Knowing Development – Developing Knowledge?

“Knowing Development – Developing Knowledge?” is the theme for the 2nd Nordic Conference for Development Research, to be held in Helsinki, Finland, 14-15 November 2013.

The role of knowledge production in and for development has been under increasing scrutiny. The questions such as “does development aid really work?” or “is there value for the money?” are continuously posed by donors as well as politicians and the general public.Pressures for showing results, outcomes and impacts have grown under the trends such as result-based management and evidence-based decision making.

The conference provides a platform for researchers, government representatives and NGO-practitioners to address the dilemmas of knowledge production in and for development. The conference aims at dialogue between different methodologies and discussion of their potentialities and limitations in addressing the riddles of intended change which is at the heart of development practice. Keynote speakers of the conference are Director Ritva Reinikka from the World Bank, and Professor David Mosse from SOAS, University of London.

Proposals for working groups are now invited, organised around topics such as different forms and methodologies of evaluation and impact assessment, the role of knowledge production in particular cases, the theoretical reflections on the nature of knowledge in development, and ethnographic investigation of knowledge practices, knowledge-power nexuses and the variety of knowledge in different contexts. Deadline for working group proposals is 1 February 2013.

For more information on requirements and dates, see conference site.