Dr Madhav Chavan’s talk
September 30, 2010This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Development in South Asia (DISHA) presents: Lectures in International Development Fall 2010
September 30, 2010Lectures in International Development is a policy oriented series that invites leading practitioners and scholars to present practical and theoretical issues in education policy with a focus on the marginal population around the world.
Date: Wednesday, September 29th, 2010.
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Location: Russell Hall 305, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Title: Is Pratham a Global Model?
Speaker: Dr Madhav Chavan
Founder Pratham (www.pratham.org)
Speaker: Dr. Madhav Chavan, Founder-Pratham India Education Initiative.
Speaker Bio:
Madhav is addressing a major problem in India’s education system through his “capital-light” the Read India Program. By tapping into unutilized resources in terms of infrastructure, staff, and community involvement, his approach keeps start-up and on-going costs at a minimum, offering even the poorest communities the opportunity to educate their children.
Madhav’s organization, the Pratham India Education Initiative (www.pratham.org), holds people as its main asset by developing a systematic and rigorous training and monitoring process. The result is a network of effective teacher-entrepreneurs who can replicate the Pratham Initiative in other cities. The low-cost strategy serves millions of children all across India. Pratham is now leveraging its critical asset, a low-cost distribution channel, to provide a variety of other useful services at little incremental cost.
Dr Vasanthi Devi’s Recorded Talk
September 26, 2010Dr Vasanthi Devi’s Talk
September 25, 2010This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Development in South Asia (DISHA) and Asha for Education presents: Lectures in International Development Fall 2010
September 25, 2010Lectures in International Development is a policy oriented series that invites leading practitioners and scholars to present practical and theoretical issues in education policy with a focus on the marginal population around the world.
Date: Friday, September 24th, 2010.
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: Russell Hall 305, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Title: Schooling for Rights: Story of an Indian Experiment
Speaker: Dr Vasanthi Devi.
Chairperson of IHRE and also the President of EurekaChild (AID)
Well known Educationist and Academician. Former Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University. Former Chairperson of the Tamilnadu State Women’s Commission. Former State Planning Commission Member. Member of the National Curriculum Framework. Member of several Govt and NGO Committees on Education and Human Rights.
JOIN DISHA
July 16, 2010Development in South Asia (DISHA)
at Teachers College, Columbia University
Introduction
We would like to invite you to be part of a new student initiative to develop a network of graduate students and faculty interested in or already conducting research and practice on development issues in South Asia. In this letter, we would like to give you some background about DISHA, and layout our plans.
Background
The group initiated a series of lectures on development issues under the Lectures in International Development at Teachers College, Columbia University. Some of the speakers invited as a part of lecture series include,
1. Bob Prouty Acting Head of the Education for All-Fast Track Initiative Secretariat
2. Sonalde Desai, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, College Park
3. Madhav Chavan, Founder-Pratham India Education Initiative
4. Saraswathi Menon, Director, UNDP Evaluation Office
5. Rukmini Banerji, Director Research Pratham India Education Initiative
6. Kathleen Letshabo and Samuel Bickel, Research and Evaluation unit in UNICEF, NY
7. Monisha Bajaj, Teachers College, Columbia University
Given the overwhelming response to the lectures and repeated requests from interested students and faculty, a need to have a cohesive group working on development issues in South Asia was put forward. DISHA (which means “direction” in Hindi) was a natural step forward. DISHA is now a registered student organization at Teachers College, Columbia University. The group aims at learning about best practices in research and practice on issues related to development with a particular focus on education. DISHA does not want to be geographically bound to South Asia, the group strongly believes that developing countries can learn a lot from each others experiences.
DISHA so far.
The group continues to invite leading practitioners and scholars to present practical and theoretical issues in education policy with a focus on the marginal population around the world.
We have also created a list-serve of around 135 people with different backgrounds and experiences that endorse this initiative. The group continues to expand its reach to other universities like University of Pennsylvania as well.
The group has conducted a number of capacity workshops in the past with partner organizations in India
1. Instrumentation Design and Validation workshop (5th-9th Jan 2009) at Bhopal was organized in collaboration with Pratham/ASER senior staff. This is an ongoing series of workshops.
