From anilg@iimahd.ernet.in Thu Jul 23 03:36:43 1998 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id DAA14970 for ; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 03:36:43 -0700 Received: from stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in (root@stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in [202.41.76.247]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with SMTP id DAA03673; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 03:34:08 -0700 Received: from iimahd.iimahd (iimahd [202.41.76.254]) by stdwww.iimahd.ernet.in (8.6.12/8.6.9) with SMTP id PAA05072; Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:23:41 +0500 Received: from anilg.iimahd.ernet.in by iimahd.iimahd (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA03990; Thu, 23 Jul 98 15:49:49+050 Message-Id: <35B7BF90.4AEF@iimahd.ernet.in> Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 15:56:16 -0700 From: "Prof. Anil Gupta" Reply-To: anilg@iimahd.ernet.in X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Win16; I) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: pdh@u.washington.edu Cc: indknow@u.washington.edu Subject: Workshop on Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability in Rural development: a natural resource perspective, March 1999 References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Several colleagues sent a message that the announcemnet about above workshop could not be accessed from the web site address given in my mail. I enclose the text below. Please do not mind the length of the message. looking forward to suggestions, literature leads, copies of your papers, and possible interest in participation. anil k gupta Training Workshop on Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability in Rural Development : A natural resource perspective March 11-13, 1999 Conducted by .. Centre for Management in Agriculture Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India In collaboration with UNESCO 8 Poorvi Marg, Vasant Vihar New Delhi 110 057 Introduction: The persistence of poverty, deprivation and continued degradation of natural resources and bio-diversity in most developing countries has necessitated a fresh look at rural development strategies. The roles of the state, the markets and civil society including voluntary and community organizations in redefining the relationships between resources, risks and skills need to be reappraised. The decline of public investments due to structural adjustment programs has further underlined the need for making a paradigmatic shift in rural development policies, programs and institutional arrangements. What should be the criteria on the basis of which viability and sustainability of natural resource based rural development strategies should be designed becomes the central question. It is obvious that different stake holders in the development programs would define these criteria differently and some consensus is necessary to synergise efforts of different actors. Even if some consensus is achieved on the criteria of sustainability, the divergence in perspectives of various stakeholders about the indicators of sustainability is bound to remain. If the degree of divergence is too wide, the programme resources will be pulled in different directions and sustainability is unlikely. If divergence is too little, the scope for creativity and innovation will be very limited. The challenge therefore is to develop capacity among development planners to (a ) identify key criteria and indicators of sustainability from socio-economic, environmental and gender perspectives, (b) use various methodologies to identify stake holder perspectives and the divergence in perceptions, (c ) to provide a platform for articulation of and negotiation around divergent perspectives to generate creative and innovative models, and (d) to empower local communities and creative individuals to monitor and control the external interventions so that these blend with local ecological ethics, values and communitarian spirit. The conflict around natural resources has intensified with the increase in scarcity of natural resources, decline of common property institutions, indifference towards local knowledge and greater appropriation of local spaces for articulation and negotiation by state and market. The conventional literature on participatory resource management and rural development has stressed the need for invoking people’s involvement in plans and programs designed by outsiders. It is seldom that the reverse happens, that is, the outsiders participating in the vision and perspectives evolved by people on their own through local dialectics and historical dynamics. Justification for the workshop: Turning the tide: Ten challenges before rural development planners, managers and policy makers. The challenges emerging from a knowledge intensive approach to rural development rest on a basic premise. The poor people lack material resources but not the knowledge resource. Development policies can be successful in bringing about a paradigmatic shift only when they build upon the resource in which poor people are rich, that is, their knowledge. 1) How to ensure that people struggling with similar problems in different parts of the world get to know the solutions developed by creative and innovative individuals in other parts . 2) How to link excellence in formal and informal science so that value can be added to the innovations leading to conservation of resources and strengthening of livelihood support systems and options. 3) How to mould public policies for credit, infrastructure, education and other areas so that the little innovations can be scaled up and become self-sustaining enterprises. 