Alumni Spotlight: Prof. Kennedy A. Alatinga

Where in Germany did you study?
I studied International Development Management (Master of Arts) at the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE), Ruhr University Bochum. I started my studies in May 2008 and finished in December 2009. For PhD, I was awarded a DAAD in-Region Scholarship and studied Public Policy and Administration at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, with study visits to Ruhr University. I received my PhD in September, 2014.

Are you still in touch with your institution/former colleagues from Germany?
Yes, I am very much in touch with my former colleagues from Germany. I recently collaborated with the IEE and a consortium of European and African Universities and won a grant from the European Commission titled “Taking the 2030 Agenda serious: Analysing the nature and the proposed instruments of the 2030 AgenDa for ending Absolute PoverTy (ADAPTED 2030) for the training of Early Stage Researchers (ESRs—PhDs). See the following link for more information on this project: http://adapted-eu.org/people
In addition, I have collaborated with my former Master’s Thesis Supervisor Professor Dr. Katja Bender, who is also the Director of the International Centre for Sustainable Development and her colleagues from the Bonn Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and we won a research grant from the BMZ, with which we are currently conducting research on Energy Self-Sufficiency for Health Facilities in Ghana (EnerShelF). See the following link for more information on this project link for more information on this project.

What was your PhD thesis about?
My research interests revolve around: Health Access and Equity, Social Protection, Migration, Mixed Methods Research, Poverty Research, & Development Evaluation. Sponsored by DAAD, the title of my PhD Thesis is: Poverty and Access to Health Care in Ghana: The Challenge of Bridging the Equity Gap with Health Insurance. The thesis details that in order to improve the poor’s access to healthcare, there is an urgent need for very poor households to be identified for health insurance premium exemptions in Ghana. The following link leads to a published paper which is one of the outputs of my PhD thesis.

Give us your outlook on Higher Education and internationalization. What is your wish for your current institution?
My outlook on Higher Education and internationalization is to undertake top-notch, cross-cutting and multidisciplinary research in collaboration with local and international partners to advance appropriate knowledge required to solve societal problems, nationally, continentally and globally.  My wish for the  Faculty of Planning and Land Management (FPLM) and indeed the SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD UBIDS), is to become a global leader in research and innovations. To do so, there is the need for strong research expertise, skills and collaboration to propel the university to these higher heights, which, I am pursuing enthusiastically as Dean.

My advice to the next-generation scientists is that they should take their studies and research seriously. They should ask critical questions, applying the Socratic Method. Above all, they should embark upon innovative and topical research themes, the results of which are capable of addressing current development challenges and transforming society positively.