Behind the research: Kefasi Nyikahadzoi

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Professor Kefasi Nyikahadzoi started working with the Migrating out of Poverty with the Centre for Applied Social Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe, coordinating work on the income and remittances theme.

“One of the biggest lessons I learnt is the importance of taking research results back to the communities who provided the data, for validation.  I also learnt how to provide qualitative explanations for emerging trends and patterns in the descriptive statistics. 

We are very proud of the interactions that we had with national and district level stakeholders. Through those interactions, we were able to contribute towards policy designed to improve the welfare of migrant-sending households.”

 The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Kefasi!

Behind the research: Doudou Gueye

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Doudou has been working with the programme as part of his role as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Ziguinchor University in Senegal. Doudou led the research on the migration industry in Senegal. 

"I have been involved in several research projects but Migrating out of Poverty had a certain uniqueness for me. First, because of its transnational dimension (Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, United Kingdom etc.) and I was a Francophone in the English-speaking crowd. Wow, what a great experience! Its multidisciplinary and multi-space character complemented the programme beautifully. Behind the research, I am sure I have made sincere friendships. The lesson learned from this experience is that life is not an individual affair, and migrants demonstrate this all the time. 

Who are migration "industrialists"? We put forward a model of the actors and their roles, without forgetting the analysis of the complexity of the journey. The debate on the individualisation of African migration was based on  facts gathered from our field of study. Finally, the research led us to explore the role of marabouts and other  visionaries in the migration process. These are men truly in the shadows, but they are nevertheless increasingly central actors in migration. Looking forward to seeing you soon so we can produce more great research."

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Doudou!

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En français

Au cours des 10 dernières années, le consortium 'Migrating out of Poverty' a utilisé l'enthousiasme et l'expertise de nombreuses personnes à travers le monde. Cette série de blogues se concentre sur les gens derrières la recherche, qui nous ont partagé des réflexions personelles et apprentissages de l'expérience de travail avec le programme. 

Doudou travaille avec le programme dans le cadre de son rôle comme maître de conférences dans le department de la sociologie a l'UASZ (Sénégal). Doudou est chercheur en chef du projet sur l'industrie de la migration.

"J'ai été associé à plusieurs projets de recherche mais le MOOP avait une certaine singularité pour moi. D'abord, de par sa dimension transnationale (Sénégal, Ghana, Ethiopie, Royaume Uni,...) et je fus un francophone dans la foule anglophone. Wouah, quelle belle expérience. Ensuite, de par son caractère pluridisciplinaire et Multi espaces, quelle belle complémentarité. Derrière la recherche, je suis certain de m'être fait des amitiés sincères. De cette expérience, la leçon apprise est que  la vie n'est pas une affaire individuelle, et d'ailleurs les migrants nous le démontrent tout le temps. 

Qui sont ces "industriels" de la migration ? Une modélisation des acteurs et de leurs rôles a été proposée sans oublier l'analyse de la complexité du voyage. Le débat sur l'individualisation des migrations africaines a été posé sur la base des faits recueillis à partir de notre terrain d'étude ? Enfin, la recherche nous a amené à explorer le rôle des marabouts et autres voyants dans le processus migratoire. Véritables hommes de l'ombre, il n'en demeure pas moins qu'ils sont des acteurs de plus en plus centraux dans la migration. A bientôt pour d’autres belles productions."

Le programme 'Migrating out of Poverty' est un véritable travail d'équipe, et nous apprécions le rôle joué par chaque individuel dans la production et la diffusion de recherche. 

Merci pour votre travail acharné avec le programme 'Migrating out of Poverty', Doudou!

Behind the research: Benoît Tine

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Benoît has worked with the programme as a Researcher at Ziguinchor University (UASZ, Senegal) for two years. Benoît was the research lead on the gender and generations theme in Senegal, and a senior researcher on the migration industry theme.

"Migration, despite appearances, has visible and invisible consequences for households, which are forced to adapt to new situations. Social networks make it possible to experience marriage differently (e-conjugality); monogamy seems to have taken over and migrants, without forgetting their relatives, are more aware because "travelling" is a school of life. 

The Migrating out of Poverty research programme has enabled me to establish regular contacts with many researchers on several continents over a long period of time. Socialisation and comparing our research have made it possible to create a real dynamic, that is not about to stop, but is opening doors to a promising future."

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Benoît!

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En français

Au cours des 10 dernières années, le consortium 'Migrating out of Poverty' a utilisé l'enthousiasme et l'expertise de nombreuses personnes à travers le monde. Cette série de blogues se concentre sur les gens derrières la recherche, qui nous ont partagé des réflexions personelles et apprentissages de l'expérience de travail avec le programme. 

