In What Ways do Social Movements as Learning Organisations Create Political Space for Change: A Case Study of OneVoice US, OneVoice Europe, Darkenu an

The PhD dissertation will examine:

What characterises 'organisational learning' for social movements working for peace building in Israel and Palestine? Thomas (2006) suggests that in a context of war there is an imperative to adopt a 'reflective practitioner' mode, learning from experience and from observation before undertaking any further intervention' (Thomas, 2006, p. 186). Thomas' imperative for learning supports Mary Anderson's central tenet of conflict sensitivity, which asks aid and development workers to, 'do no harm' (Anderson, 1999). I will ask whether organisational learning takes on these and other, possibly unique, characteristics in the context of peace building in Israel and Palestine.

The second question, which will form the main body of this research, will be: How does formal and informal organisational learning take place at personal, intra and inter organisational levels at OneVoice, Darkenu and Zimam, and who participates? I will ask questions about advocacy based organisational learning (Edwards, 1996) such as: who learns and how, are there equal opportunities for participation in learning and how is learning affected by the dynamics of power relations? I will also ask how information is shared with stakeholders and what constraints there are to learning (Edwards, 1996; Roche, 1999, Development 2002, cited in Thomas & Mohan eds., 2007)? I will look at what organisational learning takes place at personal, intra and inter organisational levels through formal professional skills training and development, assessment and evaluation, and the more informal sharing of information through professional and social networks.

The other question is: Which aspects of organisational learning impact on OV, Darkenu and Zimam's ability to adapt to change and to influence political change? I will ask how learning enables the organisation to adapt to change and whether it is possible to identify any association between specific instances where learning has taken place and impacted on political change. As the research develops, I expect to arrive at an informed stand on how well organisational learning allows the organisation to adapt to and implement change.