Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT: PRACTICES AND PROJECT DESIGN A-L

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT: PRACTICES AND PROJECT DESIGN A-L

Anno accademico 2021/2022

Basic knowledge on development theories and approaches, key issues and themes.

Suggested reading:

Sachs W., The Development Dictionary. A Guide to Knowledge as Power, Zed Books, 2010.

Sommario insegnamento

• Obiettivi formativi
• Risultati dell'apprendimento attesi
• Modalità di insegnamento
• Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento
• Attività di supporto
• Programma
• Testi consigliati e bibliografia
• Note
• Altre informazioni
• Strumenti didattici

Obiettivi formativi

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This course contributes to the realization of the study curriculum by introducing to histories, theories and practices of development and international cooperation, and preparing for possible research actions. Development studies tackle complex issues and cannot be confined either within a single discipline, or within a specific approach, as it refers to a multicultural world with entangled stories and histories; however, we will adopt a geographical entry point. As a value-based academic field including instrumental knowledge for practice, ethical reflexivity will be included. The course will interact with scholarly debates from human geography, but also political sciences, social and cultural studies, political ecology and indigenous studies, with participatory approaches and civil society empowerment as ultimate emancipatory goals. Some thematic fields of international cooperation (e.g. food systems; cultural heritage; etc.) will be specifically explored, highlighting their role in development theories and practice. Finally, the course will provide students with tools to understand rationalities and structures of development projects, and skills for participatory project design and locally based evaluation.

The course aims to enhance students’ ability to apply key concepts and approaches autonomously and to encourage the acquisition of transversal skills that will enable them to activate such knowledge and skills in contexts and for different purposes.

Risultati dell'apprendimento attesi

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course students will be able to:

1. understand the international debates on development and international cooperation, particularly, but not only, in the Global South (critical theoretical knowledge skills);
2. develop critical thinking on theories, policies and practices that are reflected in cooperation programs, recognizing political ontologies and epistemic diversities brought by different subjectivities (critical theoretical knowledge skills);
3. acquire familiarity with scientific journals and published researches in this field (critical knowledge skills);
4. recognize different actors in cooperation, their priorities and discourses across the recent history and in current times, especially through the United Nations Agenda 2030 (knowledge and understanding skills);
5. grow interest in doing research on inequalities, rights and more specific thematic issues affecting local and social realities (knowledge and applied skills);
6. familiarize with programs of aid and funding mechanisms worldwide (e.g. from the EU, the UN and the World Bank) (technical knowledge and applied skills);
7. experience participatory research methods and project design for either research or development action, interacting with diverse institutions and social groups (capacity to use methodological strategies and practical tools); and
8. practice written and oral communication skills, in particular: active reading and synthesis skills, critical thinking, problem solving, knowledge and writing skills, teamwork ability, design) (communicative and diverse skills).

Modalità di insegnamento

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures will be simultaneously in-person (depending on the evolution of the pandemics) and streaming (webex). 

Lectures recordings and material will be available on the course Moodle page.

The course requires the active participation of attending students, through group-works and other active learning methodologies.

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

The course will have 4 steps of evaluation (for attending students; only 3 steps for NON-attending ones).

1) First Individual written test (open ended questions) (mid-course):

2) Second Individual written test (open ended questions) (at the end of the course)

3) Group assignment #1 (essay) 

4) Group assignment #2 (project design)

Details on the assessment methods will be communicated at the beginning of the course and on the Moodle page.

Attività di supporto

Guest speakers will be invited.

Programma

COURSE CONTENTS

The course will be divided into 5 parts, respectively focusing on:

1) Fundamentals  of development and international assistance. Focus on ontologies of development and contemporary framework of international assistance; critical definitions of development- modernity, cooperation-coloniality; postcoloniality and postdevelopment; financialization of development; Alternative perspectives on development (e.g. feminism, pluriverse approach).

2) Geography's contribution to international cooperation and development projects: Territorial analysis approaches and methodologies; critical perspectives on mapping and cartography (postcolonial cartographies, countercartography, participatory mapping, indigenous mapping).

3) AID and cooperation theories: What is development cooperation? Evolution of doctrines of development cooperation. Rationalities and criticism about current development cooperation. AID architecture: Actors, scales, channels, typologies of development cooperation; Data, statistics, source for and on development cooperation; Flows of development cooperation; Traditional and emerging donors; AID management and organizational aspects of international development assistance; Italian cooperation; South-South cooperation; monitoring and impact evaluation of aid programs and projects; PCM tools (Project cycle, Problem and objective tree, LogFrame, Gant…); Impact analysis; Theory of change; Participatory approaches.

4) Thematic fields of international cooperation: food sovereignty; cultural heritage; migrations; human trafficking (and other thems to be decided).

5)  Project design and monitoring (with the support of an external expert); Applying the tools and logics of PCM approach, choosing a theme, country and territory, actor, partner and donor .

Attending students:

1) Lecture notes by the teachers (available as "teaching materials" on the Moodle page of the course).

2) Scientific articles, policy documents, technical reports, guidelines for project design and evaluation: they will be uploaded in Moodle.

Non-attending students:

Carmody P. (2019) Development Theory and Practice in a Changing World. Routledge.

HDR 2020 (2020). The next frontier. Human development and the Anthropocene. UNDP

Chaturvedi S. et al. (2021). The Palgrave Handbook of Development Cooperation for Achieving the 2030 Agenda. Palgrave, MacMillan (selected chapters)

Bartenev V. and Glazunova E. (2013). International Development Cooperation. Set of Lectures. The World Bank (selected chapters)

Note

Attendance is not compulsory, but strongly recommended, as there will be activity in class, group works, reading of articles from international literature, writing of reports and projects.

The interaction between students and teachers will take place on the course Moodle page.

Lectures will start on Monday 21th from 16:00 to 18:00 (room Palazzina Einaudi 4).

All the lectures will be simultaneously face-to-face and online on webex (see link below or on Moodle)

For information go to Moodle Page

Altre informazioni

• Materiale didattico
• Bacheca appelli
• Vai a Moodle
• Visita i forum