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...

While decentralization is a prominent theme in contemporary natural resource policy and management discourse, questions have been raised concerning the sustainability of participatory approaches. Drawing on theoretical and empirical research on common pool resource management and participation,...

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami caused massive human and economic destruction. In this paper we argue that the international response to the tsunami exemplifies a shift in the way humanitarian aid is sourced and delivered, and tease out a framework for understanding the continuities...

In many countries there is an insidious perception that domestic tourism is the ‘poorcousin’ of the more glamorous international tourism market. Yet domestic tourism constitutes the vast majority of tourist flows world wide, and there has been significant growth within Third World...

The analysis of natural resource management (NRM) institutions is drawn from two predominant theoretical schools – New Institutional Economics (NIE) and Common Property Resource (CPR) theory. There remains a need to transfer usable messages from the theory to those closely engaged with...

Concern about the future of agriculture, particularly in Africa, has mounted again in recent years. This paper reviews applications of innovative methods for planning for the future – including scenario planning, future search, search conference, appreciative inquiry, and open space...

The challenges of poverty worldwide have led to a growing focus on public delivery. When delivery fails, it is assumed that the key strategy for improvement is manipulation of existing processes, better institutions or more efficient management. This is partly because the dominant model for...

An understanding of the politics of the water sector during the first decade of South Africa's democracy requires an engagement with a series of parallel debates. There is a technical debate about the nature of the water supply challenge. There is an institutional politics around budget...

This paper uses post-apartheid development and structural adjustment policies as macro-case studies for investigating the politics of service delivery during the first decade of democracy in South Africa. It provides a sobering outlook on South Africa's development and democratisation potential...

International trends towards outcomes-based qualifications frameworks as the drivers of educational reform fit in well with trends in service delivery and public sector reform. Education reform in South Africa provides a particularly interesting case study of this phenomenon, because of the very...