Project Seminar 2

Politics 5286
Skills in Development Practice
Spring Semester 2018, 5:00-7:40
American University in Cairo
(Tentative: Subject to changes to accommodate Guest speakers schedules and FW)

Ibrahim Elnur (Email: ielnur@aucegypt.edu )

Room: Waleed C138
Office hours (HUSS 2007): Tuesdays - Thursdays: 1:00 - 2:00

Purpose of the course

This course will examine various aspects of development work that are essential to
the success of most if not all development enterprises. The approach will be thematic
and the subjects covered will include Revision of basic appraisal techniques and
concepts; Project under conditions of humanitarian crises; participation,
sustainability, Poverty Alleviation, gender, and monitoring & evaluation and aid-
project coordination. As with POLS 585 the emphasis of the course will be on
application at the project level. Critique of the various approaches examined will be
encouraged.

Structure of the Course

The course will be in the form of a seminar. Readings drawn from academic texts and
program/project documentation will be set from week to week. Active class
discussion of the reading material will constitute the basis for the weekly classes. As
will be made clear below meetings will be student led.

Evaluation
Grades will be determined on the basis of participation, a short essay or book review
and a substantial research paper. Students will take responsibility for presenting
articles in class and this will form part of the basis for assessment of participation.
Students will also present the results of their research projects at the end of the course,
and this will also be counted towards participation. Both the field visit report and the
book review should be between 1,500 and 2,000 words in length, while the research
paper will be 5,000 and 6,000 words. It is anticipated that the research paper will be
worked on throughout the semester. The grade distribution is as follows:

Participation 10%
Reaction Papers 15%
Presentation 10%
Field Visit Report 20%
Book Review 15%
Research project 30%

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NB This is a compulsory element of the Professional Development option in your MA
program. Given the centrality of this course to your program it is anticipated that you
will give your full commitment to the course. Prolonged absences are bound to
adversely affect your performance and it is not fair on your colleagues. Similarly, it is
expected that you will be fully prepared for each meeting and will participate fully in
class discussion.

Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction to the course: February 2nd

Revision of Basic Appraisal Techniques and Concepts

Week 2: Monitoring and Evaluation: February 9th

Monitoring and Evaluation Systems
● Learning from change : issues and experiences in participatory monitoring
and evaluation / edited by Marisol Estrella
● Chapter 7: Hira and Parfitt.
● Role of Participation in the Evaluation and Implementation of the Project,
Cummings F. Harry, The International Journal of Knowledge Transfer and
Utilization, Spring/Summer 1997, vol.10, no 1 and 2, pp.24-33.(e-copy).
● Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation, UNDP.
● Handbook for Development Practitioners: Ten steps to a results Based
M&E, World Bank.
● Monitoring and Evaluation: Tools, Methods and approaches, World Bank
and OECD.
● Setting up the M&E system
● General information about Monitoring and Evaluation.

Week 3: Participation: February 16th

Participation – background and theory:
● Dominic Glover, K. H. (October 2016). Integrating Sustainable
Development: A Foresight Analysis of Interactions Among Competing
Development Challenges. England: Institute of Development Studies.
● Chapter 5: Hira and Parfitt
● Chambers, Robert, Rural Development: Putting the last first. Chapter 6&7.
● Critique to Chambers’ readings: Kapoor, Ilan (2002): The devil’s in the
Theory: a critical assessment of Robert Chamber’ work on participatory
development, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp 101-117.
● Salmen, Lawrence F. Bridging Diversity: Participatory Learning for
Responsive Development. Herndon, VA, USA: The World Bank, 2006.
● Rahman, MD Anisur. People's Self-Development: Perspectives on
Participatory Action Research; A Journey Through Experience. London:
Zed Books, 1993.
● Trond Vedeld, Participation in project preparation: lessons from World
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 Bank-assisted projects in India.
Week 4: Development Project and the Development Triangle: State,
Market and Civil Society: Feb. 23rd
● Leach, M. (2016, November). States, Markets and Society – New Relationships for a
New Development Era. IDS Bulletin, 47(2(A))
● Fukuyama, Francis (2001): Social capital, civil society and Development,
Third World Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp 7-20, 2001.
● Chamber, Simon (2001): Bad Civil Society, Political Theory, Vol.29, No. 6,
2001, 837-865.
● Green, Andrew (2002): Comparative Development of Post-Communist Civil
Society, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 3, 2002, 455-471.
● Snchez, Diana (2010): Civil Society Response to Homelessness, Development
Southern Africa, Vol. 27, No.1, March 2010.
● Wiarda, Howard (2009): Civil Society, American Foreign Policy Interests,
31: 145-148, 2009.
● Veltmeyer, Henry (2008): Civil Society and Local Development,, Campo Grande, v. 9,
n. 2, 223, July 2008.