Benoît travaille avec le programme comme chercheur a l'UASZ (Sénégal) depuis deux ans. Benoît est chercheur en chef du projet genre et génération au Sénégal et chercheur senior dans le projet  sur l'industrie de la migration.

"La migration contrairement aux apparences entrainent des conséquences visibles et invisibles dans les ménages qui sont ainsi obligés de s’adapter à la nouvelle donne. Les réseaux sociaux permettent de vivre le mariage autrement (e-conjugalité); la monogamie semble avoir prendre le dessus et les migrants sans oublier leurs proches sont plus avertis parce que « voyager » est une école de la vie.

La recherche m’a permis d’entrer en relation de façon régulière, pendant une longue période avec des dizaines de chercheurs établis sur plusieurs continents. La socialisation, les  comparaisons de nos recherches,  ont permis de créer une véritable dynamique qui n’est pas prête de s’arrêter mais ouvre des portes sur des lendemains prometteurs."

Le programme 'Migrating out of Poverty' est un véritable travail d'équipe, et nous apprécions le rôle joué par chaque individuel dans la production et la diffusion de recherche. 

Merci pour votre travail acharné avec le programme 'Migrating out of Poverty', Benoît!

Behind the research: Thabani Mutambasere

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Thabani is a doctoral student in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex who first joined Migrating out of Poverty in 2016 as an Administrative Assistant. He worked directly on organising the 2017 Migration out of Poverty: From Evidence to Policy Conference. Since then, he has been intermittently involved with the consortium as a research assistant, working on evaluation of the project.

"The experience of working with Migrating out of Poverty has thoroughly enriched my PhD research. I gained a lot of insights on inter-African migration, particularly on migration brokerage among other things. 

The experience also added to my understanding of the various types of collaborative efforts that governments have, and are making, to ensure movement of people is safe, in addition to the response from the international community. More so, I gained invaluable contacts who have strongly contributed to my research, together with access to a wide variety of publications that I have referred to as part of my own writing."

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Thabani!

Behind the research: Kudzai Vanyoro

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Kudzai worked with the programme back in 2015 as a Research Communications intern at the African Centre for Migration and Society, at the University of Witwatersrand. Kudzai went on to study a Masters in Critical Diversity Studies from the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, and now works there in the Marketing and Liaison Office.

"Through my involvement with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, I learnt about how migration plays an important role in the inclusion and exclusion of people. I learnt that those who lay a claim to a particular space, as theirs, do so relying on the myth that they found the place, whether it's a city, municipality or a nation. However, my engagement with migration discourse during my internship at ACMS taught me that everyone is a migrant somewhere. 

Working with the programme broadened my understanding of space politics and reflectively placing myself in any understanding of a scenario. For example, as a migrant living in South Africa, I managed to write several blogs in which I placed my experiences at the centre of academic narration. This helped me learn that my body is actually a site of research data. My challenge now is how do I ethically retrieve and apply that 'data within'.  

I managed to write 2 blogs and contributed towards the marketing of the launch of Xenowatch an ACMS platform which monitors xenophobia in South Africa. I was also able to form strategic networks, I am still in touch with most of them today."

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Kudzai!

Behind the research: Thea de Gruchy

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Thea worked with the Migrating out of Poverty programme from 2015-2016 as part of her work with the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of Witwatersrand, focusing on trafficking, gender and migration, and policy. Thea has just finished her PhD and will soon be starting a position at the ACMS as a postdoctoral researcher.

"The programme was the first research project I worked on after my Masters and was a critical step in deciding to undertake a PhD.   

The biggest lesson I learned from my involvement with the programme was the importance of collaboration across contexts. I'm most proud of bringing together researchers from Bangladesh, Singapore, South Africa and the UK, in Johannesburg in 2016."

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Thea!

Behind the research: Brenda SA Yeoh

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Brenda worked with the Migrating out of Poverty programme for 8 years, in her position as Research Leader of the Asian Migration Cluster at the Asia Research Institute. Brenda investigated a number of themes including remittances and livelihood strategies of Indonesian migrant women as domestic workers in Singapore, and policy dynamics and processes. 

"With its considerable scope across research centers in Asia and Africa, working on Migrating out of Poverty has allowed me to deepen research networks and nurture collaborative relationships with leading experts on migration from a range of disciplines and backgrounds.  

I'm proud to have worked with an excellent team of young, emerging scholars in Singapore as well as international collaborators to extend existing research and tease out comparative approaches to migration and development in Asia and Africa.  

One of the most unique aspects in participating in Migrating out of Poverty has been the concerted effort to produce work that is not only timely and sound but also relevant to stakeholders beyond an academic audience, prompting us to reflect closely on the policy implications of our findings. Policy matters!"

