The course offers an introduction to the subject and contributes to a better understanding of the current debate and policy practices. Participants get an overview of concepts, methodological approaches as well as operational experiences and challenges of the actors in this complex area.

This course makes students familiar with the prevention and resolution of conflicts in developing countries. Approaches and instruments of development policy and foreign policy to reach this goal are explained. Case studies are used to present and discuss experience in the area of conflict prevention and conflict resolution.

The topics are selected on the basis of their actual and future relevance for the international development cooperation:• Project / Programme Cycle Management• Governance and the Millenium Development Goals in Sub-Sahara Africa• Governance and DecentralisationAdditionally, the seminar deals with the topic „Climatic Change"

In this course, social and cultural dynamics of international development cooperation are analysed, discussed, and connected to contemporary development cooperation activities and projects. Themes to be focused on include the impacts of colonisation in development cooperation, decolonisation, migration, gender, racism, and education.

The course enables participants to understand the significance of the engagement of civil society organisations in policy processes in order to overcome exclusion and foster voice. The course acquaints participants with concepts and practice of civil society participation in shaping policies at micro and macro level and provides practical tools for influencing political processes.

This course presents the orgins and evolution of the International Development Cooperation during the last six decades und relates the changing paradigms to their political and socio-economic contexts. It looks at the different actors with their spefic roles, approaches and challenges from a Swiss as well as a global perspective.

The course provides an introduction into the contemporary practice of project and programme monitoring in development cooperation by introducing theoretical approaches and their implementation. On the basis of practical experiences, the course presents the steps of data collection and analysis, reporting and implementation of the results for steering purposes.

The course offers an introduction into organisational development (OD) in projects and programmes of development assistance. It enables students to lead a dialogue and to cooperate with other actors in OD-processes. Case studies and exercises are used to present and discuss approaches, methods and instruments of organizational development

The course introduces the systematic, result-based and process-related approaches in the planning of projects and programmes in development cooperation. Starting with a need assessment, the different planning steps as well as the roles of the involved stakeholders are presented and discussed. This planning process is illustrated with concrete case studies.

This course offers an introduction to project cycle management (PCM). Case studies are used to deal with issues of project identification, project planning, project monitoring, and project evaluation. The lectures also aquaint with methods of data collection in the context of development projects.