Conference: Religion, Livelihoods, Social Movements and Communities

CONFERENCE: RELIGION, LIVELIHOODS, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

17th - 19th MARCH 2010

GRENAA, DENMARK

Workshops on Religion, Communities and Social Change; Community Organisations, Livelihoods and Social Change; Livelihood, Food and Nutrition; and Community Entrepreneurs and Local Economic Development (for further information on the individual workshops, see below)

For further information and registration, contact the Association of Development Researchers in Denmark (Foreningen af Udviklingsforskere, FAU)
c/o DIIS, Strandgade 56, 1401 Kbh. K
Phone: +45 32 69 86 90 - Fax: + 45 32 69 88 00
E-mail: fau@diis.dk
www.fau.dk

BACKGROUND AND SUBJECT OF THE CONFERENCE:

Since 1990 FAU has hosted an annual conference with the primary aim of making a contribution to contemporary concerns through interdisciplinary debate. Thus it is our hope that also this year the conference will to bring together Danish, Nordic and International researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds with development practitioners (from donor agencies, consultancies and NGOs) and advanced students in order to present and discuss important contemporary issues within Danish and international development research and shed light on important processes of development.

The theme of the conference is 'Development that matter? Religion, Livelihoods, Social Movements and Community Development. ' Social change takes place in developing countries as continuous processes in time and space. These changes are the outcome of a combination of (sometimes coming as a result of) state policies and international actors, (but more often as results of) as well as local level dynamics (on local level, between government, civil society and the private sector, and within civil society). The 2010 FAU conference aims to trace the various dynamics at the local level in bringing about social change. We need to understand the roles of different themes and actors (within) particularly within civil society in bringing about social change. The conference theme opens up for multi-facetted discussions of participation (social movements) and state policies seen from different actor's levels: Community based organisations, NGOs, faith-based or interest organisations, social movements, political parties, economic actors, government organisations, international donors etc.

The core themes of the conference lie within analysing the processes in society among different levels of action and understanding the power structures both on different levels and between levels in society. In this perspective social change and development could be regarded as 'demand driven' (from below) instead of driven by policies initiated by government and international (donor) organisations. And it invites to a discussion from many different disciplines and geographical areas -
addressing 'development that matters'. Accordingly, the FAU Conference 2010 finds it pertinent to address the situation at the local level, provide a 'bottom-up' perspective on the important development processes that unfolds among the various actors be it local government, individuals, religious groups, civil society organisations, entrepreneurs and others.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: (further information at the FAU website)

Erica Bornstein is Assistant Professor in Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin , Milwaukee , USA . She has a PhD from the University of California , Irvine . Bornstein has done extensive research in the areas of philanthropy, charity and humanitarianism, development, human rights, NGOs, political anthropology, and religion, and she has fieldwork experience from southern Africa and India . Bornstein is the author of 'The Spirit of Development. Protestant NGOs, Morality and Economics in Zimbabwe .' ( Stanford University Press, 2005), and 'Disquieting Gifts: An Ethnography of Humanitarianism in New Delhi .' (Stanford University Press, forthcoming) .

Frances Beaver is Reader in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London . Her work is centred on three interrelated themes of central importance to the understanding of poverty, with particular application to the local governance of natural resources: Institutions, collective action and participatory natural resource management; Water governance, poverty and wellbeing and the everyday politics of natural resource access and gendered livelihoods. Her latest publications include: 'Rethinking agency, rights and natural resource management.', (2009) Chapter 8 in S. Hickey and D
Mitlin (eds), Rights Based Approaches to Development: Exploring the Potential and Pitfalls', pp 127-144, Sterling , USA , Kumarian Press, and 'Engendering water governance'. Special edition of Gender and Development, (forthcoming march 2010).

Kanchan Lama is Coordinator of WOCAN, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources Management, Kathmandu , Nepal . She has worked on a series of issues regarding livelihoods, gender and nutrition as a researcher, consultant and NGO person. Her innovative work on building a critical mass of rural women change agents within a IFAD/FAO project has succeeded in providing poor rural women rights to land and in institutionalizing gender in forestry and livestock agencies of Nepal 's government. Her recent publications include: 'Livelihood alternatives through empowerment of women.' A case published by IDS Sussex journal, 2008, and 'Gender issues in sustainable Land management.' Thematic paper presented in Workshop organized by UNDP/Department of Forest , Timro Leste, 2008.

Dr. Eginald Mihanjo, senior lecturer at the Department of History, University of Dar es Salaam - presently attached to St. Augustine University of Tanzania. He has a wide background in development research with focus on local ethnic, religious, gender and many other community partner representations. He has taken part in joint research project on indigenous knowledge systems and concomitant technological transformation in non-farm village enterprises. Among his many publications are: 'Grassroots Participation and Development - Lessons from Village Level.' ( Tanzania Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 6, No.1, 2005), and ' Kisi Girls: Assets or Marginalization? The Commodification of Household Production.' (forthcoming) .

