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PLAAS joins Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa as a special node

How do we solve Africa’s land predicament? This a question the Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) aims to answer through its collaboration with the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA). In recognition of PLAAS’s contribution as a knowledge and training leader in the area of land governance and its years of engagement in promoting NELGA,…
Esté Beerwinkel
October 10, 2019
News & EventsUncategorized

PLAAS Seminar: Expanding small-scale sugarcane production under crisis conditions in the South African sugar industry

The big opportunity to expand small-scale sugarcane production under crisis conditions in the South African sugar industry   Presenter: Alex Dubb Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), PhD Student The current crisis in the sugar industry provides an opportunity to protect and expand small-scale sugarcane production with regulatory reform and pro-poor land redistribution – potentially providing 13,000-60,000 minimum wage equivalents in…
Esté Beerwinkel
October 10, 2019
News & Events

Not-so-super supermarkets: Corporate retailers are killing off the spaza shop economy

A new report on retail competition in the informal sector casts light on structural changes that have contributed to the particular forms of xenophobic violence in townships in recent years. The report, produced by the Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation NPC (SLF), the Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS) and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), is based on…
PLAAS
October 4, 2019
News & Events

PLAAS Seminar: Unravelling the water question

Unravelling the water question: A perspective from rural South Africa Presenter: Dr Michela Marcatelli Postdoctoral Research Fellow Sociology of Land, Environment and Sustainable Development, Stellenbosch University Water access in South Africa remains extremely unequal, despite an ongoing redistributive water reform and the inclusion of free basic water for the poor among the social policies of the country. I argue therefore…
Esté Beerwinkel
September 25, 2019
News & EventsUncategorized

PLAAS Seminar: The effect of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe

The Effect of Hyperinflation on Asset Poverty, Asset Inequality and Child Health Inequality in Zimbabwe Presenter: Flora M.N. Kurasha, University of Cape Town Hyperinflation began in Zimbabwe in March 2007 and reached its peak in July 2008, with an annual inflation rate of 231 million percent and ended in 2009 after dollarisation. This study reveals hyperinflation’s effects on the well-being…
Esté Beerwinkel
September 16, 2019
News & Events

Call for Applications: DAAD PLAAS NELGA Scholarship Applications 2020

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in collaboration with the Institute for Poverty, Land & Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape (UWC), is offering in-country/in-region scholarships, within the Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA). This forms part of the Strengthening Advisory Capacities for Land Governance in Africa (SLGA) programme funded by the German Federal Ministry…
PLAAS
September 13, 2019
News & EventsUncategorized

Women and Work in the Informal Economy: Collectively challenges can be overcome

Women predominate in many sectors of the informal economy; their lives, work, and struggles are often invisible to government and to the public at large. Last week, PLAAS and the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), hosted a public lecture and engagement event which gathered activists and academics to discuss these…
Esté Beerwinkel
September 4, 2019
News & Events

PLAAS Seminar: Learning as change

Learning as change Presenter: Dr Luke Metelerkamp Environmental Learning Research Centre, Rhodes University In South and Southern Africa, more than half of the young people are ensnared in a complex and seemingly intractable unemployment crisis that is being driven, in part, by a transition toward a highly industrialised food system. As efforts to address this crisis, while simultaneously renewing efforts…
Esté Beerwinkel
August 29, 2019
News & EventsUncategorized

Event: Women and Work in the Informal Economy

Where are women currently positioned in the South African labour market? How has this changed over time? How does South Africa compare to regional and global trends? Is the fourth industrial revolution a threat or opportunity for women workers? Join this public lecture, presented by Caroline Skinner (Senior Researcher at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape…
Esté Beerwinkel
August 27, 2019
News & EventsUncategorized

PLAAS Seminar: The origins of the Ingonyama Trust

The origins of the Ingonyama Trust Presenter: Hilary Lynd Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley How did 2,8 million hectares of land end up in a trust with the Zulu King as its sole trustee? After the April 1994 elections, the land administered by the other nine homelands came under the authority of the national government. Only KwaZulu…
Esté Beerwinkel
August 21, 2019