INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 390-SA Community-Based Approaches to International Development: Theory and Practice

Instructors: Brian Hanson Work: 847-491-5058 Email: bhanson@northwestern.edu

Course Description
This course combines intensive classroom and structured experiential learning to examine community-based international development as well as a broader analysis of development work. The course examines fundamental debates over the nature and goals of international development, alternative approaches to development work, an examination of assumptions employed in development work, the effects of power in development work, and the theory and practice of community-based development. In addition, you will be introduced to the political, social, economic, cultural and geographic characteristics of your country that are most relevant for development. During your fieldwork, you will apply these principles to design and implement a smallscale community development project with peers and community partners. We will also use your time in the field to conduct interviews and additional research to analyze core questions and controversies within international development through a series of written assignments. We reconvene at Northwestern to engage in systematic examination of your experiences and research in the field. You will be comparing your experience with that of students who worked in five other countries and different development sectors to draw lessons and articulate your own arguments about international development work.

Coursing Learning Goals

By the end of this course student will be able to: Describe the key characteristics and approaches of community-based international development, and situate community-based approaches relative to alternative and complementary approaches to development. Identify and articulate how social, economic, political, cultural, geographical and historical factors influence a significant development issue, its causes and implications of how it can be effectively addressed, and what is necessary to bring about broader social change in a local community. Analyze the logic model of change and fundamental assumptions employed by a development organization in its work and the implications for the effectiveness

 of the organization s work in meeting its goals, and for building the foundations for broader community-driven social change. Design, implement and evaluate a community-based development project in partnership with peers and community members to help address a significant development issue identified by the community. Critically evaluate major theoretical and conceptual frameworks for international development, based on reading, research and experience to construct your own argument about what international development is, what is necessary to international development, how to evaluate whether it is occurring, and to what effect.

Course Structure and Components

This quarter long course has four integrated components: 1) Intensive one week pre-departure classroom-based work at Northwestern. 2) Application of development theories and approaches through the design and implementation of a community-based development project with local partners over eight weeks. Students will work in one of six countries including: Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, India, Nicaragua, South Africa and Uganda. 3) Written critical analysis of central issues and debates in international development based on experience and field research during their eight-weeks abroad. 4) Structured analysis and reflection for three days at Northwestern after field work, drawing on comparisons with students who worked and conducted research in other countries and on other development issues.

Course Readings
All readings are available on the Blackboard site for this course. The readings include a varied combination of theoretical works, policy arguments, applied case studies, and evaluative articles. The classroom proportion of this is concentrated and intense. To get the most from the lectures and discussions you will need to have read the materials in advance of the relevant class session. Students are strongly encouraged to have completed the reading before they arrive for the pre-departure seminar. Then you will be in a position to prepare for class sessions by reviewing the readings and reminding yourself of the arguments and perspectives.

Assignments & Evaluation

The assignments for this course are designed to develop the skills and measure your progress in achieving the learning goals above. Discussion (20%) This class will be taught in a combination of lecture and seminar style. Much of each class session will be devoted to discussing the readings, cases, and presentations by guest experts. Active participation in these discussions is essential for critically examining the material, preparing for your field experience, and analyzing your field experience and research. Written Assignments (70%) 1) During the weeklong pre-departure classroom work you will have weekly analytical writing assignments in response to prompts designed to help you work through core theories, concepts and debates explored in the readings and lectures. 2) Each week you are in the field, you will complete written assignments in your journal that draw on your experiences on your development project as well as additional field research to apply and analyze the frameworks, concepts and theories covered in the pre-departure classroom work. To complete these assignments, you will need to meet with and interview members of the communities in which you work, international, national, local development organizations, local experts and policy makers. These assignments will be important source materials for our discussions during the Final Reflection Summit back at Northwestern. Final Group Reports and Presentations (10%) Upon returning to Northwestern, each group will write a report (10-12 pages) analyzing and critically assessing what they observed and encountered using the theoretical and conceptual framework of Asset-Based Community Development. All components of your grade will be evaluated on the standard Northwestern grading scale of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, F.

