Current Research

In the period since 1989, responsible for acquisition and implementation of research programs into major themes, which include several specific studies:

• Spatial information infrastructure and urban governance for multi-dimensional poverty reduction: comparing middle-size Indian cities

The research program focuses on how urban governance networks can tackleurbaninequalitiesand household deprivationsin largeIndian cities, by using local spatialinformationinfrastructure (SII).

• New Forms of Urban Governance

I DPAD Funded program on research concerning multi-actor arrangements in providing basic services, participation in ward committees, and fiscal decentralization.

• Urban Environmental Management

EU 4th Framework INCO-DC funded program on 'Enabling Strategies in urban environmental management in large cities: the case of Nairobi and Hyderabad '.

IPAD funded research project on Sustainability in practice: exploring innovations in urban domestic SWM in secondary cities in India . Comparative study on secondary cities in southern India with the Institute for Social and Economic Change.

Had specific management responsibility for Netherlands Government funded research on 'Solid Waste Management: Linkages between Formal and Informal Sector waste collection, separation and recycling' (DGIS).

• Poverty and development between state, market and civil society

Urban poverty alleviation and local governance: supervision of RAWOO activities in preparation for Advisory report to Netherlands government, DGIS, Min. of BZ.

Re-aligning actors in an urbanizing world, published by Ashgate, Aldershot (2004).

• Human Resource Development, labor markets and industrial growth

Study on increasing women's labor market participation in the United Arab Emirates was carried out, as part of an ISS research program on Human Resource Development in the UAE in 1999, funded by the UAE government.

IDPAD funded research project on the role of technical and vocational training in improving access of poor women to the labor market, together with the Center for Regional Development, J. Nehru University in New Delhi .

Pollution in the Asian Regional Tanning Industry: Employment and Gender Issues in Industrial Development (UNIDO-funded regional study in Indonesia , Nepal and India ).

PhD - Dr. Bob Hendriks

"Urban Livelihoods, Institutions and Inclusive Governance in Nairobi: 'Spaces' and their   Impacts on Quality of Life, Influence and Political rights"

The study formulates conditions for sustainable impacts of inclusive and responsive governance through 'invited spaces' offered by the government and 'claimed spaces'createdby the poor. It   questions how increased contributions to poverty reduction and improvement of quality of life for Nairobi citizens can be realised in an equitable and responsible way,while contributing to development of the city and country. To adequately address this two-sided objective of economic growth and poverty reduction in the contemporary context, the study analyses both processes and impacts; moreover itexamines impacts in terms of quality of life as well as influence and political rights. The study explores the individually claimed spaces of households in Nairobi's slums, the collectively claimed spaces of hybrid mechanisms for access to peri-urban land and tenure, and the invited spaces of city-wide governance networks.

PhD - Dr. Hebe Verrest

" Home-based Economic Activities and Caribbean Urban Livelihoods: Vulnerability, Ambition and Impact in Paramaribo and Port of Spain "

The study examines the prevalence, organisation and relevance of Home-based Economic Activities (HBEAs) in four neighbourhoods in the Caribbean cities Paramaribo (Suriname) and Port of Pain (Trinidad and Tobago). The PhD research questions who operates HBEAs and why ; what the absolute and relative impacts of these HBEAs are on the livelihoods of the households involved, how HBEAs are organised, and what role the local institutional context plays in this.

The distinct economic and local politicaldevelopments in Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have produced distinct institutional context in each country and city, which grounds the comparison between the two. In addition the study examines the relevance of currently popular policies on entrepreneurship and microfinance.

PhD - Dr. U. Fernando

"Uneasy encounters : relationships between Dutch donors and Sri Lankan NGOs"

The main emphasis of the research is relational dynamics between the Northern donors and their counterparts in the South, paying special attention to types of power expressed in their transactions. Inspiration came from organisation theory and anthropology. The research is based on six case studies of relationships of Dutch Co-Financing Agencies (Novib, Cordaid and Hivos) and Sri Lankan NGOs, developed as partial-ethnographies.   Using a grounded theory approach, research generated theoretical insights to understand inter-organisational relations in the third sector.   Empirical data on relational dynamics covered institutional, organisational and personal dimensions. This layered and integrated conceptualisation of relationships within and between actors involved a multi-level analysis of structure and agency.

