Management Sciences

Prof. Dr Katja Bender

Professor for Economics, especially Economic and Social Development International Center for Sustainable Development - DirectorMBA CSR & NGO Management - Academic Director

Field of research

  • Social protection and health systems in low and middle income countries, especially political economy of reform processes
  • Diffusion of technologies and political feasibility - Interaction between technological change and institutional change (focus: renewable energies/photovoltaics; 'digital health')
  • Attitudes towards and drivers of research-practice collaborations

Contact

Prof. Dr. Katja Bender
Email: 
katja.bender [at] h-brs.de

Sankt Augustin

Grantham-Allee 20
53757
Sankt Augustin
Room: 
G 045
Phone: 
+49 2241 865 9660

Profile

Subject area

Economics, especially economic and social development

Teaching areas

  • Microeconomics
  • Development economics
  • Research methods
  • Political economy of health systems

Research areas

  • Social protection and health systems in low and middle income countries, especially the political economy of reform processes
  • Diffusion of technologies and political feasibility - Interaction between technological change and institutional change (focus: renewable energies/photovoltaics; 'digital health')
  • Attitudes towards and drivers of research-practice collaborations

 

Supervision of PhD-projects

In cooperation with Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr-Universität Bochum

  • Callistus Agbaam  (1st supervisor)
  • Klaudia Michalek-Kursawe  (1st supervisor)
  • Andrew Boogards (1st supervisor)
  • Lisa Hilleke (2nd supervisor)

In cooperation with Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn

  • Ana Perez Arredondo “Adoption of risk transfer mechanism among small and medium scale farmers and the role of social capital” (1st supervisor),

 

Regional working experience

Sub-Saharan Africa (Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania); South Asia & South-East Asia (India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam)

 

Membership/Commission activities

  • European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI)
    • Vicepresident
    • Co-convenor International Working group “Social Protection”
  • Konferenz Diakonie und Entwicklung (on behalf of Bread for the World) - Expert member
  • CARE Germany - Expert member Advisory Board
  • DAAD- Carlo-Schmid-Program “Internships in International Organisations” - Selection committee member
  • Member Advisory Board of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on “Inclusion of persons with disabilities in systems of social protection” (until 2016)

Memberships

Projects

Current projects

  • 2019-2020: Roles, processes and risks within the research – practice nexus: Perspectives from academia [in collaboration with European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI)]
  • 2019-2022: Energy Self-sufficiency for Health Facilities in Ghana (EnerShelf), CLIENT II – Internationale Partnerschaften für nachhaltige Innovationen“ [Funding organisation: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)]
  • 2016-2020: NRW-Fortschrittskolleg 'One Health and Urban Transformation' [Funding organisation: Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung (MIWF) NRW]

 

Closed projects:

  • Energy Self-sufficiency for Health Facilities in Ghana (EnerShelf), Definitionsvorhaben CLIENT II – Internationale Partnerschaften für nachhaltige Innovationen“ [Funding organisation: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)]
  • Social and Health Policies for Inclusive Growth (SHPIG) - Breaking the Vicious Circle between Poverty and Ill-Health. Are cash transfers and social health protection policies in Ghana and Kenya mutually complementing? [Funding organisation:  Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) - WOTRO Science for Global Development] 2015-2017
  • Globale Partnerships – North Rhine-Westphalia and international sustainable development –Status Quo und perspectives [Funding organisation: Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung (MIWF) NRW] 2015-2016
  • International Policy Learning and Policy Change: Scientific Inputs for the Dialogue on Social Protection with Global Partners [Co-financing: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)], 2013-2014

Publications

Papers or articles in edited volumes​

  • Pouw, N., Rohregger, B., Schüring, E., Alatinga, K., Kinuthia, B., & Bender, K. (2020). Social Protection in Ghana and Kenya through an Inclusive Development Lens: complex effects and risks, in: World Development Perspectives, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2020.100173

  • Rohregger, Barbara/Bender, Katja/Kinuthia, Bethuel/Schüring, Esther/Ikua, Grace/Pouw, Nicky: The politics of implementation or why institutional interaction matters: The role of traditional authorities in delivering pro-poor social policies in Kenya. IZNE Working Paper Series, 18/2., Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, 2018.

