Evaluating international social-change networks: a conceptual framework for a participatory approach

International networks for social change are growing in number and influence. While they need to be able to assess the extent to which they achieve their purpose and determine ways in which to be more effective, conventional evaluation methods are not designed for such complex organisational forms, or for the diverse kinds of activity to which they are characteristically dedicated. Building on an earlier version of their paper, the authors present a set of principles and participatory approaches that are more appropriate to the task of evaluating such networks.     

Results-based management: friend or foe?

Results-based management (RBM) is well entrenched as a management tool for international development practice. Yet after a decade of its use, many development practitioners view RBM in a negative light, considering it to be a donor requirement that diverts time, energy, and resources away from actually doing development work. This article provides some broad reflections on RBM from a distinctive vantage point: the perspective of the project (or programme) evaluator. The article reflects on challenges associated with RBM and draws from these reflections a number of suggested strategies to improve its use. It concludes that development practitioners need to be more aggressive in implementing RBM.     

Capacity building: who builds whose capacity?

This article focuses on the role that development NGOs play in capacity building, arguing that many conventional NGO practices are ultimately about retaining power, rather than empowering their partners. This leads to tunnel vision and to upward rather than downward or horizontal accountability, based on the assumption that the transfer of resources is a one-way process. At worst, this undermines rather than strengthens the capacities of the organisations that NGOs are attempting to assist. Sharing responsibilities and risks, mutual accountability, and committing to the long term rather than to short-term projects are more likely to create partnerships that can withstand vicissitudes and contribute to lasting change.     

拓宽培训思路提高培训质量的探讨

本文就如何提高培训质量进行了探讨,从拓宽培训思路和改变培训方式入手,提出培训项目的设计要贴近实际需求,通过由求全变求实、由备讲变备学、由灌注变互动和由知识变行为四种方式改变施教方式,积极研究工作方法,确实解决实际问题,从而提升幼儿教师培训质量。     

Testing the power of arguments in referendums: A Bradley–Terry approach

How can we determine which arguments in a referendum are most persuasive? We show that the Bradley–Terry model has several features that make it well-suited to this task, and thus preferable to other, more conventional approaches. Using a survey experiment conducted during an electoral reform referendum in Ontario, Canada in October 2007, we demonstrate how unstructured and structured Bradley–Terry models can be straightforwardly fitted and interpreted. In doing so, we gain insight into the factors which determine support for electoral reform. We identify a status quo bias and find that power varies with mention of fairness, local control over candidate selection, and the role of political parties. We conclude by discussing the limits, extensions and further applications of such models in electoral studies and political science more broadly.     

Ethnographic filmmaking as narrative capital enhancement among Atauro diverwomen: a theoretical exploration

This article reports on a project involving the development and release of an ethnographic film about the women divers of Atauro Island, Timor-Leste, and suggests a theoretical framework to interpret its outcomes. It describes the project aims and the filmmaking process, and reports on its results. In doing so, the paper explores the potential use of an agent-based concept of narrative capital focused on collective agents. The article suggests that the ideas of narrative capital and transformations of capital by collective agents can provide a valuable interpretative framework for the design, implementation, and analyses of results of development interventions involving filmmaking.     

Participatory numbers for integrating knowledge and actions in development

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of quantitative participatory methods and participatory numbers for integrating locals’ and outsiders’ knowledge, as well as actions from the bottom-up and top-down, in development. It places emphasis on the contribution of quantitative participatory methods and participatory numbers to foster dialogue between a wide range of stakeholders, for example, local people, NGOs, government agencies and scientists, who usually seldom directly engage with each other. The article draws on case studies that discuss remittances and disasters in Samoa, and disaster risk reduction in the Philippines.     

讯问方法探析

侦查讯问是公安机关调查取证的一个重要过程和专门业务活动,它也是刑事侦查的重要手段。本文通过分析不同犯罪对象的心理特征和不同的讯问方法,概括出实践性强的几种讯问方法的特点,从而提高侦查活动的效率。     

讯问方法探析

侦查讯问是公安机关调查取证的一个重要过程和专门业务活动,它也是刑事侦查的重要手段。本文通过分析不同犯罪对象的心理特征和不同的讯问方法,概括出实践性强的几种讯问方法的特点,从而提高侦查活动的效率。     

‘Communities of practice’: prospects for theory and action in participatory development

‘The myth of community’ permeates both the understanding and the practice of participatory development. Yet the idea that communities exist as coherent units of people who inhabit bounded geographic spaces and are ready to be mobilised for development restricts the very agency that participation promises. This article offers an alternative model of community: one that is more compatible with the ideal of people-centred, participatory development. Using Etienne Wenger's concept of ‘communities of practice’, and drawing on narrative theory and cognitive approaches to policy analysis, the article argues that community should be created and sustained around shared meanings.