GPN Conference 2022

The conference took place from 4th to 7th October 2022 at Giesshaus, Kassel. It brought GPN members together to reflect and discuss partnerships (and asymetries) in the GPN.

Below you can watch keynote recordings as well as find further impressions and welcome remarks of the conference.


Recordings

Keynote 1: Glo­bal Asym­metric Power Re­la­ti­ons - and Us

In this keynote, Prof. Henning Melber (President of EADI) argues that we are all colonial subjects, socialised in unequal societies based on hierarchies. But this does not mean that we are determined. The most important thing to address colonisation is that we must first start with ourselves and within ourselves.


Keynote 2: 'Zeitenwende' & international cooperation for sustainable development

In this keynote, Prof. Anna-Katharina Hornidge (Director, IDOS) argued that the strategy of international cooperation plays a key role in achieving the global common good.


Keynote 3: Recognizing Complicity and our unwillingness (and inability) to do so

In this keynote, Prof. Dr. Maria Eriksson Baaz (Uppsala University) reflected on the relations between privileged researchers and researchers based in the settings, focusing on DR Congo, Sierra Leone, and Jharkhand/India.


Photo Gallery


Welcome remarks at the opening of the conference by Lars Gerold, DAAD, Head of Section, Development Cooperation – Institution Building in Higher Educational

Lars Gerold, DAAD, Head of Section, Development Cooperation

"Dear guests,

Dear Prof. Ziai,

Distinguished participants,

Global challenges are enormous. But the good news is that they are still manageable as long as we develop and conduct the right strategies and solutions to handle such challenges. Considering this, attaining the UN's Sustainable Development Goals is essential for ensuring human survival on our planet, especially for future generations.

DAAD as the internationalization agency of the German Higher Education Institutions puts a great value on funding international cooperation collaborations that aim at contributing to the achievement of SDGs.

DAAD Strategy 2025 is based amongst others on two Pillars: enhancing international cooperation for the benefit of science and society on one hand and fostering global responsibility to contribute to development on the other hand. The program Higher Education Excellence in Development Cooperation – exceed was launched in 2009 with the objective of building sustainable networks of German Universities and their partner organizations in the global south and to share expertise amongst these networks. GPN is one of 12 networks funded by resources from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. These networks include extramural organizations and stakeholders from civil society and private sector to make sure that scientifically produced knowledge is being transferred and applied on one side and to foster practice–oriented methods of teaching at partner universities on the other side.

The Global Partnership Network is an embodiment for both DAAD strategy pillars and for the objectives of exceed program and it is setting a good example of a significant contribution which can be provided by higher education institutions. The fact that it is centered on SDG 17–reviving the global partnership for sustainable development– does not alone explain its significance. GPN also follows a partnership-based approach of collaboration, in which all partners responsibly and transparently contribute to achieving the goals of partnership.

I wish you fruitful discussions and a successful meeting. Thank you very much."


Day 1 | 04.10.22 - Partnership in the Global Economy

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Prof. Dr. Ute Clement (President, University of Kassel)
  • Prof. Aram Ziai (Director of GPN)

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Prof. Henning Melber (President of EADI)

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • GPN PhD Associates and Fellows

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • For GPN members

Location: Mensa, Main Campus, Arnold-Bode-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel

Location: Senatssaal, Mönchebergstr. 3 (3rd floor), 34109 Kassel

  • For GPN members and advisory board

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Panelists:

  • Andreas Thiel (University of Kassel): Learning about Polycentric Governance of Organic Farming: the Cases of Organic Farming in Morocco and Tunisia
  • Simone Claar (University of Kassel): SDG from below?  Just Renewable Energy Transition in Africa
  • Archana Prasad and Tanja Verena Matheis (Jawaharlal Nehru University):  Challenges for Partnerships: A Study of Agribusiness in Haryana, India
  • Tolga Tören (University of Kassel): “Marshall Plan with Africa” (MPwA), as a “Paradigm Shift” Claim in Development Cooperation
  • Julius Kiiza (Makarere University): Unmasking the African Continental Free-Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)

