In Search of Professionalism, Bureaucracy and Sustainable Livelihoods for the 21st Century

Volume 54 Number 1A
Published: March 29, 2023
https://doi.org/10.19088/1968-2023.119

In the 21st century, vastly more people will need to gain sustainable livelihoods in difficult environments. For this, changes are needed on the part of outsiders – professionals, officials, and others – who have overlooked or underestimated the complexity and diversity of rural conditions, rural people’s ability to take a long‐term view, and their knowledge, creativity, and competence in presenting and analysing complex information. To serve poor people better, much of the challenge now is methodological: for better learning from, with, and by rural people, for enabling them to express and enhance their competence and creativity; and for the improvement and spread of new methods for changing the behaviour and attitudes of outsiders.

From Issue: Vol. 54 No. 1A (2023) | Power, Poverty, and Knowledge – Reflecting on 50 Years of Learning with Robert Chambers