Digital food assistance in India: Towards a digital welfare state.
This working paper reports on phase I – the exploratory phase – of ESRC-funded research into the effects of digitalising food assistance in India.
Beyond efficiency: Exploring the complex impact of digital welfare systems on food security in the UK
This working paper examines the digitalisation of food assistance in the UK, focusing on its implementation, challenges, and socio-political implications.
Digital food assistance in Sudan: Life-saver, risk, political tool in situations of war
This working paper reports on the exploratory phase of ESRC-funded research into the effects of digitalising food assistance in Sudan. The main question addressed is: to what extent have food assistance and social welfare practices been digitalised, and why?
AI was supposed to make the UK benefits system more efficient. Instead it’s brought bias and hunger.
A freedom of information request has revealed that an AI system used by the UK government for assessing benefits cases is apparently getting it wrong by a “statistically significant” amount.
Starvation crimes, network shutdowns, and obstacles to humanitarian action in Gaza and Sudan
In this blog, IHSA Vice-President and Senior Research Fellow at the Food Studies Centre at SOAS (University of London) Susanne Jaspars summarises and expands upon a contribution to the roundtable that followed the inaugural IHSA Annual Lecture on “War and Humanity” held in Bergen in May 2024.
Sudan’s catastrophe: the role of changing dynamics of food and power in the Gezira agricultural scheme
This article, originally published on 30 October 2024 by Disasters, explores the role of historical, political, and economic processes in understanding war and famine in Sudan after 2023.
The evolution of digital risk in food assistance
The past two decades have seen an acceleration in the digitalisation of food assistance and social welfare.
Sudan’s Crisis: Can Cash Transfers Prevent Starvation and State Collapse?
Sudan has experienced a catastrophic increase in violence since 15 April, particularly in Darfur and in the capital Khartoum.
الأزمة السودانية: هل تسهم التحويلات المالية في منع المجاعة وانهيار الدولة
يشهد السودان تصاعداً مهولاً في العنف الدائر بالبلاد، منذ ١٥ أبريل الماضي، تحديداً في دارفور وفي العاصمة الخرطوم. ترك الصراع العنيف بين قوات الدعم السريع شبه العسكرية، والقوات المسلحة السودانية للسيطرة على البلاد ومواردها، أثراً بالغاً على حيوات معظم سكان السودان. وعلى الرغم من أن هذه المعركة تبدو للوهلة الأولى وكأنها حدثاً طارئاً ، إلا أن الواقع الحالي يقتضي النظر إليها كتكثيف لنشاط الاقتصاد السياسي السوداني الاستخراجي (الريعي)، بجانب استخدام المليشيا في خوض الحروب الداخلية السودانية
Sudan’s catastrophe: A long history of failed responses to structural and direct violence
The current crisis in Sudan has deep roots. Seemingly erupting suddenly, it has in fact been a long time coming. Sudan is a highly unequal country – socially, politically, and economically, along geographical, ethnic and class axes.