Can bilateral programmes become learning organisations? Experiences from institutionalising participation in Keiyo Marakwet in Kenya

The concept of learning organisations is gaining prominence in the non-profit sector. Most organisations see the concept as a means of attaining organisational change for greater impact on development. While the principles of organisational learning (i.e. team learning, shared vision, common goal, and strategy) seem to have produced impressive results in the private sector and some non-profit organisations, the question is whether these principles can be adopted with similar results in complex bilateral programmes. This article explores this question in relation to a programme between the Dutch and Kenyan governments in Keiyo Marakwet, Kenya. It analyses the process of institutionalising participation as both a learning and a conflict-generating process. In the highly politicised context of bilateral programmes, learning is not necessarily carried forward from one phase to the next due to rapid changes in actors, national politics, diplomatic considerations, and the international development agenda.     

Ethical predicaments for anthropologists: the Peruvian case

This article discusses the ethical challenges posed to anthropologists working as experts in mining companies and in tourism. It proposes alternative solutions that are coherent with the ethical principles of their discipline.     

Mainstreaming disaster mitigation: Challenges to organisational learning in NGOs

This paper discusses the implications for organisational learning of recent research on NGO activity in natural disaster mitigation and preparedness. It identifies several institutional and other barriers to NGO learning. However, personal networks in NGOs are often strong, and determined and well-placed individuals can push significant innovations through. Greater emphasis on this human factor may be the key to mainstreaming disaster mitigation and other new or marginal approaches to development.     

Toward a Global Theory of Mind: The Potential Benefits of Presenting a Range of IR Theories through Active Learning

Active learning is particularly well-suited to teaching across the range of perspectives inherent in the practice and study of international politics for two key reasons: (1) because of its capacity to highlight how subjective, intersubjective, and contested understandings play an important role in determining outcomes in the ivory tower as well as in the real world and (2) because of the compatibility between underlying theories of knowledge that inform active learning and the newer generation of IR theories including subaltern realism, social constructivism, constitutive theory, and postmodernism. This article explores the potential benefits of presenting these and other norm-oriented theories through active learning. It also discusses ways to overcome barriers to the integration of active learning techniques.     

Reflections on innovation,assessment, and social change: a SPARC case study

This article challenges the terms on which donor agencies evaluate development success, drawing on a particular case to make its point. It describes the resettlement of 60,000 people squatting along the railway tracks in Mumbai, a process planned and carried out by a federation of the railway dwellers themselves, with support from the NGO SPARC (the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres). The article argues that this effort, which met donor criteria for a successful project, was the tip of an iceberg. Without an appreciation of the years of learning and innovation that preceded it, and the underpinning of principles and relationships built up over many years, this achievement cannot be adequately assessed or understood – and certainly not replicated. Yet in the world of formal assessment and evaluation, there tends to be a lack of interest in the deeper learning about social change that makes such success stories possible.     

Reflections of an evaluator navigating between community development and welfare paradigms

This practical note discusses some of the challenges evaluators face when their values clash with those of their employer. A case example where the author was commissioned to complete an evaluation for a community development project within a welfare-minded NGO highlights evaluation issues for welfare-minded NGOs attempting to deliver community development programmes. A fundamental issue is the differing interpretation of key terms including evaluation, participation, and empowerment. The note discusses how the author attempted to navigate between maintaining community development principles in the evaluation process while at the same time fulfilling quantitative evaluation requirements mandated by the organisation and funders.     

Conservative Internationalism and the Trump Administration?

This article outlines the principles of a new conservative internationalism for the Trump era, and discusses how well the administration's actions and words fit this paradigm. In order for Republicans and conservatives to reclaim their reputation as the party of strong national defense and competent foreign policy, current and future policymakers need to blend some traditional principles of conservative internationalist foreign policy with new adaptations required by challenging international security developments on the one hand, and changes in the domestic political views of right-leaning American voters on the other. A year into the Trump administration, there are some signs that the administration is indeed attempting to adjust slightly rather than replace the traditional principles of conservative Republican foreign policy, and therefore the “America First” grand strategy framework might become much more traditional in its actual policy decisions than in some of its rhetoric.     

The Cognitive Demands of a Negotiation Curriculum: What Does It Mean to “Get”Getting to YES?

A leading theory of human development — constructive-developmental theory — posits that people make meaning in qualitatively different ways through the course of their lives and that their meaning-making capacities continue to evolve even in adulthood. This article begins with a brief introduction to constructive-developmental theory, including its roots in Jean Piaget's work on child development and Robert Kegan's more recent work on adult development. The author then explores the different ways in which students at different developmental stages might make sense of the same negotiation concepts. The article discusses some implications of these diverse understandings for negotiation teachers in terms of goal setting, evaluation, teaching methods, and transformational learning. It then concludes with a suggestion for more research on the connections between constructive–developmentalism and negotiation pedagogy.     

对东南亚留学生的现代汉语课程教学策略

现代汉语课程是留学生在学习汉语过程中必修的一门专业课。本文从笔者现代汉语教学的经验出发，选取东南亚留学生学习现代汉语的情况作为研究对象，从教学现状、教学内容和具体教学策略等角度对东南亚留学生的现代汉语课程的教学进行探讨和研究。     

Operationalising bottom-up learning in international NGOs: Barriers and alternatives

This article proposes bottom-up learning as a normative framework for international NGOs. It explores the common but often unacknowledged disparity between organisational values and mission versus actual practice. The first section of the paper raises the question of organisational learning disorders followed by an exploration of learning organisations and bottom-up learning in particular. A section briefly summarising positive developments in the field is followed by discussions of organisational barriers and possible mitigation techniques. The paper closes with a challenge for international NGOs to take a closer look at their learning capabilities with a view to improving service to communities in need.     

