Institute of Development Studies

Biography

Professor Robert Chambers is has a background in biology, history and public administration. His current concerns and interests include professionalism, power, the personal dimension in development, participatory methodologies, teaching and learning with large numbers, agriculture and science, Seasonality Revisited, and community-led total sanitation.

Selected Projects and Recent Work

• Sharing Lessons, Improving Practice: Maximising the Potential of Community-Led Total Sanitation
• Going to Scale? The Potential of Community-Led Total Sanitation
• Immersions for Aid Practitioners

Thematic Expertise

Agriculture; Learning for Social Change; Participation Methodologies; Power and Empowerment; Poverty.

Geographic Expertise

Central and South Asia; Sub Saharan Africa.

Selected Publications »»

• Chambers, R. (2012) Provocations for Development, Rugby: Practical Action Publishing
• (2011) ''Lukenya Notes': Taking CLTS to Scale with Quality'
• Chambers, R (2010) 'Paradigms, Poverty and Adaptive Pluralism', IDS Research Summary of IDS Working Paper 344, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2010) 'Paradigms, Poverty and Adaptive Pluralism', IDS Working Paper 344, Brighton: IDS
• (2010) '‘The Bamako CLTS Consensus: What Works and Traps to Avoid’, Regional Sharing and Learning Workshop for francophone Africa, Bamako, 29 November – 3 December 2010'
• (2010) '‘Lusaka Declaration’, Statement and Recommendations from the Regional Sharing and Learning Workshop of CLTS Decision-makers, Practitioners and Networkers in Lusaka, World Toilet Day, 19 November 2010 '
• Bongartz, P. and Chambers, R. (2009) 'Beyond Subsidies – Triggering a Revolution in Rural Sanitation', IDS InFocus Policy Briefing 10, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2009) 'Who Counts? The Quiet Revolution of Participation and Numbers', IDS Research Summary of IDS Working Paper 296, Brighton: IDS
• Hossain, N. with Bishop, K., Chambers, R., Carroll, K., Eyben, R., Jolly, R., Melamed, C and Sabates-Wheeler, R. (2009) 'Towards a New Social Justice Agenda: understanding Political responses to crises', IDS InFocus Policy Briefing 11.5, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R (2009) 'Going to Scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on Experience, Issues and Ways Forward (Research Summary)' RSPP1, Brighton:
• Kar, K., Chambers, R. (2009) Handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation, IDS
• Chambers, R. (2009) 'Going to Scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on Experience, Issues and Ways Forward', IDS Practice Paper 2009.1, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R (2008) Revolutions in Development Inquiry, London: Earthscan
• Chambers, R. (2007) 'Who Counts? The Quiet Revolution of Participation and Numbers', IDS Working Paper 296, Brighton: IDS
• Chambers, R. (2007) 'From PRA to PLA to Pluralism: Practice and Theory', IDS Working Paper 286, Brighton: IDS