Individual learning and building organisational capacity for development

Abstract

SUMMARYBuilding capacities and capabilities for international development is an ongoing subject for debate, further fuelled by recent interest in learning and knowledge. This article focuses on how, and the extent to which, individual learners in education and training programmes for development policy and management interact with their organisations to build capacities and capabilities. It demonstrates some of the ways that individual learning and organisational capacity are linked by examining case studies from Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The article reflects on the complex nature of this interaction and on the broader challenges of linking learning to development.

Learning and mutuality in municipal partnerships and beyond: A focus on northern partners

“…The learning in practitioner to practitioner partnerships is potentially a rich source of 'mismatch' that challenges existing knowledge and practices. However, individual experience may not be carried through into the organisation, and as we have noted elsewhere, individual learning and learning in organisations does not necessarily take place at the same pace and in the same direction (Johnson and Thomas, 2006).…”

La participación como enfoque integral de aprendizaje para una práctica crítica en la gestión de proyectos y procesos de cooperación al desarrollo. El caso de un Máster en la Universitat Politècnica de València

“…Esta perspectiva se sostendría en una visión de la educación puramente racionalista, que entiende que los procesos educativos son procesos lineales de adquisición y aplicación de conocimiento. Esta visión se sustentaría además en una fe ciega en las bondades de la modernización y en la posibilidad de controlar el cambio social mediante los instrumentos adecuados (Johnson y Thomas, 2007). Como Peris et al (2013) mencionan, esta perspectiva hace que los procesos educativos se centren en proveer a los estudiantes de instrumentos tecnocráticos de gestión, de modo que tengan las herramientas para alcanzar de manera eficiente objetivos prefijados de desarrollo mediante una secuencia lineal de pasos, o al menos mediante una planificación estricta (Clarke and Oswald, 2010).…”

Engagement, Learning and Emancipatory Development Management: A Commentary

“…Open University study is part time and at a distance, enabling students to continue working while they study. The purpose was not to identify the influences of study on the development managers (on which we have carried out prior research; Johnson and Thomas, , ). Rather, we interviewed the development managers as an immediate source of information about their working lives.…”