time, the phenomenon remains profoundly misunderstood, as sensationalist myths and stereotypes abound, uncritically associated with issues such as poverty, underdevelopment, and psychological deviance. Through the juxtaposition of wide-ranging, cutting-edge studies focusing specifically on youth gangs and the dynamics of juvenile justice, this volume provides a balanced and systematic comparative overview of the reality of present-day Latin American youth violence'.
For further details, see the Palgrave Macmillan website
11 December 2009 - Launch of the report Moving Forward in Zimbabwe - reducing poverty and promoting growth, with special guest Dr Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe Minister of Finance.
Friday 11th December, 3pm, Lecture Theatre A, University Place.
Presentation of the report by Dr Admos Chimhowu (BWPI) with discussant Dr Desire M. Sibanda, Zimbabwe Secretary for Economic Planning and Investment Promotion.
Download the Executive Summary of Moving Forward in Zimbabwe
Download the Full Report (16MB)
See the Africa research area section to download the Report by chapter and for more information.
Media Coverage
BBC World Service - 12 December 2009 - listen to the programme
BBC Today Programme - 12 December 2009 - listen to the programme
Social Protection in Developing Countries: A Quiet Revolution?
BWPI Research Director, Armando Barrientos, gave a Keynote Public Lecture on 'Social Protection in Developing Countries: A Quiet Revolution?' at the University of Vienna on the 24th November. The Lecture was organised by the Institut für Staatswissenschaft at the University of Vienna and the Austrian Development Agency.
Download his presentation here (PDF)
Also on 24 November, Uma Kothari gave a Keynote Lecture on 'The Time of Development: Enduring Poverty amidst Rapid Change' at the University of Agder, Kristiansand Norway. The lecture was organised by the Norwegian Association for Development Research.
BWPI/IDPM-led consortium wins £1.5 million DFID research grant over three years.
'Capturing the Gains: Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks' is the title of this collaborative cross-country research programme which will be led by Dr Stephanie Barrientos (BWPI/IDPM).
The aim is to promote policies and interventions for fairer trade that benefit poorer producers and workers and promote more sustainable development in the South.
Analysis of global production networks (GPN) examines the changing commercial linkages and patterns in contemporary trade between firms operating across countries in the north and south. It identifies the concepts of economic and social upgrading as important factors within GPNs contributing to more sustainable growth and development.
An important dimension of the research is to inform, and be informed by, policy actors and practitioners engaged in developing country participation in global production networks. It will involve ongoing dissemination of findings through a website, seminars, briefing papers, visual tools, and publications.
An international network of researchers will carry out cross-country case studies and comparative research to offer a fresh perspective on development policy in a global economy.
More information on the research programme
BWPI Researcher wins prestigious award
BWPI Research Fellow, Matthias Vom Hau has been awarded a 2010 Book Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The award is aimed at supporting the completion of his book manuscript on nationalism in Latin America, entitled ''Contested Inclusion: Transformations of Nationalism in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru'. More information.
Moving Forward with Pro-poor Reconstruction in Zimbabwe
BWPI and the Centre for Applied Social Studies, University of Zimbabwe completed a two-day review (25 and 26 August 2009) of their Report on Moving Forward with Pro-poor Reconstruction in Zimbabwe. They met with the Minister of Finance, the honourable Tendai Biti, to discuss ways in which the Government of National Unity (GNU) could ensure that its plans for rebuilding Zimbabwe improves the lives and living conditions of the country’s poor people. At present around 75 % of Zimbabwe’s people live on less than $1.25-a-day (the international extreme poverty line). Dr Admos Chimhowu of the University of Manchester led this meeting and produced the Report.
Download draft report (PDF file) or the Executive Summary (PDF file)
Armando Barrientos speaks to International Symposium on Social Development
BWPI Professor and Research Director Armando Barrientos spoke on "Social Protection in a Post-Crisis World" at an international symposium in Brasilia, Brazil from 5-7 August 2009.
The event's key aim was to evaluate the progress made and the challenges faced by developing countries in order to overcome poverty and social inequality.
Discussions centred on the different dimensions of poverty and inequality, as well as the challenges for the construction of social protection and promotion networks. The focus was particularly on emerging countries with high levels of social and regional inequalities, poverty and segmented social security systems.
The Symposium was organised by the Ministry of Social Development and was attended by Minister Patrus Ananias and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
BWPI Student Nominated 'International Climate Champion' by the British Council
SED PhD student Damian Burton's pilot project aims to mobilise the Bangladeshi diaspora in the Northwest of England to become a messenger of climate change adaptation in its communities of origin in Bangladesh. For more info see School of Environment & Development news.
