Can We Know Better?

"Always prescient and always wise, Robert Chambers has given development scholars and practitioners yet another gift with this provocative call for 'a revolution in development knowing, thinking, and practice.' But what a commentary on development in practice that the supposed beneficiaries of development continue to be marginalized and dispossessed. Weep for them and their needless suffering - but read Chambers's new book and get into action!"--Dr. Robin Broad, International Development Program, American University

"T.S. Eliot famously asked, 'Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?' The answer: it is here, in this book, in the accumulated knowledge of Robert Chambers' six decades of experience and thinking about development, and in the great wisdom he brings to bear on the fantasies and foibles of practitioners, academics and funders. All of them should take time to read this important book and to think hard about what it means when they go back to their work."--Ian Smillie, author of The Alms Bazaar, Mastering the Machine and Diamonds, and President of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development, 2015-17

"This book is a salvo against development smugness, much needed at a time when the Sustainable Development Goals are beginning to gain traction. Taking head-on the central question of how we know, and how that shapes what we do through development policy, Chambers employs his clear eye and gently acerbic tongue to show why development professionals need to be more humble, more self-reflexive, and more passionate about our mission."--Gita Sen, Distinguished Professor & Director, Ramalingaswami Centre on Equity & Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Foundation of India

"An indispensable book."--Duncan Green, Strategic Advisor, Oxfam, and author of How Change Happens