February 14 – 18, 2011
Bunker Roy and Aruna Roy
This course is part of a three week series Transformative Development.
This series of courses will explore the changing face of development. The context in which we look at development is ever-shifting, with significant events and revised thinking having a huge impact on the people that work in this field in recent times. There is an urgent need for a contextualised approach to this area of work, one that reflects a more organic development methodology and the complex realities around social structures, ecosystems and the global economic system.
Click here to book your place online.
This week focuses on two examples from India of a radically different approach to ‘development’: the Right to Information campaign and Barefoot Colleges.
The campaign for transparent governance and accountability grew out of ordinary Indians’ awareness that government agencies were not acting in their interests, so that in many villages even the most basic of services such as primary education, health care or water supplies were not being provided in reality, even though they were there on paper. Tackling this issue then brought up further issues of corruption, decision-making and participatory democracy. Whereas the UK campaign for Freedom of Information mainly involved intellectuals and journalists, in India it has created strong alliances between workers and peasants. Aruna Roy will talk about the evolution of the Right to Information campaign and what it reveals about how the economically and socially disadvantaged can be engaged and empowered.
Barefoot Colleges enable villagers to learn skills ranging from midwifery to solar engineering and rainwater harvesting. There is no required written curriculum or degree awarded, and students are selected based on attributes such the ability to work with others, integrity, creativity etc. Bunker Roy will discuss how the Barefoot project has developed over the years and the lessons that have been learned in the process. It is a radical model of grassroots empowerment which poses a fundamental challenge to existing theories, but to what extent can it be applied in any setting? Are there scale issues? Could it be adapted to transform disempowered communities in very different cultural contexts?
This course is part of a three week series Transformative Development. Courses in this series are:
• Current Challenges in Development and Globalisation – Ian Christie and Robert Chambers (January 31 – February 4)
• Complexity and Social Transformation – Allan Kaplan (February 7 – 11)
• Engaging Communities for Systemic Change – Bunker Roy and Aruna Roy (February 14 – 18)
If you take more than one week you will pay less for each consecutive week.
Any One week £750
Any Two weeks £1,450 (Save £50 over weekly course price)
Three weeks £1,900 (Save £350 over the weekly course price)
You can select you the week(s) you require at the point of booking.
All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.
Book your place now! – click here to access our on-line booking system
Book by fax or mail! – click here to find out how
For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College
To provisionally reserve a place for 5 days, email us your contact details and the name of the course admin@schumachercollege.org.uk
We will hold the place for five working days for reservations – three weeks before a course or earlier. After five days we will automatically offer your place to someone else if we have not received your application.
