4. Research

Local-level Human Security in Haiti
This research project aims to add to the emerging literature on local arrangements and governance in so-called fragile states , since the notion of ‘fragile states’ has obscured how societies under these conditions work and how people manage their lives. It comprises several studies around the question: How do people interact with each other and local governance institutions (state/non-state, formal/informal) to shape their own human security?

This project is conducted by Cordaid, in collaboration with the Chair Disaster Studies and the Special Chair Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction, and forms part of the IS Academy Human Security in Fragile States.
Research was conducted and coordinated by Ms Talitha Stam.

PUBLICATIONS

Research brief #9 | Local-level human security in Haiti: community arrangements, local government and NGOs after the earthquake | Published by the IS Academy/Wageningen University | By Talitha Stam, Bart Weijs and Gemma van der Haar, 2014.

Occasional paper #4 | From Gardens to Markets: a Madam Sara perspective | Published by the IS Academy/Wageningen University | By Talitha Stam, 2013.

Report | Ethnographic study on female intermediaries in the Haitian informal economy | Published by IS Academy/Cordaid | by Talitha Stam, 2012.

Based on the Madam Sara studies, Cordaid started a program to improve storage facilities for Madam Sara. This program aims to put in place one time investments that should allow Madam Sara’s and producers to have a bigger share in the end price of their produce by reducing post-harvest losses.

Agenda Setting Report | Planting Strategies in Rural Haiti – an Ethnographic Context | Published by IS Academy/Cordaid | by Talitha Stam, 2011.

MASTER THESIS

Kids on the Frontline of Haiti’s Fault line – Children’s perspectives on their earthquake relocation 2010, by Talitha Stam (Utrecht University)
Supervised by dr.ir. Yvon van der Pijl, and unofficially assisted in the field by dr. Gerald F. Murray, Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida.

Thesis review by dr. Silke Heumann Institute of Social Studies (ISS):, see NALACS scriptieprijs

AWARDS
October 2011 | NALACS Thesis Award
1st prize for my Masterthesis “Kids on the Frontline of Haiti’s Fault line”.
For the NALACS, the Netherlands Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Thesis Award an independent jury awards the prize to the MA thesis that succeeds best in combining scientific excellence with creativity and writing skills.

September 2011 | Nieboer Thesis Award
1st prize for my thesis “Kids on the Frontline of Haiti’s Fault line”.
Award for the best-written thesis in the Department of Anthropology at the Utrecht University.

September 2011 | Shortlist Nominee for the Peter G. Swanborn prize
Nominated by Prof. Patrick Eisenlohr. Award for Best Master Thesis within the Faculty Social Science, Utrecht University.

September 2011 | Nominee for Best Master Thesis of the Utrecht University
Nominated by Dr. Diederick Raven. Award for best Master Thesis of the University.