Humanitarian principles and organisational culture: Everyday practice in Meédecins Sans Frontié res-Holland

Organisational principles or value standards are considered crucial for maintaining quality in humanitarian assistance. Research among staff members of Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland (MSF-H) showed that fieldworkers construct their own interpretations of principles and priorities in response to demands placed on them in the field. Organisational principles are important for the performance and the well-being of volunteers: they serve as beacons, identity markers, and interpersonal 'glue'. It also becomes apparent that while in practice staff members renegotiate the formal principles of their organisation, they also adhere to patterns of organisational culture resulting in a number of ordering principles they deem typical of their organisation.     

Modelling learning programmes

This brief paper describes one attempt to update the programme logic models to incorporate organisational learning. It begins with a brief review of learning concepts, describes the traditional Logical Framework Analysis, and concludes with a sketch of an alternative programme model, entitled the Temporal Logic Model.     

Engaging International Data in the Classroom: Using the ICB Interactive Data Library to Teach Conflict and Crisis Analysis

The challenges of teaching quantitative research methods in international relations are well documented. The key to igniting interest and engaging students lies in creating a participatory learning environment in the classroom. This article discusses these challenges and describes a new piece of software that may be helpful in that regard. The ICB Interactive Data Library , or the ICB Library for short, enhances access to the information available in the ICB data by organizing it into an interactive software package (Brecher, Hewitt, and Wilkenfeld, 2000). The ICB Library is an especially valuable teaching tool because it allows students to easily access the resources from a major data collection project which, in turn, exposes them to the challenges and opportunities offered by quantitative research in international relations. After describing the ICB Library , this article will discuss how it can be used in the classroom via problem-based learning techniques.     

Transdisciplinary innovation research in Uzbekistan – one year of ‘Follow-the-Innovation’

In 2008, a German-funded interdisciplinary research project in Khorezm province, Uzbekistan, initiated a participatory approach to innovation development and diffusion with local stakeholders. Selected agricultural innovations, developed by the project and identified as ‘plausible promises’, have since then been tested and modified accordingly by teams of researchers, local farmers and water users. This paper discusses the challenges faced in this process of joint experimentation and learning between researchers and local stakeholders whose behaviours, attitudes and actions are heavily shaped by the local context, academic discipline and hierarchical culture of knowledge governance.     

论全球化背景下的国际机制

国际机制是国际社会中一系列规范与预期的汇集,它所体现的一整套原则、规则和决策程序使无序社会的有序化成为可能,并降低了国际合作成本,增加了交往的信赖度。当今的全球化为国际机制的发展开拓了新空间,同时也对其规范化与制度化提出了更高的要求。     

Comic Relief: Using Political Cartoons in the Classroom

Political cartoons are an excellent classroom tool to build students' critical thinking skills, to generate lively classroom discussions, and to get students excited about politics. Cartoons should be treated as serious commentary on political affairs. Interpreting a cartoon requires that the viewer be familiar with current issues and debates, savvy about the cultural context, and capable of analytical judgments. This technique capitalizes on the visual learning style of many students and interjects an added interactive dimension to classroom discussions. This article discusses some of the challenges of using cartoons in the classroom, including where to locate them. The text is accompanied by several representative cartoons.     

Experiences applying the climate resilience framework: linking theory with practice

This paper discusses the evolution and application of the Climate Resilience Framework (CRF). The framework focuses on the roles of systems, agents, institutions, and exposure in climate resilience and adaptation, and supports planning and strategic policy development using iterative shared learning techniques. Conceptual foundations of the CRF are explored, along with its application in a range of implementation and research contexts, including: urban planning (Asia), food systems (Nepal, Central America), and post-flood recovery (Pakistan, USA). These illustrate how analysis of system dynamics and agent behaviour in different institutional contexts can be used to identify points of entry for building resilience.     

会展企业简介的翻译与受容

会展企业简介是参会企业借助会展平台展示企业风貌,传递商业信息的手段。会展企业简介翻译要全面考虑参会企业的目的、意图及参会客商的文化差异和审美意识,以参会客商为中心,关注参会客商的期待视野,实现参会客商与企业简介的"视野融合"。本文从接受理论的角度讨论会展企业简介的翻译,从信息效度、文体结构、审美差异等方面探讨其翻译原则和方法,旨在发挥企业简介的呼唤诱导作用,提升企业形象,实现其商业价值。     

Demographic manipulation in the Caucasus (with special reference to Georgia)

The author discusses political developments in the Caucasus region since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The focus is on the events in Georgia that led to the war in South Ossetia (particularly in Abkhazia), and the author suggests that this development is the latest in a 200-year history of demographic manipulation of minority peoples by the region's two major powers, Russia and Georgia. Parallels are drawn between the Georgian war in Abkhazia and Russia's war in Chechenia. The author questions the value of the principle of territorial integrity, and suggests that alternative principles safeguarding the rights of ethnic minorities would be more appropriate in these circumstances.     

Embracing subjectivities in the collaborative teaching of terrorism: pedagogy in a ‘critical’ learning environment

This article seeks to reflect on the experiences of the authors as creators and instructors of a unique course on terrorism. It will reflect on how dynamics of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary interaction have been facilitated in a blended learning environment which prioritises students' subjective engagement with ‘terrorism’ to form the very core of their learning experience. It will also reflect on how ‘orthodox’ and ‘critical’ components can symbiotically interact to mutual benefit in the study of terrorism.