Oral history interview with Dharam Ghai, 2001.

Biographical Note

United Nations -- ILO World Employment Programme; Research Institute for Social Development; Pearson Commission on International Development

Scope and Contents

Childhood in British-colonial Kenya; middle-class upbringing in Nairobi, Kenya; discussion of minoritarian status as South Asian in "semi-apartheid" Kenya and ensuing early appreciation of multilateralism and forms of economic cooperation through impartiality, non-discrimination and affirmative politics; university education at Oxford University during Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya; discussion of increased exposure intellectual and cultural life, and first friendships with students from developing countries and the Commonwealth; discussion of violent nature of Kenyan independence during time at Oxford University; economics professor at Makerere University College in Uganda during independence struggle and early work on development economics; discussion of multidisciplinary East African Institute of Social Research and subsequent development projects; eventual position as director of East African Institute of Social Research and subsequent movement away from teaching; commentary on work for the World Bank funded Pearson Commission, December 1969 to August 1970, discussion of the Robert McNamara funded Pearson Commission's role in building support for development assistance; discussion of extensive work with least-developed countries (LDCs); discussion of the ILO report on employment in Kenya and subsequent change in understanding of value of informal sector, and minimum standard of living; discussion of gender studies influence on the ILO and subsequent adoption of convention of home based work, and rural women migrant workers; in late 1970s director of ILO: Rural Employment Policies Branch and subsequent expanded work on women workers; 1987, director of UNRISD (UN Research Institute for Social Development; discussion of global conferences and their importance in increasing awareness and sensitivity to gender, the environment, and population issues

Subjects

• Commission on International Development.
• Developing countries--Economic conditions.
• Development economics.
• East African Institute of Social Research (Makerere University College)
• Economic development.
• Ghai, Dharam P.--Interviews.
• Informal sector (Economics)--Kenya.
• International Labour Office. Rural Employment Policies Branch.
• Interviews.
• Minorities--Kenya.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• United Nations--History.
• United Nations--Officials and employees--Interviews.
• United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.
• Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Women--Employment--Kenya.
• Women in development.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2001