80 research outputs found
Tackling gender issues in sustainable land management
Full text linkThis modular instrument provides a conceptual and operational framework for main-streaming gender in rural development activities. It addresses the lack of conceptual and practical tools in the area of sustainable land management. Its modular design allows for individual approaches and targets development staff at the project and programme levels, with the aim of helping them to find practical ways of dealing with gender issues in rural development activities. From a perspective that takes up the Beijing call for gender mainstreaming, it also reaches out to people responsible for policy and organisational development. The modules build on the conceptual framework for natural resource management (NRM) jointly developed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) – more specifically on the activities of the SLM Working Group. In addition, case studies and reports on experience gained by NGOs and research projects in the field of rural development in Nicaragua (Miraflor), India (Sampark) and Kenya illustrate the focus on gender in sustainable land management projects. Information and practical advice on implementation, as well as on monitoring and evaluation of the key aspect of gender in sustainable management are still lacking. No blueprint is possible given the fact that measures need to be tailored to the needs and priorities of local environments and projects. Searching for adequate tools is therefore a never-ending and dynamic endeavour, in which all readers of these modules are invited to participate
Transformative Forschung gestalten – Beiträge aus Theorie und Praxis transdisziplinärer Forschungspartnerschaften
Full text linkEthics in science: enhancing the democratisation of knowledge production in transdisciplinary research partnerships for sustainable development
No full textBetter access to knowledge and knowledge production has to be reconsidered as key to successful individual and social mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change. Indeed, concepts of sustainable development imply a transformation of science towards fostering democratisation of knowledge production and the development of knowledge societies as a strategic goal. This means to open the process of scientific knowledge production while simultaneously empowering people to implement their own visions for sustainable development. Advocates of sustainability science support this transformation. In transdisciplinary practice, they advance equity and accountability in the access to and production of knowledge at the science–society interface. UNESCO points to advancements, yet Northern dominance persists in knowledge production as well as in technology design and transfer. Further, transdisciplinary practice remains experimental and hampered by inadequate and asymmetrically equipped institutions in the North and South and related epistemological and operational obscurity. To help identify clear, practicable transdisciplinary approaches, I recommend examining the institutional route – i.e., the learning and adaptation process – followed in concrete cases. The transdisciplinary Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme (1998–2013) is a case ripe for such examination. Understanding transdisciplinarity as an integrative approach, I highlight ESAPP’s three key principles for a more democratised knowledge production for sustainable development: (1) integration of scientific and “non-scientific” knowledge systems; (2) integration of social actors and institutions; and (3) integrative learning processes. The analysis reveals ESAPP’s achievements in contributing to more democratic knowledge production and South ownership in the realm of sustainable development
Enabling Transformative Research: Lessons from the Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme (1999–2015)
Full text linkWorld leaders at the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York have re- confirmed the relevance of sustainability as the guiding paradigm in countering the development and climate crisis of the Anthropocene. Recent decades however, have been characterized by confusion, contestations, and arbitrariness in defining the nature and pathways of sustainable development. Humanity must urgently find ways to unlock the potential of the sustainability paradigm and organize a sustainability transforma- tion. An emerging sustainability science community has already established considerable consensus on essential features of transformative science and research. Sustainability scholars are providing growing evidence that an emancipatory and democratic construction of sustainable development and more equitable, deliberative, and democratized knowledge generation are pivotal in tackling sustainability challenges. These findings are further underpinned by experiences gained in the Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme (1999–2015)—a rare case of a long-term, transnational, and transdisciplinary research en- deavour already completed. The programme fulfilled the dual role which is compulsory in transformative research: It generated contextualized knowledge and innovation at the science–society interface while simultaneously securing meaningful participation and Southern agency in a co-evolutionary process. This paper offers insight into the programme’s adaptive structure and implementation processes, which fostered deliberation, capacity development, and joint programme navigation benchmarked against local needs and broader sustainability demands. The ESAPP experience confirms that, if taken as the overarching frame of reference for all actors involved, the sustainability paradigm unfolds its integrative and transformative power. It enables sustainability-oriented actors from all scientific and practical fields to seek consilience between differing development and innovation paradigms and synchronize their development agendas and research frameworks on behalf of societal co-production of knowledge and innovation. Accordingly, the sustainability paradigm has the power to guide development and innovation policy, and practice out of the current confusion and ineffectiveness
Die Erhaltung der Feuchtgebiete - eine Massnahme zur Armutsbekämpfung
No full textFeuchtgebiete galten lange Zeit als ökonomisch unproduktiv. Sie wurden deshalb oft in eine intensive Bewirtschaftung überführt oder zum Schutz der Biodiversität mit Nutzungsverboten belegt. In der internationalen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit wird heute eine ökonomische Neubewertung der Feuchtgebiete und ihrer Funktionen angestrebt. Dies liefert Grundlagen für Managementsysteme, welche den Schutz und die Nutzung von Feuchtgebieten zugunsten der Armutsbekämpfung und nachhaltigen Entwicklung verbinden
Knowledge and integration for sustainable development: Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme
Full text linkDeveloping a Framework for Stakehoder Consultation in the Umbeluzi River Basin: Project Report
Full text linkA Framework for a Consultation Process: Transboundary cooperation and sustainable water management is urgently needed in the up-stream/down-stream situation of the Umbeluzi River Basin between the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Republic of Mozambique. Thus, the Joint Water Commission (JWC) of the two riparian countries initiated the Umbeluzi River Basin Initiative (URBI) with the objective to develop a joint management plan of the river basin. In response to the request by SADC as well as SDC, a collaboration within CDE’s Eastern and Southern Africa Partnership Programme ESAPP was agreed upon. The project’s general objective is to provide conceptual and methodological support in the design of a consultative process with the aim to assure the participation of all water users within the river basin
Innovation für eine bessere Zukunft: Die Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit der Schweiz erfordert ein Umdenken
No full textDie Auseinandersetzung mit den Innovationsprozessen kann neue, zusätzliche Ansatzpunkte für das Begrenzen von Schäden und für die nachhaltige Entwicklung generieren. Der Beitrag soll aufzeigen, weshalb ein neues Verständnis und eine Neuausrichtung im Umgang mit Innovation und deren Förderung notwendig sind
Reflections on the democratization of knowledge generation in research partnerships for sustainable development
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