This paper provides insights into the operational features of community-based financing mechanisms. These include CAF groups, which are self-financed communities where people save and lend money to each other. The implementation of such self-financed communities in the Netherlands is supported by Participatory Action Research (PAR). This paper discusses the first results of this research by exploring whether and how participation of group members can improve their well-being with regard to social networks, financial household management and entrepreneurial positioning based on the capability approach of Amartya Sen, a well-known economist. For this PAR, three groups were formed, guided, observed, analysed and compared. This paper demonstrates how solidarity economy processes at the grassroots level can contribute to the general well-being of vulnerable people in the Netherlands. For the particular context of overconsumption, inequality and overindebtedness, Sen’s notion of freedom will be reconsidered and adjusted.
Hoe kan je met studenten onderwijskwaliteit versterken met behulp van de methodiek participatief actieonderzoek? In deze rapportage lees je hoe studenten van verschillende opleidingen in domein Gezondheid Sport en Welzijn van Hogeschool Inholland hun onderwijs ervaren, met welke acties ze hun onderwijs zouden willen verbeteren, hoe de methode participatief actieonderzoek dit proces vormt en welke kansen en uitdagingen deze methode hierbij biedt. Participatief actieonderzoek; PAO; PAR; participatory action research; student als partner; onderwijskwaliteit; kwaliteitscultuur; studentparticipatie.
Deze casestudie geeft inzicht in verschillende soorten kennis die kenmerkend zijn voor applied design research. Er wordt onderscheid gemaakt tussen kennis over de huidige situatie, over wenselijke alternatieven en over effectieve oplossingen om daar te komen. Ofwel, kennis hoe het is, kennis over hoe het kan zijn en kennis over hoe het zal zijn als we effectieve oplossingen toepassen. Elk van deze soorten kennis heeft andere kwaliteitscriteria.
In order to achieve much-needed transitions in energy and health, systemic changes are required that are firmly based on the principles of regard for others and community values, while at the same time operating in market conditions. Social entrepreneurship and community entrepreneurship (SCE) hold the promise to catalyze such transitions, as they combine bottom-up social initiatives with a focus on financially viable business models. SCE requires a facilitating ecosystem in order to be able to fully realize its potential. As yet it is unclear in which way the entrepreneurial ecosystem for social and community entrepreneurship facilitates or hinders the flourishing and scaling of such entrepreneurship. It is also unclear how exactly entrepreneurs and stakeholders influence their ecosystem to become more facilitative. This research programme addresses these questions. Conceptually it integrates entrepreneurial ecosystem frameworks with upcoming theories on civic wealth creation, collaborative governance, participative learning and collective action frameworks.This multidisciplinary research project capitalizes on a unique consortium: the Dutch City Deal ‘Impact Ondernemen’. In this collaborative research, we enhance and expand current data collection efforts and adopt a living-lab setting centered on nine local and regional cases for collaborative learning through experimenting with innovative financial and business models. We develop meaningful, participatory design and evaluation methods and state-of-the-art digital tools to increase the effectiveness of impact measurement and management. Educational modules for professionals are developed to boost the abovementioned transition. The project’s learnings on mechanisms and processes can easily be adapted and translated to a broad range of impact areas.
Climate change adaptation has influenced river management through an anticipatory governance paradigm. As such, futures and the power of knowing the future has become increasingly influential in water management. Yet, multiple future imaginaries co-exist, where some are more dominant that others. In this PhD research, I focus on deconstructing the future making process in climate change adaptation by asking ‘What river imaginaries exist and what future imaginaries dominate climate change adaptation in riverine infrastructure projects of the Meuse and Magdalena river?’. I firstly explore existing river imaginaries in a case study of the river Meuse. Secondly, I explore imaginaries as materialised in numerical models for the Meuse and Magdalena river. Thirdly, I explore the integration and negotiation of imaginaries in participatory modelling practices in the Magdalena river. Fourthly, I explore contesting and alternative imaginaries and look at how these are mobilised in climate change adaptation for the Magdalena and Meuse river. Multiple concepts stemming from Science and Technology Studies and Political Ecology will guide me to theorise the case study findings. Finally, I reflect on my own positionality in action-research which will be an iterative process of learning and unlearning while navigating between the natural and social sciences.
Entangled Machines is a project by Mariana Fernández Mora that interrogates the colonial and extractive legacies underpinning artificial intelligence (AI). By introducing slowness and digital kinship as critical frameworks, the project reconceptualises AI as embedded within intricate social and ecological networks, thereby contesting dominant narratives of efficiency and optimisation. Through participatory, practice-based methodologies such as the Material Playground, the project integrates feminist and non-Western epistemologies to articulate alternative models for ethical, sustainable, and equitable AI practices. Over a four-year period, Entangled Machines develops theory, engages diverse communities, and produces artistic outputs to reimagine human-AI interactions. In collaboration with partners including ARIAS Amsterdam, Archival Consciousness, and the Sandberg Institute, the research seeks to foster decolonial and interdisciplinary approaches to AI. Its culmination will be an “Anarchive” – a curated assemblage of artistic, theoretical, and archival outputs – that serves as a resource for rethinking AI’s socio-political and ecological impacts.