More information about the research can be obtained via: udanfer@hotmail.com

PhD - Dr. W. Verkoren

"The Owl and the Dove: Knowledge Strategies to Improve the Peacebuilding Practice of Local Non-Governmental Organisations"
Local non-governmental organisations in conflict-torn countries find themselves in rapidly changing circumstances. This calls for flexibility and the capacity to learn. Locally appropriateways to deal with conflict are needed but difficult to find. Peacebuilders (symbolised by the dove in the title) face various constraints as they develop and share their knowledge (symbolisedby the owl). Based on research carriedout mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and the Philippines, The Owl and the Dove maps these elements in orderto find out how peace workers can become more effective learners. It pays attention to exchanges with donor organisations, knowledge institutions and networks. The book makes concrete recommendations for capacity building, organisational learning, research, and networking, so that these activities may help overcome structural inequalities and constraints, strengthen the learning capacity of peacebuilders, and improve the global knowledge base for b etter peace policy and practice.  
Willemijn will defend her PhD thesis on 26 March 2008 at 12.00 hrs. in the Aula of the University of Amsterdam. More information about the research can be obtained via w.verkoren@fm.ru.nl

PhD - Dr. A.M. Karanja

PhD - Dr. N. Zakarya

PhD - Dr. N.P.C. Beerepoot

"Collective Learning in Small Enterprise Clusters, Skilled workers, Labour MarketDynamics andknowledge accumulation in the Philippine Furniture Industry"

Collective learning as source of competitiveness for regional concentrations of firms has gained increasing recognition in recent years. This study examines the existence of learning processes in the furniture clusters in Cebu and Pampanga, the Philippines. In contrast to most studies that concentrate on the firm level, this study examines the role of different groups in the local labour force (entrepreneurs, skilled workers, subcontractors) in these processes. In order to better understand collective learning processes, it is necessary to identify how a learning process is built up and who is involved in it.

A significant conclusion is that the ease with which knowledge is transmitted does not depend on whether the knowledge is tacit or codified, but rather on the position of its owner in the cluster and how this person values his or her knowledge. This study further demonstrates how knowledge is selectively transmitted between groups in the labour force and how efforts are taken to prevent access to certain strategic types of knowledge by other groups. This study demonstrates the complex connection between learning, firm upgrading and improved income and job qualityfor workers.

PhD - Dr. M. Van Eerd

"Local Initiatives in Relocation: the state and NGOs as partners?"

R elocation projects, resulting from infrastructural developments in city centers, have affected millions of people in India. And although more formal housing programmes are sometimes offered to them, people who were relocated have to reorganize their lives almost from scratch. Maartje van Eerd conducted her PhD research in Chennai, India and her study is about poor people in Chennai who were forcefully relocated to the outskirts of the city in the early 1990s. Therelocatees in Chennai used tolive in thecity centre, but because the areas they occupied were needed for infrastructural development they were removed to a relocation project at the border of the city. Her PhD thesis describes and analyzes ways in which the former slum-and pavement dwellers have reorganized their lives in the new area as far as housing, access to basic servicesand social security are concerned. Among the initiatives studied are chit funds, temple festivals and local water distribution networks. Furthermore, the initiatives the government and the NGOs undertook have undertaken to develop the area and improve local conditions were part of the study. Its main focus was to investigate whether and how these initiatives can be matched with the implementation of formal development programmes.

Van Eerd, Maartje van (2008) Local initiatives in relocation: the state and the NGOs as partners? From research to action. Manohar publishers, new Delhi, India.

