About
Krijn Peters is a rural development sociologist specialised in post-war reconstruction, international development, transport services and technology.
Krijn Peters is a rural development sociologist specialised in post-war reconstruction, international development, transport services and technology.
The module is where this program ultimately culminates with the final development stages and realisation of a team based project (as defined at the recruitment stage) with individual aspects considered and assessed as a final dissertation submission. The nature of the dissertation will be dependent on the nature of the specialisation of the participant. During the period of this module, a preparatory period will be followed by participants spending (or utilising remote engineering techniques) a period of circa. 3 weeks in-country delivering the project, with support from academic team leads and other supporting staff, stakeholders or collaborators. This will be concluded with a debrief and final dissertation writing period.
The module is where this program culminates with the final development stages and realisation of a team based project with individual aspects considered and assessed as a final dissertation submission. The nature of the dissertation will be dependent on the nature of the specialisation of the participant. During this module, a preparatory period will be followed by participants spending (or utilising remote engineering techniques) a period of circa. 3 weeks in-country delivering the project, with support from academic team leads and other supporting staff, stakeholders or collaborators. This will be concluded with a debrief and final dissertation writing period, a group presentation and an individual viva voce.
We are increasingly moving towards a globalised world. Nevertheless, there are still huge socio-economic and political differences between countries and within countries. A key question for many nations in the Global South is how to achieve inclusive and sustained socio-economic development and reduce poverty. Engineering solutions have and still are considered as essential in achieving this: building roads and bridges or providing water-pumps or electricity are seen as important ways to alleviate a nation and its people out of poverty. But at the same time it is recognized that just providing these solutions is not sufficient: education and training are equally important for development, as is for instance ensuring gender equality. The scholarly discipline of Development Studies has studied this important question of how to develop countries for the last 70 years or so. Over these decades many different models and approaches have been tried, by national governments but also by supra-national bodies such as the World Bank or the IMF as well as by Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society groups, such as Oxfam or Action-Aid. In this module an overview of Development as a planned intervention is provided, and the different development models and approaches are critically assessed. We also look ahead to the Sustainable Development Goals, which have replaced the Millennium Development Goals as the global agenda for development.
Engineering solutions are developed for what is often a highly complex socio-economic and political environment. For engineering solutions to be implemented in the Global South, unfamiliarity with the local culture and practices further adds to this complexity. Many sound solutions and interventions from an engineering perspective have failed to deliver the outcomes, or delivered unintended and non-preferred outcomes, because the engineers were not aware of this context (or choose to ignore it). This module will provide an introduction to the most common pitfalls and how these can be overcome. It then allows the students to get a hands-on experience with the complexity of the context in which their engineering solutions do take place, via an especially designed simulation exercise, making them aware of cultural barriers, conflicting political interests and policies and non-collaborative donor and state institutions.
Engineering solutions are designed to make an impact in the real world, and for many engineering solutions for the developing world this impact is ultimately poverty reduction and enhancing the quality of people's lives. But how and when do we measure the anticipated impact of an intervention. When do we know if something really has worked and made a difference? And will thinking about the impact - and how to measure this - help us to better understand the present or pre-intervention state - the base-line condition. And equally important, once the intervention is under way, how can we ensure that all actors work according to plan and that both contingencies and unexpected developments are detected and dealt with rather than derailing the process. A rigorous and scientific approach to monitoring and evaluation is key to achieve the gold standard in development interventions.
This module is a practical skills-orientated course aimed at enhancing the planning and management capabilities of those already working in development or wishing to become development professionals. An important focus is on skills acquisition, and there is a strong emphasis on student-led learning, planning exercises, individual and group presentations, and case-study work. It is the only module open for non-engineers in the Semester 2 streams. It builds on some of skills acquired in Semester 2 module 'Monitoring & Impact Evaluation" but also introduces a whole set of new tools for international development, aimed to increase the success rate and impact of any development intervention, whether of an engineering nature or social or economic one.
We are increasingly moving towards a globalised world. Nevertheless, there are still huge socio-economic and political differences between countries and within countries. A key question for many nations in the Global South is how to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development and reduce poverty. The scholarly discipline of Development Studies has studied this important question of how to develop countries for the last 70 years or so. Over these decades many different models and approaches have been tried, by national governments, by supra-national bodies such as the World Bank or the IMF as well as by Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society groups, such as Oxfam or Action-Aid. In this module an overview of Development as a planned intervention is provided, and the different development models and approaches are critically assessed. Furthermore, this module offers practical skills and an introduction to development tools, aimed at enhancing the planning and management capabilities of those already working in development or wishing to become development professionals. An important focus is on skills acquisition, and there is a strong emphasis on student-led learning, planning exercises, individual and group presentations, and case-study work.
PO-M96 Development in Practice - the pre-requisite to this module - offered an introduction to international development and to a variety of `tools¿ (methodologies) used within the field of development research and projects aimed at enhancing the planning and management capabilities of those already working in development or wishing to become development professionals. This module ¿ Development in Practice II: Liberia fieldwork - offers the opportunity to put these research and project skills into practice, contributing to an international development intervention focused on improving access for rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. During a three week visit to Liberia, you will have the opportunity to meet international donors, government ministries, local and international Non-Governmental Organisations, and work together with Liberian student counterparts on conducting `action¿ research in deep rural Liberia. After two or three days in the capital Monrovia, meeting with programme stakeholders, we will travel upcountry to Cuttington University, Bong County, which will be our base of operations. From here you have the opportunity to visit the rural access projects and conduct your research/contribute to the development programme. Our research projects focus on `gender mainstreaming¿; `social enterprises¿; `village savings and loans associations¿; `agricultural development¿; `livelihood diversification¿ among others. To ensure your research findings can have a real impact/influence on development practice, and to mimic development practice more generally, you will be required to formulate a Terms of Reference for your research prior to departure and deliver a project report after return from the field trip.
2013 - Present
2012 - Present
2010 - 2013
2010 - 2011
2005 - 2010
2001 - 2005
2000 - 2001