DAAD Alumni Seminar Explores Children, Climate Change and Social Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa

A Growing Tradition

The seminar builds on previous Alumni seminars, including the first in 2023 in Tanzania, which explored innovative approaches to expanding social protection in low-income and informal contexts. Subsequent seminars in Ghana and Germany in 2024 examined digital and inclusive social protection systems in West Africa and drew parallels with German labour market reforms. This year's seminar built on this momentum, bringing alumni together to share experiences, strengthen professional networks, and turn discussions into actionable policy recommendations. It reaffirmed the programme's continued commitment to strengthening social protection expertise and fostering collaboration across Africa and beyond.

Opening Remarks

Prof. Dr Kerstin Rosenow-Williams, Head of the M.Sc. Social Protection programme at H-BRS, opened the session and highlighted the programme's commitment to sustained engagement with its alumni. She thanked the UCC for hosting the seminar, as well as Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), whose funding makes the programme’s alumni activities possible. Throughout the workshop, she supported the alumni in co-developing a learning brief through interactive sessions that drew on their diverse professional experiences across 10 countries.

Richlove Amamoo (Mama Awotsu Adzagba II), from the Department of Gender: Central Region, reinforced this message, stressing that gender should be mainstreamed throughout discussions and interventions concerning children.

Sessions

The program combined plenary discussions, country learning exchanges, and reflection sessions to examine the successes and obstacles of child-sensitive social protection in climate-affected and crisis-affected contexts. Alumni also explored persistent financing gaps that limit coverage and effectiveness. Further sessions examined the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the context of emerging technologies, including barriers to inclusion and factors that can strengthen support for children. 

Alumni worked in four thematic working groups focusing on the child-sensitive social protection, climate-responsive approaches across different stages of childhood, social inclusion for children facing particular vulnerabilities, and the financing and governance structures necessary to sustain child-focused and climate-resilient social protection. In a concluding plenary, each group presented its findings, drawing out cross-cutting lessons and gaps to informed the seminar’s central output, the Learning Brief, for publication. The collaborative writing process reflected the seminar's emphasis on interactive, output-oriented knowledge exchange.

The seminar also provided an opportunity to connect with the 14th Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (UEED) Africa Conference, which brought together more than 400 participants in person and online. 

On 18 September, the alumni concluded the seminar with a visit to Cape Coast Castle, part of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Forts and Castles of Ghana. The visit provided an opportunity to reflect on the Castle’s profound significance in the history of the transatlantic slave trade and its enduring meaning for Africans and the African Diaspora.

The seminar was made possible through the continued support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Special aooreciation to other members of the organising team from HBRS including Prof. Dr. Maria Kuss, Prof. Dr. Kerstin Rosenow-Williams, Inken Barjenbruch, and Dr. Brian Mathebula.