Workshop 1: Religion, Communities and Social Change.

For decades, religion was effectively ignored in research on local development, in part due to secularist biases in conceptualising development and essentialist conceptions of religion as inherently conservative and therefore irrelevant to development. But religious organizations, institutions, values, ideas and practices are a very real part of the social world in which social change take place, and as such, their inclusion is an indisputable step towards a broader and more empirically based understanding of processes of local development. The workshop intends to explore, among others, different aspects of the relationship between religion and local development, asking questions as to how, when, where, under what circumstances and in what ways religious institutions, organizations, values, ideas and practices play a role in processes of development and social change.

Convenors: Marie Juul Petersen (Department of Regional and Cross-Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen , UC) and Catrine
Christiansen (Department of Anthropology, UC)

Resource persons: Karen Lauterbach (International Development Studies, Roskilde University ), Holger Bernt Hansen (Centre for African Studies, UC), Rune Hjarnøe (Department of Regional and Cross-Cultural Studies, UC), Uffe Torm (Danish Missionary Project Department), and Louise Nygaard Rasmussen (Centre for African Studies, UC)

Keynote Presenter: Asst. Prof. Erica Bornstein, University of Milwaukee , USA .

Workshop 2: Community Organisations, Livelihoods and Social Change

Local organisations in the shape of community-based organisations are often perceived by donors and governments as both effective and egalitarian media for organising development at the micro-level, particularly as regards access to resources and opportunities. These organisations have been accommodated within the broad, but fuzzy sphere of decentralisation. Local organisations in the shape of social movements, on the other hand, are often opposed to state and local government, as they struggle against state policies.

Regardless of scope and purpose, analysis of local organisations tends to be characterised by the use of notions of 'community', 'cooperation', 'collective action', 'sustainability, 'participation' and 'empowerment'.
But who are the stakeholders at local level, and how are different interests articulated? What about representation - whose interests are represented in community based organisations? How effective are local organisations in terms of livelihood improvement? How democratic are they? Can social processes at the local level exclude the state and administration levels? To what extent do state policies and the surrounding economy influence local processes? This workshop invites papers that address very different topics and processes with the local level as the point of departure.

Convenors: Torsten Rødel Berg ( Aalborg University , AAU) & Vibeke Andersson (AAU)

Resource persons: Søren Hvalkof (Danish Institute for International Studies, DIIS), Ingrid Nyborg (Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences), Helle Munk Ravnborg (DIIS - tbc), Annette Kanstrup-Jensen (AAU), and Mikkel Funder (DIIS)

Keynote Presenter: Frances Beaver, SOAS , UK .



Workshop 3: Livelihood, Food and Nutrition.

A key issue in reducing poverty and seeking to obtaining sustainable livelihood is food. All too many people in particular in rural areas in developing countries experience daily insecurities with regard to daily food supplies. Many attempts to address this have failed in the sense that little change has occurred and presently it is yet highly unsure if the MDGs will be fulfilled. However, addressing food insecurity is not only about increasing the amount of food produced and/or consumed, but also food with the correct nutritional content, as well as food with the nutritional content that can provide a healthy diet for people in different age-groups. Food also has to be culturally acceptable and well tasting. Quantity can't replace quality and preferences. The challenges are related to the many actors involved, whether be the local population, the direct producers, and particularly women who often prepare the food and nurse the children, agricultural extension officers, providers of seeds and inputs, traders, local government, health workers (governmental and NGO).

Convenors: Irene Nørlund ( Metropolitan University College , Copenhagen) and Aase Mygind Madsen (VIA University College , Aarhus )

Resource persons: Kirsten Havemann (UFT, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)), Chhoden Blau (former UNDP Bhutan), and Anders Baltzer Jørgensen (UFT, MFA)

Keynote Presenter: Kanchan Lama, WOCAN, Nepal .

Workshop 4: Community Entrepreneurs and Local Economic Development

With high levels of poverty persisting in many parts of the globe, local economic development has (yet) be able to bring about change in the situation of many poor people and their communities. While models of local economic development is being tried out, lately certain elements like micro credit and micro finance have been highlighted as the magic keys. Often also local or here 'community' entrepreneurs have been viewed as actors who could develop successful enterprises that would bring jobs and income to the communities. While the entrepreneurs do, they are facing different market challenges (lack of input, finance and tough competition - more and more often from international chains). And many questions remain unanswered (individual entrepreneurial capacities versus community (common) efforts, including the role of local government and civil society organisations) , how to instill change in environments that are reluctant to change, and how to secure that local earnings remain at the local level, become (re-)invested and contribute to potential growth.

Convenors: Søren Jeppesen (CBDS, CBS) and Jørgen Dige Pedersen (Aarhus University, AU)

Resource persons: Jens Müller (AAU) and Annette Skovsted Hansen (AU)

Keynote Presenter: Enigald Mihanjo, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.