dr. (Sylvia) SI Bergh

Profile

I am currently part-time Associate Professor in Development Management and Governance at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, Erasmus University Rotterdam, where I have worked full-time since 2007.

Since 1 September 2020, I also hold the position of senior researcher at the Centre of Expertise on Global Governance at The Hague University of Applied Sciences/De Haagse Hogeschool (THUAS/HHS).

I completed my D.Phil. thesis in Development Studies at the University of Oxford in 2008, focusing on decentralisation and local governance in Morocco. Previously, I worked at the World Bank, both in the President's Office in Washington D.C. and in the Morocco Country Office. My academic background includes a strong focus on the Middle East/North Africa region; having gained a First Class degree in Arabic and International Relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in 1999, I obtained an M.Phil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Oxford in 2001. I also have extensive consultancy experience, and have published widely on local state-society relations, including The Politics of Development in Morocco: Local Governance and Participation in North Africa (I.B. Tauris, 2017).

I currently lead a project addressing the effects of heatwaves on vulnerable populations in The Hague, financed by a €69,3k subsidy from the Municipality of The Hague (total budget €99k). The project aims to enhance our understanding of the impact of heatwaves on vulnerable population groups living in The Hague, and to counter the effects through appropriate health risk communication by the municipality. In addition, by identifying simple and affordable “frugal” innovations in the Hague and globally, developed by and for local citizens, the project aims to formulate practical policy recommendations. Professor Thea Hilhorst, Professor Peter Knorringa, Dr. Erwin van Tuijl, and Ashley-Richard Longman also are also involved in this mixed-methods project that will adopt citizen science techniques, household surveys and Participatory Action Research.

My other recent and current research explores how and with what effects global models of ‘social accountability’ are deployed in various contexts (among others, in Morocco and India) and sectors (education and health) by NGOs and donors including the World Bank. Such social accountability initiatives aim to ensure greater citizen participation in service delivery (including social protection), and ultimately, increased effectiveness of these services leading to poverty reduction.

I am currently leading a small research project on this topic (with Dr. Ward Vloeberghs), collaborating with local researchers in Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, funded by a €15k grant from the ISS’s Research Innovation Facility (RIF). Furthermore, as part of an earlier NWO-funded research project for which I was co-applicant, I have co-organized an international conference on the ‘State of Accountability’ at ISS and we are in the final stages of editing a volume (under contract with Edward Elgar) with the most innovative papers covering various aspects of accountability and interactive governance.

Finally, I am currently also contributing to a three-year research and advocacy project funded by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by the CHS Alliance and ISS (with Prof. Thea Hilhorst) on ‘Closing the Accountability Gap: Better Protecting Survivors/Victims of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment’. We are working with local researchers in Palestine, Bangladesh and Ethiopia on perception surveys and participatory action research to monitor the Common Humanitarian Standards on Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) and to improve accountability relations between international humanitarian aid agencies, national/local stakeholders, and beneficiaries themselves.

In my position at ISS, I focus on PhD and MA thesis supervision in these and related fields of research.

My most recent publications include:

Bergh, S. I. (2021) ‘Democratic decentralization and local development: insights from Morocco’s advanced regionalization process’ in Crawford, G. and Abdulai, A.-G. (eds.) Research Handbook on Democracy and Development. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 482-501. (Open Access)

Naficy, A., Bergh, S.I., Akhavan Alavi, S.H. et al. (2021),  Understanding the Role of Outsiders in Community-Based Development Interventions: A Framework with Findings from Iran. Voluntas (online first; open access)  

Iguma Wakenge, C, M-R. Bashwira Nyenyezi, S.I. Bergh, and J. Cuvelier (2021), ‘From ‘conflict minerals’ to peace? Reviewing mining reforms, gender, and state performance in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’, The Extractive Industries and Society (online first; open access) 

Vloeberghs, W. and S. I. Bergh (2021), ‘Weapons of discontent? Sketching a research agenda on social accountability in the Arab Middle East and North Africa’, ISS Working Paper No. 671, The Hague, NL: International Institute of Social Studies. 

Shalaby, M. and S. I. Bergh (2020) ‘Power to the People? The Right to Information Law in Morocco’ blog published by Sada online journal on 30 September 2020 and re-posted by the ISS blog on 16 October 2020 

Bergh, S. I. (2020) ‘Building a Euro-Mediterranean partnership with, not for, cities’, CIDOB briefings No. 24, July 2020 

Bergh, S. I. (2020) ‘Morocco’s Decentralization Experience’, in The Dynamics of Decentralization in the MENA: Processes, Outcomes, and Obstacles, E. Lust, K. Kao et al (eds), The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD) Working Paper 31, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, pp. 23-39.  

Bergh, S. I. (2019). ‘Social accountability, citizenship, and social protection in the MENA region: Exploring the linkages’, in: R. Jawad, N. Jones and M. Messkoub (eds.): Social policy in the Middle East and North Africa: From social assistance to universal social protection (London: Edward Elgar), 220-242 (Open Access).  

See also the related policy brief:  

Bergh, S. I. (2019). ‘Community Score Cards: A tool to improve education service delivery?’ Policy Innovation Case Studies No. 2, Middle East & North Africa Social Policy Network