Development Studies

Explaining Successes in Africa

Erin Accampo Hern’s “Explaining Success in Africa: Things Don’t Always Fall Apart” (2023) is a great teaching book (upper undergraduates or generalist graduate students). The book is easy to read, presents a clear methodology, and integrates theory / variables / data in a most-similar most-different approach. In a class, this could be the foundation, with […]

Tags: #Development Studies #Erin Hern #Explaining success in Africa #Theory #Things Don't Always Fall Apart

Thought Provokers May 9

Critical Development Studies: An Introduction

I try to keep an eye out for useful teaching materials, particularly ones that provide unique perspectives on issues that students may not have encountered in their studies (unfortunately many courses are similar ideas/voice on repeat, in various forms). “Critical Development Studies: In Introduction” (2018) by Veltmeyer and Wise is brief (170 pages), easy to […]

Tags: #Books #Critical Development Studies #Development Studies #International Development #Introduction

Thought Provokers Jun 30

Participatory Development Practice

Book review: Kelly, Anthony and Westoby, Peter. 2018: Participatory Development Practice: Using Traditional and Contemporary Frameworks. There is an emerging recognition that many of the ideas, practices and approaches within development studies and practice can replicate colonial attitudes, be paternalistic and disempowering, and may entrench marginalization. The emergence of a wide array of participatory methodologies […]

Tags: #Development Practice #Development Studies #Gandhi #Participation #Participatory Development Practice

Thought Provokers May 18

Silences in NGO Discourses

Issa G. Shivji is one of East Africa’s well-known critical scholars, researchers and professors. Much of his work has appeared in shorter essay form, as opposed to academic articles or books (although he has published several books as well). “Silences in NGO Discourses: The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa” (2007) is one of […]

Tags: #Development Studies #Ideology #Issa Shivji #Neoliberalism #NGO

Thought Provokers Apr 8

Who Are You and Why Are You Here?

I have previously noted my interested in the expanded journal version of people recounting their experiences (e.g. this recent book on the Ebola response). The style (and title) of Jacques Claessens “Who are you and why are you here?” (2018), which was originally published in French in 2013 and translated in this version by Nigel […]

Tags: #Books #Burkina Faso #Development Studies #International development #Jacques Claessens

Thought Provokers Jan 21

Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development

If you are looking for an accessible introduction to research within thew broad umbrella of livelihoods that is well researched and provides a clear outline of what we have learned and what we need to know more about, this is it. Ian Scoones book “Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development” (2015) would do well for undergraduates […]

Tags: #Development Studies #Ian Scoones #Livelihoods #Rural Development #Sustainable Livelihoods

Thought Provokers Dec 9

Cooking Data

More attention is being paid to data. In the context of the SDGs, it is the lack of data. In the broader conversation, it is about the quality of data. From these conversations, there is an emerging literature that might might classify as an ethnography of data. A recent addition to this set of literature […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Culture #Data #Development Studies #Politics

Thought Provokers Nov 3

Rural Development Options

In 1990, Ethiopia was on the cusp of a major transition. The military government was on the way out and the EPRDF would come to power in the following year. It was in this year that “Ethiopia: Options for Rural Development” (1990), edited by Siegfried Pausewang, Fantu Cheru, Stefan Brune and Estetu Chole, was published. […]

Tags: #Development Studies #Ethiopia #Fantu Cheru #Rural Development #Siegfried Pausewang

Thought Provokers Jun 11

Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development

Cochrane, L. (2019) Review: Can We Know Better? Reflections for Development. Progress in Development Studies 19: 84-86. Starting in the 1980s, there have been regular publications of books that invite critical self-reflection in development study and practice: Rural Development: Putting the Last First (1983), Challenging the Professions (1993), Whose Reality Counts? (1997), Participatory Workshops (2002), […]

Tags: #Can We Know Better #Development #Development Studies #Reflections for Development #Robert Chambers

Thought Provokers Jan 11

Navigation by Judgement

In development studies and practice we can get excited by new ideas, and over-stretch them. Participation was a cure all, then it became tyranny, and now we have more informed ‘split ladders’ that help determine when, where, why and how participation can work well. The rise of results- and evidence-based decision making was at its […]

Tags: #Development Practice #Development Studies #Evaluation #Learning #Navigation by Judgement

Thought Provokers Sep 3

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About me

Logan Cochrane

Associate Professor at HBKU in the College of Public Policy. He is an Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences and an Adjunct Professor at Hawassa University (Institute for Policy and Development Research). Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in Afghanistan, Benin, Burundi, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Logan acts as a consultant for governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, seeking to create bridges between research and practice.

Logan Cochrane