NEWS:

1 Sep, 2016


Participants during the launch
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University in Australia recently launched a book titled “Rethinking Development through Study Tours-Interpreting the Field and Negotiating Different Viewpoints”.

Speaking during the launch of the book at Capital hotel recently , Chairperson of LUANAR Council, Professor James Seyani hailed a group of members of staff and students from the two institutions for coming up with the book saying the interface between them had been critical in unpacking development from different viewpoints.

“This interface has also provided a rich reflection on how development ideas are framed, narrated and reproduced thereby enriching scholars and practitioners on how development should or should not be done,” he said.

He said the process through which the book had been developed demonstrates that understanding of development cannot be left to one discipline, one culture, one field or one region saying it requires different viewpoints from multiple sources, including especially the local people themselves through whom any meaningful development has to be undertaken.

“Collaboration, interdisciplinary and engagement with society are three themes that permeate this book,” he said.

Professor Seyani further commended the dimension about the book, which is about the much needed capacity for universities to write about development.

“We need this capacity so that development can be guided by ideas that are relevant and local to the situation. It is widely appreciated that most of the times development is informed by ideas coming from outside and in most cases these have been irrelevant and inappropriate,” he said.

One of the Book Authors, Dr Daimon Kambewa, said the book intend to inform the wider society, community, development practitioners, academicians and all scholars about what development is all about; using people’s experiences on how development is being informed, shaped and how it is supposed to be implemented so that transformation can be achieved.

“Sometimes we are not developing or we are developing but there are other crucial things that we believe are so important for us to understand if development is to take place,” he said.

He urged development practitioners to pay attention to what the locals are doing saying people respond differently.

“The book is trying to advocate for understanding on people’s experiences about development hence any idea that one has as on how development should be done, should always be in-line with the way people live because there is a disconnect between development ideas and what people are doing on the ground,” he said.

The book was published by Montfort Media while Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change (CABMACC) supported the printing and RMIT supported the study tour for students.