2. Program evaluation approaches and practical guidelines:An evaluation capacity building workshop (June 2008, Delhi), catered to the needs of the ASER research associates.
DISHA also supports doctoral dissertations in South Asia.
DISHA in the future.
DISHA’s vision is to provide a platform for researchers and practitioners to collaborate on mutually beneficial projects that target development issues in the region. It envisions of becoming a base for exchanging ideas and working together with the NGO’s and governments’ to fill the existing gaps in research, policy and practice.
Planned activities broadly include,
* Capacity Building Projects with NGOs in the region along with collaborative conferences.
* Design study abroad programs and international development oriented courses for graduate students.
* Create a clearinghouse for student internships in South Asia.
Contact Information
To join DISHA send a mail to ri2123@columbia.edu with your short bio.
Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper – Revisited. A Review of Learning Indicators in Developing Countries, with a Focus on Reading Assessments.
April 24, 2010Lectures in International Development Spring 2010
Date: Monday, April 19th, 2010.
Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm
Location: Russell Hall 305, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Organizers:
Center for Multiple Languages and Literacies, Teachers College, Columbia University and
Development in South Asia (DISHA)
Title: Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper – Revisited. A Review of Learning Indicators in Developing Countries, with a Focus on Reading Assessments.
Speaker: Dan Wagner, University of Pennsylvania.
Dan Wagner is Professor of Education and Director of the International Literacy Institute, co-founded by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania (www.literacy.org). He is also Director of the National Center on Adult Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania. After an undergraduate degree in Engineering at Cornell University, and voluntary service in the Peace Corps (Morocco), he received his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Michigan, was a two-year postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Education Planning in Paris, a Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), and a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Paris. Dr. Wagner has extensive experience in national and international educational issues, and has served as an advisor to UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, USAID and others on international development issues. His most recent multi-year projects have been in India, South Africa, and Morocco. In addition to many professional publications, Dr. Wagner has written/edited: Literacy: Developing the future (in 5 languages); Literacy: An international handbook; Learning to bridge the digital divide; New technologies for literacy and adult education: A global review; Monitoring and evaluation of ICT for education in developing countries.
View the talk at: Dr Wagner’s Lecture
Determinants of school achievement. Evidence from Mexican upper middle school
March 7, 2010Lectures in International Development (Lid) Spring 2010
Title: Determinants of school achievement. Evidence from Mexican upper middle school
Speaker: Dr. Rafael E. De Hoyos
Time: 1:15pm to 2:30pm, Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Venue: 362 Grace Dodge Hall, Teachers College, Columbia University
Bio:
Rafael E. De Hoyos is the chief of advisers to the under-minister of education in Mexico. Before joining the under-ministry, he worked as a researcher for DEC at the World Bank (2006-2008). Previously, Mr. De Hoyos was a research fellow at the Judge Business School in the University of Cambridge. He has also worked as a consultant to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Mexico and at the UN World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) in Finland. Mr. De Hoyos holds a PhD in economics from the University of Cambridge.
Lectures in International Development is a policy oriented series that invites leading practitioners and scholars to present practical and theoretical issues in education policy with a focus on the marginal population around the world.
Education, Income, and Political Attitudes in Pre-Dominantly Muslim Countries
March 7, 2010Development in South Asia (DISHA) presents: Lectures in International Development Spring 2010
Date: Wednesday, February 17th, 2010.
Time: 12:00 – 2:00pm
Location: Russell Hall 305, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Speaker: M. Najeeb Shafiq, Indiana University, Bloomington.
M. Najeeb Shafiq is an Assistant Professor of Education Policy Studies (Economics of Education) at Indiana University, Bloomington. He conducts research on child labor, educational gender gaps, educational privatization, and the social benefits of education in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and the U.S. His research has appeared in Economics of Education Review; Education Economics; International Review of Education; Journal of Asian Economics; Journal of Conflict Resolution; Journal of Development Studies; Journal of International Development; and Research in Higher Education. Dr. Shafiq has served as a consultant for the World Bank and government and non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh, Morocco, Pakistan, and the U.S. He earned his M.A. in Economics from SUNY Buffalo and his Ph.D. in Economics and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
