Anna Wood

My doctoral thesis is the study of two flagship social protection policies introduced by the current Senegalese government within its development plan, the Plan Sénégal Émergent (PSE). It examines these policies - a national cash transfer and universal health coverage - by drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with recipients living in a small informal settlement in the capital, Dakar, as well as those seeking to help them and those involved in the implementation of the policies. By examining the vernacularisation and negotiation of these policies and their politics on the ground, my thesis seeks to move beyond narratives of success and failure.

The new research that I will carry out as a Research Associate is on another PSE social policy which aims to build 100,000 homes to address the severe national housing deficit. Among the most ambitious social housing programs in Africa, distinct in both housing quality and scale, it seeks to secure land titles, subsidise the cost of homes, and make accessible financing available to those unable to meet the strict lending criteria of banks (the majority of the population). The research will examine its aspirations to make housing available to all from three main perspectives: with existing interlocutors gifted social housing during an ongoing eviction/resettlement process; with those taking out loans; and with a Senegalese housing cooperative based on women’s savings groups. I am planning to write a book based on my PhD and drawing on some of this new research.

In my role as Knowledge Exchange and Funding Facilitator I will be supporting the life and work of the Social Anthropology department in all things related to public engagement, impact, and funding. My own main experience in this regard lies within fair access and public policy engagement. During my doctoral studies I worked for Trinity College’s access and outreach program as well as at The Brilliant Club, a charity that supports students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities, while my experience in public policy engagement centres around my PhD research on social protection and welfare. In my new research on social housing, I am planning to integrate ‘action research’ with a Senegalese NGO which has a particular aim to make innovative and participative urban planning replicable within public policy in Senegal and beyond.

Research interests

Welfare; social protection; universal health coverage; cash transfers; social housing; the state; politics; poverty; Senegal; Africa; development; cities.