More information about the research can be obtained via: vaneerd@ihs.nl, or www.ihs.nl

PhD - Dr. S. Mwangi

"Challenges of Urban Environmental Governance-Participation and Partnerships for Urban environmental Management in Nakuru, Kenya"

PhD - Dr. P. Desai

"Institutional dimensions of program planning and implementation, three cases of squatter upgrading in Mumbai, India"

In a conventional blueprint model, program planning and implementation is treated as a linear process in which well-articulated and consensual goals are translated into tangible 'achievements' on the ground. Such a model inherently implies that programs develop within an insular environment with few deviations from the original plans. Implicit also is the assumption that they adhere to a series of prescribed steps that begin with their conceptualization and end with evaluation. Implementation, in this approach, is a matter of following the plan to reach the expected 'end state' within a specified time limit. Decision makers are also expected to make informed decisions after an objective assessment of the situation, to act in a neutral manner and follow the laid downprocedures. In effect, the entire process from program formulation to its execution, is treated as a sequential one in which the program components are under the control of a centralized decision making structure occupied by formal decision makers placed in the organizational hierarchy.

The present research questioned the above model especially when applied to developing countries. It contended that program planning and implementation, in reality, is as much controlled by the formal plans as it is with the informal 'shadow' plans that operate in the background. The interweaving between the formal and the informal, as represented in the Conceptual Model given subsequently, is a result of conflicts that arise in the background settings that envelope programs, the decisions that are made to resolve them and the organizational structure that translates these decisions into concrete actions. These three core components - the background environment, the decision-making and the organization of programs - depict a volatile and unpredictable quality. As discrepancies arise in the political, bureaucratic, socio-cultural and organizational arenas, translation of program 'goals' into concrete 'actions' on the ground is not a sequential and integrated process, but an often punctuated one.

PhD - Dr. R. Prihandana

"Redefining the Pasar: Trading enterprise, livelihood, and urban governance in urban markets in WestJava"

Thepasar as an economic institution consists of trading enterprises functions together in an area, times and modes of transactions, for a certain type of commodity, and on scale of transfer. These concentrations link the trading enterprises with each other and to other activities outside the pasar, including with other pasars. Because of its contribution to the local economy and its support to the urban citizen livelihood, the pasar is a good example to understand urban governance.

Traders, as the major pasar community, have constructed each pasar, by accumulating capital, building networks and improving livelihoods. Pasars have the capacity to accommodate the increasing flow of information, goods, money and people, and strengthen its importance to economic and urban governance conditions.

This study shows that networks of traders differentiated by area depending on local socio-economic conditions provide different degrees of support for the traders to expand their business and cope with life-cycle risks, depending on the concentration, scale, type, period and location of the business. The pasar expands the dynamics of livelihood, because it opens up the range of opportunities offered which will support the traders in their coping strategies and adaptations, which is all parts and parcel of their livelihood strategies. The different conflicts and formal support encountered bytradersinduced bydifferences in geographical importance and the different set-up of the government administration.

The dynamic and informal characteristics of pasar trading activities require a space for adaptation, which has not been provided by recent policy. This study suggests that in some cases, the regulatory and legal framework emphasis in the literature on urban governance were not the most important criterion for good governance, but the goodinteraction between actors. This study fills the gap in the discussion on urban-regional linkages by showing how the pasar functions as a connecting element of urban-regional linkages.

More information about the research may be obtained via: ramalis@yahoo.com ,   +62 81321884301

PhD - Dr. N. Shah

"Contingent Workers, women in Two industries in Mumbai"

The impetus for this research came from our contact with women workers, their anguish and adverse experiences of change in their lives and work after the introduction of liberalisation policies in 1991 in Mumbai , India . We have attempted to analyse the complex, multi layered relationships between industrial policies, restructuring, women workers and their households. The study moves between the macro and the micro; from industrial policies to firm level changes; from the household to the workplace and from women's perceptions to their strategies. 