Week 5: Sustainable Development: the concept, measurement and

implementation: March 2nd
● Delyse Springett, M. R., 2015. Routledge International Handbook of
Sustainable Development
○ Chapter 1, Delyse Springett and Michael Redclift, History and
Evolution of the Concept.
○ Chapter 20, Joachim H. Spangenberg, Indicators for Sustainable
Development
○ Chapter 25, Marco Grasso, The Social Dimension of Sustainable
Development in the Top Emitting Countries’ Climate Change Policy
○ Chapter 27, Yamini Narayanan, Women’s Right to Sustainable
development: Integrating Religion and a Rights-Based Approach
● Chapter 3: Hira and Parfitt
● Environmental Management Accounting: Informational and Institutional
developments / edited by Martin Bennett, Jan Jaap Bouma and Teun
Wolters.
● Implementation for Sustainability: Lessons from Integrated Rural
Development / by George Honadle and Jerry VanSant.

Week 6: Sustainable Development: the concept, measurement and

implementation: March 9th
● SDG Priority Conceptual Issues: Towards an Arab Approach for
the Sustainable Development Goals
● Social Entrepreneurship: Creating New Business Models to Serve
the Poor
● A Rough Guide to Value Chain Development
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 ● Lesotho after AGOA From Textile Booms to Sustainable
Development
● Kenya Textile and Clothing Value Chain Roadmap (Just skim
through)
● Guest Speaker

Week 7: Poverty Alleviation: Solutions - Capacity Building: March

16th
● Kalle Hirvonen, G. M. (December 2016). Linking taxation and social
protection: Evidence on Redistribution and Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia.
England: International Center for Tax and Development.
● Marjoke Oosterom, P. S.-V. (2016, November). Power, Poverty and
Inequality. IDS Bulletin, 47(5).
● Chapter 1: Building the Capacities of Developing Nations through
Empowerment in James, Valentine U.(Editor): Capacity Building in
Developing Countries : Human & Environmental Dimensions
● Poverty Reduction Strategy Initiative : An Independent Evaluation of the
World Bank's Support Through 2003.
● An Example of Integrating ‘Combined Methods’ through a Platform for
Probing Poverties, Q-Squared Working Paper No. 8, Centre for International
Studies.
● “Hearing the voices of the Poor”: Assessing Poverty Lines on the basis of
Local Perceptions of Poverty; a quantitative analysis of the qualitative data
from participatory wealth ranking in rural South Africa, Q-Squared Working
Paper No. 4, Center for International Studies.

Week 8: A Saturday March 18th

● Case Study linked to field trip

Week 9: Gender and Development with emphasis on empowerment:

March 30th
● (2016). Leave No One Behind , A Call to Action for Gender Equality and
Women's Economic Empowerment. UN Secretary-General’s High-Level
Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment.
● Chapter 6: Hira and Parfitt
● Ostergaard, Lise, Gender and Development: A practical guide.
● Margaret Coleman: Female Labour Supply During Early Industrialization:
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Historical Perspective in Mutari et
al (eds.): Gender and Political Economy.
● Overholt et al., Gender roles in Development, p.3: 17.
● AUSAID; Gender and Development: Australian

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Week 10: Gender and Development with emphasis on empowerment:
April 6th (Visit to forum)
● Gender and Race Matter: Global Perspectives on Being a Woman
● Political-Social Movements: Community- Based: Egypt (Post-Revolution)
● Women in the Arab World: Reading against the Grain of Culturalism

Spring Break (April 9th – April 17th)

Week 11: Project under conditions of humanitarian Crisis: April 20th

● Duffield, Mark (1994): Complex Emergencies and the Crisis of
Developmentalism, IDS Bulletin, Vol. 25, No. 3, October 1994.(Electronic
copy available).
● Oliker et al (2004): Aid During Conflict: Interaction between military and
civilian assistance providers in Afghanistan, September 2001-June 2002,
National Defense Institute. (e.copy).
● Anderson & Woodrow: Rising From The Ashes: Development Strategies in Times of
Disaster. Part I: Lesson and Guidelines for Program Design.

Week 12: Aid-Project Coordination: April 27th

● Chapter 1: Hira and Parfitt.
● Acharya, Arnab et al (2004): Aid Proliferation: How responsible are the
donors?, IDS Working Paper 214, January 2004.

Final Student presentations.

May 11th

Research Project Due

May 18th