Mission & Vision

Mission and Vision

Otherwise departs from two premises on knowledge and development.
1) There is no single, unified body of knowledge. Instead there is a plurality of knowledge bodies or knowledge paradigms, within and between for example science and more local forms of knowledge, each which depart from different assumptions and generate different ideas on development.
2) There is no universal body of knowledge. Knowledge is always produced within, and cannot be seen loose from, a particular context. Knowledge is never simply transferred from one place to another, but is always locally reworked (if not discarded) into a new form of knowledge, before it becomes effective. Development in this sense is best fostered when scientists and local actors closely and continuously interact, learn from each other and together create new forms of knowledge. We refer to this process as co-creation.
Following these two premises the mission of OtherWise can be further specified into two points.
1) To bring to the light knowledge contestations in and on development.
2) Foster development through the co-creation of knowledge by scientists and local actors.
We believe that this can be best achieved by promoting the use of participatory methods and treating development as a learning process.