Alumni Conference in Berlin/Germany canceled for 2020!

Due to the Corona Crisis, the 2020 #Alumni Conference "Implementing the SDGs – Practical Challenges, Creative Solutions and Best Practices for Knowledge Transfer and Policy Learning" planned to take place in Berlin from 27- 30 July was canceled. The colleagues are trying to postpone the conference to 2021. We will keep you informed about any news in this regard later this year.

Read more: Alumni Conference in Berlin/Germany canceled for 2020!

Welcome to two new scholarship holders!

In 2020 2 new scholarship holdersr commenced their studies at our Centre! Out of about 500 applicants the selection committee chose Kenechukwu Ikebuarko from Nigeria for the PhD Development Studies and Eric Nordjo from Ghana for the MA Public Administration. Both were welcomed by our coordinator at UWC, Freda Philander.

From left to right: Eric Nordjo, Freda Philander and Kene Ikebuako

A new Call for scholarship applications will be published mid April 2020!

The new Call for scholarship applications for the intake 2021 will be published mid April 2020. Applications will be only possible via an online application form.

All applications via email or hardcopy are not eligible.

Before asking questions, please read the information on the website carefully! Most of the questions can be answered there already!

Digitalization-Kick-off: New Digital Infrastructure for the Network of the DAAD Centres of Excellence

On March 3-6, 2020 the Kick-off Meeting of the new digitalization project DigiFace took place at Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth. DigiFace – short for “Digital Initiative for African Centres of Excellence” – is a new project funded by DAAD that aims at supporting and facilitating higher education learning and research at all DAAD African Centres of Excellence. DigiFace is setting-up tools and facilities for digital learning and knowledge exchange with the help of a central interactive digital platform. The project is going to strengthen the Centres’ digital learning, teaching and research competencies as well as the networking among all the Centres – between all institutions involved, between staff, students, and alumni.

More information on the project can be found here on the Website!

The Kick-off meeting was the official starting-point of the new project. Delegates from all the currently 10 Centres as well as from the Centres’ Alumni Network gathered in order to exchange on the current statuses of digital infrastructure, the needs and expectations with regard to such an all comprising new digital network, the opportunities and challenges for its implementation as well as on the next steps to go.

The SA-GER CDR was represented by Lance Scheepers (Information Systems ISD), Enayat Hamza (Programme Manager: Training and Consultancy at the SoG), and Ruth Knoblich (DAAD Lecturer in Development Research at the SA-GER CDR).

RUB Management visited SA-GER CDR

Accompanied by DAAD’s secretary general, Dr. Dorothea Rüland, RUB’s Rector, Prof. Dr. Axel Schölmerich and Chancellor, Dr. Christina Reinhardt, visited the DAAD funded South African-German Centre for Development Research (SA-GER CDR) as part of an information visit of management members of German universities.

At CDR they met our DAAD lecturer Ruth Knoblich, CDR steering committee member Prof. Julian May as well as further staff members and Alumni of the centre.

New Centre graduates from the "Bochum Programme"

Finally, it is done! We are happy to welcome new graduates to the alumni network of the SA-GER CDR. 12 students from the "Bochum Programme of Development Management" (MADM) obtained their Master's degree. They received their graduation certificates on Saturday, 30th of November. Earlier that week, they had successfully defended their master theses on interesting topics like innovation hubs, certification of cocoa farmers, and survival strategies of street traders (just to name some of them).

Our graduates now pursue new goals. Most of them chose the opportunity to strive for a second (UWC) MA degree and then will head for the practical area. We wish our graduates all the best for their future career and trust that they will find exciting positions! We are looking forward to hear from our alumni soon.

New Journal Article by two MADM Alumni

Nardos Legesse Beyene, Alumnus of IEE’s MA in Development Management, together with Prof. Mulugeta F. Dinbabo, also IEE Alumnus and nowadays Acting Director of the Institute for Social Development, IEE’s partner institution at the University of the Western Cape/South Africa, published an article on

An Empirical Evaluation of the Link between Women Participation in Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia

Read more: New Journal Article by two MADM Alumni

A new Call for scholarship applications for the intake 2021 will be published mid April!

The new Call for scholarship applications for the intake 2021 will be published mid April 2020. Applications will be only possible via an online applicatin form.

All applications via email or hardcopy are not eligible.

Before asking questions, please read the information on the website carefully! Most of the questions can be answered there already!

Learning by Doing in the Field of Development

Macmillan Bonomali from Malawi has spent an internship period at UNU-FLORES in Bonn during his studies in the MA in Development Management programme. Find out about his experiences in an interview published by his internship organization.

Photo: UNU-FLORES)

Visit of two members of the German Federal Parliament and the Consul General at the SA-GER CDR

On 7th February the two members of the “German Federal Parliament”, Ulla Schmidt und Dagmar Freitag, who stayed in South Africa for taking part in the 2019 State of the Nation Address by the South African President Cyral Ramaphosa, used the opportunity to as well visit two DAAD funded Centres of Excellence in Cape Town together with the Consul General Matthias Hansen.They first visited the African Institute for Mathematical Studies (AIMS) in Muizenberg and afterwards the South African-German Centre for Development Research (SA-GER CDR).

Read more: Visit of two members of the German Federal Parliament and the Consul General at the SA-GER CDR