Dr Meera Tiwari

I am a Reader (Associate Professor) in International Development Studies, where I am also the programme leader for the EADI/IAC accredited MSc NGO and Development Management.  In January 2019, I was appointed the Co-Deputy Director of ESRC's UBEL Doctoral Training Programme.


I am very interested in researching the multidimensional understandings of poverty in both the Global North and the Global South with a particular focus on actor engagement and lack of social and economic opportunities within the Capability Approach. I have widely engaged with the Sustainable Development Goals since 2015 (and the MDGs previously), to explore how can the most vulnerable communities be empowered to access better opportunities in life and become more resilient in urban and rural settings. My ongoing research into localising the SDGs in East London since 2018 is a student-led project that highlights the need for identifying context-specific priority areas, cultural norms, and pathways to overcome disadvantages. The research is in the process of reactivating the fieldwork that had been halted because of the pandemic. A key focus of the research is on the co-production of ways of engaging with the social and economic regeneration opportunities with the communities in East London. The localisation of the SDGs at the borough level is thus envisaged to put forward collaborative approaches to urban resilience and sustainable well-being of communities that can be contextualised in both the cities of the global North and the South.
 

My work into examining social and economic problems communities encounter including the impacts of climate change, through a human-centred approach is founded on my extensive research and fieldwork spread over two decades.  I have conducted fieldwork in East London, UK, India, Ethiopia and Tanzania. My book 'Why Some Development Works' draws on my research on women's collectives (Self-Help Groups) spanning over 10 years since 2009 in rural Bihar, India along with case-studies from six other countries where I have conducted research. The manuscript proposal for this monograph was awarded the CROP Poverty Prize in 2016. In 2019 I was elected a Fellow of the prestigious Human Development and the Capability Association (HDCA).

I have also conducted research for social impact evaluations of state-supported programmes on poverty reduction and livelihoods as well as of grassroots interventions by NGOs in India, Lebanon and Brazil in various domains of development. In 2017-2018 I examined the impact of alcohol prohibition policy in Bihar on rural households since 2016. My research project on the role of dignity in improving Menstrual Health in Rural India was supported by UEL's Global Research Challenge Funding. A co-funded ESRC studentship with the NGO Global One has been awarded to me to take forward the research in the context of the UK, India, Jordan and Bangladesh starting March 1, 2022. My most recent impact evaluation (2021) was for World Vision on the role of faith leaders in COVID-19 mitigation in Brazil, Bosnia, Bangladesh, Kenya and Malawi.

I have to date supervised six PhD students to successful completion and examined five PhDs. I am currently the DoS for three PhD students two of whom are ESRC-funded studentships and the second supervisor to two other students one of whom is also ESRC-funded.