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Brenda!

Behind the research: Edward Asiedu

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Dr Edward Asiedu is a researcher, development economist and a lecturer at the University of Ghana, and joined the Migrating out of Poverty programme in 2018 to help examine the causal impact of migration on welfare.

“My involvement with the Migrating out of Poverty programme has shown me that, migration can be beneficial particularly to disadvantaged households, and therefore there is the need for local policies to bridge huge inequalities in communities. 

As a development economist, I have always worked on the design of interventions to address poverty in general in Ghana. Working on the programme has shown me that, addressing rural poverty without holistically looking at migration causes, trends, and impacts, and subsequently designing policies and interventions to address migration effects will defeat the overall purpose of the rural poverty reduction agenda.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Edward!

Behind the research: Rozana Rashid

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Rozana is a Professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka who worked with Migrating out of Poverty between 2014 and 2016. During this time, she was the lead researcher on the study Gendered practices of remittance use and the shaping of youth aspirations: A case study of Bangladesh conducted under the Intra-Household-Dynamics research theme.

“The biggest lesson I learned through my involvement in Migrating out of Poverty is that migration brings significant transformation in the social and public discourses and practices. These may contribute not only to better understand the context, but also to make useful interventions so that all groups in the society benefit from migration, 
irrespective of their different abilities.   

Migrating out of Poverty has had a sustained and long-term impact on my academic and professional career as it provided me with the opportunity to develop my expertise on (previously unexplored) intra-household dynamics of migrant households. This later helped me write and publish two working papers, a book chapter and a policy brief and share the findings with academia, migration stakeholders and media in conferences and workshops at home and abroad.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Rozana!

Behind the research: Emmanuel Quarshie

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Emmanuel was Communications and Research Uptake Officer at the Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana from 2014 to 2019 during which time he completed a Master of Philosophy in Economics at the University of Ghana. He is now studying for a PhD in Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

“Migrating out of Poverty has made me develop a keen interest in migration research. That led me to write my master’s thesis on remittances. Consequently, I went ahead to take up a PhD in Economics with my research focus on Migration, climate change and wellbeing.

From my time working on Migrating out of Poverty I am most proud of the opportunity I had to sit and dialogue with partners from other backgrounds in different countries without any form of discrimination and supremacy exerted. This meant a lot to me”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Emmanuel!

Behind the research: Kellynn Wee

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Kellynn is a Research Associate at Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore and worked with Migrating out of Poverty from 2015 to 2017. During that time she worked on the migration industry theme conducting policy research and was also involved in communications and social media outreach.

"Working on Migrating out of Poverty gave me the rare opportunity to inhabit multiple universes at once: not only was I able to test my conceptual ideas in the domain of academia, I was able to see how these forms of knowledge translated into the worlds of advocacy and policy. The reminder that these realms are not separate, but that it takes conscious effort to cross and translate between them, will continue to shape my work.   

I'm most proud of the relationships we built with local NGOs and schools through Migrating out of Poverty's emphasis on communicating our research. Speaking to young people about the situation of migrant domestic workers in Singapore and sometimes prompting them to volunteer, or even simply to re-examine a social reality that many of us take for granted, was a very rewarding experience.   

The biggest lessons I learned were from working with such an international team. The opportunity to speak with and learn from the excellent people I met from South Africa, Bangladesh, the UK, and Ghana was very precious to me.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Kellynn!

Behind the research: Kudakwashe P. Vanyoro

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Kuda started out working with Migrating out of Poverty back in 2014 as a Communications Intern with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS). He is now Research Communications Officer and studying for a PhD. In his 5 years with the programme he worked across almost all the research themes.

“The internship programme for me was just the stepping stone I needed to get into migration studies. I am now pursuing my PhD and academic career in migration studies, which would have not been possible without this opportunity. 

My proudest moment has been producing evidence to engage policy makers in South Africa for many years to come.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Kuda!

Behind the research: Yordanos Seifu

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Yordanos worked with the Migrating out of Poverty programme for over a year, as a migration researcher and writer, specialising in irregular migration, and migration industry in the African context.

“I’ve learned skills and methodology for transnational research communication, and particularly communication among migration researchers from the so-called global North and Global South countries. More importantly, I’ve examined theoretical arguments against findings from field research in the global South including dangerous places like the city of like Johannesburg and its satellite informal townships

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has boosted international networking, created platforms to present and disseminate the findings of the research, while also enabling comparative research analyses. 

I’m most proud of our publication of policy briefs and working papers as well as our dissemination of the field research findings to relevant stakeholders.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Yordanos!

Behind the research: Anne-Meike Fechter

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Anne-Meike Fechter has worked for the Migrating out of Poverty programme since 2017, as a Reader in Anthropology at the University of Sussex, working on the theme of gender and generations, focusing on Ghana.

