Postgraduate Course: Key Skills in Development Practice (PGSP11348)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Social and Political Studies) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course is a revised version of the existing course entitled ¿Development Research Methods¿, which brings together social science research methods (interviewing, focus groups, quantitative research) with more targeted practical development methods (participatory approaches, monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis). The main objective of the new course is to offer key skills to the students to enable them to work in the field of international development. The course exposes the students with key frameworks, tools and instruments used in the practice of development.
This course is suitable for everyone with an interest to work in international development globally, regardless of orientation.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students will:
- Critically examine the relationship between development thinking and development practice
- Be able to appraise and utilise appropriate practical tools and instruments
- Learns skills in key areas of development practice such as monitoring and evaluation, writing policy brief, participatory appraisals and meta-analysis. |
Assessment Information
The course is assessed by the followings:
1. One short assessment (policy brief), maximum 1,500 words - 40%;
2. One long assessment (short essay), maximum 2,500 words - 60%.
For the short assessment students will be asked to write a policy brief on the theme suggested below. The longer essay will focus on a critique of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, participatory tools or evaluations used in development agencies. In this essay students should demonstrate and reflect critically on their learning in lectures and independent studies.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Week 1: Introduction: development as a cross-cultural practice
Introduction to the course, key analytical issues and other practical issues such as assignment, class presentations etc.
Week 2: Doing Policy Analysis
This week will explore some of the theory behind policy as a process and suggest tools and perspectives that help us to better contextualise that process.
Week 3: Writing policy briefs
This week we will discuss the significance and challenges of writing for politics and communicating results in a rapid way. This class will focus on the purpose of policy briefs, how they are written and who they are written for. It will involve a critique of a sample of policy briefs. The class will cover: 1) how to identify and prioritise policy audiences; 2) how to structure and write a policy brief targeted to your key audience; 3) how to disseminate and evaluate your policy brief
Week 4: Designing Monitoring and evaluation systems
This weeks¿ lecture will provide an overview of key concepts, clarifies definitions and will discuss examples of monitoring and evaluation in development work.
Week 5: Theory of change and logical framework analysis
Starting with a basic introduction to the theory and practice of ¿theory of change¿, ¿logical framework analysis¿ and the associated ¿logical framework matrix¿ (logframe), the class will work together in small groups to discuss a case study exercise in designing a ¿theory of change¿ for a project.
Week 6 ¿ Innovative learning week
Week 7: RCTs, Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis
This week¿s lecture will introduce the use of RCTs, systematic reviews and meta-analysis in development practice. In particular, the class will focus on the promotion of RCTs in development under the leadership of Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee at MIT. It will involve discussion on the practice of these tools in development and how they reflect the current thinking on ¿evidence-based practice¿ in development.
Week 8: Use of participatory approaches and tools -I
In this class we will investigate these techniques and in particular we will focus on: 1) The ¿participatory turn¿ and the critique of top-down models; 2) PRA, PLA and other acronyms and 3) questioning participatory approaches to development. The second half of class will involve designing participatory tools, which will be carried out by the students within the university setting.
Week 9: Use of participatory approaches and tools-II
This class will be dedicated to a seminar on the critical appraisal of students¿ practice of participatory tools.
Week 10: Development practice in crisis situations-I
The class will introduce the students with challenges of working in the context of complex emergencies. It will also introduce the students with SPHERE standards that offer a set of common principles and universal minimum standards for the delivery of quality humanitarian response. The class will offer an opportunity to critically appreciate the practice of humanitarian needs assessments and decision-making.
Week 11: Development practice in crisis situations-II
The class will focus on what development and conflict resolution practitioners currently do together on the ground in conflict situations on all continents. It mainly deals with conflict analysis. The class will critically appraise a conflict analysis report prepared by major international agency such as International Crisis Group and UN agencies (such as OCHA).
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Baker, Judy. 2000. ¿Evaluating the Impact of Development Projects on Poverty: A Handbook for Practitioners¿. Directions in Development, World Bank, Washington, D.C. Also available in French, Russian and Spanish.
Banerjee, Abhijit and others. ¿Making Aid Work,¿ Boston Review, July/August 2006.
