From July 22–24, 2019, the RLC Campus Mumbai hosted a three-day workshop programme with Right Livelihood Award Laureate Alyn Ware, RLC Port Harcourt Coordinator Dr. Fidelis Allen, and RLC Bangkok researcher Dr. Victor Karunan. They participated in a guest lecture series, presentations by RLC PhD students, excursions to community-based livelihood projects, and in a public panel discussion.

Right Livelihood Award Laureate Alyn Ware, Global Coordinator of the Switzerland-based organisation Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), delivered a talk on the rising global threat of nuclear weapons, especially in China, India, Pakistan and North Korea. He reported on his campaign “Count the Nuclear Weapons Money”, aiming to curtail a dangerous nuclear arms race by cutting off the budgets and investments that fund the weapons. Dr. Fidelis Allen delivered a lecture on conflicts over resources and land, and the consequences on livelihood security in Nigeria. Dr. Victor Karunan presented on conflicts and livelihood insecurity in South East Asia, with a special focus on international politics.

During the public panel event, which was joined by more than 50 students and researchers, RLC coordinator Dr. Swati Banerjee facilitated a discussion on interdisciplinary approaches in tackling social insecurity together with local civil society organisations, with best-practice examples from RLC Campuses in Mumbai, Bangkok, and Port Harcourt.

One of the programme’s highlights was a field trip to two community-based livelihood projects supported by the RLC at the Centre for Livelihoods and Social Innovation, which aim at fostering alternative livelihood strategies for the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in the Deonar dumping ground, the largest and oldest waste depot in India. RLC students and researchers work closely together with women waste pickers to establish a successful venture with the newly formed women’s collective.

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