In collaboration with , funding from the SEED Social Responsibility Catalyst Funds and local community groups, the initiative focused on fostering long-term community wellbeing and encouraging students to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges.

What was the motivation behind your project? 

[Rusca] The project was implemented in partnership with Community Led Action and Savings Support (CLASS), Aquarius Community Savers (Hulme tenants group), and the Miles Platting Community and Age-Friendly Network with the aim to provide students with firsthand insights into the strategies and practices of community activists who are fighting for more inclusive urban development in 91ֱ��. 

This was achieved through a combined citizen-led lecture and field visit in Hulme and Miles Platting, areas where local communities are actively working to improve access to basic rights and services and are fighting against gentrification. 

The field trip offered an opportunity to explore citizen-led development and to compare these everyday practices of resistance with those of urban dwellers in the global South, focusing on how, why, and by whom certain development pathways are contested and resisted. 

Additionally, the students were able to witness firsthand what co-producing knowledge means, both in research and in teaching. 

What does Social Responsibility mean to you in your teaching, research or working in SEED? 

[Rusca] In my teaching, fostering a sense of community in the classroom is a key goal. I believe that being part of and contributing to a community is essential to address contemporary developing challenges (and to be happy). Engaging students with the work of CLASS is a way to highlight the importance of building networks and community. I aim to show them the power of collaboration in creating more equitable urban environments. This approach not only deepens their understanding of social issues and the importance of citizen-led initiatives but also instils a sense of belonging, purpose, and hope. 

The field trip not only enriched students' educational experiences but also instilled a sense of belonging and hope for future engagement in their communities. Plans are underway to potentially continue this initiative next year, with a focus on further empowering students and fostering connections within urban settings. 
 

SALC’s Athena Swan Bronze Award completes the accreditation by this Charter of all Schools in the Faculty of Humanities. The School’s application adopted an intersectional approach to gender, ethnicity and disability; and our attendant five-year Action Plan reflects our commitment to improving equality, diversity and inclusion in our School. 

For more information about the award, visit the page.

We are delighted that staff and alumni from the Global Development Institute have been recognised at two University award ceremonies, the Volunteer of the Year Awards and Making a Difference Awards.

Rita Robert Otu graduated from GDI with an MSc in International Development (Economics and Management of Rural Development) in 2007. She was recognised at this year’s Volunteer of the Year Awards for her work to help fight hunger and empower local farmers, in particular women, in her home country Nigeria.

The Making a Difference Awards, saw GDI linked projects Highly Commended in two categories. The awards recognise the impact our staff, students, alumni, and external partners are having on the social wellbeing of our communities and wider society.

The Muungano-Community Savers-GDI Teaching Alliance were highly commended in the Outstanding teaching innovation in social responsibility category for ‘Decolonising development pedagogies while supporting inclusive development practice’. The project brings together GDI researchers, Nicola Banks, Diana Mitlin and Maria Rusca with Muungano wa Wanavijiji in Kenya, Shack/Slum Dwellers International and Community Savers in 91ֱ��.

Our alumna Malavika Krishnan was high commended in the Outstanding social innovation and environmental impact category for ‘One thing that should never be taken away from you is your education!’

Volunteer of the Year Awards

Alumni winner Rita Robert Otu has been helping fight hunger and empower local farmers, in particular women, in her home country Nigeria since she graduated with an MSc in International Development (Economics and Management of Rural Development) in 2007.

Rita grew up in a community that suffered from poor nutrition, specifically a lack of vitamin A. UNICEF estimates that at least one in two children under 5 years old suffer from this ‘hidden hunger’ due to nutritional deficiencies in Nigeria.

But she has returned home an “assertive, pragmatic, go getter” to found Beau Haven Farms, a social enterprise that empowers communities to address malnutrition and lack of economic opportunity with environmentally sustainable farms.

Rita, a United Nations Empower Women Global Champion, has also led the initiative ‘Uforo Iban Uto Inwang (#She’s Empowered Through Agriculture) to enable 50,000 women, especially widows, to build their financial and entrepreneurial skills and self-confidence to start their own commercial cassava farms. And she has volunteered with HarvestPlus Nigeria, raising awareness of good nutrition and farming opportunities at an event attended by 5,000 Nigerians.
 

Making a Difference Awards

Outstanding teaching innovation in social responsibility 
Muungano-Community Savers-GDI Teaching Alliance, Decolonising development pedagogies while supporting inclusive development practice 

This project involved co-producing a series of teaching innovations to decolonise development studies teaching and give students first-hand insight into the strategies and practices of community activists fighting for more inclusive urban development in 91ֱ��, Kenya and Uganda. It offers critical balance to traditional pedagogies that prioritise engagement with development theories and professional practice by bringing unheard voices into the classroom. These teaching innovations have simultaneously paved the way for the Global Development Institute to help facilitate and support the emergence of a new network of women’s savings groups across 91ֱ�� and Sheffield, thus strengthening global urban development practice.

Outstanding social innovation and environmental impact 
Malavika Krishnan, One thing that should never be taken away from you is your education! 

This project aimed to ensure that inequalities and the pandemic aren’t a reason for poor learning outcomes. It supported government school students who are discriminated against in schools and receive insufficient pedagogical attention, to ensure that the pandemic does not exacerbate these existing inequalities. As part of Chalo Padhe Online, this project supported 200 girls and students from lower-income families in Delhi with school supplies, smartphones, internet packages and specialised online learning programmes.