Our purpose was to strengthen capacity for developmental thinking and acting in the social world.

Social development practice is the ability to respond to social situations with artistry, confidence and integrity to facilitate social groups (organisations, communities, alliances) to develop their capacity to contribute to beneficial social change.

Social development practice is an art. [art rt, n. practical skill or its application, guided by principles]. In other words do not view practice as a set of tools, methods or approaches that are independent from their user. The artist (practitioner) and her/his principles of work are integral to the ‘materials’ (tools, methods, approaches) they choose for their work as well as how they are applied.

We worked in four ways.

Learning the art of development

tds offered postgraduate programmes in social development practice (validated by London Metropolitan University) for practitioners from the public sector and civil society organisations. Studies were offered at certificate, diploma and masters levels. Graduates were supported to create opportunities for dialogue on development processes with donors and policy makers in their own countries and to network for their continued professional development.

Influencing the art of development

tds worked with donors and policy makers to improve their understanding of change and development as a basis for effective funding of development. There is a postgraduate programme in Development and Funding Practice.

Practicing the art of development

tds carried out strategic and organisational development consultancy processes (often with School students and graduates on the consultancy team).

Promoting the art of development

tds promoted the art of development through publications and our website. A book has been written which captures the development schools key concepts and approaches.

There were seven key features of our work.

1. Building approaches to social development practice that work with an understanding of change as complex, unpredictable and dynamic.

2. Working from an open systems perspective where we see social groups in relationship to, and interdependent with, their environment.

3. Developing skills without edges (including qualities of openness, judgement, intuition, reading and mapping situations, building and managing relationships, working with multiple perspectives, working with integrity and ethical clarity, developing trust and confidence).

4. Working with issues in practice and using reflective practice as a prime means of enabling professional awareness and development.

5. Focusing on social development whether this is through individuals, groups, organisations, communities or social alliances based on the belief that certain development approaches are unique to social change (as compared, say, to profit generation) including an exploration of terms that are used widely but often uncritically in social development such as poverty alleviation, capacity building, empowerment, participation, civil society, marginalisation and so on.

6. Emphasising self awareness and professional integrity in practice – our centredness and confidence to be aware of who we are and what we are doing in any situation, to be constructively self-reflective and to be open to feedback and change.

7. Developing capacities to understand and work with cultural difference, values, power and ethics in social development.

Overall, therefore, our work did not offer a comparative perspective of a broad range of different approaches to development. In reality, we are deeply critical of much of the understanding and practice that exists in the current development world. Rather, we exposed people to contrasting conceptual and practice frameworks as the bases for a critical reflection on tds’s philosophy and approach to practice. In that sense we were a particular (and evolving) School of thought and practice.