Hall and Tandon
Photo: UVic Photo Services
By Christine McLaren
The School of Public Administration is launching a unique online program in community development. Designed for working professionals, the Master of Arts in Community Development (MACD) aims to prepare leaders for the challenges of today’s global issues in communities around the world.
“Communities are facing new challenges and opportunities at various levels”, says MACD co-chair Lynne Siemens. “This program will build leadership capacity for organizations and prepare community leaders around the world”.
Through experiential learning, fieldwork and theory, the focus will be on applying sustainable development principles and practices in the governance, leadership and management structures of co-operatives, non-profits and the social economy.
The international component of the program will be delivered in collaboration with the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA). This unique partnership of academics and practitioners is the first of its kind in the world. The program will be delivered primarily online.
“This degree will allow students to stay in their communities and still have access to experienced professors with high-level theoretical background and deep practical experiences with broad and diverse perspectives about development in communities around the world,” says Budd Hall co-chair of both the MACD program and international component. Hall is a professor in the school and director of UVic’s Office of Community Based Research.
PRIA is a civil society organization with 30 years of experience in participatory and grassroots development in India. Headed up by Rajesh Tandon, a 2008 UVic honorary degree recipient, the society delivers a number of programs transferring knowledge and tools in the field of civic engagement.
“Through this program we want to prepare a globally active network of community leaders who are professionally prepared to address global and local issues,” says Tandon, co-chair of the international component of the program. “This requires leadership vision and a capacity to engage in making change.”
Practitioners, researchers and academics have forged a unique partnership to create this program founded on the premise that transformative leadership requires collaboration. The program will commence in June 2010.
More info: http://publicadmin.uvic.ca/macd or http://publicadmin.uvic.ca/macdi
|
