International Development - Global Trends via Local Cases Perspectives

Overview

Upon completing this course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of international development in various development domains. As the world changes and becomes more interconnected, there is an increasing need for experts who know how to tackle global challenges. In this course we focus on the Global South, i.e. the economically disadvantaged regions, and how people can empower themselves to improve their well-being and tackle the inequalities and global challenges we are facing. From a global perspective we will discuss the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. 

The traditional North-South divide in international development is losing relevance as global challenges such as resource scarcity, newly emerged inequalities, food security threats, global warming, migration issues, and armed conflicts now affect both developed and developing regions.

Furthermore, globalisation has given rise to complex societal issues that require collaboration among diverse actors, leading to multi-stakeholder cooperation. However, this approach assumes that assembling the right stakeholders will automatically yield solutions, neglecting power imbalances and diverse interests that can lead to exclusion or domination of less powerful actors. Despite increasing collaboration, many development actors still view social change as a linear, controllable process. Organisations are now assessed based on their performance and value for money rather than good intentions. However, the intricate and unpredictable nature of development challenges calls for new and innovative ways to understand, manage, and evaluate development processes and outcomes.

Learning objectives

At the end of the course:

• Participants understand the complexities and key trends and debates that have historically shaped the sector of international development cooperation;
• Participants can recognize and critically reflect upon the concept of development and debate their position in international and global development practices;  
• Participants are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the SDGs;
• Participants can identify different forms of power and describe how power relates to inequality and shapes processes of exclusion and inclusion;
• Participants understand the importance and can apply insights of local perspectives in thinking about international development;
• Participants can understand how to select and critically review the literature, extract key messages of different learning material (lecturers, literature) and share their insights via a blog with their peers.

Furthermore, participants will learn and sharpen their skills regarding:  

• Writing blogs;
• Debating;
• Public speaking;
• Teamwork;
• Literature review / contextualising.