The Research Group GESPLAN of the UPM (Planning and Sustainable Management of the rural/local development) has assumed the translation of the book “Social Development: Theory and Practice” by Professor James Midgley (“Harry and Riva Specht” in Public Social Services y Dean Emeritus of UC Berkeley), presented yesterday November 27th 2014.
It is a co-publishing done by the General Foundation of the Technical University of Madrid through the research group GESPLAN (http://ruraldevelopment.es/) and the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana of El Ecuador’s publisher Abya Yala.
The co-publishers of the Spanish version belong to two universities strongly committed to development: the UPM is the Spanish University that proportionally dedicates most of their own funds to financing development projects in collaboration with other entities; and the UPS, represented by the Research Secretary, Juan Pablo Salgado, is a university known in Ecuador for its concern on helping the most disadvantaged people in rural areas and also with projects directly linked to social development.
The book about social development, is an essential read for development, and political science students, public administration and social work professionals; also for politicians and social development professionals all around the world, due to the fact that the book deals with the role of advanced economies when designing development related policies showing how the theory of social development get translated into practical interventions.
With this book, James Midgley demonstrates the importance of integrating academic theory of the social development area with the projects and programmes that have been executed to improve the quality of life of the people. Midgley proposes a new definition of social development which is more open than those that have existed until nowadays, with the inclusion of the most dynamic aspects of the development process.
Aimed at a public that is directly related to the policies, and more concretely with cooperation policies in the case of the FIIAPP, the thematic of the book is of great interest, as the Innovation and Strategies Director, Tobias Jung, said in his welcoming words, and he explained about the FIIAPP’S large number of cooperation activities.
Eduardo Baamonde, CEO of the Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in Spain highlighted the role of cooperatives for executing the theory, and how cooperatives a possible model for social development.
Finally, GESPLAN’s Director, Adolfo Cazorla, highlighted during his intervention the importance of the role of Universities as a “limelight of progress” to improve society; activities such as incorporating the relevant inputs of the teachings of this book into Univerities work, and launch new ideas and theories as part of their mission. In this case the students from the Master’s Programme “Planning of Rural Development Projects and sustainable Managament” that, also, had the opportunity to debate directly with the author James Midgley during the afternoon session of this Master at the Agronomy Faculty of the UPM:
The author, James Midgley, was very grateful for the support of the FIIAPP, as well as the hard work and enthusiasm of the group GESPLAN.
