East Africa Day – 22 June 2005
Date and Venue
Date: Wednesday 22 June 2005, 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Venue: Poortgebouw (Leiden University) for plenary sessions and the
neighbouring ‘Chalet’ for parallel sessions. The locations are within
walking distance – 5 minutes - from Leiden Central Station.
Organisation
The East Africa Day 2005 is being organised by the (Dutch) Development
Policy Review Network and the African Studies Centre (Leiden). The
organising team is:
- Mirjam Ukpabi, tel.
+31 (0)71 527 33 96 / 58, e-mail:
Oukpabi@ascleiden.nl
- Marieke van Winden,
tel. +31 (0)71 527 58, e-mail:
Winden@ascleiden.nl
- André Leliveld,
tel. +31 (0)71 527 33 96 / 72, e-mail:
Leliveld@ascleiden.nl
- Mirjam Ros-Tonen, tel +31 (0)20 525 4179 / 4062, e-mail:
M.A.F.Ros-Tonen@uva.nl
Programme
09:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Arrival of the participants
10.00 a.m. – 10.15 a.m.
Opening and welcome by the Director of the CERES Research School,
co-founder of the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN) and the regional
expert meetings initiative, and today’s Chair Ton Dietz.
10.15 a.m. – 11.15 a.m. (plenary session)
‘Speed dating’
Meet the people whose names you know, whom you have never met but have
always wanted to.
11.30 a.m. – 12.45 p.m. (plenary session)
Perspectives on developments in East Africa.
In their opening addresses, Deborah Bryceson, economic geographer at the
African Studies Centre, and Peter Vermaas, a journalist who has wide-ranging
experience in East Africa (Uganda and Kenya in particular), are going to
focus on the actual situation in the region. After their presentations, the
participants will be given the opportunity to react. Investigative
journalist Jos van Beurden will lead the plenary discussion on relevant
trends in development in the East African region . During this plenary
session, the participants will also reflect on the themes they suggested at
an earlier stage. The aim will be to optimise synergy between policy,
science and development practice.
12.45 p.m. – 1.45 p.m. (plenary)
Soko. Participants can meet and discuss informally at the soko
(market) over a cup of (East African) tea, coffee or (Dutch) milk and a
sandwich. The market place will be officially opened by Mirjam Ros-Tonen,
who will briefly introduce the database plans (Global Connections) of the
DPRN. Participants are invited to bring posters, documentation and
publications relating to their own or their organisations’ work in East
Africa.
2.00 p.m. - 4.00 p.m. (parallel sessions)
Thematic sessions. In the thematic meetings scholars, policymakers
and development practitioners will exchange views and opinions on selected
issues which are currently relevant in East Africa. The starting point for
each session will be the results and conclusions of publications which
provide new and/or provoking insights into the theme being discussed and
which are relevant to policy. Ideally, the sessions will then generate
insights into possible synergies between research and policy, the
implications for the research agendas, and how this relates to current
research agendas and preferences. The objective of the sessions is to
generate concrete suggestions on how to improve mutual links and exchange.
Session A. Donor Policies and Rural Poverty Reduction.
Two recent IOB evaluation reports form the input for this session. One of
them deals with Dutch support for local governance in Uganda (2003) and the
other with Dutch aid to two (former) District Development Programmes in
Tanzania (2004). Although written from different perspectives, both studies
evaluate programmes supported by the Netherlands which are aimed at rural
poverty reduction. Jan Sterkenburg, an independent consultant involved in
both evaluations, will introduce the reports.
The reports make it clear that the focus of Dutch aid has shifted during the
last decades from macro-oriented to decentralised rural development
programmes, in the expectation that this would reduce poverty more
effectively. The effects in terms of rural poverty reduction have,
however, been disappointing. Dutch support for decentralised rural
development programmes in practice meant the strengthening of local
governance and related capacity building. This, in turn, led to a shift away
from democratisation and empowerment of the local population towards
capacity building of the state, and to a shift away from economic
development towards social development issues. Moreover, the district-based
programmes supported by the Netherlands paid little attention to poverty
analysis and monitoring at micro level, and linkages between micro, meso and
macro levels.
The conclusions of both reports raise interesting questions for further
discussion between policymakers, development practitioners and researchers:
- How can poverty analysis and monitoring become an integral part of
policy and programme formulation and implementation and what role can
(local) universities and researchers play in this respect?
- To what extent do sector-wide approaches (SWAPs) aimed at rural
poverty reduction create better opportunities for integrating micro,
meso and macro linkages in, for instance, local governance and
agriculture, and how can (academic) research contribute insights into
this question?
- How do the roles of the state and the private sector relate to each
other in rural development programmes? Should the economic dimension of
rural development be made more explicit in policies and programmes and
how can this be done? What role can research play in clarifying these
questions?
Session B. Humanitarian Aid and Local capacity building in East
Africa.
This session has been CANCELLED!
Session C Land policies and rural development programmes
In East Africa, like elsewhere, land policies are a government-owned domain
in which donors generally have little say or abstain from interfering.
Nevertheless, existing and changing land policies play a crucial role in the
success or failure of donor-supported rural development programmes. Based on
evidence from Kenya, several aspects of the land question (land conflicts,
land policies, land conservation, etc.), their relationships with rural
development efforts, and their implications for donor policies in the area
of rural development will be discussed.
Leading questions for the session are:
- To what extent are land policies taken into account in the
formulation of donor policies and in the implementation in rural
development programmes? What constraints do donors face in this respect?
- How, and to what extent, can land issues become part of policy and
programme formulation and implementation and what role can (local)
universities and researchers play in this respect?
The session is to be introduced by Marcel Rutten, senior researcher at
the African Studies Centre who has carried out extensive research into land
policies in Kenya in the last 10 years.
4.15 p.m. – 17.00 p.m. (plenary session)
Refreshments and thoughts on the future. While enjoying a glass of
beer, wine, soda or juice, a brief evaluation will be held with the
participants. What is the participants’ assessment of this first East Africa
Day? Two other East Africa days are going to be organised in 2006 and 2007
respectively. What are the expectations of the participants regarding these
two days? What topics and issues should be on the agenda of the future
events?
5.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. (plenary)
More refreshments |
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Directions
You can park the car via the entrance of Wassenaarseweg 62 |
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