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Blogs

A list of articles

  • How KIT Institute is involved in control improvement of a neglected disease in Tanzania

    • Institute
    • Blog

    Have you ever heard of schistosomiasis? Probably not. Half of the population in Tanzania is affected by this parasitic disease that can lead to severe health problems. KIT epidemiologists Jake Mathewson and Ente Rood are working together with Dr. Humphrey Mazigo, a Professor of Public Health, from the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences […]

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  • Playing with Freedoms: The Global Gag Rule  

    • Institute
    • Blog

    Amartya Sen, the renowned Indian philosopher, economist and Nobel laureate, published his book, Development as Freedom, in 1999.  In this masterpiece he articulates a vision for development out of poverty that goes beyond basic income and describes the process of development as the need to provide choices for people.  The concept of freedom is foundational […]

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  • An untapped tool for tuberculosis burden estimation: active case finding data

    • Institute
    • Blog

    You may think of tuberculosis (TB) as a deadly infection of the past, yet it remains one of the leading causes of mortality in many countries today. While TB exists in every part of the world, 80% of cases and deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Epidemiologists at KIT Institute have spent over a […]

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  • Care as a revolution: why gender and development work need care more than ever

    • Institute
    • Blog

    In a speech delivered at the launch of the Feminist Edge alumni network, a professional development program for gender trainers at KIT Institute, Arturo Escobar invited us to recognise care as the foundation of life and therefore, as central to systemic radical social change. In today’s fast-paced world, where productivity and progress often overshadow the […]

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  • Balancing Learning and Accountability in Complex Systems

    • Institute
    • Blog

    While many organisations aim to use Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for learning, they tend to prioritise accountability goals based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to meet donor requirements. However, in complex development projects, traditional KPIs fall short to capture the fluid and unpredictable nature of system transformations. In this blog, we argue that adaptive management—an […]

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  • From Theory to Practice: Highlights from the Feminist Edge Programme

    • Institute
    • Blog

    Laura Cala Vergel, PMEL analyst with Share-Net Columbia, shares her experiences attending this year’s programme. The Feminist Edge programme offers a holistic training between pedagogical concepts and practices, providing participants with key tools to strengthen their work as gender trainers. The course has been a transformative experience that has allowed me to deepen my knowledge […]

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  • Coming Together to Exchange Knowledge on Land

    • Institute
    • Blog

    From 9 to 14 June, KIT Institute, as a Knowledge Management partner for the Land-at-Scale (LAS) programme, participated in the annual LAS Exchange event which this year took place in Uganda. Equitable and sustainable land governance is essential to achieving sustainable development and has a key role to play in strategies for sustainable livelihoods, food […]

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  • A high price to pay for a living income?

    • Institute
    • Blog
    • News

    Why direct transfers are a better strategy for value redistribution in the cocoa sector. by Rob Kuijpers, Ruerd Ruben, and Rik Habraken. Increasing cocoa prices above market equilibrium is an expensive way to achieve living incomes for farm households. Besides excessive monetary costs, higher prices may have unintended adverse effects, such as on child labour […]

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  • Setting the stage: facilitating evidence-informed advocacy to end child marriage in Zambia

    • Institute
    • Blog

    “At KIT we see participatory research that directly feeds into evidence-informed lobby and advocacy as a win-win. It allows researchers and advocates to jointly broaden our perspectives and helps lobby and advocacy to focus on actions with the biggest potential for change.” (Pam Baatsen, Senior SRHR advisor at KIT) In our role as knowledge partner […]

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  • Making the Case for the Impact Evaluation of Investment Projects by Development Banks

    • Institute
    • Blog

    In contrast to commercial banks, whose primary focus lies in financial services for profitability, development banks finance projects that contribute to societal progress. In this article, Dr Nicola Francesconi, a senior economist at KIT Institute, makes the case for adopting more rigorous impact evaluation techniques within development banks. These techniques would allow us to truly […]

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  • Debating the Dutch Government’s new strategy for Africa

    • Institute
    • Blog
    • News

    By Nicola Francesconi KIT recently co-hosted the debate ‘Redefining Relations’ on the Dutch Government’s newly launched Africa Strategy. The debate centred around the question: What does an equal partnership between African and Dutch institutions look like? Following up on the discussion, Dr. Nicola Francesconi, a senior economist at KIT, shares his thoughts on the key […]

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  • “The expression of consent changes with context and culture”: Lalla Fatouma Traore on the concept of consent in Mali.

