Call for short essays

Additional tags: Knowledge, Change

The developmental challenges facing the world are daunting. Extreme poverty and social exclusion persist at scale while socio-economic inequality and fundamentalism are even on the increase. Because of these and other dilemmas we are confronted with ever more questions. New knowledge on the changing terrain of development and social change are needed to get more insight into these dilemmas. But can knowledge also trigger change? If so, how? Is it about bridging the gap between research and practice? Is it about methodologies, new forms of knowledge production, new ways of working?

We aim to contribute to the debate on knowledge and change by sharing and discussing some of our experiences. We herewith invite you to tell us about your experiences on how you think knowledge development can(not) contribute to change processes. We are interested in both theoretical reflections as well as practical experiences, including methodologies of knowledge development.

We look forward to your contribution in the form of a short essay (not more than 1000 words). This essay should particularly address the question: ‘How do you think knowledge can trigger change?’ Please describe briefly (max. 100 words) what you would like to contribute on this subject and send it as soon as possible to dialogue@hivos.net. Deadline for submission of your essay is 15 August 2010. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Frederique Demeijer at Hivos, (f.demeijer@hivos.nl).

Hivos will publish reviewed essays through its publication series and make them available online. See for more details about the Hivos publication series, the publication page of this website. These essays will also serve as input for the three day conference ‘Knowledge & Change. Theory and practice of development dilemmas’, organized by Hivos, ISS, UvH, UvA, IIED and CIS.