Does the Evidence Speak? Looking for impact of capacity development
SNV hosts a panel discussion to analyse the practice of capacity strengthening at the Second European Conference on African Studies in Leiden, the Netherlands.
article de forum 50 de 187 
2007-08-01 8:00
Eight SNV advisors from Benin, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Rwanda and New York attended the Second AEGIS European Conference on African Studies held by the African Studies Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands from 11th to 14th July 2007. The theme this year was African alternatives, initiatives and creativity beyond constraints.
SNV organised a panel discussion in which six papers were presented: three on microfinance, from different angles (from Benin, Rwanda and Guinea Bissau); one on the ‘geography of NGOs’ in Tanzania; one on the influence of the electoral process on services delivering in Kenya; and one on evidences of capacity development and impacts. SNV also presented a paper in the panel Tourism in Africa focusing on development capacity for local actors in an emerging destination.
The huge turnout at ECAS 2007 demonstrated vibrancy of African studies in Europe. The conference challenged prevailing development paradigms. It considered the nature of current constraints (internal and external to Africa), studies of coping strategies, and initiatives offering alternatives to the prevailing paradigms.
The conference allowed for a development-relevant perspective with development being understood as a dynamic process but not necessarily following a linear model. SNV was the only development organisation present at this conference, although the subjects of discussions were very relevant for development practice across Africa. This shows how far removed development organisations are from the critical realities of their work. In this regard, SNV has taken a commendable step to bridge this gap and maintain a consistent engagement with the academia, challenging some of their theories with the field realities of SNV practice and at the same time learning the new insights generated by the academics through research.
The papers presented at this panel are available at http://tinyurl.com/yvlwyk; other panel presentations are available at http://ecas2007.aegis-eu.org/Panels.aspx.
The Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS) is a network of 18 research institutes and organises international conferences bi-annually.
Site Web (URL) http://www.snvworld.org/public
| Auteur(s) | SNV Netherlands Development Organisation |
| Date d'expiration | 2007-10-30 12:00 |