A field experiment from Tanzania shows that female entrepreneurs have less success than their male counterparts even after training and provision of grants. Why is it so hard to succeed for women running small businesses, and what will it take to shift the tide?

Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen has accepted a position as Associated Senior Researcher at CMI.

The Norwegian government has appointed a committee that will evaluate Norway’s engagement in Afghanistan. The main objective is to review and draw lessons from the operation. Senior researchers Astri Suhrke and Torunn Wimpelmann at CMI will be part of the Commission.

Presentation of the evaluation of the training for peace programme.

If African economies are to transform, they need more than growth - they need growth with depth.

Close to 200 representatives from the government, academia, civil society and media were present when CMI, REPOA, and the National Bureau of Statistics presented their new research programme Tanzania as a future petro-state at the Hyatt Hotel in Dar es Salaam Friday 24 October.

A new report concludes that Norwegian umbrella and network organisations are effective in building capacity in the South, but are cost-inefficient and have poor systems for monitoring and evaluations. Researchers recommend a channeling of more funds to funding mechanisms for civil society in the South rather than leaning on umbrella and network organisations in Norway.

During the annual evaluation conference which was arranged by CMI in Bergen, the first Evaluationprize was announced. CMI and ITAD won the prize for an evaluation of Norwegian “Can We Demonstrate the Difference that Norwegian Aid Makes?”

U4 advisor Francesco de Simone has been headhunted for a position as Administrator of the Anti-Corruption Activities Trust Fund (AATF).

U4 advisor Francesco de Simone has been headhunted for a position as Administrator of the Anti-Corruption Activities Trust Fund (AATF).

Maputo has been depicted as a ‘divided city’. How do the people living there imagine and engage with the city’s different urban spaces? A CMI research project, culminating in the film 'Maputo emergente. Visualising an African divided city' to be made by the Mozambican film-company ANIMA, explores this issue.

Pakistani lawyer Shahzad Akbad and former US drone pilot Brandon Bryant in conversation with Åse Gilje Østensen.

The separation of Sudan and South Sudan has caused severe problems for the pastoralists living in the borderlands between the two nations. What used to be common land is now subject to border disputes and strict regulations, but cattle and goats do not respect international borders.

LIVE STREAMING NOW Angola is Norway's "biggest and most important economic partner in Africa" says the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Does Norway's activity in Angola contribute to Angola's stability and development over time?

LIVE STREAMING NOW Angola er Norges største økonomiske samarbeidspartner i Afrika. Bidrar norske investeringer til utvikling? Fellesrådet for Afrika og Chr. Michelsens Institutt (CMI) arrangerer en serie seminarer og debatter om Norges engasjement i Angola i tre norske byer i september.

Join us in exploring the prize-winning Angolan author José Eduardo Agualusa's Africa, where the mundane and the fantastic, the tragic and the comic, fact and fiction merge in an artful mix of poetry, politics and personal confessions.

Family planning policies have been implemented around the world for decades, but with limited results. This is also the case in Tanzania where school dropout is a big problem and the majority of girls get pregnant by the age of 20. What are they doing wrong?

Law is increasingly center stage for political battles. Across the globe, people are going to court to claim their right to health or education, to fight for their right to engage in sex work or same-sex relationships - while others mobilize courts and legislatures to criminalize prostitution or homosexual practice.

- Policy makers and their decisions matter much more than a supposed resource curse, says Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. As East Africa booms with oil, he urges international actors and donors to repoliticise the international reform and financial agenda.

Poverty is in decline in Nepal. Steady economic growth and labour migration is part of the explanation.

The military has seized power under the banner of 'unity and harmony' to defend the constitutional monarchy. In the short term, they have won. In the longer run, the outcome is much less certain.

Development aid must given to those who need it the most. Aid must be long-term, patient and build on trust, said Alf Morten Jerve. Alf Morten Jerve passed away 15 May.

People living in any society must mediate between two desires: to feel bonded to others ("connected") and to feel autonomous ("free"). Prof. Ward Keeler, University of Texas presents a lecture based on his recent research in Mandalay, Burma:

Rather than serving as civilian and humanitarian safe havens, refugee camps are notorious for their insecurity. When a violation occurs, to which actors shall responsibility be allocated?

Tobias Hagman gives a talk on the peace negotiations between the Somali rebel group Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the Ethiopian government.

Is Somalia a failed state? Where can Somalia go from here and how can the country be rebuild?

Robert Lensink (Groningen) and Carol Newman (Dublin) are visiting CMI for the spring Bergen seminar in development economics. There will be papers on son-preference in South-Asia, technology transfers and foreign investments in Vietnam, the role of IMF for foreign aid flows, and on financial literacy in rural Rwanda.

How can we understand and ensure accountability for heinous crimes linked to power structures in society - including core international crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity?

Where is the Turkish democracy heading? Kjetil Fosshagen (UIB) and Acar Kutay (Rokkansenteret) in conversation with Åse Gilje Østensen.

Norwegian aid projects have not been designed or implemented in a way that makes it possible to evaluate them, concludes a recent study of the Norwegian Aid Administration.

How has new media technologies have shaped language and communication in contemporary Russia?

Uganda's new anti-homosexuality law has disheartened the international human rights community. Would it have been possible to foresee Museveni's approval of the law? In an ideal world, actors promoting human rights can design projects and interventions and see them through with norms and laws in mind. In the real world, where politics and erratic decisions come into play, human rights work is extremely challenging.

with Alexander W. Cappelen, Professor in economics and co-director of The Choice Lab at the Department of Economics, NHH Norwegian School of Economics

During the recent revolution in Egypt, Simon Bolívar- a man from a different war, a different century and a different continent- was watched over and embraced by protestors as a symbol for their struggle. Why?

Åse Gilje Østensen (Royal Norwegian Naval Academy) in conversation with Malcolm Langford (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights and Chr. Michelsen Institute) and Siri Gloppen (UiB/CMI).

Despite an internationally conveyed image of uncertainty connected to the coming elections in Afghanistan, there is a strong sense of enthusiasm and optimism among many Afghans. Leading Afghan civil society actors hope that the enthusiasm will translate into high voter turn-out on election day.

What does the future hold for Afghanistan's women?

Humanitarianism has become a cosmopolitan language serving to qualify a broad diversity of actions, from aid to war, and of agents, either private or public. The lecture will propose an analysis of its ethical tensions and political predicaments.

With Ingvild Almås, NHH Norwegian School of Economics

During the Egyptian uprisings against president Mubarak in 2011, people demanded bread, freedom and social justice. Bread is the daily staple for millions of Egyptians, and came to symbolize the demand for a fairer economic system. But does food insecurity necessarily cause social unrest and conflict?

Economic experiments have become extremely influential in economics, by enriching both our understanding of individual motivation and rationality.

Caroline Osella (SOAS) and Knut Axel Jacobsen (UiB) in conversation with Åse Gilje Østensen (Royal Norwegian Naval Academy).

Voice of China: Conference "China`s engagement in Uganda: Media, culture and telecommunication" , Kampala

Since 2002, the Angolan government has invested 55 billion dollars in rebuilding the country's infrastructure. Angola has also rebuilt the once bustling Benguela railway all the way from the port of Lobito to neighbouring countries of DR Congo and Zambia. -The efforts to rebuild and strengthen the transport sector are crucial to development and economic growth in Angola as well as for the region, says Ana Duarte and Regina Santos.