Academic Credit
For successful completion of this course, you will earn one course unit credit from Northwestern University, which is equal to 4 quarter hours. This is equal to approximately 3 semester hours of credit. If you need more detailed information, please contact conversion@northwestern.edu or call 312-503-0306.

Course Policies
Completing Course Requirements Please note that failure to complete any of the assignments for this course will result in a non-passing grade for the course. Academic Integrity University policies on academic integrity apply to this course. Cheating (using unauthorized materials or giving unauthorized assistance during an examination or other academic exercise) and plagiarism (using another's ideas or words without acknowledgment) are serious offenses in a university. All quotations and ideas taken from others should be appropriately cited in all written work. For more information on University policy on academic integrity, see Academic Integrity Policy. Students with Disabilities If you have specific disabilities that require accommodation, please let me know at the beginning of the course so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. Northwestern is committed to providing appropriate academic accommodations to assure equal access to all. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), Scott Hall 21, (847) 467-5530.

Course Schedule
Saturday, June 16 Part 1: Global Development and Your Generation: Inspiration and Caution Session Leader: Brian Hanson Throughout the country and worldwide, your generation is deeply concerned about and highly motivated to address the plight of people living in poverty and depravation around the world. You are taking your energy and passion to get involved in helping to bring about social change and global development. This session explores key issues in turning that motivation into effective action that has a positive impact in the world and on the lives of those people you seek to help. At the same time, we explore the implications of arguments from the developing world that current enthusiasm for global engagement may do more harm than good to people in the developing world. What are the implications for those of us wanting to have a positive impact on the world and help people improve their lives while mitigating the foreseeable negative consequences of these efforts? Readings Nicolas Kristof, D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution, New York Times Magazine, Oct. 20, 2010. Dave Algoso, Dont Try this Abroad, Foreign Policy, Oct. 26, 2010. Ivan Illich, To Hell with Good Intentions address to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects (CIASP) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, on Apr. 20, 1968. Adam Davis, What we Dont Talk about When We Dont Talk about Service, Davis and Lynn (eds.), The Civically Engaged Reader (Great Books Foundation, 2006). Part 2: Identifying and Analyzing the Causes of Global Poverty Session Leader: Brian Hanson What are causes that produce and reproduce people living in conditions of poverty? How can we think about the proximate and root causes? How do different causes interact and reinforce one another? What are the difference between individual and structural causes? How can understanding the causes of poverty help guide choices and priorities for how to intervene to create positive social change? Readings Stan Burkey, Understanding Poverty, People First: A Guide to Self-Reliant Participatory Rural Development (Zed Books, 1993), Chapter 1, pp. 1-11. Martha Nussbaum, A Woman Seeking Justice, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (Harvard University Press, 2011), pp. 1-16. Daryl Collins, et. al., The Portfolios of the Poor, Portfolios of the Poor: How the Worlds Poor Live on $2 a Day (Princeton University Press, 2009), pp. 1-27. United Nations, Millennium Development Goals Fact Sheets (2011) pp. 1-16. 5