Carden, Fred (2009). Knowledge to Policy: Making the Most of Development Research, International Development Research Centre and Sage.
Chambers R. 1994. ¿The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisals¿ World Development 22(7): 953-969
Cooke, B. and U. Kothari (eds). 2001. Participation: The New Tyranny? Zed Books.
Dale, Reidar 2003 ¿The logical framework: an easy escape, a straitjacket, or a useful planning tool?¿ Development in Practice 13 (1): 57-70
Desai V. and Potter R. B. 2006. Doing Development Research, Sage.
DFID. 2002. A Tools for Development: a handbook for those involved in development activity. Department for International Development.
Duflo, Esther, Rachel Glennerster, and Michael Kremer. 2004. ¿Randomized Evaluations of Interventions in Social Science Delivery.¿ Development Outreach March 2004.
Duflo, Esther. 2004. ¿Scaling up and Evaluation.¿ Accelerating Development. ABCDE.
Earl, S. F. Carden, and T. Smutylo. 2001.Outcome Mapping: Building Learning and Reflection into Development Programs, International Development Research Centre.
Esther Dulfo and Michael Kremer. 2008. ¿Use of Randomization in the Evaluation of Development Effectiveness'," Proceedings of the Conference on Evaluating Development Effectiveness, July 15-16, 2003, the World Bank Operations Evaluation Department (OED) Washington, D.C.
European Commission Europe Aid Cooperation Office 2004 Aid Delivery Methods, vol 1: Project Cycle Management Guidelines Brussels: EC [Section 5: The Logical Framework Approach, pp57-94]
Gasper, Des 2000 ¿Evaluating the "logical framework approach"- towards learning- oriented development evaluation¿ Public Administration and Development, 20(1): 17-28
Greenhalgh, Trisha. 1997. How to read a paper: papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta analyses). BMJ, 315:672
http://www.bmj.com/content/315/7109/672.full
Hayden F. G. 2006. Policymaking for a good society: the social fabric matrix approach to policy analysis and program evaluation, Springer.
Hirsch, E., and D. Gellner [eds] 2001. Inside organizations: Anthropologists at work, Berg.
Johnson, H. and Thomas, A. 2007. ¿Individual learning and building organisational capacity for development¿, Public Administration and Development, 27(1): 39-48.
Mikkelsen B. 2005. Methods for Development Work and Research. A new guide for practitioners, Sage.
Mosse D. 1994), ¿Authority, Gender and Knowledge: Theoretical Reflections on the Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal¿ Development and Change 25: 497- 526
Nama, N & Swartz, L. 2002. 'Ethical and social dilemmas in community-based controlled trials in situations of poverty: A view from a South African project' Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology vol. 12 (4): 286-297
OHCA. 2006. Methodology for Rapid Humanitarian Assistance, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Platteau, J.P. 2004. ¿Monitoring Elite Capture in Community-Driven Development¿, Development and Change 35 (2):223-46.
Prennushi, G., G. Rubio, and K. Subbarao. 2000. "Monitoring and Evaluation." In Sourcebook for Poverty Reduction Strategies. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
Ravallion, Martin. 1999. "The Mystery of the Vanishing Benefits: Ms. Speedy Analyst's Introduction to Evaluation." Policy Research Working Paper 2153, World Bank, Development Economics Research Group, Washington, D.C.
Ravallion, Martin. 2006. ¿Evaluating Anti-Poverty Programs.¿ Policy Research Working Paper 3625 World Bank, Development Economics Research Group, Washington, D.C.
Sumner A. and Tribe M. 2008. International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in Research and Practice, Sage.
UNDP, 2002. Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation for Development Results. UNDP
http://web.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
The course is based on the format of a mix of lectures and practical exercises. Due to the practical nature of topics treated in the course, students are expected to participate in many exercises in the class and to work on weekly assessments that will be discussed in the seminar. The course will provide a mixture of case study-led discussions, conceptual analyses and practical lessons. Several lecturers from the School of Social and Political Science will contribute to the course, dealing with research and debate in their own areas of expertise. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Jeevan Sharma
Tel: (0131 6)51 1760
Email: Jeevan.Sharma@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lindsay Hunter
Tel: (0131 6)51 1659
Email: L.Hunter@ed.ac.uk |
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