Learning to participate: the role of Higher Learning Institutions as development agents

The theme of this policy briefing is participative learning, focussing on the role of Higher learning Institutions (HLIs) in development and in bringing about social, political and economic change. It gives a brief introductive analysis of problems faced in this process and discusses the challenges faced by HLIs in learning to participate. A new initiative by IDS (Insitute of Development Studies) for Learning and Teaching Participation (LTP) is presented, and three case studies (from Universidad Autanoma Metropolitana in Chiapas Mexico, Mekelle University Ethiopia, and the Social Forestry support programme in Vietnam) illustrate examples of participation in HLIs. The briefing concludes with an outlook on the improvement of LTP and the role of HLIs in development.