http://hdl.handle.net/10179/948 2018-01-23T17:16:47Z 2018-01-23T17:16:47Z Prinsen, Gerard Purcell, Gisela http://hdl.handle.net/10179/4950 2015-11-05T21:12:41Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

Measuring, defining, and valuing change: A database on development indicators for policy-makers, activists, and researchers Prinsen, Gerard; Purcell, Gisela The use of indicators in international development has increased exponentially since the 1990s. Composite and proxy indicators are used to measure a wide range of concepts but their shortcomings have been widely critiqued. Through a review of over 300 documents, this paper gives a brief history of the rise of “indicatorology” and then summarizes the key challenges in three categories: technical/operational, political/strategic and epistemological/conceptual. Technical challenges faced by development practitioners revolve around the over-simplification of complex issues and the conflation of the goals with indicators. Political challenges involve the inherent power of indicators and the implications they have for policy making. Epistemological challenges question how to balance scientific rigor with local knowledge in the creation and use of indicators. A database of all publications used in this research is being made accessible to development practitioners and researchers via Massey University – watch this space!

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Wild, Kirsty Scheyvens, Regina http://hdl.handle.net/10179/3954 2012-10-19T13:00:34Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Aid, education and adventure: Thai women’s participation in a development scholarship scheme. Wild, Kirsty; Scheyvens, Regina Development scholarships – endowments that provide individuals from so-called ‘developing’ nations with opportunities to undertake tertiary training abroad – are an historically important, yet increasingly contested, form of educational aid. However, meaningful debates about the value of this type of aid are limited by a lack of research about the impact that it has. The experience of female development scholars is a particularly neglected area of research. This article provides a qualitative exploration of the experiences of twelve Thai women who have completed a postgraduate degree through a scholarship scheme funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID). This research highlights a number of benefits associated with these schemes, including greater emotional autonomy, increased cross-cultural knowledge, new professional networks, new work skills, and improved English-language competency. Negative outcomes identified include career disruption, new unwanted work responsibilities, and dissatisfaction with aspects of life in their country of origin.

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Farrelly, Trisia Angela http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1473 2012-07-28T21:38:41Z 2010-07-20T04:26:13Z

Imagining 'environment' in sustainable development Farrelly, Trisia Angela The paper presents an argument for a broader and more complex definition of environment than that currently offered in sustainable development discourse and practice. Sustainable development is rooted in dominant western rational and instrumental scientific representations of human-environment relationships. As such, it has been criticised as misrepresentative and meaningless for many of those for whom it is intended. Recent contributions by social scientists have emphasized the need to move beyond the narrow construction of the human-environment dichotomy found in western scientific rhetoric. These emerging ‘new ecologies’ advocate a re-imagining of human-environment relationships as holistic, connective, and relational, and as a product of direct perception and active engagement in the world. The Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji, a community-based ecotourism initiative is presented as a case study to identify discrepancies between indigenous perceptions of the environment and those of formally educated western development practitioners, as well as the potential for ongoing convergence.

2010-07-20T04:26:13Z Stewart-Withers, Rochelle Brook, Martin http://hdl.handle.net/10179/1070 2012-07-28T20:44:50Z 2009-10-16T03:39:31Z

Sport as a vehicle for development: The influence of rugby league in/on the Pacific. Stewart-Withers, Rochelle; Brook, Martin In the field of development the relationship between development and sport has for the most part been ignored (Beacom 2007, Levermore 2008). When it has been discussed it occurs in a way whereby ‘sport is seen as a by-product of development not as an engine’ (United Nations 2006 cited in Levermore 2008:184). While conceptualisations of the sport and development relationship have begun to emerge, as noted in recent United Nations documents (also see AusAid 2008), an argument persists that the use of sport for development remains unproven (World Bank 2006). In keeping with post-development thinking which seeks to explore differing visions and expressions of development and by taking a strengths-based approach to the sport and development nexus, this paper considers critically the notion of sport as an engine of development. We will focus specifically on the role of rugby league, the NRL, and the Pacific region in relation to community development, youth development and crime prevention, health promotion and prevention, in particular HIV/AIDS and family violence, and economic opportunities and poverty alleviation.

2009-10-16T03:39:31Z