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INTERACTIVE LEARNING IN RURAL PARTNERSHIPS. LIGA PAULA IDARI PhD Programme Workshop 10-14 November, 2003, Galway, Ireland. PARTNERSHIP:.
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INTERACTIVE LEARNING IN RURAL PARTNERSHIPS LIGA PAULA IDARI PhD Programme Workshop 10-14 November, 2003, Galway, Ireland
PARTNERSHIP: • is an institutional arrangement in which objectives are shared and a common agenda is developed between the different actors in pursuit of a common goal (Slee, Snowdon) • promotes integration both vertically (between different tiers of government) and horizontally (between different spheres of society) (Benington, Geddes) • is a possibility for collaboration between different stakeholders with potentially competing or conflicting interests (Benington, Geddes)
PARTNERSHIPS & RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN LATVIA • New discourse of public participation in rural development - partnerships as an institutional arrangements that involves local governments, NGOs, individuals, citizen action groups, state and municipal institutions, private sector organizations • Preparing and implementation of local development strategies and projects • Access to significant EU structural funds (e.g. SAPARD) • Reduction of socio-economic problems (e.g. social exclusion, unemployment)
PARTNERSHIPS IN OPERATION: MAIN OBSTACLES • Incomplete communication • Passivity and indifference • Insufficient technical infrastructure • Former experience of co-operation in soviet farms • Weakness of informal horizontal social structures (e.g. low level of social capital, lack of trust) • Lessening of importance of mutual learning
RESEARCH QUESTIONS • What is the role of interactive learning in building social capital in rural partnerships? Is the learning a key factor? How learning takes place? • What is the role of social networks in successful operation of partnerships? How to strengthen existing networks and how to build new ones? Why good ideas sometimes fail?
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY • Theoretical studies on integrated rural development, learning processes in partnerships, social capital and social networks • Snowball sampling • In-depth interviews
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK • Moving from ‘knowledge-based economy’ to ‘learning economy’ (Lundvall,2002) • Partnership approach: new discourse for integrated rural development in Latvia • Partnerships as communities of practice / learning communities (Lave, Wenger, 1991) • Social capital and more developed social networks as a result of interactive/mutual learning (Kilpatrick,1998; Falk,1999)
WHY LEARNING IS IMPORTANT? • Actors improve local knowledge about local area and its development • Through adoption and change actors develop new skills, knowledge and values (e.g. communication, collaboration, mutual trust, sense of membership to community) • Sharing of skills between partners leads to greater efficiency and cost saving • ‘Learning by doing’