Zugl.: Bochum, University, Diss., 2009.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Master's thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

This thesis researched characteristics and success rates of Nepali participants in a series of online courses in order to develop a pedagogical model designed for an open university in Nepal, based on the geographical, regional and linguistic diversity of Nepali learners. The original contribution to knowledge is the examination of geographic, regional and linguistic backgrounds of Nepali learners and a determination as to whether these factors influence the online learning of Nepali students. It is expected that the resulting model may serve as a construct for open university initiatives in Nepal and in other developing countries. A mixed methods, descriptive, multiple case study approach using surveys, 4 short pilot courses, interviews and observations was used to provide data that would generate a pedagogical model. The results determined the design of the pedagogical model based on the needs of students in developing countries and in particular Nepali open university students. A study of Nepal’s history and diversity, existing open university models worldwide, and educational theory formed the foundation of this study. Combining the aforementioned review, with the information gained through the surveys, short pilot courses, interviews, observations during extensive travel throughout Nepal, and using inductive analysis, the framework for a pedagogical model for an open university in Nepal emerged. Although limited to a small group of volunteers, the original contribution to scholarship was the creation of the first pedagogical model for an open university in Nepal. / 2013-10

Participation has been promoted and studied in diverse disciplines including tourism, development, planning, health, politics, and others. In natural resource conservation, the shift from centralized to decentralized decision making which emphasizes community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring of programs has been broadly encouraged, especially in developing countries. Although considered a more effective alternative to top down decision making, participatory conservation initiatives have been criticized for many reasons, mainly the exclusion of marginalized groups in programs which lead to unequal distribution of socioeconomic benefits. This inequality is conditioned by social, physical and political structures which act as barriers to sustainable development of resources and communities. Using a political ecology approach, this research explored the participation of marginal groups (poor, women, and lower caste) in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area. The main objectives of this study are: 1) To examine the perceived benefits of Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) and how marginal groups fare in the distribution of benefits; 2) To analyze the level of participation of marginal groups in local management institutions; and 3) To identify the barriers to participation as perceived by marginal groups. Field work for this dissertation was conducted during August ? October 2010 using both quantitative and qualitative data, and employing participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that benefits of the project were distributed unequally, and targeted towards elite members of the community. Findings also indicated that although marginal groups were involved in local management institutions, their representation was marginal and had not led to empowerment. Lastly, barriers to participation of communities were complex and deeply rooted in traditions and social norms. Overall, the findings indicate that the definition of marginal groups go beyond gender and caste, and are more significantly defined by wealth, poverty, education, and access to information. The study concludes that ACAP needs to re-orient its conservation and development projects by adopting a more inclusive form of participation and that these projects should aim to overcome the barriers identified by the marginalized households.

The celebrated Sherpas of Himalayan mountaineering, who lived in the rugged high-altitude environment of the Everest area of Nepal, lacked Western style medical services and so iconic New Zealander, Sir Edmund Hillary, 'hero' of Everest, built them a small hospital in 1966. He administered Khunde Hospital through the Himalayan Trust, but with substantial support, since the late-1970s, from the Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation in Canada. Overseas medical volunteers assisted by local staff provided a range of outpatient and inpatient, curative and preventive services. The history of Khunde Hospital, therefore, provides a case study for the introduction of modern medicine, as Sherpas referred to Western or biomedicine, and for the implementation of an overseas aid project. In my analysis I have moved away from a binary, oppositional examination of a cross-cultural encounter and have situated Khunde Hospital in a conceptual device of 'worlds'. I argue that the hospital existed and operated simultaneously within multiple separate yet interconnected worlds, but do not privilege one discourse over another. These worlds work beyond culture, encompassing institutions, political structures and knowledge communities and were physical, social and intellectual spaces within which there were rules and norms of behaviour that structured action. In order to explore the histories of Khunde Hospital I set it within four distinct but overlapping worlds: that of Sir Edmund Hillary, the Sherpa, Western medicine and international aid. These are worlds that I have identified as being important for the questions I am looking at. My central discussion is the ongoing encounter between Sherpa beliefs and practices about sickness and modern medicine, particularly looking at the individual patient�s use and non-use of the hospital and how staff there responded. The response was neither a one-way diffusion of Western medical practice, nor a collision between the spirit-suffused system of the Sherpa and scientific biomedicine. People used the hospital for some things but not others, based on their perception as to whether the hospital was the effective, appropriate option to take. Over the years, the hospital and community became used to each other in a relationship that was in practice a coexistence of difference. Each acknowledged and could incorporate aspects of the other�s beliefs and practices when dealing with a person�s sickness, but remained separate. Using the conceptual device of worlds, however, suggests the need for this example of the introduction and spread of Western medicine to be grounded in a consideration of Hillary�s particular form of aid, the shifting discourse of international medical aid between the 1960s and the 1990s and the unique world of the Sherpa of Khumbu. All of these worlds influenced the provision of health care at and from Khunde Hospital in different ways, sometimes separately but often simultaneously, and at some times and for some issues more than others. People, place and relationships often had as much influence as - and sometimes more than - the medicine. If the key to understanding Khunde Hospital is the relationship between Sherpas and Hillary and the respect that began in a partnership on the mountains in the 1950s, then the multiple worlds of Khunde Hospital underscore the complexities of implementing Sherpa requests to build a hospital in their rugged home near the world�s highest mountain.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 2001. / A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, February, 2001. Bibliography : leaves 296-314.