Social Protection (M.Sc.)
MSc Social Protection Insights: July 2024
June 2024: Social Protection Insights
📢 DAAD Scholarship Applications Close July 31
The application window for the DAAD Helmut-Schmidt-Programme closes on July 31! Make sure to gather all important documents and finish your application. Please refer to the June issue of the newsletter or our website to see the details and FAQ about the scholarship.
Tipps:
- We cannot accept application documents via email. Applications must be submitted through the application portal in order to be considered.
- If a document upload is not working, try turning off any translation browser extensions and use the platform's translations instead.
Good luck! 🍀
📢 Working Paper Series Has Been Revived
The departmental Working Papers Series Social Policy in Demand: A Working Paper Series has just published four topical papers on
- "Housing as a success factor for fair skilled labour migration" by Prof. Dr. Michael Sauer. The paper is part of his research project on Sustainable Labour Migration.
- "Adaptive Role of (Universal) Child Benefits in Emergency Responses in Turkey" by Yeliz Ceylan
- "Management of Climate-Related Hazards in Germany through Adaptive Social Protection: The Case of the Ahr Valley Flooding in 2021" by Jana Martens
- "Social protection policies and fertility: How can social protection measures address the low fertility rate in Germany?" by Nana Musim
There are more in the pipeline - Stay tuned!
📢 Visiting Professor Masauso Chirwa Stays for Another Year
We are delighted to announce that our visiting professor Masauso Chirwa PhD will be staying with us for another year!In the coming winter semester, students will benefit from his extensive knowledge in social protection systems for people with disabilities, women and children.
He will again be teaching courses in the introductory module Comparative Analysis of Social Protection Systems and Public Finance. In addition, he is supervising several Masters theses and doctoral students. Masters students have found him to be an approachable and conscientious lecturer and supervisor who incorporates state-of-the-art research results and trends.
📢 Student Excursion to Caritas in Bonn
The current Masters students were welcomed by the local social service provider Caritas in Bonn on June 18 as part of their module on Social Care Services and their electives on the focus groups of Children/Youth and Migrants. During a half-day excursions, they learned about the role of Caritas in providing social services and the interplay with governmental partners. After a quick lunch break at KostBar Bonn, a café run by people that are usually considered less employable, students were presented the work of Haus Mondial, a community center offering counselling, educational and leisure activities for people with and without a migration background. Students had the chance to spray tote bags with important messages like Girls just want to have fundamental rights or Stand up for diversity in a mini workshop. #youngcaritas regularly organizes cultural events.
If you are new in Bonn or looking for fun activities with fellow youth, check out: youngcaritas Bonn ❤️🌍🤝 (@youngcaritas_bonn) • Instagram-Fotos und -Videos
Lastly, we were welcomed by Caritas Bonn Jugendzentrum Caritas Bonn Jugendzentrum Uns Huus. The youth center welcomes young people free of charge for guided activities, preparing meals together and just hanging out. Thereby, they offer a safe place and a meeting place. Students particularly enjoyed learning about the services for migrants like themselves, getting a glimpse behind the scenes of a social service provider, and potentially staying in touch through volunteering, internships, co-operative masters theses or working student jobs.We thank all employees of Caritas for the exciting and insightful excursion, and already look forward to our next visit with the new batch!
Module 8: Social Protection Reforms
Module 8 serves as an opportunity for students to apply the past two semesters of theory to real-life scenarios. Students learn key strategies in communication and utilizing the political space to assess and reform social protection programmes. They may choose from two different projects depending on their interests and expertise, and are expected to develop creative and innovative solutions within legal, cultural, and political frameworks.
Module 8 is broken up into 3 different parts:
Part 1: Foundations Communication with Prof. Dr. Prof. Dr. Derya Gür-Şeker, and Reform Process from a Legal Perspective with Prof. Dr. Matthias Meißner.
Part 2: Reform Needs Changes in the Working World with Prof. Dr. Anita Tisch, and Climate Change with Sayanti Sengupta.
Part 3: Students choose from 1 of 2 Reform Projects: Disability-Inclusive Social Protection with Prof. Dr. Masauso Chirwa PhD, or Social Budgeting with Arthur van de Meerendonk.
