Collaborative Learning in Practice

ISBN 978-81-7596-712-0
e-ISBN 978-1-55250-472-7

Drawing on research and practical experiences from China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, this book presents and analyzes novel approaches to collaborative learning and communities of practice. Case studies show how, through joint efforts with researchers and other actors, local communities address and learn from challenges in managing natural resources. They demonstrate the merits of learning strategies that use a variety of methods, that are grounded in the local context, that involve facilitators, that are monitored from the outset, and where there is a strong environment of collaboration and dynamic process management. The book shows that learning strategies that are both innovative and collaborative can lead to sounder rural development.

Collaborative Learning in Practice will be of interest to academics, researchers, and postgraduate students in development studies; practitioners and development professionals, particularly in the fields of capacity building and participatory action methodologies; as well as program managers and decision-makers in donor organizations and development agencies worldwide.

THE EDITOR
Ronnie Vernooy is a senior program specialist at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Canada, and adjunct professor at the College of Humanities and Development of China Agricultural University in Beijing. His recent publications include Learning from the Field: Innovating China’s Higher Education System (Foundation Books/IDRC 2008) and Social and Gender Analysis in Natural Resource Management: Learning Studies and Lessons from Asia (Sage/IDRC 2006).