Project Coordinator: Samia AL-BOTMEH, M.A.
Coordinating Institution: Birzeit University
Partner Institution: University of Vienna (Dr. Petra DANNECKER)
Partner Country: Palestinian Territories
Project Duration: 1 August 2011 - 31 July 2014
Abstract:
The project aims to establish an academic partnership between the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) at Birzeit University in Palestine and the Department of Development Studies (DDS) at the University of Vienna.The basis of this partnership will rest on two main components: (1) capacity building in the area of development studies and research and (2) the enlargement of knowledge on development issues, theories, and practices.First, capacity building will be achieved in development studies, methodologies and research methods relating to development issues through (1) the creation of an MA Development Studies programme at the CDS (and therefore upgrade the CDS from a research centre to a teaching and research institute within the university), (2) the training of a new cadre of fieldworkers for the CDS by experienced fieldworkers, and (3) the development of a handbook on research methods based on CDS fieldworkers‟ reflections and discussions and their experiences concerning the bridging of research theory and practice.Second, the enlargement of knowledge on development issues in the South generally and Palestine specifically will be achieved through the creation of a research cluster on Conflict and Development (CD) at the DDS. Both components of the cooperation, enlargement of knowledge on development issues as well as capacity building, will be combined systematically in two ways: through (1) an exchange programme between Birzeit academics, CDS fieldworkers and DDS faculty members and students in Birzeit and Vienna and through (2) the introduction of the handbook on research methods into the syllabus of the development studies programmes at the CDS and the DDS.