 Part 3: Introduction to Asset-Based Community Development Session Leader: Professor Jody Kretzmann Northwestern University has been at the forefront of developing community-based development theories and practice that build on long-standing Chicago traditions that reach back to Jane Addams and Saul Alinsky. This session will introduce Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) and the theoretical basis and core characteristics of this approach. What is ABCD? What are its core assumptions and core commitments? What does is mean for pursuing social change and global development? John Kretzmann (Jody) is Co-Director of the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute. ABCD Institute works with community building leaders across North America as well as five other continents to conduct research, produce materials and support community-based efforts to rediscover local capacities and to mobilize citizens resources to solve problems. He was a founding faculty member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest Urban Studies Program, and served as director of that institution. He has been a community organizer in Chicagos West Side, and served as a consultant to a wide range of neighborhood organizing and development groups. Kretzmann has worked to develop community-oriented public policy at the national, state and local levels. In Chicago, he served as chair of the Neighborhood Planning Committee for Mayor Harold Washington, and was an active policy consultant through Washingtons four and a half years in office. He serves on a wide range of civic, community, and foundation boards. Readings Stan Burkey, Introduction, People First: A Guide to Self-Reliant Participatory Development (Zed, 1993), pp. xv-xix. Stan Burkey, Self-Reliant Participatory Development, People First: A Guide to Self Reliant Participatory Development (Zed, 1993), Chapter 3, pp. 40-70. Sunday, June 17 Part 4: What is Development? Why does it Matter? Session Leader: Brian Hanson What do we mean by development? We will examine three alternative schools of thought prevalent in international development work: 1) development is the increase in individual and societal economic income and wealth; 2) development must also include the provision of civil and political rights; and 3) development must promote an even broader set of human capabilities. For each of these schools of thought we will analyze how each approach conceptualizes the problem to be solved and the challenges that must be addressed to achieve development. How do different understandings of development shape the kinds of projects taken on, the way they are designed, who is involved, and what criteria to use in judging success or failure? Readings Mark McGillivray, What is Development? in Kingsbury, et.al, International Development: Issues and Challenges (Palgrave MacMillan, 2008), pp. 21-50. Martha Nussbaum, Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach (Harvard University Press, 2011), pp. 17-45. 6

 Emma Crewe & Elizabeth Harrison, Development Aid: Successes and Failures, in Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid (Zed, 2000), pp. 224.

Part 5: Global Health and Development Session Leader: Dr. Shiban Ganju Dr. Shiban Ganju is a founding member of India Development Service, which supports small, grass roots development projects addressing various issues across India, such as Income Generation, Education, Health Care, Environment and Disaster Management. IDS projects emphasize self-reliance, accountability of project coordinators, and a strong sense of ownership for the beneficiaries. Dr. Ganju is also the founder and chief volunteer for Save a Mother, which aims to minimize suffering and death associated with pregnancy and child birth in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, which has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Dr. Ganju has extensive experience as a public health advocate in South Asia. In 2001, he was the acting Executive Director of the American India Foundation during its disaster relief efforts following a large-scale earthquake in Gujarat, India. Dr. Ganju is a practicing Gastroenterologist with over 40 years of experience and 30 years of NGO/NPO experience. Part 6: Country specific session on history, politics, economy, and society Session Leader: Country experts Bolivia: Stephen Kingsley Scott Economics of Public Health in Bolivia Dominican Republic: Junice Acosta Culture in the Dominican Republic India: Fatima Imam Indian History Nicaragua: Rose Spalding Nicaraguan History South Africa: Willem Ellis Sr. South African Economy Uganda: Jeff Rice Ugandan Economy Monday, June 18 Part 7: Power, Participation and Empowerment: Building Capacity for Collective Action Session Leader: Brian Hanson To what extent does sustained and meaningful development require building the collective capacity of groups to take action and contest power? We will examine the role of power in producing and reproducing conditions of poverty and marginalization and why is it so common to find quiescence in communities suffering from glaring inequality and inequity. We will analyze four different development strategies that emphasize building different sets of collective action capabilities and skills with different types of societal partners: relief work, community development, policy and institutional change, and social movement mobilization. What distinguishes these strategies and in which situations is each most appropriate? Readings David Korton, From Relief to Peoples Movement, Getting to the 21st Century Voluntary Action and the Global Agenda (Kumarian Press, 1990). John Gaventa, Chapter 1 Power and Participation, and Conclusion, in Power and Powerlessness (University of Illinois Press, 1980), pp. 3-32 and 252-261. 7

 Nici Nelson and Susan Wright, Participation and power, in Power and Participatory Development: Theory and Practice (Intermediate Technology Publications, 1995), pp. 1-18.

