January 31, 2019
CSS is set to play a key role in a £20 million global research hub
– funded through UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and led by
Coventry University’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) –announced
by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) today as part an ambitious new
approach to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
The UKRI GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality
and Development Hub will see CSS join forces with universities and
organisations from across the world to explore how the movement of people in
the Global South is affecting inequality and development in less developed
regions. The initiative is thought to be the largest study into global
migration undertaken anywhere in the world.
Over the next five years the
Hub will work with governments, international agencies, partners and NGOs on
the ground in these countries and around the globe to maximize the benefits of
South-South migration for development – and to investigate how it contributes
to the delivery of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as ending
poverty and reducing inequality.
South-South
migration is estimated to account for nearly half of all international
migration (up to 70% in some places), but its potential benefits have been
undermined by limited and unequal access to rights and to the economic and
social opportunities that migration can bring.
The Hub will
explore South-South migration in six global ‘corridors’ linking origin and
destination countries, focusing in particular on the following routes:
Nepal–Malaysia; China–Ghana; Burkina Faso–Cote D’Ivoire; Ethiopia–South Africa;
Haiti–Brazil; and Egypt–Jordan.
Professor Heaven Crawley, an expert in international migration at
Coventry University, will lead the Hub’s network of partners which includes:
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20 leading universities, as well as the Overseas
Development Institute (ODI), PositiveNegatives, Samuel Hall and @iLabAfrica;
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Six international organisations – the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Labour Organization (ILO),
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR),
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Research Institute
For Social Development (UNRISD); and
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Numerous local organisations in the 12
countries in which the hub will work: Burkina Faso, Brazil, China, Côte
d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Jordan, Malaysia, Nepal and South
Africa.
Professor
Andrew Thompson, UKRI champion for international and executive chair of the
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), said:
“The sheer
scale and ambition of these Hubs is what makes them so exciting. They enable us
to deliver a coordinated global response with UK researchers working in
partnership with researchers, governments, NGOs, community groups and
international agencies across developing countries. Each Hub has the potential
to transform the quality of life for multitudes throughout the world and
safeguard our planet for future generations.”