Get to Know Our Students, Lecturers & Alumni
Student of the Month
Name: Anna Samodova
Batch: 2023
Country of Origin: Russian Federation
Social Protection Experience: Legal advisor in regional public administration, taking an active part in the legislation process, drafting legal acts on general and vocational education, and social support for families with children, and for children without parental care
Research Interests: Human rights; legal and financial basis for social security; social protection for working population and youth; labour market policies; sustainability of the social protection systems; good governance
„One of the highlights of this programme is that students are constantly encouraged not just to listen to, but to interact with practitioners working on impactful projects in different domains of social protection. The courses are not about predefined solutions; they teach us to be creative and open-minded. Additionally, we benefit from learning from each other's diverse perspectives. I am convinced that those considering this Master’s programme will not be disappointed. Even in uncertain times, the belief that we can contribute to positive change gives this programme its unique spirit”
Anna Samodova - 2023/24 Batch
Alumni Spotlight
Name: Bilal Akhter
Batch: 2021
Country of Origin: Pakistan
Current Role: Research and Policy Consultant for Oxford Policy Management
Internship: Multi-stakeholder Partnerships Team, Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division (PFP), UNICEF (Geneva)
Master's Thesis Topic: Analysis of targeting strategies in unconditional cash transfer under Benazir Income Support Program and EHSAAS in Pakistan during 2008-11 and 2018-21
Previous Social Protection Experience: 10 years of experience in designing and leading social protection interventions in the Global South to address climate and economic vulnerabilities
- Led the Adolescent and Adult Learning and Training Program financed by the Government of Sindh, Pakistan to equip 5,000 adults and adolescents with education and employable skills
- Led the Youth Education Employment Empowerment Project co-financed by the Government of Sindh, Pakistan and UNDP to educate and train 15,000 youth
- Contributing to the designing of Adaptive Social Protection programming in Pakistan for a feasibility study for health and climate resilience funded by the KfW Development Bank
About the programme, he says:
„My career goal of working for vulnerable communities is complemented by my academic degree in Social Protection with a specialisation in vulnerability. My coursework emphasized the intersection of social protection, climate change adaptation, finance, and policy, providing me with a solid foundation to engage effectively in social protection projects and policy development.”
Bilal Akhter - 2021 Batch
Meet our Lecturers
Name: Shez Farooq
Position: Digital Social Protection Consultant at The World Bank
Teaching in the programme since: 2023
Course(s) in 2023/24: M7.3 Information Management
Expertise: Delivery Systems for Social Protection, eGovernment services and Digital Transformation
„In our course, we continually challenge existing literature to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital solutions for social protection and public services. It has been inspiring to witness students act as consultant teams advising governments on digital transformation for social protection, showcasing their creativity and critical thinking through practical challenges and scenarios. Whether using real-life programs or crafting fictitious contexts and country contexts, and even self-branding their consulting firms for group presentations and proposals, they have demonstrated remarkable creativity and ingenuity.”
Shez Farooq - Digital Social Protection Consultant at The World Bank
Resources, Events and Publications
Events
- SAVE THE DATE: Brown Bag Lunch Farm Households‘ Resilience through Malawi’s SCTP with Nicolas M. Klas (PhD Candidate, University of Heidelberg) on July 22 from 12:45 - 13:30. More information on our website: Brown Bag Lunch "Farm Households‘ Resilience through Malawi’s SCTP" // Nicolas Klas | Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS)
Resources
- Our visiting professor Prof. Dr. Masauso Chirwa co-published an article on Perceived Social Support and Health Care Spending as Moderators in the Association of Traditional Bullying Perpetration with Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimisation among Adolescents in 27 European Countries: A Multilevel Cross-National Study in the @International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH)
- Our lecturers Alexandre Cote and Charles Knox-Vydmanov have co-published a Guidance Note: Towards Inclusive Social Protection Systems: Enabling Participation and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.
- A FAQ document on the ILO Social Security (Minimum Standards) , 1952 (No. 102) has been released. It explains in an accessible and reader-friendly format the core principles and minimum benchmarks set out by the Convention.
- Following the webinar announced in the last issue, a Summary Report on the Inclusive Social Protection, Care, and Support Systems Global Technical Workshop has been shared on socialprotection.org .
- A new issue of the FAO #SocialProtection Newsletter is out: FAO Social Protection Newsletter June 2024 | Issue 2. Make sure to subscribe!
- For those who are just starting to study with us or are not yet subscribed to Ugo Gentilini's social protection newsletter, make sure to subscribe too!
CONTACT US!
We are always interested in creating partnerships with those of you working in the field! We would love to hear from you if are interested in
- being a #ThesisSupervisor,
- providing #Internship opportunities to our students,
- publishing a paper in our #WorkingPaper series, or
- visiting our university as a #GuestSpeaker
Your feedback and suggestions to improve the newsletter are also very welcome.
📩 msc-socialprotection@h-brs.de
🌐 Master's of Science in Social Protection | Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS)