This text is structured as follows. Section 1 concerns the background to this public lecture: the fact that social participation is becoming increasingly important in our society. This is evident, for example, from the way we are evolving from a protective welfare state into an activational, participative …

The Dutch society of today is a very mixed one. Different cultures from all over the world come together in one small country. One of the reasons that the Dutch society contains so many different cultures is because of its colonial history. The Surinamese population is one of the many ethnical minorities …

This final paper focuses on municipal international cooperation (MIC) with developing nations. MIC can be defined as international decentralised cooperation or the term "town twinning" (Boven, 2007, "what is town twinning" section). It is an agreement between two or more municipalities from different …

Interest in the notion that there is an untapped market with significant buying power hidden at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) has enjoyed increased attention over the last few years. The discourse on this matter is lively and abounds with opposing opinions. Although this discourse is acknowledged …

In BOP ventures the notion of “selling to the poor” has steadily been replaced by business approaches that suggest sustainable value creation. This has certain implications, in particular the development of strategies that serve triple bottom-line goals. These include economic, social and environmental …

Within the profile Technical Information Technology (ICT Department) the most important specializations are Embedded Software and Industrial Automation. About half of the Technical Information curriculum consists of learning modules, the other half is organized in projects. The whole study lasts four …

COS Zuid Holland Zuid's main mission is to broaden the basis for international cooperation. This means attracting new groups to get more involved in international cooperation. COS ZHZ already does very well in strengthening the existing basis for international cooperation, however reaching for new target …

Described are the results of a study that was set up to get insight into the appreciation of students for distance learning, especially concerning online lab-experiments. We wanted to know whether an online lab-experiment is more or less effective than a regular one and how it can be used in IPD-projects. …

Agriculture is the main driver of the economy and the source of living for the majority of the population in Ethiopia. However, its performance has been poor and unable to feed the ever increasing population. Thus there is a need to change this trend and ensure the food security of the population. Agricultural …

Microfinance programs have significant potential for contributing towards improvements of agricultural and other rural sectors investments and operations and empowerments of rural community. However, access to financial institutions such as banks by smallholder farmers in rural areas is limited because …