Moderator:Praveen Jha (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Day 2 | 05.10.2022 - Partnership in Development Cooperation

Location: Senatssaal, Mönchebergstr. 3 (3rd floor), 34109 Kassel

  • GPN Steering Committee
  • GPN Academic Committee

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Prof. Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Location: Mensa, Main Campus, Arnold-Bode-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Koustav Majumdar (ActionAid Association India): Towards a Feminist Solidarity Economy
  • Saurabh Kumar (ActionAid Association India): Exploring gendered-cultural violence - The case of 'Witch Branding' in India
  • Joshua Kwesi Aikins (University of Kassel): Negotiating Co-Constitutive Crises: Racism and the Climate Crisis as experienced by Black, Indigenious and PoC Climate Negotiators and Experts

Location: Podium, Kölnische Str. 34, 34117 Kassel

Day 3 | 06.10.2022 - Partnership in Knowledge Production

Location:Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Cluster 1: Partnership in Development Cooperation

  • Anjana Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University): Invisible Workers of Cashew Global Value System in Kerala
  • Oladjigbo Katchoni Georges Koba (University of Kara): Territorial Governance and Gender: challenges and perspectives in Togo and Burkina Faso
  • Narges Pourasghari Haghi (University of Tehran): Comparison of Active Labor Market Programs (ALMPs) in Iran, India and Germany: A Focus on Programs Facilitating Entrepreneurship in the Renewable Energies Sector for Micro-Enterprises

Location: Senatssaal, Mönchebergstr. 3 (3rd floor), 34109 Kassel

Facilitated by Dr Kadamawe K’nife (UWI) as part of his ongoing research into North South Asymmetries in the GPN

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Cluster 2: Partnership in the Global Economy

  • Genius Edokpa (University of West Indies): Playing in the park: exploring the dynamic performance of Jamaican agroparks
  • Bikila Abdisa Geleta (Haramaya University): Trends and Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment, Its effects on GDP, Export Performance, and implications on Regional Trade Agreement in Ethiopia
  • Meghna Goyal (Jawaharlal Nehru University): Production and value in agricultural value systems

 

Cluster 3: Partnership in knowledge production

  • Victoria Kiboneka (Makerere University): Enhancing ideology for food security. The contest between GMO’s and organic farming in East Africa
  • Mideksa Fufa Jilito (Haramaya University): Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Participations towards Food Security and Improved Nutrition in the Context of Sustainable Development Goals in Eastern Ethiopia
  • Neil Batsirai Maheve (Rhodes University): Rethinking development and resistance in post-colonial Zimbabwe: the case of the CAMPFIRE project in Dande 1990-2016

Location: Mensa, Main Campus, Arnold-Bode-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Sally Matthews (Rhodes University): "In Search of Post-Development Alternatives: Ubuntu and Development in South Africa"
  • Pooya Alaedini (University of Tehran): "Urban Poverty and Slum Upgrading in Iran"
  • Aram Ziai (University of Kassel): "Post-Development and reactionary populism"
  • Julia Schöneberg (University of Kassel): "Alternatives to ‘development’? Exploring counter-hegemonic practices (with)in politics, economies and knowledges"

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • GPN CSO partners

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Day 4 | 07.10.2022 - North-South Asymmetries

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

  • Maria Eriksson Baaz (Uppsala University)

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Development discourse and possibilities and limits of an alternative form of cooperation between North and South - the GPN experience, part I

Location: Mensa, Main Campus, Arnold-Bode-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Discourse and power in development cooperation - the GPN experience, part II

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Facilitated by Dr Kadamawe K’nife(UWI) as part of his ongoing research into North South Asymmetries in the GPN

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel

Location: Gießhaus, University of Kassel, Möncheberstr. 19, 34127 Kassel