ES380 - 21st Century Global Challenges

Final meetings – please sign up

Jonathan Isham — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:26:15 +0000

Please sign up for a final meeting time to review your paper – first come, first serve (using the comments section) though I ask that the Wednesday slots are reserved for those who are urgent to get feedback and advice..

Wednesday afternoon (3 slots)

2:00; 2:20; 2:40

Friday morning (8 slots)

9:20, 9:40, 10:00; 10:20; 10:40; 11:00; 11:20; 11:40

Tuesday’s class – research paper workshop

Jonathan Isham — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:47:15 +0000

I look forward to Tuesday’s class, in which we will be working with each other on research papers. As mentioned in class on Thursday, please use the comments section here to (a) briefly summarize your research question(s); and (b) identify the big challenges you still face in order to have a top-notch paper. Then – say by the end of tonight if we can – let’s have you all match up and then share your drafts with each other. This is probably most easily done in couplets (a shares with b, b shares with a); it could also be done in triplets (a shares with b; b shares with c; c shares with a). In true Development 3.0 fashion, there is no ’solution’ as to how to do this; let’s see what happens … In the meantime, come by my office tomorrow afternoon if you want to go over anything. JTI

Final topics

Jonathan Isham — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:43:26 +0000

First, thanks for all of the hard work that you put into your drafts. I look forward to reading them.

Second, we have just five more meetings! During the first of them – next Tuesday the 18th - I’d like to study and discuss the issue that Kate raised the other day: new global-level institutions that have developed, in recent years, to take on large-scale challenges. To address this, we will study Lew Milford’s excellent Climate Choreography: How Distribution and Open Innovation Could Accelerate Development and Deployment And please also do a tour of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis website, as it’s an important precedent for Lew’s vision.

Finally, what else do you want to study and discuss together? I want you all to shape what we discuss in our final meetings: I will tailor the reaing assignments based on what you prioritiize. please use the comments section here to propose final topics and readings …

Next week

Jonathan Isham — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:30:31 +0000

So as discussed in class, here’s what will happen next week.

For Tuesday, each of you will prepare three PowerPoint slides about a new (to the rest of the class) social entrepreneur that you have researched — doing work related to your topic — and whose experience can teach us something about social entrepreneurship and ‘Development 3.0′ that we don’t already know. During Tuesday’s class, each of you will have five minutes (including brief questions from the rest of us) to present your slides. (And please send them to me via email: I will place them all in a common folder)
On Thursday at 8:00 AM, I will send you the 24 hour take-home. You will have until Friday at 8:00 AM to send your exam to me. And as mentioned, the research that you do for Tuesday will help you to write a great exam on Thursday!

Please let me know if you have any questions, etc. JTI

Hawken and Bornstein

Jonathan Isham — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:24:35 +0000

I think we need to do a better job in drawing out the themes and implications of Hawken’s provocative Blessed Unrest. Here’s what I propose: as we read and discuss the material in Bornstein’s How to Change the World, let’s make a deliberate effort to connect the material there with material in Hawken’s book. Please use this space to share your ideas on this, prior to Tuesday’s class. And be specific as you analyze and critique the themes that the books have in common.

Meeting times – PLEASE SIGN UP

Jonathan Isham — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:26:52 +0000

I look forward to meeting you all over the next few days, to review next steps for your research. Here are our meeting times: please use the comments section to sign up for one.

Friday (6 slots)

3:20; 3:40; 4:00; 4:20; 4:40; 5:00

Monday (5 slots)

2:20; 2:40; 4:00; 4:20; 4:40.

Finding the right balance between planning and searching

Jonathan Isham — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:18:08 +0000

That was an excellent class today! Many thanks for all of your contributions .. And we ended with the good discussion about ‘thinking like a clinician’ vs. ‘thinking like an ecologist.’ So what do you think?: if you ran an agency trying to promote sustainable development, would you appoint more clinicians or ecologists as planners; more clinicians or ecologists as searchers? Share your thoughts!

And here’s another query for you: in the area and sector that you are studying, how do you find the right balance between planning and searching? Moreover, how can you set up a process to improve well-being that (following Woolcock’s talk) has the promise of scale, is sensitive to the cultural context, and helps to manage conflict? Again, please share your thoughts : )

(And as noted, here’s a nice blog that summarizes Easterly’s ideas of planning and searching.)

Supporting information: diagnosing the problem of ‘solutions’

Jonathan Isham — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:34:17 +0000

Resources on microfinance:

What is microfinance: http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.1302
An open-source approach to microfinance: http://www.kiva.org/
Global giving: http://www.globalgiving.com/

The Green Revolution (NB, all you folks studying food …)

Green Revolution: curse or blessing

Larry Brilliant

On Larry Brilliant and his social entrepreneurship

On the pace and scale of social change

Bury the Chains

Critiques from anthropologists and political scientists

Michael’s work in Indonesia

http://www1.worldbank.org/devoutreach/september05/article.asp?id=341

Do leading policy makers ‘think like ecologists?’

Jonathan Isham — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:09:59 +0000

I thought we had a very good discussion on Thursday. And Alex sent me an email , which I have reprinted here in full. Please comment on this excellent point that Alex has made … (and note how ot relates to our discussion of your own training here at Midd …)

Professor Isham

I was just thinking on the way out of class about the point that policy makers/designers should think like an ecologist; this made me consider what disciplines and professions have been most involved with the development process and it immediately struck me that the wrong people are in it. Consider this list

Politicians

Businessmen/Capitalists

Lawyers

Doctors

Journalists

Architects

Pyschologists

Teachers

Ecologists

Biologists

Chemists

Obviously, each of these professions plays a different part, but the thing that stood out to me is that the first two, which I bolded, are probably the least equipped to help build sustainable community, and would be least in tune with Metis, and unfortunately probably have the largest stake at present. Even though Bill Gates’ intentions seem pure, think of what his training is and what his skills are… global domination of the software market, or Bill Clinton as we also mentioned (political manuevering).

-Alex

The essence of Three Cups of Tea

Jonathan Isham — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:32:58 +0000

What is the importance of the material in Three Cups of Tea for our class? How can the rest of the world — other social entrepreneurs, elected officials, leaders of NGOs and transnational organizations — learn from Mortenson’s experience in Pakistan? Please use the comments section to offer your ideas: I will make sure that we integrate them into Tuesday’s discussion.