More info on this research is be found by writing to: shahnandita@gmail.com

PhD - Dr. N. Gandhi

"Contingent Workers, women in Two industries in Mumbai"

The impetus for this research came from our contact with women workers, their anguish and adverse experiences of change in their lives and work after the introduction of liberalisation policies in 1991 in Mumbai , India . We have attempted to analyse the complex, multi layered relationships between industrial policies, restructuring, women workers and their households. The studymoves between the macro and the micro; from industrial policies to firm level changes; from the household to the workplace and from women's perceptions to their strategies.

More info on this research is be found by writing to: gandhinandita@yahoo.com

PhD - Dr. Peer Smets

"Housing finance and the urban poor"

My  PhD thesis 'Housing Finance and the urban poor: building and financing low-income housing in Hyderabad , India ' deals with the supply and demand of the housing finance market in India . On the supply side the focus is on public and private sector housing finance, but also on the provision of housing finance by NGOs, CBOs and the informal financial sector. On the demand side attention was paid to the building and financing strategies of the urban poor. The thesis shows that when demandand supply meet frictions occur concerning the interpretation of e.g.low-income and low-cost housing and its financing, its affordability and incremental financing.

PhD- Dr. M.A. Hordijk

"Of Dreams and Deeds: the role of local initiatives for community-based environmental managementinLima, Peru"

In the low-income neighbourhoods in many developing countries it is the poor who build their part of the city themselves. Pampas de San Juan, in the Southern peripheries of the Peruvian capital Lima, is no exception to this rule. This book analyses how the inhabitants of Pampas de San Juan organize to improve the environmental conditionsof their neighbourhood. Thestudy places their efforts within a wider framework of urban environmental management and participatory governance in developing countries, and addresses the contribution they make to the sustainability transition.

The book clearly shows that it is time to turn the general concept of "participation" upside down. Normally we search for ways to involvepoor people in projects of external actors. It is, however, time to search for ways in which the external actors can participate in initiatives undertaken by the inhabitants.

This action research project has led to the foundation of the organization Aynimundo, which struggles on a daily basis to translate this idea of participating in poor peoples initiatives into practice. More information about the can be obtained via:  www.aynimundo.org

PhD - Dr.L. Stobbe

"Inclusion and Exclusion in the Argentine Auto Components Industry, a study of industrial restructuring, gender and power"

The study uncovers the processes of inclusion and exclusionthat accompany the restructuring of the Argentine auto components industry. It focuses on the consequences - in terms of access tojobs andskills- of the introduction of new production and management techniques for workers, in general, and women workers, in particular. The study shows thatinclusion and exclusion is the outcome of developments at different interrelated levels, from the global to the workplace, and it pays particular attention to the question of how sexualdivisions are activelycreated and sustained as anintegral part of the dynamics of technological and organizational change. Inclusion and exclusion processes are analysed as the outcome of both agency and structure, with special reference to the role of implicit power. This allows for a less deterministic, more agency-oriented,view of workplace reality, without losing sight of the factthat agency can, and usually does, reinforce existing structures. Thestudy reveals thatthe introduction of lean production into the Argentine auto components industry led to afurther masculinization of the sector. Nonetheless, some inclusion of women workers was achieved as well. Gender inequalityin access to jobs and skills hasastrong tendency to reproduce itself, but women workers can, and do, make a difference for themselves.

See also:

• Stobbe, L. (2005). Doing machismo: legitimating speech acts as a selection discourse.Gender, Work and Organization, 12(2), pp. 105-123.
• Stobbe, L. (2005). The gendered reconstruction of the Argentine Auto Components Industry. In T. Davids & F. van Driel (Eds.), The GenderQuestion in Globalization: Changing Perspectives and Practices. Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 25-39.

More information about the research canbe obtained via: jm.stobbe@windesheim.nl

PhD - Dr.M.Y. Kromhout

"Gedeelde Smart is Halve Smart, Hoe Vrouwen in Paramaribo hun bestaan organiseren"

The mainaim of the studywas to see how the economic crisis in Suriname structured the livelihood strategiesof poor households. Livelihood strategies are defined as the provision of basic necessities for an individual or household. The study looks at gender and ethnicity to explain the ways in which households organize their means of living.