August 2009: Rory Brooks speaks to BBC Radio 4's World at One
Speaking of his recent visits to Bangladesh and East Africa, BWPI Benefactor Rory Brooks tells BBC Radio 4's World at One "why funding research into poverty is just as important as the measures used to combat it".
Listen to the full BBC Radio 4 interview
Stiglitz elected Foreign Member of Royal Society
BWPI Chair, Professor Joseph Stiglitz has been elected a Foreign Member of the country’s most prestigious scientific academy.
Read the full article on the University website.
Launch of 'The Fiction of Development' interactive website
New BWPI Fiction of Development project - share your thoughts about novels and what they teach us about development.
Go to the Fiction of Development section
"They threw billions at the bailed-out banks, but what about the poor?"
24/02/2009 - BWPI Chair Professor Joseph Stiglitz "argues that the West has failed the world's weakest again" reports Parminder Bahra of the Times.
Read the full article in the TimesOnline
Manchester ranked Number 1 in Development Studies
18/12/2008 - Results from the Research Assessment Exercise have ranked the University of Manchester in first place for research power in the field of Development Studies.
RAE 2008 results for all institutions
"Novels better at explaining world's problems than reports"
7/11/2008 - The Daily Telegraph reports on paper written by BWPI and LSE researchers how best sellers can give powerful insights into aspects of poverty that are overlooked by scholars, government advisors and pundits.
Read the article on the Telegraph website
Link to University press release Link to full paper (pdf file)
BWPI e-newsletter December 2008
Our Winter 2008 e-newsletter provides a snapshot of our latest research, working papers, events and other news from the BWPI team.
Download the latest e-newsletter (December 2008)
Leading Economist Partha Dasgupta joins BWPI
04/12/2008 - Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, an expert on international development and the environment joins the University of Manchester...
Award from the Rory and Elizabeth Brooks Foundation
Philanthropist Rory Brooks announces the largest ever European gift to development research. The announcement took place at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, in New York in September 2008.
Professor Joseph Stiglitz comments on the Global Financial Crisis
20/10/2008 - Commentary on the Global Financial Crisis in the New Statesman by BWPI Chair, Professor Joseph Stiglitz "Guided by an invisible hand"
Link to the New Statesman website to read the article
Professor Joseph Stiglitz gives University Foundation Day lecture on the financial crisis Link to University of Manchester website to listen.
New book publication February 2008
'Long and hard is the gang member’s life. And if he doesn’t manage to improve his lot, he will stay delinquent forever.' Iván, 17 years old, 2006
This collection of essays is a collaborative effort by two experts on contemporary Nicaraguan “pandillas”, or youth gangs. The Nicaraguan philosopher José Luis Rocha Gómez has studied the phenomenon since 1999, from a political economy perspective. BWPI Senior Research Fellow Dennis Rodgers lived in a poor Managua neighbourhood between October 1996 and July 1997, during which time he was initiated into the local gang, an experience that provided him with a unique perspective into gang culture.
Professor David Hulme comments on the relationship between poverty and demographic trends in 'The Independent' September 2008
11/08/2008 - BWPI Associate Director, Professor David Hulme, is cited in an article in The Independent entitled 'Population paradox: Europe's time bomb' looking at uneven demographic trends across the globe and their impact on climate change and the planet's resources.
BWPI e-newsletter September 2008
Our Summer 2008 e-newsletter provides a snapshot of our latest research, working papers, events and other news from the BWPI team.
Download the latest e-newsletter (September 2008)
Who Owns Science' - listen to the discussion on BBC Radio 4 - Today programme July 2008
Professor Sir John Sulston, and Professor Joseph Stiglitz, chair of BWPI, discuss whether science has become a victim of commercial funding, ahead of lectures to mark the launch of Manchester University's Institute for Science Ethics and Innovation.
Go to BWPI in the media to listen to the interview and find more press coverage of the 'Who Owns Science' conference (05/07/2008)
New book publication July 2008
Social Protection for the Poor and Poorest - Concepts, Policies and Politics.
Edited by Armando Barrientos and David Hulme.
Social protection is fast becoming one of the most important themes in development policy. This collection examines the political processes shaping the formulation of social protection policies; compares the key conceptual frameworks available for analysing social protection; and provides a comparative discussion on the policies focused on the poor and the poorest. Drawing on key case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia, the contributors outline solutions for the future of social protection in developing countries.Download the flyer with more details on the contents of the book and how to order a copy.
Joseph Stiglitz to lead Sarkozy's French economic growth Task Force January 2008
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has requested the help of BWPI Chair, Joseph Stiglitz, to lead a Task Force to develop a new definition of French economic growth. Fellow Nobel prize winner, Indian economist Amartya Sen, will work alongside him as an advisor in the task force.
Read the article in full on the BBC Website (8/01/2008)
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