Part 8: Social Entrepreneurship and Development Session Leader: Michael Gordon Michael Gordon is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Social Entrepreneurship and Information Technology and former associate dean at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, where he teaches students how to change the world. (At least, he tries.) He has had broad experience helping organizations around the world use their talents to address societal problems, and do so sustainably, and has also helped students and others launch social enterprises. He has partnered with many prominent scholars who work at the intersection of business and societal problems. He is author of the book Design Your Life, Change the World: Your Path as a Social Entrepreneur and is working on a new book, What I Wish I Knew Then: Becoming a Social Entrepreneur. He is actively exploring how social entrepreneurship can create more inclusive environments in the United States. He blogs at profmichaelgordon.com. Part 9: Country specific session on history, politics, economy, and society Session Leader: Country experts Bolivia: Jorge Coronado Bolivian Culture and History: An Overview Dominican Republic: Howard Rosing India: Rahul Mediratta Indian Politics Nicaragua: Rose Spalding Nicaraguan Politics South Africa: Prexy Nesbitt South African History Uganda: Chris Day Ugandan History Tuesday, June 19 Part 10: Scaling up Participatory Development: Experiences, Lessons and Challenges Session Leader: Brian Hanson Increasingly we are seeing attempts to scale participatory approaches from local level development projects to incorporating participation in the development and implementation in national level policies and large-scale institutions. The promise is to greatly expand the ability of poor and marginalized groups to shape large-scale policies, impact their lives and hold institutions accountable for policies and decisions. What does it mean to scale up participatory approaches to development? How is this done? What are the experiences and emerging lessons and challenges from those efforts? What capacities are need to be developed by poor and marginal communities, and how can they be developed? What can we look for in the field to identify and assess these processes when we are in the field? Readings John Gaventa, The Scaling-up and Institutionalization of PRA: lessons and challenges, in James Blackburn with Jeremy Holland, Who Changes? Institutionalizing participation development (Intermediate Technology Publications, 1998), pp. 153-166. 8

 John Gaventa, Introduction: Exploring Citizenship, Participation and Accountability, IDS Bulletin Vol. 33 No 2 2002, pp. 1-10.

Part 11: Country specific session on history, politics, economy, and society Session Leader: Country experts Bolivia: Ricardo Snchez Crdenas Post-neoliberal Development and Plurinationality in Contemporary Bolivia Dominican Republic: Kristine Jones Politics in the Dominican Republic India: Rahul Mediratta The Economy in India Nicaragua: Alyssa Eisenstein Doing Development Work in Nicaragua South Africa: Rachel Riedl South African Politics Uganda: Khairunnisa Mohamedali Ugandan Politics Wednesday, June 20 Part 12: Identifying and Examining Logic Models and Assumptions Session Leader: Brian Hanson Whether grand or modest, every international development effort is built on a theory of change (or logic model) and a set of assumptions. Indeed, the success or failure of development projects and programs can often be traced back to their fundamental assumptions. We need to become skilled in identifying and examining these underlying theories and assumptions when analyzing and designing development projects. We will critically explore the use of a number of persistent (and often unexamined) theories and assumptions to understand how they can affect development work. Through an analysis of case studies we will build our ability to identify and scrutinize theories of change and assumptions about the development projects you encounter in the field, in the organizations you work with, in other development work in the community, and in making conscious choices about the models and assumptions used in your projects. Readings Emma Crewe & Elizabeth Harrison, A Intellectual Heritage of Development, Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid (Zed, 2000), pp. 25-48. Emma Crewe & Elizabeth Harrison, Technology and Expertise, Money and Motivation, and Cultural Barriers, Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid (Zed, 2000), pp. 92-154. Part 13: Environment, Sustainability and Global Development Session Leader: Vanitha Sivarajan Vanitha Sivarajan's background includes over 10 years of biodiversity conservation and water resource management with local communities, non-governmental organizations, governmental agencies, and the private sector. She has worked on natural resource management initiatives both domestically and internationally, with a focus on Latin America and India. Vanithas expertise includes climate change adaptation, participatory water resource management, value-based conservation, and non-profit strategic communications and planning. Vanitha holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale University, where she was a William J. Clinton Fellow, and an undergraduate degree from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Microbiology and Anthropology. Currently Vanitha is an Environmental Consultant 9

