My post-doctoral research project with the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) was on ‘ Hybrid governance in mining concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Ghana’. It studied how mining corporations do not just affect the local economy, but also local politics, creating winners and losers in both arenas. The project studied such changes in the DRC and in Ghana, drawing on the literature on hybrid governance and analyzing power and authority ‘from below’.
Output
- February and March 2015- Fieldwork in Ghana: During my first exploratory fieldwork in Ghana I spent some time in Accra and in Western Region, an important gold-producing region. I collaborated with the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT). This research was sponsored by FWO and BOF- University of Antwerp.
- September 2015- Fieldwork in DRCongo: In September I did fieldwork in Namoya. This research was sponsored by FWO and VLIR.
- November 2015- Field report Ghana: On the basis of the field research in February and March I prepared a field report, which you can find here Geenen 2015 draft_Hybrid governance in mining concessions in Ghana
- March 2016- Working paper Ghana: This report was published in the form of an IOB Working Paper. ECDPM also published a discussion paper on Multi-stakeholder partnerships in the gold sector in Ghana, based on the same case study company.
- December 2016- Presentation and poster Bukavu conference: I presented a paper and a poster at the Bukavu conference “Transition and local development in Eastern DRCongo” on 8-10 December: Bukavu conference_Geenen / Poster Geenen
