Human Development Reports - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Oxford Course 2008

The fifth training course on Human Development: From Theory to Practice, is jointly organized by UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, HDCA, and Queen Elizabeth House. The course was held 14 – 26 September 2008 at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, UK.

The course contained a mix of applied training sessions, CD-ROM based exercises, quantitative techniques, computer training and traditional classroom teaching. The course was designed for an audience of professionals and policy makers involved in development issues. The training course covered applied problems of relevance to human development in a dynamic, interactive and stimulating environment. The application and selection process for the 2008 course is now closed. Presentations from the course are available.

The cost of the course was $6,500, which covers tuition as well as accommodation and meals at St. Catherine’s College for the duration of the programme. This sum did not include travel costs to and from Oxford. Information on logistics, the schedule, readings and presentations are available through this section of our website. Please be advised, we are no longer accepting applications for this course.

Course Structure

Sessions dynamics

• Each session was aimed at reflecting not only on conceptual and thematic issues, but also on implications for policy and programming, including focus on marginalized groups, and principles of empowerment, equity, sustainability, and efficiency.
• The length of speaker presentations was around 30 minutes. Each presentation was followed, where appropriate, by a 10 minute response by one or two participants in the light of their experience. Some presentations were followed by free questions; others were more focused towards working group discussions.

Assignments

• Eight country case studies were prepared in advance. In addition, eight HD themes were emphasized in the case materials such as climate change, governance, gender and conflict.
• Teams of 6-8 participants chose how to apply the HD&C approach to one of these country case studies by preparing one of the following:
  • a mock country programming document, e.g., UNDP, donor or NGO programme
    
  • a mock advisory report to government
  • a mock HDR outline
  • a mock advocacy strategy
• A final determination of assignments and themes were based partly on the results of a pre-course participant survey. In place of the mock assignments, participants also had the option to propose an actual case study in support of their current work. 
• Assignment teams were encouraged to present their assignments creatively, e.g. through role-playing.
• In addition to the eight teams working on how to apply the HD&C approach, there was one team working on the HD textbook.
• Clear instructions and evaluation criteria for the assignments were prepared.
• There was a Judging Panel of for presentation of assignments. The Panel drew on resource people already in Oxford at that time.

Pre-course Activities

• A pre-course survey was distributed to all participants to better understand their needs and interests.
• A set of 5 key readings were distributed electronically beforehand to all participants. They came to the course having read those.
  

Readings

• There were two readings assigned to each topic covered in the course.
• If there are essential topics that participants should have a grasp of but are not covered in lectures, two core readings on these topics were added to the set of readings.
• Five hard copies of all readings were available in the library for participants to consult/photocopy if they wish.
• A CD was given to all participants with the readings once they arrive.

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