fieldwork – Katja Malmborg

for future reference

I went to Mexico, came back and the first snow both fell and melted. I promise to tell you about it, but first: In late October, I went down to Skåne, southern Sweden, to conduct my last preparatory stakeholder interviews. What I asked them and what I will use their answers for, I intend toContinue reading “for future reference”

my southern Sweden travels

Now that I’ve changed projects from studying smallholder farmers in the Volta basin in West Africa to bundles of ecosystem services in the Helge å catchment, my fieldwork has become both less time-consuming and less exotic. It is both nice, and a bit sad. Burkina Faso is an incredible country to get to know –Continue reading “my southern Sweden travels”

Sahelian stories: A young researcher trying out social media

Some weeks ago, I was the guest editor of Stockholm Resilience Centre’s Instagram account under the hashtag #SRCFieldwork. Every week, a master’s or PhD student or researcher at the center posts photos and tells stories from their fieldwork experiences. The idea is to give some insight into the work behind the research and also shareContinue reading “Sahelian stories: A young researcher trying out social media”

when temperatures lose sense (mid-April)

About halfway through our fieldwork period, I got sick. Fever, sore throat, aching joints. I was doing OK during our last days in Tenkodogo, Burkina Faso, only feeling a bit faint, but after the bumpy ride across the border down to Zebilla in Ghana, the sickness got a proper hold in me. Just standing upContinue reading “when temperatures lose sense (mid-April)”

fieldworking in Tenkodogo & Zebilla (mid-April)

We spent about two weeks doing fieldwork in southern Burkina Faso and northern Ghana, my fellow researchers and I. A small number of communities with small reservoirs had been selected around the town of Tenkodogo in Burkina and Zebilla in Ghana. Together with our local partners from universities and other organizations in Ouagadougou and Tamale,Continue reading “fieldworking in Tenkodogo & Zebilla (mid-April)”

hunting for data in the capital of Ghana (beginning of April)

I left my brief vacation in Liberia, to start working in Ghana. I began with one week in Accra. It was the warmest time of the year, and I’ve never found heat so exhausting. Here, it wasn’t only the temperature. There was also a humidity, and the pollution of a large, dense city full ofContinue reading “hunting for data in the capital of Ghana (beginning of April)”

remembering fieldwork

Written in a train on Wednesday, 10 days ago: I have spent the last couple of days in Härnösand at an MFS reunion. MFS (Minor Field Study) is the grant that Elli and I received from Sida (the Swedish international development cooperation agency) to do our fieldwork in Burkina Faso. It is a grant givenContinue reading “remembering fieldwork”

field visits (June 2015)

After the workshop was done, most of the team went back to Ouagadougou or Accra. We were a couple, however, who wanted to see more. Get a feel for the northern Ghanaian and southern Burkinabe landscape. So we took the car, a driver and went on a road trip. This project is centered on dams,Continue reading “field visits (June 2015)”

the workshop (June 2015)

The main reason for this visit to Burkina Faso and Ghana was not to plan the project with the different teams, but for one of the teams to hold a workshop in Zebilla, a village close to Bolgatanga in northern Ghana. The rest of us tagged along, out of curiosity about the workshop and toContinue reading “the workshop (June 2015)”

the retirement of a notebook (December 25th)

My notebook is starting to smell really funky. Something not quite unlike the CFA and Cedi notes here. A combination of sweat, dirt and human greed, I guess. Not particularly pleasant, anyway. It’s the notebook that I used when doing my transect walks in Ouahigouya and Kaya. According to my ethics review, I’m supposed toContinue reading “the retirement of a notebook (December 25th)”