Accelerating, Upscaling, Deskilling
Timothy G. McLellan · Cornell University Press eBooks · 2024
This chapter examines the characteristics and tropes common to the research for development tools at the Institute for Farms and Forests (IFF). It highlights pervasive imperatives for quantifiable certainty, deskilling social science and soil science, and speed, scale, and value for money. Moreover, aspects of the Theory of Change share the logic of quantification, scale, and value for money with other development tools. The chapter highlights how a good research for development tool can be used by an unskilled user since it means that the tool becomes available for rapid implementation and upscaling. It notes how the Qingshan Agroforestry project provides extensive instances of IFF colleagues pushing back against the logic of tools.