Several student run organisations have emerged in Cambridge over the last few years to meet the wishes of students to become more involved in the international development and sustainable development aspects of their disciplines (Some are listed at: Links ). Agreement that multi-disciplinary approaches to are often appropriate, and that many fundamental issues are common to all disciplines, is leading to increasing interactions between them.

In early 2005 members of some of these organisations formed a joint 1-Committee to set up a shared course, aiming to introduce participants to the main issues surrounding international development interventions. It would be of interest to all the societies' members, and compliment the basic training of their interns by raising awareness of such issues as:

• What is 'development'; what is our goal?
• What does 'sustainable' development mean?
• Can development projects fail, or even do more harm than good?
• What lessons can we learn from the past?
• When is technology appropriate?
• What does "empowering host communities through participation" mean?
• Does the success of projects depend on the cultural, gender, religious, historical or legal contexts?
• Why is assessment key to successful relief and development interventions, and how can it be done?
• Why might ethnocentrism and cultural relativism affect projects?
• What are the possible 'routes in' and career paths?...

The courses so far have been single day events involving lectures, small workshops and discussions. They are being held twice a year, at the end of Michaelmas term and the middle of Easter term. See Past Events for more information, including lecture media. In future the vision is to combine two or more events and online learning resources to develop an accredited programme that can act as an introductory stepping stone for those thinking about international development for the first time.

The Humanitarian Centre, an umbrella organisation that seeks to support humanitarian initiatives in the Cambridge area, is providing a shared identity for the course.

If you have any ideas or comments, or would like to be involved, as an individual or as an organisation, in this or future courses, please Contact us.