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Education University of Groningen Summer Schools Winter Schools Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Social Sustainability

Course Information

Target group

This winter school is an applied training course intended for practitioners or applied social researchers from public and private institutions interested in the practical aspects of social assessment, project-induced displacement and resettlement. Applicants are expected to be either:

(a) actually involved in development projects as a practitioner or in the governance of projects; OR
(b) a researcher or academic at Masters level, PhD, postdoc or even academic teaching staff having a clear reason for wanting to do this practical course.

Full professional fluency in English is required.

Programme (preliminary)

A detailed program will be provided to participants prior to the course. In general, the course will cover all aspects of land acquisition involving resettlement, including:

  • Welcome, introductions, overview of the course as a whole;
  • General introduction to social issues and development challenges;
  • Overview of resettlement as a process;
  • Basic underlying concepts such as social license to operate; business case; free, prior and informed consent; human rights; sustainable livelihoods;
  • Introduction to human rights;
  • Overview of the various International Standards: World Bank social safeguards, IFC Performance Standards, EBRD, IAIA guidelines, United Nations Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, relevant legal principles and frameworks;
  • Understanding social impacts and social risks of investment projects (including sustainable livelihoods; resilience; vulnerability; ecosystem services; health impacts);
  • Ways of assessing and addressing social issues and tools to use (social impact assessment, baselines, profiles);
  • Stakeholder Engagement and grievance mechanisms and conflict;
  • Linking livelihoods restoration to Local Employment and Local Procurement ;
  • Field trip to a resettlement site;
  • Resettlement planning;
  • Resettlement impacts, risk and opportunity assessment;
  • Resettlement mitigation measures;
  • Resettlement Review, Monitoring & Evaluation, Audits, Completion Audits.

Lecturers

In addition to the course coordinator, Prof Frank Vanclay , the course will include, among others, some of the leading social assessment and resettlement practitioners, including Mike Steyn and/or Eddie Smyth (Intersocial), Dr Ana Maria Esteves and Gabriela Factor (Community Insights Group), Frederic Giovannetti and Jorge Villegas (World Bank).

Certificate of Attendance

Students who attend all days of the course and participate in all class activities will be issued with a Certificate of Attendance.  By completing an additional assignment, students can opt to receive 5 ECTS. Please note that recognition of credits is always at the discretion of the student's home institution.

Methods used

Lectures, workshops, group work, fieldtrip, practical examples, detailed case study.

Last modified:05 April 2019 2.20 p.m.