    • Institute
    • Blog
    • News

    This World Sexual Health Day 2023, we talk to one of our close collaborators on sexual health education in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, Lalla Fatouma Traore, about this year’s theme – consent. Lalla has worked with KIT on numerous projects. She taught most of the content related to sexual and reproductive health and rights […]

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Dispatches

Series
  • Dispatch from Kigali

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    The Ministry of Health of Rwanda is making great strides in their fight against Tuberculosis. In their efforts to further reduce the burden of TB, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (BRC), with support from KIT Institute, has implemented a MATCH analysis to identify areas where TB case finding within Key and Vulnerable Populations (KVP) will need […]

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  • Dispatch from Kenya

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    Our SRHR advisors Hannah Kabelka and Marielle Le Mat are currently in Kenya, collaborating with national partners to kick off a new study. They have sent us their dispatch from Nairobi. We are in Twanthanju, Tharaka North, where we have observed an intergenerational dialogue facilitated by the Break Free! Kenya consortium. This community in Tharaka is experiencing high rates of teenage pregnancy, early marriage, and chini ya maji (under the water) […]

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  • Dispatch from Abidjan

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    Chantale Al-Lakis, Epidemiologist at KIT Institute, sent us this dispatch from Abidjan. She was recently in the port city with other KIT advisors (below) to deliver a workshop on the World Bank and Global Financing Facility-funded project on Service Delivery Redesign for Maternal and Neonatal Health in Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Niger, and Pakistan. Comprehensive […]

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  • Dispatch from Rwanda

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    KIT Institute’s Managing Director, Mayada El-Zoghbi, recently visited Rwanda, where she met our partner AKADEMIYA2063 2063. She sent us this dispatch from Kigali. In it she talks about the trends she observed and the people she met during her brief visit to the country also known as the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’. I’ve been on […]

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  • Dispatch from: KIT Institute’s Hub in Colombia

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    By Sandra Quintero, Team Lead for KIT Institute’s Colombia Hub In 2023, KIT Institute’s Gender team, in collaboration with the Global Health and Sustainable Economic Development teams, launched a new hub in Colombia. The time is ripe for such a development; Colombia’s government is actively pursuing inclusive policies and is keen to make Colombia a […]

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  • Dispatch from: The A3 Seed Project in Juba, South Sudan

    • Institute
    • Dispatch

    By Lisa de Graaf KIT has been working on the A3-SEED, Accelerating Agriculture and Agribusiness, project in South Sudan with IFDC since 2021. Nicola Francesconi, Sandra Quintero, and I recently travelled to Juba as part of the project. Commercialising the South Sudanese Seed Sector Since South Sudan became a sovereign state in 2011, the country’s […]

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Power of Knowledge

Event blogs
  • Vice Versa reports on the Power of Knowledge conference

    • Institute
    • Blog

    Knowledge is power and, for now, knowledge is dominated by the richest countries. Thus Dutch magazine Vice Versa writes in its report on the Power of Knowledge conference; Kennis dekoloniseren is pijnlijk en nodig (Decolonising knowledge is painful and necessary). The annual Power of Knowledge conference is the latest initiative to bring together professionals concerned with […]

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  • Reflections on the Power of Knowledge 2022

    • Institute
    • Blog

    Thirty students sponsored by the Kenniscentrum Global Health joined the Power of Knowledge event on 1 September 2022. They were all asked to share their reflections on the event; of which five were chosen and published. Creating equitable partnerships The main goal of the event was to examine how the North-South paradigm shapes the flow […]

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  • ‘If we want things to stay as they are, everything needs to change’

    • Institute
    • Blog

    In Italian, ‘Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga come è, bisogna che tutto cambi .‘ In the lead up the Power of Knowledge event, Sandra Alba, Senior Epidemiologist at KIT, grapples with what redressing the power imbalances in knowledge exchange means to her and why it’s vital we address this issue now. This famous Italian saying comes […]

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  • “We know who holds most of the power, and they need to change”: Dr Samuel Oti on parity and the power of knowledge

    • Institute
    • Blog

    As a public health professional who has written several peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Oti is very vocal about the power imbalances that plague the practice of global health. He has spoken at many events about decolonizing knowledge. Before he travels to Amsterdam from Nairobi, Kenya, he speaks to us about why he considers it important to […]

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