Building North-South Partnerships for a better world

Samenwerking tussen partijen uit "rijke" Noorden en het "arme" Zuiden zijn aan de orde van de dag in de ontwikkelingssamenwerking. In dit artikel onderscheiden we een aantal factoren die van invloed zijn op het proces van aangaan van samenwerkingsverbanden binnen de context van ontwikkelingssamenwerking. Het gaat daarbij om ideologie en waarden, politiek getinte relaties, unilaterale financiële afhandelijkheid, culturlere en fysieke afstanden, en fragiel sociaal vertrouwen. Aan de hand van twee publiek-private samenwerkingsverbandden, organische katoen en verantwoorde teelt van soja, bekijken we hoe activisten, financierse en ontwikkelingswerkers met deze tegenstellingen te maken krijgen en hoe ze opgelost worde

Climate change effects on people’s livelihood

Generally climate is defined as the long-term average weather conditions of a particular place, region, or the world. Key climate variables include surface conditions such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) broadly defined climate change as any change in the state of climate which persists for extended periods, usually for decades or longer (Allwood et al. 2014). Climate change may occur due to nature’s both internal and external processes. External process involves anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and volcanic eruptions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) made a distinction between climate change attributable to human contribution to atmospheric composition and natural climate variability. In its Article 1, the UNFCCC defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods” (United Nations 1992, p. 7)

Opportunities for managing solid waste flows in the peri-urban interface of Bamako and Ouagadougou

This paper examines the links between solid urban waste management and peri-urban agriculture in Bamako and Ouagadougou. Staple crop farmers in the vicinity of both cities value urban waste as a source of organic matter and are prepared to pay for it. Cultivation on degraded soils has even been revived in some cases thanks to this readily available resource. However, uncertain land tenure means that farmers have little incentive to ensure the safe disposal of dangerous elements in solid waste. Current plans would eliminate this recycling practice and promote largescale composting, but the cost for farmers will be too high, leaving them with an incentive to make their own illicit arrangements for acquiring waste material. Furthermore, small enterprises and associations that have come to play a complementary and innovative role in waste management would be forced out. The key challenges for policy are to build on economic and institutional reality and to regard urban waste not as a dangerous nuisance but as a source of nutrients for agriculture. Opportunities exist to deliver waste that has been sorted, though not composted, to peri-urban farmers

Facilitating North-South partnership for sustainable agriculture

The increased number of development cooperation and sustainable agriculture partnerships brings with it new challenges for professionals who are asked to facilitate these partnering processes. In this article we shed more light on the world of development cooperation and we explore questions that facilitators working with North-South partnerships face. The main research questions are: What are the distinguishing characteristics of North-South partnership dynamics; what insights and lessons can we draw from the management of these partnerships, and what recommendations or advice can we offer to those facilitating such partnerships? On the basis of a deductive research process we reveal a number of characteristics that mark the process of building partnerships within the context of development cooperation. Through two cases of sustainable agriculture partnerships—biological cotton and responsible soy—we discuss how professionals confront these specific characteristics and how they address these. The material from the two cases was made more complete by drawing on other experiences and relevant literature. The revealed characteristics creating challenges for professionals facilitating partnerships are the following: ideology and values; politically loaded relationships; unilateral financial dependence; cultural and physical distance; and fragile social trust. We end with some essential operational guidelines for professionals managing or advising partnerships. As partnerships in development cooperation are becoming ever more important, there is a need for more professionalization. However, few studies have paid attention to the challenges professionals face and the way they can deal with them

Alliantievorming in ontwikkelingssamenwerking

Allianties tussen partijen uit het `rijke' Noorden en het `arme' Zuiden zijn `the name of the game' in de wereld van de ontwikkelingssamenwerking. Als activist, adviseur, financier of procesbegeleider pogen ontwikkelingswerkers deze allianties te initiëren, te begeleiden of erin te opereren. In dit artikel onderscheiden wij een aantal kenmerken die een bijzondere kleur geven aan het proces van alliantievorming binnen de context van ontwikkelingssamenwerking, te weten: ideologie en morele verontwaardiging; politiek beladen relaties; eenzijdige financiële afhankelijkheid; culturele en fysieke afstand en kwetsbaar sociaal vertrouwen. Aan de hand van twee cases over publiek-private allianties rond biologische katoen en `eerlijke soja' bespreken we op welke wijze ontwikkelingswerkers deze specifieke kenmerken ontmoeten en hoe ze daarmee omgaan