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Research projects 15
MAKUTANO - means "gathering" in Swahili. The MAKUTANO research project aims to develop appropriate and new methodological and theoretical approaches for environmental collaboration and conflict resolution to be used in Tanzania and elsewhere. The action research approach will be used to find out if urban forest owners influence forest governance, and induce local conflicts over resource utilization. The project provides skills on environmental collaboration and conflict resolution to a group of small- and medium-scale forest owners and local community members in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, and traces how these skills are transformed and used in the future actions of these forest owners and the surrounding communities. The project is funded by the Develop Academy Programme (2019-2022), which is a programme jointly prepared by the Academy of Finland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. In many developing countries, there has been a transfer of public and open access land to private use. In the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, the promotion of small-scale private plantation forestry has attracted domestic investors to capture this new resource frontier to meet the increasing demand for timber. This has further increased land value and consequently also land related disputes. The main objective of MAKUTANO research project is to study skills on environmental collaboration and conflict resolution methods among a group of forest owners and local community members in Southern Highlands, and to trace how these skills are transformed and used in the future actions of these forest owners and the surrounding communities. The research idea has emerged from Tanzanian small scale forest owners. The project outcomes may influence Tanzanian-Finnish collaboration by promoting social safeguards to mitigate unexpected impacts of plantation forestry. The research collaboration involves international partners from Tanzania, Kenya, Mexico and Denmark.
Team
Irmeli Mustalahti, Antti Erkkilä, Ida Herdieckerhoff, Aristarik H. Maro, Ubaldus J. Tumaini, Tuyeni Heita Mwampamba, Mara I. Hernández Estrada
Antibiotics have made it possible for people to live longer, healthier lives. Antimicrobial resistance, however, is an increasing problem, especially in low-resource settings. This project will employ a range of methods from microbiology, clinical medicine and sociology to produce new knowledge about how AMR genes spread especially in poor West African regions, in areas where local capacity to address AMR is lagging behind, and identify ways to curb the spread of AMR. This knowledge can be utilized in national and international health policy and medical research.
Team
Isidore Bonkoungou, Victorien Dougnon, Kaisa Haukka, Bourema Kouriba, Salla Sariola, Marko Virta
Emerging technologies such as affordable smart phones with 4G access, broadband internet, and interactive interfaces employing gestures or speech, are revolutionizing the ways we access information, learn new skills and interact with the world around us. However, developing world communities - who stand to benefit from such technologies - were, until recently, largely neglected. Interactive technologies provide a means to address learning challenges such as functional illiteracy and information access barriers, and can improve learning and education, health and wellbeing, and agricultural practices.
Team
Markku Turunen, Jaakko Hakulinen, Mikko Ruohonen, Sumita Sharma, Pekka Kallioniemi, Juhani Linna
The international research project "Making the International Trade System for Climate Change" examines possible synergy effects between the international trade and climate regime. The focus is on how trade policy measures (WTO, free trade agreements, etc.) can support a more ambitious climate policy in the future. The project includes a first analysis of the impact of the Paris Climate Agreement on the relationship between international trade and climate policy.
Team
Harro van Asselt, Kasturi Das, Susanne Droege, Michael Mehling
The aim of this research is to respond to the challenge of adjusting technology to local contexts in the field of ICT for development, by developing a comprehensive approach (methodology) for the analysis and design of sustainable and scalable socio-technical information systems that promote societal development of local communities in varying developing-country contexts. In addition, the project has a capacity building objective of forming a sustained tripartite international research group capable of disseminating, evaluating and improving the approach further.
Team
Koivu Annariina, Luukkonen Irmeli, Martikainen Susanna, Palmen Marilla, Pentikäinen Marika, Tiihonen Tuija, Vainikainen Vilma
The two-year project NAMURBAN (Urban Resource Efficiency in Developing Countries) pilot study of Walvis Bay, Namibia is research work of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK) from Finland and Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Namibia. The research is aimed at developing a framework for urban resource efficiency utilization in developing countries using Namibia as a pilot country.
Team
Heikki Koivisto, Meri Olenius
The objective of the research and innovation staff exchange project is to contribute to solving the issues related to the youth unemployment in developing countries by developing participatory tools for human development that enable transformational change for the youth. Based on a service design approach, the project will provide tools for the marginalized youth suitable for daily use, enhancing regional democracy, increasing equal opportunities and contributing to human and service development with a particular target group: the San people, in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and in the Omaheke region in Namibia.
Team
Satu Miettinen, Hanna-Riina Vuontisjärvi, Retha de la Harpe, Vikki du Preez, Heike Winschiers, Shilumbe Chivuno-Kuria, Tang Tang, Paul Wilson, Hennie Swart, Fabrizio Pierandrei, Silvia Remotti
Phase I of this project was to understand the business models, governance structures and public perceptions of the the informal and paratransit sectors of public transport in three case study cities: Cape Town, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Phase II, still unfunded, is to provide some low cost solutions or partial solutions to deficiencies identified in Phase I.
Team
Marianne Vanderschuren, U of Cape Town, Romano Del Mistro, U of Cape Town, Dorothy McCormack, U of Nairobi, David Mfinanga, U of Dar Es Salaam, Eric Bruun, Aalto University
The DREAM project aimed to (i) develop multi-disciplinary methodology to analyse renewable energy projects design, implementation, finance and influence on communities; (ii) build up knowledge on the various positive and negative impacts the renewable energy projects have especially at the village level; (iii) improve understanding of qualifications, such as success factors and reasons for failures, of renewable energy projects and; (iv) identify concrete means to increase long-term sustainability of donor-driven energy projects.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Mira Käkönen (FFRC), Hanna Kaisti (FFRC), Mika Korkeakoski (FFRC), Ronny Om (ITC), Khampone Nanthavong (NUOL)
The concept of green economy is predicted to replace sustainable development as the new driving force of environmental action. A green economy is defined as low-carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. Although the concept has received various critics, there is little empirical research related to its policy expectations or concerns. Developing countries rich in natural resources, such as Cambodia and Laos, may be able to benefit from green growth by having the opportunity to jump-start their transition towards a green economy. This project proposes a new framework to analyse green growth transitions in Cambodia and Laos and other developing countries in two extremely natural resource dependent sectors; forestry and energy.
Team
Jyrki Luukkanen (FFRC), Visa Tuominen (FFRC), Mika Korkeakoski (FFRC), Markku Kanninen (VITRI), Dipjoy Chakma (VITRI), Mira Käkönen (UH)