Partnerships
Capacity building: AIT and ISS have jointly conducted a variety of activities, including a regional curriculum workshop in 1995, a Refresher Course for ISS Alumni on Gender and Human Development in 1996. ISS staff have contributed to several regional workshops organized by AIT on several themes including gender and technology, and a workshop on gender mainstreaming of project in forest-based communities in Asia. On addition, ISS also contributed to The Journal Gender, Technology and Development published by Sage, launched in 1997 by AIT. Forms of contribution are varied. For example, an ISS staff member participates in advisory board of the journal. Several quality papers written by several ISS staff and MA graduates have been published in the journal. As a continuing effort, ISS staff takes on the identification of quality articles from ISS student body (Ph.D. and MA) as well as staff that address issues of gender and technology in the context of development, and the promotion of the journal where appropriate.
Collaborative research: The research themes have included Gender and Asian crisis; Gender Mainstreaming in Asia; Changing gender relations and forest-based communities in Asia; Transition of kinship systems: implications on gender relations and equality New forms of collaboration: Currently, the EU-AIT exchange program can be a venue through which collaboration at Ph.D. level can take place between the two institutions. This exchange programme is limited to EU nationals who want to come to AIT, and AIT students who want to come to EU countries. ISS can play a role in promoting CERES Ph.D. candidates, and can receive AIT students as auditors (MA and Ph.D.). New research themes that involves staff collaboration are also being explored, particularly around the interface between technology, planning and management and how environmental and socioeconomic consideration are implicated.
The EGAL Project In September 1999 SAIL (Stichting Samenwerkingsverband IO-instellingen & LUW) approved EGAL Equity, Globalisation, Adjustment and Local Economic Development, a 4-years international education project prepared by ISS and FLACSO-Costa Rica in cooperation with the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) in Rotterdam. The geographical area covered by the project is the Central American region, and the subject matter to be taught is local economic development in the context of decentralisation, adjustment and globalisation. The immediate objective of the project is to design and implement postgraduate programmes on Local Economic Development in the context of adjustment and globalisation. The training that will be offered will consist of two diploma programmes. One will provide participants with training in social science research within a context of LED. The other, a taught course, will train participants in policy analysis and formulation for LED. The programmes will run in parallel and will share teaching materials and case studies. Three cycles of each programme are envisaged during the project period. The first will start in the summer of 2000.
Novosibirsk State Academy of Economics and Management Novosibirsk is the capital of Siberian federal okrug, which unites 16 Russian regions. The city is an important transport and trade hub of Russia. At the same time it is beset by problems that reduce the urban quality of Novosibirsk and negatively influence the everyday life of its citizens, such as poor infrastructure and services, technical as well a social and cultural. A specific set of present problems of Novosibirsk is caused by general features of a transitional period in which old methods of urban administration are no longer viable and effective, while new ones have yet to be introduced. The problems are aggravated by the large and sparsely populated city territory, a run-down infrastructure, and lack of coordination between the planning and administrative branches of government. There is still a top-down and departmental type of city administration and decision-making regime, which is not flexible and sensitive to social innovation and has no tradition of balancing the interests of different social groups. Parallel to the vertical administration there is a process of monopoly building and concentration of power and information in some particular hands. Graft and corruption are logical consequences of such type of the governance.
The project 'Innovative Methods of Urban Governance' The project stared in December 2001, will last for 27 months and is financed by the Netherlands Government through its MATRA programme. It is the first ISS does in Russia and the largest so far in any the countries of transition. We are attempting to strengthen the capacity of urban governance in Novosibirsk and other Siberian cities by introducing new methods of urban management within an enabling framework. This implies a redefinition of the role of the city administration, and active participation of the private sector, citizens' organizations and the media in urban management processes. The project entails elaboration and implementation of a teaching and training curriculum at the NSAE&M and other academic institutions in the Siberian region. A core group of trainers will be trained, while practitioners courses are to be given, and new teaching methods and materials are developed in an interactive way with academic institutions, public agencies of urban governance and civic organizations. The main target of this Curriculum Development is to familiarize the involved actors with new tasks, responsibilities, styles of governance and innovative forms of cooperation and consultation. The combination of international experience and expertise, and knowledge about Russian conditions will lead to innovative tools and technologies of urban management, including improved communication, cooperation and partnerships. We also expect it to be the basis of original research and joint publications.