“The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been continuously shaping the way we teach on our Master’s course on ‘Migration and Global Development’. 

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt from the programme is that long-term policy changes that work for migrants require patience and persistence. It’s been a privilege to sharing insights from so many engaged researchers across countries.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Anne-Meike!

Behind the research: Patience Mutopo

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Dr Patience Mutopo is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Development Studies, Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbabwe and worked with the Migrating out of Poverty programme for four years.

“Through the programme, I made connections with great researchers working on migration and development issues in Africa, particularly from the African Migration and Society Centre, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and I think this will lead to us working together again in the future. 

The programme also gave me a valuable opportunity to work with the African Migration and Society Centre, at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. 

I’m most proud of publishing two research articles with the consortium. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that transdiscplinary research teams create better results and they lead to varied analysis of the areas studied.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Patience!

Behind the research: Ali Ashraf

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium.

Ali Ashraf is a Professor of International Relations, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, at the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Ali worked with the Migrating out of Poverty programme between 2014 and 2015, on policy process tracing.

“The Migrating out of Poverty programme taught me many things including the design and implementation of an evidence-based study, developing advocacy tools for the publication of research findings, and the importance of publishing in high-impact journals. 

The biggest lesson I learned from the Migrating out of Poverty programme was how to employ the theory of 3-I Framework and process tracing methodology. Through the programme, we published a study titled 'Public Policy Formulation: A Case Study of Domestic Workers in Bangladesh.

I’m most proud of the connections I made, working with colleagues such as Professors L Alan Winters, C R Abrar, Tasneem Siddiquee, and Ingrid Palmary.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Ali!

Behind the research: Adamnesh Bogale

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Adamnesh, an Assistant Professor at the College of Social Sciences, School of Social Work at Addis Ababa University, has worked with Migrating out of Poverty for seven years as a partner researcher. Adamnesh has worked on cash transfers, rural out-migration and urban settlements, and gender and generational dynamics.

“Social forces are transforming how research gets done, and the programme has been investigating these social forces through the lens of migration. It has urged me become more agile, to investigate the new realities of migration, and re-investigate past realities.  

Working with the team in the Migrating out of Poverty programme enabled me to double check my thoughts as I work, and be detail-oriented, especially considering cultural differences the partner countries involved in the project.   

I am most proud of producing valuable materials for public knowledge, primarily for the profession, testing past theories and developing new ones to find answers to questions in migration and advance knowledge.” 

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Adamnesh!

Behind the research: Anas Ansar

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Anas was involved with Migrating out of Poverty between 2012 and 2016 as a Research and Communications Officer with Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), University of Dhaka. He is now a Research Associate at the Bonn Centre for Dependency and Slavery Studies, and a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn.

“I started my professional career with the Migrating out of Poverty consortium and it ignited my moral courage and intellectual insight to work on migration issues.  Its platform provided me with the unconventional research skills that have been seminal in my research career.

Migration is a complex phenomenon that we often tend to oversimplify focusing heavily on economic development (at the origin) and securitisation (at the destination) perspective. For me, Migrating out of Poverty’s research has created the scope to go beyond and avoid such over-simplification - seeing migration issues holistically with a strong emphasis on the perspective of the global South.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Anas!

Behind the research: Eva-Maria Egger

Over the course of the last 10 years, the Migrating out of Poverty consortium has drawn on the enthusiasm and expertise of many people across the globe. This blog series focuses on the people behind the research, who have kindly shared personal reflections and learning from their experience of working with the consortium. 

Eva was a doctoral student at Sussex who worked on the quantitative data, and income and remittances research themes for Migrating out of Poverty during the period 2013 to 2017.

She went on to be a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the International Fund for Agricultural Development and, starting September 2019, will take up a new position as a research fellow for UNU-WIDER.

“Migrating out of Poverty shaped my profile as researcher and helped me to find my post-doctoral research position. The exposure to other disciplines and researchers from developing countries provided me with a valuable experience outside of the normal doctoral studies. The topics of migration and poverty continue to be relevant and in high demand. My work with Migrating out of Poverty proved rewarding not only during my doctoral studies, but also for my career after that.

I am most proud of the quantitative panel data in Ghana. Together with the team of CMS in Ghana, we managed to combine the first and second rounds of quantitative data. I then used this data for one of my PhD chapters and it got published in the IZA Journal of Development and Migration with Julie Litchfield as co-author.”

The Migrating out of Poverty programme has been a true team effort, and we appreciate the role each individual has played in producing and disseminating the research.

Thank you for all your hard work with the Migrating out of Poverty programme, Eva-Maria!