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A regular update highlighting and connecting work within International Development across the OU and beyond.

2019 opens with an emphasis on migration 

The new Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration was approved by 164 nations on 10 December. Hailed as a ‘historic agreement’ by UNICEF, the compact provides a platform for governments around the world to work together to co-ordinate action on migration. 

In our first International Development News of 2019, Visiting Research Fellow Dr Fidèle Mutwaraisbo considers the compact's significance, and why it has aroused so much opposition; while Dr Tendayi Bloom interrogates the compact’s core distinction between ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ migration.

Other migration-related contributions reflect on the role of compassion in supporting migrants in detention; describe the challenges of being a ‘diaspora returnee’; and urge everyone to take a fresh look at IMISCOE, the International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion network. All demonstrating that although the OU’s Year of Mygration has drawn to a close, migration continues to be high on our agenda.

ID@OU


News and research round up

IMISCOE is changing and the OU is involved
As The Open University takes part in an event kicking off the restructuring of IMISCOE, Dr Kesi Mahendran urges colleagues to take another look at the international migration, integration and social cohesion network. Read more ... 


Understanding what China is doing in Africa – and how Africa should respond
Speaking at the Africa Oil Summit, Professor Giles Mohan contributes to the debate about how African governments can leverage the benefits of Chinese investment. Read more ...

What have they got against the Global Compact for Migration? 
It's a non-binding agreement between nations to get their act together in coordinating migration and curtailing the chaos that enables human traffickers’ businesses to flourish. So how does it work, who is opposing it, and why, asks Dr Fidèle Mutwarasibo. Read more ... 

What makes someone an 'illegal immigrant'?
Also reflecting on the Global Compact, Dr Tendayi Bloom asks what it means for a state to identify someone as an 'illegal' immigrant – or even an 'immigrant' at all. Read more ... 

The role of compassion in volunteering – and in research
In a post based on her prizewinning paper to the 2018 Voluntary Sector and Volunteering Research Conference, Joanne Vincett shares some of her personal challenges in undertaking research with volunteer befrienders at Yarl’s Wood detention centre. Read more ... 

We need to think differently about teacher support in remote schools
It will be impossible to recruit, educate and retain enough teachers in Africa unless we rethink current models of student and teacher learning, Dr Alison Buckler maintained in her keynote speech to the Ethiopian National Teachers' Conference. She offers some pointers on how this can be done. Read her blog ... 


'One day we say that's enough...I'm taking the plunge'
What's it like relocating to your country of heritage? Journalist and development practitioner Yomi Oloko highlights his experiences 'moving back' to Nigeria and offers advice to other diaspora doing the same. Read more ... 

Plea to remain 'open-minded and open-hearted' around religion
The Special Envoy for Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU, Dr Ján Figeľ, reminded Open University staff that many religious leaders have far greater influence than politicians, when he gave an address at an University-wide Christmas event. Dr Figeľ's visit to the Milton Keynes campus was supported by the OU’s International Development and Inclusive Innovation strategic research area. Read more ... 


Opportunities

ESRC-fully-funded doctoral studentships: applications close 11 January  
The Open University invites applications for full-time and part-time studentships in its suite of pathways within The Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership. Pathways include: citizenship, development policy and practice, geography, innovation in learning, and health and wellbeing. Deadline: 11 January, 2019. More information…

Call for papers for DSA annual conference 2019 
Panels for DSA Conference 2019 have been announced and the call for papers is open until 16 January. More information...



Events

IKD lunchtime seminar: Why We Lie About Aid: Donor Theatrics and the Contentious Politics of Development
(part of the Open University International Development Seminar Series)
16 January, 12:00-14:00, CMR 11, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Partisan discourse in donor countries has produced a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum. A different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. But such an approach requires an underlying moral vision that may be no longer be viable in a time of growing nationalism.
Speaker: Pablo Yanguas, Honorary Research Fellow at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. Read more and register...

Celebrating Sixteen Years of Innogen Research in Innovation and Development: Looking Backward and Looking Forward
28 February, 14:00-17:00, Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
The event will bring together colleagues from academia, policy, politics and practice to celebrate Innogen’s achievements but also to discuss the implementation challenges of the UK’s new industrial strategy in the post-Brexit era. To register, email FASS-PPEDG-Support@open.ac.uk, FAO Sheila Hobbs.

DSA 2019: Opening Up Development 
19-21 June, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
The Development Studies Association annual conference 2019 will take place at The Open University. The call for papers is open until 16 January (see Opportunities above). Early bird registration will open 28 February. Read more...
 
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