140255 UE PR1 - P II - Engaging development research into action: challenges and considerations (2010S)

There is a long standing debate within development studies on the level of engagement with development policy and action: whether to maintain its critical, self-reflexive position or to orient its program towards more practical concerns. From a latter position, the course encourages the students to critically look at the ways in which scientific knowledge has been put to practical use and why. Conceptually and methodologically, the course introduces the notion of systems thinking in conceptualising local rural systems and their dynamics for designing effective interventions towards sustainable development, enriched by examples and case studies. The course allows for provocative discussions on questions of legitimacy of development intervention as well as the challenges and considerations involved in engaging scientific knowledge into practice. The course will also try to gain insights into opportunities and constraints in existing framework conditions and what they mean for individual action.