Ahmed El Assal (ESR 13) participated at the International Research Workshop of the Open University (OU), UK, under the theme of "Povery Reduction - Rethinking Policy and Practice." The workshop took place on site at the Open University in Milton Keynes on September 27 and 28 and brought together both junior and senior researchers doing research on poverty trends and poverty reduction. Participants shared insights and discussed issues such as the changing landscapes of poverty, the effectiveness and scope of programmes to tackle poverty (e.g. social protection, anti-discrimination, ...) and how to achieve structural change regarding the structures that (re-)produce poverty. The workshop was jointly organised by the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD), OU, and the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN) of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in collaboration with the DSA/ EADI Multidimensional Poverty and Poverty Dynamics Working Group.
In the context of this workshop, Ahmed El Assal presented his preliminary research findings from his extensive fieldwork conducted in Uganda over the past months. The title of his research is "Rethinking (Social) Accountability in Cash Transfer Programs: Assessing the Complaints and Grievances Redress Mechanism of Uganda's Senior Citizens Grant." Ahmed's research reveals that the current design of the Grievancees and Complaint Mechanisms does not consider the complexity of accountability dynamics in cash transfer programs. Based on his findings, Ahmed argues that the decentralised rent structures, national-subnational bureaucratic dynamics, and local political institutions hinder the effective settlement of citizen's claim making in Uganda.
Besides his doctoral research in the ADAPTED project, Ahmed has been following-up on the dynamics of youth political participation and youth engagement in civil society organizations in Egypt. Together with Amr Marzouk, Ahmed has recently published a contribution to the edited volume "Public Diplomacy and Civil Society Organizations." The chapter is titled "Civil Society Organization's Public Diplomacy and Youth Political Participation in Egypt."