After my more than 3 months in England, replete with my first term at IDS and some quality time with my family, I’m now back at Seva Mandir, Udaipur.
Without losing time I’ve pretty much dived into work, trying to make sense of what I might be able to do now that I’m back. So far this has included talking informally to a number of programme heads, sitting in on a programme meeting, chatting to friends and co-workers, and making a field visit to Delwara (where I was formerly posted). This has already proved interesting and has yielded a wealth of potential entry points for my involvement in processes of collective learning and change. I will be writing more on this soon.
I’ve also submitted my two papers that were due and they are available here.
The first paper (5000 words) is on capacity development. It begins by exploring the concepts of capacity and capacity development through contemporary theoretical debates and then presents a case study based on my own experience in Seva Mandir. It then concludes with some key insights into the practice of capacity development based on this:
1) Understanding and Enhancing Capacity Development: Insights from Theory and Practice
The second paper (2500 words) provides a broad outline of the inquiry that I will be conducting during my time at Seva Mandir. It includes a justification for the inquiry and outlines the particular approach that I am taking – including methods and techniques and the process I will follow for initiating my inquiry in Seva Mandir. The Annex provides a summary of some of the key participatory inquiry/action research methodologies that I intend to use as part of my inquiry.
1) Learning Process and Plan: An Inquiry into the Facilitation of Organisational and Social Learning and Change
2) Learning Process and Plan: Annex
More to follow soon on how my work here is unfolding… it’s getting more exciting by the day!
