Global Dialogue Report - Urbanisation: Delhi

Urbanisation is growing at a rapid pace. It is driven by changing agricultural practices, the inability of people to sustain livelihoods in the face of climate change, people fleeing from conflict, etc. It will be but a matter of decades before the majority of the very poor live in cities. However this rapid transformation of the landscape of poverty is neither reflected in the international development agenda, nor in that of philanthropic giving. Thus it represents both a pressing need and a major opportunity.The urgent issues at a personal level are security and ensuring that social networks are not destroyed through development. The urgent issues at a societal level are failures of governance, planning and taxation, and at the interface between them there are fundamental and unresolved issues about how the infrastructure development which accompanies economic growth displaces poor people and creates further inequality.The key issues for philanthropists are listed below.How can we put urban issues higher up the philanthropic agenda? Rural issues have been articulated in a way that elicits giving, but urban issues much less so.Is it possible to develop a more strategic and long-term approach to investment -- with funding targeted at core issues such as governance failures as well as more 'glamorous' projects?If governments are driven by short-term results as a result of electoral cycles etc., is there a role for philanthropists to develop innovative pilots and take greater risks?Can philanthropists develop a greater profile in campaigning and advocacy -- well developed in the US but not in Africa and Asia?The Global Dialogue on Urbanisation was held in Delhi in September 2011. It was co-organised by IDS and our partner PRIA (Participatory Research in Asia). The idea was to bring together practitioners and thinkers to explore through dialogue the key issues for a rapidly urbanising South both now and over the next 20 or 30 years. Participants are listed in the following table.The dialogue ran from 2.00 pm on Monday 26th until 4.00 pm on Tuesday 27th.. The meeting was held entirely as a full group session and was both audio- and video-recorded for the whole duration. What follows is a record of the discussion. This report is a record of the main lines of argument, points of divergence and reflections on philanthropy. Not all of the rich conversation is contained in the report. There is no assumption that everyone in the room agreed with all of the points. Quotes are verbatim but have all been anonymised as voices from the group. Despite the diverse backgrounds of participants, this particular group was characterised by a high level of consensus about the issues and priorities

A Methodological Strategy for Reimagining Development: Enabling Complex Systemic Patterns to Surface through Multiple Voices

The Reimagining Development initiative pursued a methodological strategy that viewed emerging development issues through multiple perspectives; juxtaposed different sets of issues; tested the resonance of narratives across multiple sites of engagement; drew new boundaries around key problems; and generated questions to pursue elsewhere. It was an attempt to use a systems approach to get a less partial picture of a large and complex system. This article describes such approaches generally, their strengths and limitations, and reflects on their application to the Reimagining Development initiative

Participatory Systemic Inquiry

This article explores Participatory Systemic Inquiry processes through two examples of practise. The first is about embedding public engagement in UK higher education, the second is about water infrastructure development and local capacity development in small towns situated around Lake Victoria. These examples illustrate why it is necessary to understand the wider systemic dynamics within which issues are situated, and how this helps to identify workable and sustainable solutions to problems. It describes the learning architectures which were constructed to hold the local and thematic inquiries and then to extend them. It also demonstrates the methods which operationalised these processes and explores some of the methodological differences between this approach and other approaches to qualitative and participatory research

Global Dialogue Report, Urbanisation: Delhi consultation

Urbanisation is growing at a rapid pace. It is driven by changing agricultural practices, the inability of people to sustain livelihoods in the face of climate change, people fleeing from conflict, etc. It will be but a matter of decades before the majority of the very poor live in cities. However this rapid transformation of the landscape of poverty is neither reflected in the international development agenda, nor in that of philanthropic giving. Thus it represents both a pressing need and a major opportunity. The urgent issues at a personal level are security and ensuring that social networks are not destroyed through development. The urgent issues at a societal level are failures of governance, planning and taxation, and at the interface between them there are fundamental and unresolved issues about how the infrastructure development which accompanies economic growth displaces poor people and creates further inequality. The key issues for philanthropists are listed below. How can we put urban issues higher up the philanthropic agenda? Rural issues have been articulated in a way that elicits giving, but urban issues much less so. Is it possible to develop a more strategic and long-term approach to investment – with funding targeted at core issues such as governance failures as well as more ‘glamorous’ projects? If governments are driven by short-term results as a result of electoral cycles etc., is there a role for philanthropists to develop innovative pilots and take greater risks? Can philanthropists develop a greater profile in campaigning and advocacy – well developed in the US but not in Africa and Asia?The Rockerfeller Foundatio

US Advocacy for Azerbaijani Press Freedom and Democracy

This study sought to determine best practices for policy advocates who promote press freedom, freedom of expression, and democracy in Azerbaijan to influence policymakers in the United States of America. Results from other studies, the literature on the topics of Azerbaijan and policy advocacy, and expert interviews were used for this study. Its goal is to increase the amount of influence the average policy advocate has in the US by analyzing current advocates\u27 experiences and synthesizing concrete suggestions for actions to effectively enact desired policy changes. The interviews and literature clearly support the premise that the regime in Azerbaijan is exerting authoritarian rule over the people and violating the human rights of their citizens. This leads the advocates interviewed to believe that support from the government of the United States and other influential actors in the United States are critical for impacting the regime. The paper calls for building stronger relationships and cooperation between not only policy advocates for Azerbaijan but also working with larger advocacy efforts to impact the regime. The paper also calls on the international community to support advocates for human rights with a greater sense of fervor

Analysis of Estrogen and Progesterone binding sites in Cytosol and Nuclei of 7,12-Dimethybenz (A) Anthracene-Induced Rat Mammary Carcinoma: Hormone-Dependent vs. Hormone Independent Tumor Populations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the School of Sciences and Mathematics at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Biology by Danny Michael Burns on September 6, 1983

Introduction: What is the Unique Contribution of Volunteering to International Development?

This editorial article introduces this IDS Bulletin on the value of volunteering. The issue is based on the global action research project Valuing Volunteering, undertaken in partnership between Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and IDS, which explored how volunteering contributes to poverty reduction and sustainable positive change in Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal and the Philippines, and the factors that prevent it from doing so. Two core research approaches were used to collect and analyse insights about volunteering; participatory systemic inquiry (PSI) and systemic action research (SAR). In total, some 3,700 people reflected on volunteering during the research process. While recognising the issues that many current forms of volunteering can create, this collection of articles highlights the potential of volunteering, when understood as a relational and collaborative endeavour, which is sometimes at odds with the pressures on the sector to professionalise and compete

Designing Inclusive Targets for a Post-2015 Agenda

Tackling extreme poverty and marginalisation alongside rising and intersecting inequalities must be a priority for the post-2015 agenda. As country representatives at the United Nations undertake the difficult task of agreeing the next steps towards a final framework, a focus on three key areas including improving livelihoods and pro-poor infrastructure development; increasing opportunities for participation and citizen action and tackling discriminatory social norms is critical if the final targets are to be transformative for the poorest and most marginalised people