  • Bender, K., Barbara Rohregger, Bethuel Kinuthia, Grace Ikua, Nicky Pouw, Esther Schüring, Understanding multiple trajectories of extending social protection to the poor. An analysis of institutional change in Kenya, IZNE Working Paper Series Nr. 17/6, 2017

  • Bender, K. (2016), Internationale Politikdiffusion und Umsetzung des Rechts auf soziale Sicherung, MenschenRechtsMagazin, Heft 2/16, pp. 129-138

  • Bender, K., Loewe, M., Schüring, E. (2016), Soziale Sicherung in Entwicklungsländern, in: Handbuch zur Sozialversicherungswissenschaft. Grenzen überwinden: Interdisziplinäre Diskurse innerhalb des Systems der Sozialversicherung, Springer-Verlag Berlin,  2015
  • Bender, K., Keller, S. und Willing, H. (2014), The Role of International Policy Transfer and Diffusion for Policy Change in Social Protection – A Review of the State of the Art, BMZ/GIZ/IZNE, Bonn, 2014
  • Bender, K., Keller, S. und Willing, H. (2014), Insights into the Role of International Policy Networks for International Policy Transfer and Policy Learning in Social Protection, BMZ/GIZ/IZNE, Bonn, 2014
  • Bender, K., Nachhaltigkeit aus institutionenökonomischer Perspektive am Beispiel der Schiefergasförderung, in Seegers, N. et al., Hrsg., Responsible Business – Nachhaltiges Handeln in Unternehmen, Nomos-Verlag, Berlin, 2014.
  • Bender, K., The Political Economy of Social Protection Reforms in Developing Countries: What is to be explained and how?, to be published in Social Protection in Developing Countries: Reforming Systems, eds. Bender, K.; Kaltenborn, M. and Pfleiderer, C., Routledge, 2013
  • Bender, K., Health Financing Mechanisms, Access to Health and Economic Growth;  IEE Working Paper 192, 2011
  • Bender, K. and Rompel, M., Financial Crisis and Social Protection Reform - Brake or Motor?, with Rompel, M.,  in: Bauer, A.; Thant, M. (ed.), The Impact of the Global Economic Slowdown on Poverty and Sustainable Development in Asia and Pacific", Asian Development Bank (Manila/Tokyo), 2010
  • Bender, K., Soziale Sicherung im Krankheitsfall für Mittellose, in: Die Krankenversicherung, 2008, 60(1), S.22-24
  • Bender, K., Social Protection Reform in Indonesia - In Search of Universal Coverage, with Knöss, J.in: Küsel, Corinna; Maenner, Ulrike; Meissner, Ricarda (ed.), Social and Ecological Market Economy, GTZ, Eschborn, 2008
  • Bender, K., The Role of Social Protection within a Social Market Economy, in: Küsel, Corinna; Maenner, Ulrike; Meissner, Ricarda (Ed.), Social and Ecological Market Economy, GTZ, Eschborn, 2008

 

Monographs and editorships

  • Bender, K.; Kaltenborn, M. und Pfleiderer, C., Hrsg., Social Protection in Developing Countries: Reforming Systems, Routledge, Abingdon, 2013
  • Bender, K., Institutionelle Reformen für dezentrale Entwicklung: Die Rolle gemeinschaftsbasierter Organisationen am Beispiel kooperativer Versicherungsarrangements, Verlag für Entwicklungspolitik, Saarbrücken, 2006

 

Policy reports and Papers

  • Bender, K. et al., Options for Social Protection Reform in Indonesia, with et al., Jakarta, 2008
  • Bender, K.,  Holst, J., Möller, S und Schramm, B., Soziale Krankenversicherung - Ein Beitrag zur internationalen entwicklungspolitischen Diskussion über umfassende Systeme der sozialen Sicherheit/ Social Health Insurance - A contribution to the international development policy on universal systems of social protection, with.,  GTZ/ BMZ, 2005