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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Partnership and Intercultural Co-operation in the Context of Education Sector in Zambia
| Panel |
18. Education and Social change in Eastern and Southern Africa
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| Paper ID | 417 |
| Author(s) |
Alasuutari, Hanna Katriina
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | Development co-operation or development aid has long traditions worldwide, and there have been many stages and processes in its development (see e.g. Browne,1997; Nederveen Pieterse,2001). Especially the critic of modernisation theory and the emergence of alternative approaches in development discourse have caused changes in the approaches and terminology, e.g. the change from aid to co-operation. When the goal is co-operation, one should take principles of partnership as well as ownership into account. The goal of this research is to find out what forms partnership and ownership should take to make development co-operation more effective and beneficial from the stakeholder’s point of view. The aim is also to investigate what are the successful means and conditions for following the principles of partnership particularly on individual but also on institutional levels.
This research argues that intercultural sensitivity, partnership and equal dialogue are essential if aiming towards sustainable development work. In principle these phenomena are emphasised when looking at the area of development co-operation; however, the terms like partnership and ownership are often mentioned but seldom analysed or defined further (e.g. Brinkerhoff 2002, Baaz 2002). This research aims at highlighting the practical, cultural, political and ideological challenges that people working in the area of development co-operation in intercultural work community face. The aim of the study is to concentrate on partnership and ownership, which require both professional and personal intercultural orientation, competencies and dialogue and often also changes in the support structures.
Intercultural dialogue and partnership are considered as special challenges in development co-operation activities, because it has several characteristics and legacies which make it rather asymmetric by its tradition and nature for example colonialistic past and unequal financial relationship (e.g. Brinkerhoff 2002, Takala & Marobe 2003, Volan 2003, Evaluation of Finnish Education Sector Development Co-operation 2004).
The purpose of the study is to find out what kind of challenges intercultural co-operation in the Zambian education sector raises and how these challenges can be responded to. More specifically, the aim of the research is to find out what forms partnership and ownership require in this process in Zambia. The research analyses the possibilities, practices and barriers that search for equal partnership brings. It concentrates on the manifestations, meanings and conditions of partnership that people working in co-operation express.
In this qualitative research the methodological approaches are derived from the areas of ethnography and phenomenology (see e.g. Gould & Marcussen 2004; Perttula & Latomaa 2005). |
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