4) How to make niche markets accessible for the decentralized production and consumption by communities in different parts of the world for organic products, craft and other farm and non-farm products. How to provide support for market research, consumer surveys, database development and brokerage function linking innovations, institutions, enterprises and investments. 5) How to build upon and augment the concern and empathy that the poor people have in larger measure for the non-human sentient beings and other parts of nature. 6) How to generate or build upon self designed institutional innovations which make it possible for people to take control of the resources for sustainable livelihoods. 7) How to transform learning systems, strategies and processes in public, private and voluntary institutions at national and international level so that civil society initiatives and potential for sustainable rural development is harnessed appropriately. 8) How to institutionalise multi level, multi media and multi node knowledge networks so that criteria and indicators of sustainability are exchanged, modified and blended through people to people learning. These networks should also enable generation of countervailing power of informal knowledge systems so that discourse among different knowledge systems and actors is not dominated by stronger, more organized and articulate actors. 9) How to enable civil society in taking responsibility for shaping values and generating accountability for a fair and equitable resource management situation overcoming poverty and degradation. 10) How to mobilize and sensitize youth in or out of education system to recognize the nature of embedded injustice in various existing institutions so that non-violent Gandhian ways can emerge for correcting injustice. The proposed training workshop would try to address these challenges through innovative approaches to technological, institutional, social and ethical change. The objectives of the workshop; a) To build capacity among senior experts, administrators, scholars and community leaders in identifying and operationalizing the criteria and indicators of sustainability of natural resource based rural development programs and policies. b) To facilitate the dialogue among different stake holders to create sensitivity for building bridges between formal and informal knowledge systems, technologies, institutions and socio- cultural arrangements for accessing and utilizing resources . c) To synthesize available state of art knowledge on the subject so that rural development policies and programs in central and south Asian regions are strengthened and made sustainable despite the constraints of structural adjustments and declining public investments. d) To recognize the need for scouting, value adding, experimenting and disseminating local innovation and evolve a tool book of different methodologies and perspectives which are ethically sound and professionally accountable towards the creative people protecting inter alia their knowledge and resource rights. Pedagogy: The training workshop will involve presentations by experts and selected participants, group discussions, role plays, field visits and informal dialogues. Emphasis will be on lateral learning and participants will be encouraged to create a knowledge market and display models, posters, films and various other media to exemplify the innovative approaches, indicators and institutional lessons. Venue and Date: The workshop will be held at Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre, Indian Institute of Management Campus, Ahmedabad during March 11-13, 1999. Profile of participants: Thirty development management experts, community and NGO representatives, policy makers, scholars and rural development managers drawn from the following eleven countries in south and central Asia will be selected/invited for participation : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. About twenty participants will be invited from India and the rest will be invited from the other regional countries. The cost of the sponsored participants from central and south Asia and invited experts and scholars from India will be met by UNESCO through IIMA . Paid Participants: There is a special provision being made for the participation of about ten additional participants on payment basis at the rate of US $500 per participant for candidates from outside India and Rs. 7000/- for applicants from India. These candidates could be from national or international donor agencies, corporate sectors involved in rural development, defence and other public systems involved in rural development. Nature of presentation by the regional country participants: Each participant will bring a review of criteria and indicators of sustainability being used in national or sub-national natural resource based development programs implemented by local communities, NGOs, private sector and the state. The emphasis will be on innovative approaches to using indicators for monitoring and redesigning rural development programmes, and ensuring that the development process is on a sustainable path. It will also be useful to bring a separate review of natural resources and rural development policies, experience with their implementation and challenges being faced in enabling local communities take control of resources, institutions and monitoring and control systems through effective and operational indicators. Selected participants will be required to send us two full length papers as suggested above by December 15, 1998 so that these can be circulated among experts and other discussants. These papers will also form the background material for the workshop. Nominations: Candidates may submit applications to