More information about the research can be obtained via: maykekromhout@orange.nl , +31 (0)20 6227928, +31 (0) 6 28704124

PhD - Dr. M. Bavinck

"One Sea, Three Contenders, Legal Pluralism in the inshore fisheriesof the Coromandel Coast"

To understand how conflicts over natural resources develop and how they are resolved or perpetuated, Maarten Bavinck provides a detailed case study of marine fisheries alongthe Coromandel Coast in Southern India. The fish resources of the area are contested by a sizeable artisanal fishing population as well as by newly establishedcommunity of trawler fishermen.Each has developed a different set of rules governing access to and appropriation of fish resources. The government of Tamil Nadu is the most recent entrant to the field, and has endeavoured to resolve the conflict by regulating fishing rights. The end result is the existence of three 'legal' systems. The author examines each system in detail. Healsodiscusses patternsof conflict and accommodation, social and economic organization,and authority structures, whichenforcerules.

Dr. Bavinck concludes that fisheries regulation is not the exclusive responsibility of the state. Instead, he notes the existence of well-defined regulatorypractices among both the artisanal andtrawler fishermen.

Thiswell-argued and meticulousstudy is a distinct contribution to social theorysince it links the study ofsea tenure to the discourse on legal pluralism, while simultaneously embedding social theories in the dynamic realities of people's struggles. It will attract all those involved with naturalresource management, peace and conflict studies, sociology of law, social anthropology, institutional economics and public administration.

PhD - Dr. P. Knorringa

"Transaction regimes between market and hierarchy in the Agra footwear cluster, India"

With its unusual focus that is basedon extensive primary data,this anthropological-economic study adds a newtheoretical perspective to the study of small-scale production in nonfactory settings. An original and innovative book, Economics of Collaboration examines the less tangible and largely unexplored areas of economic relations, such as informal control, trust, interdependency, and collaboration and argues that business relations founded on these elements are longer lasting and better able to cope with change. Developing an analytical framework that draws on elements of transaction cost economics,socioeconomics, and network theory, author Peter Knorringa demonstrates that producer-trader relations are characterized by a subtle mix of market, hierarchy, and collaboration. The book also features a detailed case study--the Agra footwear industry--to highlight the institutional peculiarities, including a lack of a rigorous enforcement of property rights andcaste-based identity clashes between artisans and traders, that shape the objectives of individual entrepreneurs. Through this case study, the author also distinguishes between various types of transactionregimes, examines the different levels of informal dealings within specificproduction and marketing chains, and assesses the role of the character traits ofindividualentrepreneurs ininfluencing the bargaining process while striking deals. Economics of Collaboration will be of interest to those who studythe sociology of work as well as toeconomists andresearchers in the areas of institutionaleconomics, transaction cost economics, socioeconomics, development studies, and economictheory.

Books

• Baud, I.S.A. and de Wit, J. (eds.)   (2008). New Forms of Urban Governance in India : Shifts, modes, networks and contestation. Sage, Thousand Oaks , Delhi , London .
• Baud, I.S.A., Post, J., Furedy, C. (2004). Solid waste management and recycling; actors, partnerships and policies in Hyderabad, India and   Nairobi, Kenya , Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, London, NY. (ISBN 1_4020_1975_0.) 303 pp.
• Baud, I.S.A. and Post, J. (eds.) (2002). Re-aligning Actors in an urbanizing world: institutions and governance in an international perspective, Ashgate Publishers, Aldershot .
• I.S.A. Baud, J.Post , L. de Haan, A.J. Dietz (eds.), (2001).Re-aligning government, civil society and the market; new challenges in urban and regional development, Essays inhonour ofG.A. de Bruijne, AGIDS, University of Amsterdam , 532 pp .

