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| NADEL Newsletter |
Dear NADEL Friends and Alumni
Our students are about to leave for their project assignments. The next few months will provide them with new experiences and fresh perspectives. The pandemic puts a spotlight on global cooperation – or the lack of it. What does the current “vaccine nationalism” of the Global North mean for the vulnerable, health workers and teachers in the Global South? How do local media comment on the fact that the home countries of big pharma – including Switzerland among others – so far have successfully blocked a proposal to invoke the patent-waiver clause in the WTO rules, designed for the event of a global health emergency? How do people in our students’ host countries evaluate the WHO Covax facility that was supposed to facilitate access to vaccines? Many of our students will be in a country that will start inoculating the Russian Sputnik V or the Chinese CoronaVac. Will those be met with skepticism, indifference, or gratitude? Questions abound – about individuals’ lives, public health and government response. And about how the rollout of vaccine access will reset international relations.
In the midst of all of this: stay healthy, stay engaged, share your insights.
Fritz Brugger and Isabel Günther |
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| Our students around the world |
| After a semester at ETH – mostly virtually – we are very happy to wish our current MAS students a safe and exciting on-the-job training around the world: from Colombia to Cabo Verde to Cambodia. These project assignments involved especially extensive preparation this year, due to the pandemic – both on part of the 13 participating organizations and the students. As they are now arriving at their chosen destination, we are wishing everyone (after the required quarantine) an exciting and illuminating experience in 2021, and hope it sparks many thoughts, ideas, and ambitions. We are looking forward to learning from our students in 2022 during the final study semester at ETH – this time hopefully in person. Learn more about this year’s MAS project assignments, and our partner organizations via our interactive world map. |
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| Isabel Günther interviewed on Switzerland’s International Development Strategy |
| In 2020, Swiss development cooperation was given a new orientation for the next four years with Switzerland's International Cooperation Strategy 2021–24. In a joint interview for the magazine “Eine Welt”, Isabel Günther from NADEL and development sociologist Prof. Elísio Macamo from the University of Basel discuss the meaning of development and Swiss development policy. They talk about the effectiveness of development cooperation, the opportunities of migration, the pros and cons of public-private-partnerships for development, and the relevance of scientific knowledge for fighting poverty. |
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| “Covid Fatigue” of the urban poor in Accra? |
| Until the majority of the world is vaccinated, the most effective measures to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 are still to keep a safe distance from other people, wear a facemask, and wash hands regularly. In order to do so, people must know the guidelines and have the means and will to follow them. In Accra, Ghana, a survey from the University of Ghana Business School together with the Development Economics Group at ETH Zurich finds that the urban poor are currently experiencing a “Covid Fatigue”, reporting less knowledge about the virus and lower observance of social distancing measures than at the beginning of the pandemic. However, hygienic behavior has improved over time, in part because of government policies. Most respondents support government actions and emphasize the importance of government to enforce social distancing. |
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| We are hiring: Senior Lecturer at NADEL (80%), starting September 2021 |
| We are looking for a new colleague with in-depth conceptual knowledge and practical experience in one of these three areas: a) Topics related to working in fragile contexts, mediation and peace promotion, human rights, and humanitarian aid. b) Ecological and climate-related development questions. c) Designing and implementing projects for sustainable development with the private sector. You have at least three years of practical experience in the field of international cooperation and the experience to carry out academic and practice-oriented teaching. Approximately two-thirds of your work at NADEL will be dedicated to teaching, mentoring our CAS and MAS students, and the related strategic and organizational tasks; and one third to scientific consulting, research, communication and/or other NADEL activities – depending on your interests. |
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| Drug policy – drug economy: shaping development outcomes |
| Prohibitionist policies to reduce drug production and trading have led to the creation of lucrative black markets, unregulated, predatory spaces ruled only by market forces and violence. As a result, few details are known about the drug economy. In a student policy brief, NADEL MAS ’20 alumnus Silvan Hungerbühler outlines how the illicit drug economy and policy towards it are important yet often underestimated factors shaping social development. To better align drug policy with development goals, he identifies three obstacles that must be addressed: i) the lack of analysis of policy alternatives; ii) the absence of most affected stakeholders in the policy debate; and iii) scarce and unreliable data about the drug economy. |
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| Podcast on migration, trauma and working in crisis zones |
| NADEL alumna Manuela Ernst has dedicated her life to supporting people on the move. After assignments in refugee camps in East Africa and Iraq, Manuela Ernst is now working at the Swiss Red Cross in Bern. Over the last four years, she was heading its outpatient clinic for victims of torture and war, which offers medical, psychotherapeutic, and psychosocial help to Swiss residents who have suffered terribly. In the latest episode of the NADEL podcast “1.90 pro Tag”, the NADEL alumna talks about her current work and her previous time as a UNHCR protection officer. She discusses the trauma people endure during war, flight, and even once they have reached a more peaceful place. We learn how 15 years of commitment to people on the run have changed Manuela as a person. Thirty minutes listening well spent. |
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| Welcome to the team, Shruti Patel! |
| At the beginning of March, we welcomed our new colleague Shruti Patel – for the time being unfortunately only virtually – at NADEL. Shruti holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and has spent much of her career implementing, managing, and consulting for development programs. Prior to joining NADEL, her work focused on projects in the area of sustainable agriculture, communication, and knowledge transfer for Biovision. She is particularly interested in the role of the private sector and language and media in development and is looking forward to her new role at NADEL – which she says will be as much about learning as about teaching. In her free time, Shruti likes to dabble in poetry, writing, and social media: You can follow her on Twitter @shrutis_patel and Medium |
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