Hazel Johnson

Biting the Bullet: Civil Society, Social Learning and the Transformation of Local Governance

This paper focuses on how three actors of development interventions negotiate and manage their interrelations, interests, goals and outcomes of action in contexts of social inequality and relative power. The research takes an action-oriented approach to analyzing the structured and active representation of roles and interests in development initiatives. The key question is how socially hierarchical structures and processes might be managed to create a positive change in the status of hitherto excluded or marginal groups.

Communities of practice and international development

This paper examines the concept of ‘communities of practice’ for promoting joint learning and knowledge production for international development. How and why communities of practice may or may not lead to socially inclusive and innovative outcomes in the context of international development needs further exploration. The paper reflects on the conceptualization of communities of practice in the light of previous research into learning in state-private sector-civil society and North-South partnerships. It argues that the concept of communities of practice can be useful heuristically to understand joint learning and knowledge production if accompanied by other conceptual insights, for example, from critical participation and experiential or action learning. It also suggests that conceptualizing communities of practice as action learning spaces captures the often complex social relations and dynamics of learning and knowledge production for development.

Knowledge, learning and practice in North–South practitioner-to-practitioner municipal partnerships

Abstract North–South municipal partnerships, conceptualised as practitioner-to-practitioner, potentially enhance knowledge, learning and practice because of the basis for trust within officer relationships that facilitates joint exploration of ideas. A study of two Uganda–UK municipal partnerships reveals, however, several challenges, including the extent to which practitioner differences enable critical reflection and the capability to turn learning into improved practice at both individual and institutional levels.

Institutional sustainability as learning

How organisations and associations can work together over time to develop new norms and practices which enhance the sustainability of development initiatives is an on-going problem. This article looks at how processes of negotiating shared agendas over the meanings of sustainability, exploring assumptions behind proposed actions, establishing means of accountability, and setting up mechanisms for investigating cause and effect in the processes and outcomes of development programmes can be a source of action-learning. It is argued that such processes of action-learning can help lead to institutional sustainability.

Institutional sustainability: 'community' and waste management in Zimbabwe

Abstract This article addresses sustainability as a social process. In doing so it extends beyond the Brundtland notion of present and ‘future generations’ to grapple with the divergent social worlds in which the term is constructed by different actors. It is thus concerned with how learning can take place within development interventions to enable actors to build new norms and behaviours which cut across social divides. A framework has been developed to (i) explore and make explicit the assumptions held by stakeholders; (ii) develop an awareness of the nature and practices of accountability; (iii) build an understanding of cause and effect (attribution) in relation to action. It is suggested that structured participation in these processes can help to build inter-organizational and inter-associational learning which can provide the basis for new norms and behaviours stretching beyond the formal life of any intervention (institutional sustainability). The article draws on research from Zimbabwe, however it is suggested that the framework can have applicability in many situations.

Sustainable development and African local government: can electronic training help build capacities?

A recent study carried out by European and African organizations into the potential for electronic distance training (EDT) on sustainability in African local governments concluded that EDT was both ‘useful and feasible’. This article reflects on some of the theoretical and practical implications of that study. It focuses on the connection between learning and sustainability and how EDT programmes might be designed and promoted. The paper argues that, while resource issues and poor access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) create considerable constraints and point to the need for policies to improve access, in general the most important factors for successful capacity building relate to the design of learning programmes that take account of the work contexts and skill and capability requirements of those targeted as learners. ‘Useful’ and ‘feasible’ depend on (i) how work‐based and work‐related learning processes are understood and (ii) the conditions to promote learning within African local government.

Food Insecurity as a Sustainability Issue: Lessons from Honduran Maize Farming

This chapter is concerned with the vulnerability of small producers of food staples in Honduras to food insecurity in the 1980s. By vulnerability to food insecurity, I mean the constant and endemic threats to such farmers’ being able to reproduce their production of and access to adequate food staples. The context is one of inequality in access to land and other resources for production, uneven commercialization and limited opportunities of alternative employment for small farmers. During the 1980s, the Honduran government and other institutions attempted to improve the productive capacities of individual and collectively-organized small farmers by credit and technical assistance packages to encourage diversification, as well as increase national output of marketed food staples to reduce the need for food imports. However, such policies did not always take into account structural obstacles to change. The question remains as to whether such farmers (and their children) can sustain and improve their productive capacities in the longer-term.

Guest editors' introduction: development management in practice

Focuses on applied development management. Role of value-based conflicts in development management; Emphases on Capacities for Managing Development and Institutional Development; Importance of negotiation over development policy.

Vulnerability to food insecurity among Honduran maize farmers: Challenges for the 1990s

This paper argues that government and related institutional approaches to increasing agricultural output and improving rural livelihoods in Honduras in the 1980s were limited in their abilities to reduce the vulnerability The concept of vulnerability refers to the inabilities of many maize farmers to produce or consume adequate quantities of maize without ongoing debt relations and potential or actual entitlement loss (Johnson, 1995, p. 15). of small maize farmers to food insecurity. During the 1980s, the Honduran government and other institutions attempted to improve the productive capacities of individual and collectively-organized small farmers by credit and technical assistance packages to encourage diversification, as well as increase national output of marketed food staples to reduce the need for food imports. However, such policies did not always take into account structural obstacles to change, such as the social relations of production and exchange in the countryside which affected access to and control over resources for and benefits from food production. The following analysis suggests that if such considerations are not addressed, it is doubtful whether small maize farmers will be able to sustain and improve their productive capacities in the longer term.