Join the Finnish Society for Development Research for an engaging discussion! The three speakers will each present their thoughts on critical issues in “Global Education Policy and Development Cooperation”. Judith Kahamba, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, moderates the event.

• "Education in Times of Multiple Crises" by Marinka Räsänen, Doctoral Researcher in Sustainability Education at the University of Helsinki

• "Why coordination matters in the field of education support, and why is it so difficult? Drawing from the case of Ukraine" by Minna Hakkarainen, Counsellor for Education & Head of Cooperation at the Finnish Embassy in Kyiv, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland 

• "From the Global Education Reform Movement to the Human Capital Development Agenda: Educating for Proletarianization?" by Bonn Juego, Senior Lecturer in the DEICO Programme at the University of Jyväskylä & Chair of the Finnish Society for Development Research

On Feminist Pedagogy and the Future of Education: Lessons from Covid-19 Pandemic and the case of Makerere University, Uganda

The absence of feminist pedagogies in contemporary education emanates from how today’s academia continues to promote conventional educational approaches that amplify power hierarchies between learner and teacher. This keynote paper argues for the relevance of adopting feminist pedagogical approaches to foster inclusive, empowering, and transformative learning environments in higher education. It outlines the origins and core principles of feminist pedagogy—such as inclusivity, consciousness-raising, and collaboration—as countermeasures to dismantle patriarchy and address social inequalities within educational systems. Further, it explores the Covid-19 pandemic experience, which created a big shift from the performativity of teachers as the sole knowers and students as passive knowledge recipients. The crisis illuminated new avenues for teaching and learning that promote student growth and agency in higher education. The paper draws on a case study of Makerere University, Uganda’s oldest and largest university, exploring the origins, uptake, challenges, and opportunities of feminist pedagogy within the institution. I highlight how core feminist pedagogical principles—such as inclusivity, critical thinking, empowerment, and collaboration—have helped to address systemic pedagogical flaws in the School of Women and Gender Studies and the entire College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Makerere University. Finally, by critiquing conventional educational practices, this presentation advocates for feminist pedagogies as a means  to mitigate the shortcomings of conventional education pedagogical approaches aligning with the global vision of inclusive, empowering, and transformative higher education.  Although the feminist pedagogical approach presents a timely and necessary intervention, it may struggle to gain traction in academic environments deeply rooted in patriarchal traditions. The paper interrogates feminist perspectives relevant to transforming higher education by presenting the principles of feminist pedagogy. 

Decolonization of development studies and its implications for future expertise

Decolonization has become a buzzword in the academic and non-academic arena since the second half of the 1970s. Development Studies (DS) has rightly and should not be spared in these debates. In this presentation, I argue that DS has to be decolonized away from the global mono capitalism thinking of the Bretton Woods sisters (World Bank, and International Monetary Fund), and their cousin World Trade Organization. Development cannot be that one thinking where all have to adhere to. This kind of development has made development experts from the North and the South speak past each other due to the asymmetrical North-South partnerships that resulted after colonialism, where one part perceives itself as the teacher and the other as a student of development, superior and inferior, respectively. Knowledge production and dissemination in DS also reflect the unequal power relations between the North and the South, making DS a field of antagonism. The DS of the future has to come out of this battle and look at regional and local development within the mindset of the people in which development should occur. This, however, should not compromise and silence the DS's unique history of underdevelopment that resulted from capitalism ravaging, plundering and exploitation of the South by the North. The presentation concludes that the decolonization of DS is not one shoe-fits-all. The decolonization of DS in teaching and research should aim to produce experts who can engage with local, and regional problems and think critically outside the crucible of the liberal market model. It should aim to produce knowledge that can solve specific countries’ issues. This diversity in thinking, researching and implementing development will make DS what it is: multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. This will require future development experts to be critical thinkers, able to interrogate the development agenda and its implementation, and thus avoid continuing along the reproduction of colonial power dynamics.  

This workshop discusses the future of development studies. We describe the New Directions in Development Studies and Sustainability (NDDS) project by Dr. Nyamwya Munthali and Professor Barry Gills. The project was conducted in 2022-2024 in collaboration with disciplines of development studies at the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the University of Dodoma (Tanzania), and the University of Zambia (in Lusaka, Zambia). Then, we present the core competencies in development studies drafted in this project by Dr. Shukrani Mbirigenda and Associate Professor Tiina Kontinen. Additional insights on "Unity in Diversity? Reflections on Development Studies in the Mid-2020s" are provided by Professor Andy Sumner from the King's College, London. 

 In the workshop, we introduce the proposal and describe the process of joint dialogue to reach them. The workshop invites teachers and students to be ‘critical friends’ in reflecting on the relevance of proposed competencies and provide ideas for their further improvement. We also learn about a process of reflecting and designing core competencies in development studies in collaboration with the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Helsinki, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), The University Of Zambia (UNZA), and University of Dodoma, discussed by Dr Nyamwaya Munthali, Shukrani Mbirigenda (Ph.D), and Prof Barry Gills.

More info about the project can be found from here: New Directions in Development Studies and Sustainability (NDDS) | University of Jyväskylä