UNESCO National Commission in respective south and central Asian countries. Two or three candidates along with duly filled in application form and a synopsis of the two papers will be expected from each country office. The synopsis should be three to five pages in length and should describe the structure of the paper, case study or survey results being used, an illustrative list of criteria and indicators of sustainability with some examples of the experience in using these indicators. Preference will be given to women candidates and those working in marginal environments. The potential candidates must submit applications with all the information, copy of their CV, a sample of any published work or report on the subject along with the synopsis of two papers by September 15, 1998 to UNESCO New Delhi through their country office with a copy to workshop co-ordinator at IIMA. The selected sponsored candidates will be provided an economy class return air ticket, free lodging and boarding at IIMA and assistance in local travel in Ahmedabad to and from the airport. Indian candidates will be selected by the workshop faculty team at Centre for Management in Agriculture at IIMA. Information and assistance: Any additional information about the workshop, preparation of synopsis or full paper or logistics may be obtained from the following: . Prof. Moegiadi Director UNESCO, 8 Poorvi Marg Vasant Vihar New Delhi 110057 Cable Address; UNESCO. New Delhi Telephone Nos. 6147310, 6146308, 6146285, 6146588. Fax : (91-11) 6143351, 6142714 E-mail : UNSECO.newdelhi@UNESCO.ORG Prof. Anil K. Gupta (Workshop Co-ordinator) Centre for Management in Agriculture Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad - 380015 Gram: INDINMAN. Telex: 121-6351 IIMA IN Fax : 91-79-6427896 Phone : 407241 (O) Email : anilg@iimahd.ernet.in HTTP - //WWW.iimahd.ernet.in/-anilg/unesco Ahmedabad Ahmedabad is a major commercial city on the Sabarmati river, 500 km north of Bombay and 900 km south-west of Delhi. Ahmedabad is named after Sultan Ahmed Shah who founded it in 1411 during the reign of the great moghuls. .. How to Get to Ahmedabad The city is well connected by air rail to all major cities in India. It is also connected to Kuwait, Sharjah, Muscat, London, and New York through direct international flights. There are daily flights between Bombay and Ahmedabad and between Delhi and Ahmedabad operated by Indian Airlines and Jet Airways. About IIMA Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), was set up by the Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Gujarat and Indian industry as an autonomous institution in 1961. The Institute provides education, training, consulting, and research facilities in management. The institute conducts the following major programmes: 1 Two-Year Post-Graduate Programme in Management (equivalent to MBA). 1 Fellow Programme in Management (equivalent to Ph.D). 1 Management Development Programmes (MDPs) in both general management and functional areas for industry, business, agricultural and rural sectors, and public systems covering education, health transport, and population. In the last 34 years, 27,584 managers have participated in various MDPs. 1 Faculty Development Programme for teachers in universities and colleges. The Institute has about 75 faculty members working in the following areas and sectors: business policy, economics, entrepreneurship, finance and accounting, Industrial policy management, computer and information systems, international management, marketing, organizational behaviour, personnel and industrial relations, production and quantitative methods, management in agriculture, and public systems. Kasturbhai Lalbhai Management Development Centre (KLMDC) provides an academic and learning environment for participants of the management development programmes. Its location on the campus encourages and facilitates interaction between participants and the faculty. Participants can also take advantage of the Institute’s library and computer facilities. Accommodation is provided in 64 air-conditioned furnished double rooms. About the Centre for Management in Agriculture The Centre for Management in Agriculture (CMA) is an interdisciplinary group within the Institute, which was initiated in 1963 and was designated as a Centre in 1971. The Centre has 13 primary and eight secondary faculty members. It is involved in applied, policy, and problem-solving research for the agriculture, rural, and allied sectors. Much of this relevant to organizations dealing with inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, protective chemicals, pumping and power equipment, and credit for investment and working capital, as well as to organizations procuring, processing and marketing outputs such as grains, oilseeds, cotton, fruits, vegetables, animal products, fish and poultry, and forest produce. The Centre’s faculty have carried out extensive research in development planning, policy, administration, and rural development. A large number of research projects are done for the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. CMA also provides sponsored research and consultancy help to private, public, cooperative, and voluntary organizations. CMA offers the Specialization Package in Agriculture (SPA) within the Post-Graduate Programme in Management most of whose participants become middle level managers in agri-business and other rural organizations. CMA also conducts a Fellow Programme in Management with specialization in agriculture, which is a Ph. D. Level programme in management. In addition, CMA conducts several short duration management development programmes which are relevant to organizations involved with the agriculture, rural, and allied sectors. .