News
New project on Social Security in India
The Long Road to Social Security: Assessing and Monitoring the Implementation of Social Security for the Working Poor in India's Informal Economy is a knowledge project on social security provisions for workers in the informal sector of the economy in India. This project is a cooperation between the Amsterdam School for Social science Research, the Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum, India, and Hivos. The project focuses on monitoring the implementation of minimal welfare provision...
Social Capital and Authoritarianism
It is widely recognized that social capital is essential for the existence and working of civil society and democracy. This recognition though is largely related to democratic regimes. Less is known on how (the lack) of social capital could affect civic engagement in authoritarian contexts. Read the report of the seminar ‘What is the role of social capital in authoritarian settings?’ held on the 15th of January 2010 at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Biodiversity, Livelihoods and Poverty Policy Brief
The complexities of the new food and ecological crises call for new approaches to development assistance, those that go beyond traditional technical or financial help. Assistance to small-scale producers should address social, ecological and socio-economic issues and look at both rights and skills, preferably in an integrated, holistic approach. Policy interventions based on this approach would involve grassroots civil society organisations (CSOs) – notably farmers’, small-scale producers’ a...
Biodiversity, Livelihoods and Poverty Publication
‘Biodiversity conservation’ to many conjures up an image of a wildlife reserve, in which rare species and fragile ecosystems are protected from human interference. While this approach has merit and is undoubtedly necessary in some situations, there are many more cases where biodiversity may be used in a sustainable way to support livelihoods, conferring benefits on both the ecosystem itself and the communities who live there.
Bridging knowledge divides
This study examines how the Development Policy Review Network (DPRN) has contributed to more effective research-policy linkages in the field of Dutch Development Cooperation. The objective of the study comes forth from the difficulty DPRN has experienced in involving policymakers (defined as staff of ministries and embassies) in its activities.
Assessment of EU Policy on Sustainable Energy
Climate change and sustainable energy production are high on the political agenda, public debate generally focusing on how the use of fossil fuels can be reduced. Much less attention is given to the lack of access to energy of people living in poverty in developing countries. Remarkably, the solution to both issues is the same: renewable energy.
NEWSLETTER Civil Society in West Asia, Issue 2: 'Democratization Industry' and Challenges faced by Civil Society Concept
15/02/2010 Crisis is a much-overworked word in social sciences generally and in politics in particular. Phrases such as ‘democracy promotion is in crisis’ or ‘civil society can never be a force for democratization’ are simplistic overstatements. However, one cannot deny that there are serious challenges on the road to democratization, both of a conceptual and of a practical nature. The second issue of the newsletter of Knowledge Programme Civil Society in West Asia deals with the challenges faced by th...New Publication on Theory of Change
The Theory of Change approach applied to social change processes represents a thinking-action alternative to other more rigid planning approaches and logics. When living in complex and conflictive times, we need to count with more flexible instruments that allow us to plan and monitor our actions in uncertain, emergent, and complex contexts from a flexible and non-rigid logic. As known, this thinking-action approach is also applied to institutional coaching processes and to the design of soc...
Inclusive economy with a social agenda
This brief report looks at the key issues raised during the intergenerational debate in The Hague on how to place people at the centre of economics. The meeting focused on how to establish collective responsibility for sustainable livelihoods in wake of the crises. Building on an nalysis of the crises by keynote speaker Rick van der Ploeg the panel and the audience sketched out how to resituate themarket within society and how its regulation can be better placed in the hands of citizens. Th...
ISS Seminar announcement: From phantom wealth to real wealth by David Korten
On 25 January, David Korten will lead a Special Development Research Seminar about the content if his most recent book "Agenda for a new economy; from phantom wealth to real wealth". In this book, Korten argues the case for a new community-based economy based on different values and new institutions beyond Wall Street and the Washington consensus.