KAIZEN RESEARCHERS MEET IN BANGKOK

The Global Development Network (GDN) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency - Research Institute (JICA-RI) are working with research teams in Brazil, Ghana, the Philippines and Vietnam to document the link between managerial practices and productivity in firms, including the impact of the Japanese managerial technique, Kaizen. Findings will be published in a book co-edited by Akio Hosono, John Page and Go Shimada. Eighteen people, including researchers, advisors, practitioners from JICA, the co-editors and a support team from GDN, met in Bangkok this month for a peer review, communications training and site visits to DENSO and Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology. Learn more about the program. Meet the teams. See expected results.

The Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project was awarded to representatives from the South Asian Forum for Environment (1st Prize), SERMA Africa (2nd Prize) and the Dandora Dumpsite Rehabilitation Group in Kenya (3rd Prize). The Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development was jointly awarded as a second prize to Merve Sancak, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge and Yadeta Bekele, lecturer and researcher at the Jimma University, Ethiopia. See full story or write to cgevaudan@gdn.int

PROMOTING AFRICAN VOICES IN RESEARCH

The Global Development Network is holding a high-level round table on the 24th of May, 2018 in Washington D.C. to promote the voices of African researchers in debates about fact-based policy processes for Africa’s development, at the highest level, in line with the principle of ownership enshrined in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Titled, 'Supporting Local Research for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Unpacking the quest for evidence from Aid Agencies' the event is being held in partnership with AERC, Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings, funded by USAID.  Participation is by invitation only. For further information, please contact fobino@gdn.int

POLICY LAB AT UN WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
 

The Global Development Network is holding a Policy Lab at the UN World Press Freedom Day on 3 May 2018 in Accra, Ghana, in partnership with UNESCO, to share methods that allow researchers to sharpen their research questions and methodologies based on real world input from policy actors. This will not only create an early demand for research findings among users in policy and practice, but also to create a research agenda of direct interest to policy constituencies on press freedom. For more information, click here.

The Global Development Network will participate in the 'Assessment in Water and Natural Resources Management' forum on 17-18 May, 2018 in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, in partnership with with the Erasmus+ Water and Natural Resources in South-East Asia (WANASEA) consortium. The consortium will address capacity building for higher education, by supporting the modernization, accessibility and internationalization of higher education. The event will map and identify, in conversation with policy actors, the need for training programs on water and natural resources management in South-East Asia. Click here for additional information. 

CHALLENGES OF POLICY RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS

Ramona Angelescu Naqvi, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Communications and Impact at GDN spoke at a panel, 'Policy Research Organisations: Dilemmas and Challenges' at the 20th anniversary event of the Centre for Budget and Policy Studies in Bangalore, India. She noted that finding and retaining high caliber staff is one of the major challenges, followed by funding, independence, diversifying research communication channels and tools, and balancing rigor with speed to compete with consulting firms. She concluded that there is a periodic, if not constant, need for innovation and re-inventing the positioning of the institution, and diversifying partnerships locally and globally. Learn more about the event.

GDN supports a newly launched GlobalDev blog, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other development partners. The blog aims to catalyze policy-relevant and research-based knowledge, building momentum for change. The founders believe that good research makes a difference to development and that solid research does more than advance academic debates. It points to new ideas, different perspectives, alternative options and solutions for the world's most pressing issues. We aim to better connect those who plan and act out in the world with those who study it. Read articles on climate change, financial innovations, refugees, agricultural policy, intercultural relations and more. Or contribute.

UNICEF BURSARIES AVAILABLE | GLOBAL EVIDENCE AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMIT 2018
 

The Global Evidence and Implementation Summit has partnered with UNICEF to offer bursaries for speakers from developing countries. The summit will be held on  22-24 October in Melbourne, Australia. The bursary encourages exclusivity, diversity and collaboration .Applications for the bursary must be made before 1 July 2018. Meanwhile, the deadline for submissions of abstracts is 29 April.  Visit the GEIS 2018 website for further information.

GDN ARCHIVES | INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE
 

The Global Development Network (GDN) conducted the Next Horizons Essay Contest 2014 in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on the future of development assistance.  The contest invited original and innovative thinking to inform the ongoing discourse on development assistance and its role in post-2015 development finance. The international contest received 1,470 submissions from 142 countries around the world. Winning essays may be read here. Other topics in the knowledge section of GDN's website include education and research, health, environment, economic transformation and more.

CALLS AND OPPORTUNITIES
 

The 3-year Global State of Young Scientists in Africa (GloSYS) project collects data from young scientists all over Africa to study their personal and academic environment. Take the GloSYS Africa survey in English or in French or connect to GloSYS on Facebook and Twitter. Results for All and the African Institute for Development Policy (AIFDEP) are hosting a two-and-a-half-day fully-funded peer learning workshop for policymakers from around the world. Apply here before 18 May. The Second International Symposium: “Social Protection and Growth” will be held in Paris on 9 July; abstracts before 25 May to francois-­‐xavier.albouy@tdte.fr and inquiries to sophie.parisel@tdte.fr. See more details.