 where she provides NGO clients in the water and climate sector with a variety of programmatic services. She is also Training Faculty at Village Earth where she teaches Participatory Water Resource Management to global community development professionals. Part 14: Country specific session on history, politics, economy, and society Session Leader: Country experts Bolivia: Dr. Juan Lorenzo Hinojosa Healthcare in Bolivia Dominican Republic: Peter Sanchez History of the Dominican Republic in Relation to the U.S. India: Nicole Patel Indian Culture and Development Nicaragua: Kadesha Thomas Culture and Healthcare in Nicaragua South Africa: Erin Eskildsen South African Culture Uganda: Justine Kakembo Ugandan Culture Thursday, June 21 Part 15: Power, Privilege, Ideas and Social Change: Who is in the Drivers Seat? Session Leader: Brian Hanson Community-based, participatory development has moved from the periphery to the mainstream of contemporary international development work. Throughout the development industry one hears a major key to successful and sustainable development is to put the local people in the drivers seat. However, such a simple sounding injunction is much more complicated in practice. There are clearly observable structures of power and privilege that shape the life chances of people. That said, development and positive social change does happen and can have profoundly transformative impact on people and their lives. People are capable of working together often across boundaries of privilege and power to creatively reshape possibilities for social change. As you go into the field, this session brings together key questions you need to take with you to guide your actions, critically examine actual development work, and to build your own understanding of the possibilities, processes, and pitfalls in pursuing meaningful social change. Additionally, we explore a framework for understanding and tracking your own capacity to work across cultural difference to work in partnership with others to affect change. Readings Emma Crewe & Elizabeth Harrison, Who is in the Driving Seat, and The Cohesive Machine, in Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid (Zed, 2000), pp. 155-194. Lucius Botes and Dingie van Rensburg, Community participation in development: nine plagues and twelve commandments, Community Development Journal, vol. 35, no.1, January 2000, pp. 41-58. Vicki L. Reitenauer, et. al., Creating Cultural Connections: Navigating Difference, Investigating Power, Unpacking Privilege, (excerpt), pp. 71-78.

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Final Learning Summit (August 17-20): Tentative Schedule

As part of the final learning summit when you return from the field, we will draw on the following new readings, in addition to the 8 essays in your journals, your final reports on your projects and your experience from the field to critically engage the readings and arguments from the intensive pre departure seminar work. Part 16: Project Presentation When presenting your projects, you will also reflect on the issues raised in the predeparture classroom work such as: the scope and causes of the problem, the role of political power in reproducing the problem and making change difficult, the theory of change and core development assumptions made by your organization and made in your project, the people within the community your organization works with and the capacities your organization was seeking to build in individuals and in groups, the patterns and degree of success or failure in the work of your organization and of your project, and explanations of those outcomes. Part 17: What is Development? What is Needed to Produce Development? Session Leader: Brian Hanson After your work in the developing world, how would you answer the question, what is development? How does that differ from what you thought before your experience? Review Nussbaums list of ten Central Capabilities. Which of these do you see as essential and which do you think should be removed from the list? How does your answer differ from what you thought before your field experience and research? What accounts for the changes in your views? Part 18: Assessing Community-Based Development Session Leaders: Brian Hanson and Jody Kretzmann To what extent did your organization follow a community-based, participatory model of development? To what extent did that model align with the ABCD approach? Do you believe that greater alignment with ABCD principles would improve the performance of your organization and its projects? Why or why not? Based on your experiences and research, what do you see as the strengths and limitations of community-based, participatory development? To what extent are these approaches scalable? Under what conditions? What are the implications for international development work? Part 19: Revisiting Power and Possibilities of Transformation Session Leaders: Brian Hanson To what extent is international development work capable of producing such goals as transformation of life chances and power relationships in society? Under what conditions is this more or less likely? How does this inform your view of the relationship between power and development outcomes?

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