Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Decent Work and Economic Growth – University of Copenhagen

Sustained and inclusive economic growth is necessary for achieving sustainable development. The global annual growth rate of real GDP per capita increased by 1.3 per cent in 2014, a significant slowdown compared to 2010 (2.8 per cent growth) and 2000 (3.0 per cent growth). Developing regions grew far faster than developed regions, with average annual growth rates in 2014 of 3.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively, the UN write on their website.

Examples on research from UCPH addressing goal 8:

Organic Cotton for Employment, Growth and Environment?

Through this research project, researchers develop and apply an interdisciplinary framework for assessing and comparing environmental, economic, and social sustainability of cotton production in Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis includes several currently practiced organic and conventional ways of cotton production as well as some innovative—potentially more sustainable—ways of cotton production. Sustainability is assessed by several indicators, e.g. pesticide residues, soil fertility, greenhouse gas emissions, competitiveness, income and employment generation, and social conditions along the value chains.

The empirical studies are conducted in Benin and Tanzania, representing West and East Africa, respectively.

Read more about SCOPA (Sustainable Cotton Production in Africa) on the project website.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 8, 12 and 15

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Food and Ressource Economics.

Transiting to green growth: Natural resources in Nepal (TGG-N)

Trade has the potential to drive the transition to a green economy by promoting sustainable resource use, generating employment, and contributing to poverty alleviation. However, lack of empirically-based knowledge renders this transition difficult. This research project will investigate how the transition to green growth can be undertaken in the MAP sector in Nepal. The sector involves millions of people and has potential to promote pro-poor employment and earnings as well as sustainable resource use. The project focuses on (i) identifying, describing and quantifying production networks for MAPs traded in and from Nepal to India and China, and (ii) identifying points of intervention that enhances job creation, increase earnings, and promote sustainable resource use.

Collecting and drying Jatamansi at Lampata

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 1, 8

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Food and Ressource Economics.

Fermentation creates sustainable growth in the West African food sector

In West Africa, spontaneously fermented foods are deeply embedded in the food culture and the population has a great deal of knowledge about how these foods should be produced. This knowledge has been handed down over generations, but has also been challenged due to the import of ready-made food. The Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen is leading the Danida project GreenGrowth, which has the aim to isolate and catalogue the microbial cultures used for the fermentations and build biobanks to safeguard this microbiological heritage so it can be used to upgrade the West African food sector.

Activities in the project:
1. Establishing biobanks
2. Development of multi-functional starter cultures for upgrading of the food sector 3. Development of convenience food based on traditional foods
4. Introduction of new procedures for sustainable packaging and quality assurance
5. Creation of new market opportunities by scaling up from household production to semi-industrial scale
6. Development of business models across the entire value chain

Woman working with fermentation of beer in Burkina Faso.

Read more about GreenGrowth on the project website.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 2, 4 and 8

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Food Science.

Upgrading pangas and tilapia value chains in Bangladesh (BangFish)

Growth in aquaculture is important because it can help alleviate poverty by providing food and creating jobs in Bangladesh.

The purpose is to promote green growth in freshwater pangas/tilapia aquaculture by providing knowledge on how to improve water quality and farm management and exploit the market potential for farmed fish through value chains functioning. Focus is on water quality since pangas/tilapia might include contaminants, off-flavors and be a bit yellow, not white, as preferred by the consumers at export markets. Farm management, governance of value chains, knowledge on domestic/ international markets and on fish quality can improve the basis for sustainable growth, increase value added and prepare the sector for export, thereby providing livelihood for locals and foreign exchange.

You can read more about BangFish.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 6, 8

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Danida.

AIDA – Agricultural Investors as Development Actors?

Tanzania and Uganda are among the countries that have generated interest among Danish agricultural investors. At the same time, the two countries pursue different strategies to attract foreign agricultural investments.

Through a multi-layered case study approach, this project aims to enhance positive and safeguard against negative development outcomes from the growing involvement of foreign investors and investments in agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa. Taking Danish agricultural investors as a case of foreign agricultural investors, the project explores the expectations, e.g. economic, societal, etc., that motivate investment decisions and the attention paid to emerging rights-based investment governance principles.

©Rod Waddington Credit: Rod Waddington, Flickr

Copenhagen University works as a partner on the AIDA project, which you can read more about.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 8

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from DIIS.

Rural-Urban Complementarities for the Reduction of Poverty

Although Tanzania’s overall urbanization level remains fairly low it has increased from 23 per cent in 2002 to almost 30 per cent in 2012 (NBS, 2015). Thus, Tanzania is urbanizing and experiencing urban growth in different types of urban centres, covering the span from larger metropolitan cities such as Dar es Salaam to small and emerging urban centres (EUCs), which in many cases are not yet formally registered as urban centres. It is this latter group of urban centres that are in the focus of the RUT project.

The overall objective of the project is to provide a comprehensive understanding of development dynamics of EUCs in Tanzania and explore how these impacts on the physical and socio-economic transformation of EUCs into urban townships. Central to the research is to understand governance practices and challenges of these fast growing urban areas characterized by complex in-and out migration and rapid changing economic processes.

Read all about the RUT project on its website.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 1, 8

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Geosciences and Natural Ressource Management.

Enhancing Productivity, Market Access and Incomes for Small Farming Businesses in Tanzania (2011-2019)

One way to address the problem of market access and inadequate farm income amongst smallholders in developing economies is to establish integrated systems of agricultural production, extension and marketing. Commonly known as contract farming, these systems have the potential to enable smallholders to respond to global market conditions. In a national perspective it is also considered as a strategy for improving the livelihoods of smallholders, hence reducing poverty while linking agriculture to industry at sector level. POLICOFA addresses the question of contract farming by combining traditional econometric analysis with a value chain approach to the study of the dynamics within particular agro-industries.

The overall objectives of the project were:
1. To understand the role and importance of contracts for small-scale farming in selected crops (sugarcane, tobacco, sunflower and cotton)
2. To understand how formal credit for agriculture matters in contract farming arrangement.

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 1, 8.

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Geosciences and Natural Ressource management.

Researchers help Africa create export of camel milk

A group of researchers from DTU and University of Copenhagen collaborate with researcher from Haramaya University in Ethiopia to create basis for manufacturing dairy products based on camel milk. They project may have great influence on jobs and growth in the region because Sudan, Kenya and Somalia are rich in numbers of camels.

The researchers investigate which requirements are necessary to develop products and establish the needed capacity on Haramaya University so the university becomes able to support infrastructure and development of new dairy products

Primary Sustainable Development Goals: 1,2,4,8,9 and 17

Read a full description of the Haramaya Camel Dairy project.

This text is redirected by The Secretariat for Development Cooperation at SCIENCE from Department of Food Science.

Global Development Network