social capital

Community knowledge + mobile phones = evidence for policy response

5 Comments / data innovation, decentralisation, democracy, development, digital technology, evidence-informed policy, governance, management, media, policy, project, social capital /

This morning I jumped on the TransJakarta bus N 1 and travelled to Central Jakarta to the modern and cozy office of PulseLab. JonneCatshoek of Elva.org was presenting about digital citizen engagement strategies for making programmes more effective and accountable. Jonne has been working for the last few years in Georgia and his presentation was about his […]

Community knowledge + mobile phones = evidence for policy response Read More »

On the shore of a Finnish lake and the gap between researchers and policy makers

2 Comments / evidence-informed policy, research, Scandinavia, social capital /

Finland is a country of lakes. There are 187,888 of them but the exhibition (On the Shore of the Lake Tuusula Artist Community) I visited with my daughter during the holidays at the Ateneum Art Museum in Helsinki was about one of them: Lake Tuusula. Why Lake Tuusula? Because at Lake Tuusula, which is 40km

On the shore of a Finnish lake and the gap between researchers and policy makers Read More »

Just published – Social capital in Cambodia

Leave a Comment / governance, my publications, research, social capital /

I just published this book written in collaboration with Cambodian colleagues at the Learning Institute in Phnom Penh. Here is the title and abstract. Engaging for the Environment. The Contribution of Social Capital to Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Cambodia Development is not a straight input-output-outcome-impact path, but is more random than that. In this

Just published – Social capital in Cambodia Read More »

The self-help tradition in the pagodas of Cambodia

Leave a Comment / buddhism, social capital /

  A common feature of community development projects is to set up new self help groups to run community development initiatives.  This approach often disregards the existence of groups and associations that have been traditionally active as the story of the pagoda of Botum tells us. The village of Botum Lech is located in the

The self-help tradition in the pagodas of Cambodia Read More »

Just published – Buddhist Aid

Leave a Comment / buddhism, decentralisation, social capital /

Arnaldo just published a short article on  the role of Buddhist pagodas in dealing with poverty in Cambodia in the development magazine Just Change published in New Zealand. Buddhist aid: Pagodas reducing poverty in Cambodia This article tells the story of the Pagoda Association of Botum, a pagoda that has survived a devastating totalitarian regime

Just published – Buddhist Aid Read More »

Just published – The Complexity of Decentralisation Reforms

1 Comment / complexity, decentralisation, education, social capital /

The Complexity of Decentralisation Reforms (Paperback) by Arnaldo Pellini This book analyses the characteristics of community participation in Cambodian rural schools. It looks at the spaces for participation created by the decentralisation reforms that the government of Cambodia has undertaken in the education sector through two main policies: school clustering and Priority Action Programme. While

Just published – The Complexity of Decentralisation Reforms Read More »