Now I know what PASGR is all about

Wangui Kimari, our first-ever intern, describes her one-year attachment to the Professional Training and Development (PDT) Programme as “very dynamic”.

The PhD candidate at York University in Canada says “PASGR does a lot, but what it does is not always explicit.” PASGR’s social protection work, for instance, is not research to be kept on a shelf, but to change the daily lives of Africans, she says.

Kimari, whose PhD project on the history of urban planning in Nairobi benefited from her internship, witnessed the launch of PASGR’s Urban Governance and Turning African Cities Around study.“Being in the same room with some of the foremost thinkers in urban studies—like African Centre for Cities head Edgar Pieterse—was very exciting.”

Although her internship had no direct link with her PhD, Kimari made time for both, spending three days a week at PASGR. She played a major part in the training that saw over 80 Africans from different parts of the continent come together for the Political Economy

Analysis course, and for the Advanced Research Design course.

“But even just small daily activities, collaborating with people who work very hard, was pretty inspiring. Being part of drafting initial proposals and final reports, I got to see the many processes that go into being PASGR. An ethnographic researcher, Kimari says the good research that defines PASGR often involves an interdisciplinary approach that brings in different approaches to support public policy.