International Development: Global issues, Power & Players

This course provides an overview and introduction to global issues, power and players at the heart of international development. As an overview to the macro features, challenges and practices of the
humanitarian aid and assistance wor1d, the course helps students build a platform for understanding the field's numerous dimensions and complexity. History, worldviews, approaches and actors are
explored across the international development spectrum, as are the patterns and lenses of several Christian perspectives. Understanding is built around the nature and dynamics of poverty and power, and their relationships to the spectrum of development approaches and practices, along with the roles of international agencies, governments, and civil society players in working with the marginalized and
vulnerable. Students engage in the sectoral, technical and thematic challenges faced by development organizations in a range of settings.
Key features of the course include focus on:
- Overview of the development studies world and research methods
- Worldviews, meanings and values in international development
- Understanding development history
- The Millenmum Development Goals
- The state of human development: UNDP HDR, World Bank Development Report
- Poverty and development -definitions, causes, alternative models, biblical perspectives
- Adult Learning Approaches: Pedagogy & Development
- Understanding the development spectrum: theories and practices
- Global, State and Private Actors
- Multilateral actors: UN Conventions, CRC, IFis-SAPs, debt
- Civil Society: Grassroots and Local Development
- Mainstream, alternative and grassroots definitions and solutions
- Development that transforms: holistic approaches, the place of spirituality