Book Chapters

• Raju, S. and Baud,   I.S.A. (2007).   'Life aspirations and embedded contexts:   Gender and vocational training in segmented markets in Indian Cities',   in Shaw, A. (ed.) Indian Cities in Transition, Pub. Oriental Longman, CHENNAI.    ISBN: 978-81-250-3205-2.   (pp.412-445).
• Baud, I.S.A. et al. (2005), ' Cooperation and conflict in the transition to sustainable development: alliances in solid waste management', in Nijenhuis, G. et al. Space andPlace in Development Geography, Dutch University Press.
• Baud, I.S.A., 2004. 'Markets, partnerships and sustainable development in solid waste management:asking the questions' in: Baud, I.S.A., Post, J., Furedy, C. (2004). Solid waste management and recycling; actors, partnerships and policies in Hyderabad, India and Nairobi, Kenya , Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, London, NY.
• Baud, I.S.A. 2004. 'Re-use, recovery and recycling of urbaninorganic solid waste: modalities, commodity chains andsustainable development' in: Baud, I.S.A., Post, J., Furedy, C. (2004). Solid waste management and recycling; actors, partnerships andpoliciesinHyderabad, India and Nairobi , Kenya ,Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht , London , NY
• J. Post and I. Baud, 2004. 'Government, market and community in urban solid waste management; problems and potentials in the transition to sustainable development' in: Baud, I.S.A., Post, J., Furedy,C. (2004). Solid waste management and recycling; actors,partnerships and policies in Hyderabad, India and Nairobi, Kenya , Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, London, NY
• Baud, I.S.A. (2002). 'North-South Research Partnerships: an institutions approach', in Bouma, J. and Opschoor, H., North-South Research Co-operation: comprehensives approaches to development and innovation, KNAW, Amsterdam .
• Baud, I.S.A., Post, J. (2002). New partnerships in urban solid waste management and their contribution to sustainable development: experiences in Accra ( Ghana ) and Chennai ( India ), in: Baud, I.S.A. and Post, J. (eds.). Re-aligning Actors in an urbanizing world: institutions and governance in an international perspective, Ashgate Publishers, Aldershot , pp.217-239.
• Baud, I.S.A., Hordijk, M. (2002). Resource flows and urban governance:approaching environmental transitions in cities and their hinterland, in: Baud, I.S.A. and Post, J. (eds.). Re-aligning Actors in an urbanizing world: institutions andgovernance in an international perspective, Ashgate Publishers, Aldershot , pp. 311-326.
• Baud, I.S.A. and H. Maghoub, (2001). 'Enhancing Women's Employment Opportunities: The Challenge and the Possibilities', in: A. Abdelkarim, When foreign workers are majority, Employment and Employability of Nationals in an OilEconomy-UAE, Shaker, Maastricht
• Post, J., Baud, I,de Haan, L., Dietz,A.J.(2001). 'Introduction', in: Baud,I.et al. (eds.).Re-aligning government, civilsociety and the market; new challenges in urban and regional development, Essays in honour of G.A. de Bruijne, pp. 1-25., UvA.
• Baud, I.S.A. and Post, J. (2001). New partnerships in urban solid waste management and their contribution to sustainable development: experiences in Accra ( Ghana ) and Chennai ( India ), in: Baud et al. (eds.). Re-aligning government, civil society and the market; new challenges in urban and regional development, Essays in honour of G.A. de Bruijne, pp. 131-151.
• Baud, I.S.A. and Hordijk, M.A, (2001). Resource flows and urban governance: approaching environmental transitions in cities and their hinterland, in: Baud et al. (eds.). Re-aligning government, civil society and the market; new challenges in urban and regional development, Essays in honour of G.A. de Bruijne, pp. 355-371.

Articles, Conference papers and Working papers2

Research School for Resource Studies for Development (CERES)

Prof. Dr. I.S.A. Baud is Chairman of the CERES board since 2006.

Amsterdam Institute for Metropolitan and International Development Studies (AMIDSt)

Prof. Dr. I.S.A. Baud is Professor at AMIDSt since 1998.

European Association of Development Research (EADI)

Prof. Dr. I.S.A. Baud is Vice-President of the EADI.