Exploring cutting edge thinking to improve the current M&E paradigm
Partner Spotlight
Mesopartner is a knowledge firm that specialises in territorial development, competitiveness and innovation. As a development consultancy, Mesopartner is known for pragmatic development instruments and concepts. Since 2010 Mesopartner has been assessing its own methods, tools and concepts based on insights from systems theories and complexity theories. Learn more about this process at http://systemic-insight.com.
About the Interviewer
Marcus Jenal
mesopartner
Marcus is Swiss and has been working in international development for more than seven years. He started his own consultancy in 2011. It is his goal to bring systemic approaches based on complexity theory and systems thinking principles to international development. He wants to contribute to the development of healthy systems, where poverty reduction is part of economy and society.
Systemic M&E Interview 2: Shamim Bodhanya
The podcast explores the origins of complex adaptive systems research and the application of its findings to development work. Bodhanya explains the characteristics of complex adaptive systems and their consequences in social systems, such as the economy. He stresses the need to include multiple perspectives to develop a systemic view on markets and allow for solutions from within the system to involve rather than prescribe top-down solutions. In this sense, he points out, development project need to be co-constructed by multiple stakeholders. Project goals should not be predefined and be flexible enough to be able to change as the project traverses though time.
About the Interview
Dr. Shamim Bodhanya
University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Shamim is a graduate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and Nyenrode University in the Netherlands. Shamim, a trained and practicing engineer, worked in the corporate sector for nearly 14 years, serving in a variety of functional, professional and managerial capacities before joining academia. Shamim was a founding member of Equilibria Consulting, and currently serves as Chairperson of the Institute for Natural Resources. He is the Academic Leader for Higher Degrees and Research at the Graduate School of Business and Leadership and draws on inter-disciplinary research to work with complex real world problems. He is actively involved in research, programme development, module development, lecturing, facilitation, and consulting. He has engaged in facilitation in a variety of contexts both for small groups and large groups. Some of these include: strategy, business planning, conflict, union, training, skills development, youth workshops and simulations amongst others. His work in complexity theory has been applied in the public and private sector, NGOs and civil society contexts, e.g. sugar cane production and supply, local economic development, automotive, rural health, and rural development.