You are here

  1. Home
  2. Professor Hazel Johnson

Professor Hazel Johnson

Hazel Johnson

Profile summary

  • Visiting Informal Academic
  • Emeritus Professor
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences & Global Studies
  • Development
  • hazel.johnson

Professional biography

Hazel Johnson has a background in Sociology, Social Administration and Development Studies. Prior to coming to the OU, she worked for a non-governmental organisation and for social services in London. She is one of the original members of the team producing undergraduate curriculum in international development at the OU, and is one of the founders of the MSc in Development Management. For many years, she was joint managing editor of the Journal of International Development and a Council Member of the Development Studies Association (DSA). She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Trustee of the UK Co-operative College. She is pathway and cluster lead in the Grand Union ESRC doctoral training partnership with Oxford and Brunel Universities.

Research interests

Hazel Johnson’s current research interests focus on aspects of the social and solidarity economy, particularly the role of co-operatives in promoting learning, livelihoods and resilience. In the past she has researched knowledge and social learning for institutional change, including projects on: the impacts of educational programmes in development policy and management on course participants and their organizations in Southern Africa and the UK (with Alan Thomas); active learning and social inclusion in environment and development in Zimbabwe (with Gordon Wilson); and learning and knowledge transfer in North-South municipal partnerships (also with Gordon Wilson). She has supervised doctoral students in the institutionalization of educational change; ethnicity and development; NGO gender policies; knowledge processes engaged in by development consultants and advisers; collective action and innovation; gender and use of mobile phones; women teachers’ lives in rural sub-Saharan Africa; young people's engagement with co-operatives; climate change and forest-based communities; peace education in Uganda; United Nations Integrated Missions; and currently, the role of host country offices of volunteer-sending organisations.

In the OU, Hazel Johnson is a member of the Innovation, Knowledge and Development Centre, the OpenSpace Research Centre, and the International Development and Inclusive Innovation Strategic Research Area.

Teaching interests

Hazel Johnson has been a leader and member of teams creating undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum in Development Studies and Development Management and also contributes to doctoral training. Her contributions to undergraduate curriculum focus primarily on poverty, inequality and livelihoods, including forms of individual and collective action. Her writing for postgraduate curriculum includes contributions to capacities for managing development, institutional development and education for development. She was one of the first directors of the OU’s MSc in Development Management and established its global programme. She has formerly held a British Council Education Partnerships in Africa grant to support innovation education and training in collaboration with the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Kenya. She maintains her interest in the scholarship of active and professional learning. 

Research groups

NameTypeParent Unit
Development Policy and Practice Research GroupGroupFaculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology
OpenSpace Research CentreCentreFaculty of Social Sciences

Publications

Inclusive Development and Co‐operatives (2020-09)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Johnson, Hazel
The European Journal of Development Research, 32 (pp. 976-997)

What makes rural co-operatives resilient in developing countries? (2016-01)
Johnson, Hazel; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Shaw, Linda and Vicari, Sara
Journal of International Development, 28(1) (pp. 89-111)

Rethinking rural co-operatives in development: introduction to the policy arena (2014-07-01)
Johnson, Hazel and Shaw, Linda
Journal of International Development, 26(5) (pp. 668-682)

Learning to co-operate: youth engagement with the co-operative revival in Africa (2013-10-24)
Hartley, Sally and Johnson, Hazel
European Journal of Development Research ((Advance Online Publication))

Development on my terms: development consultants and knowledge for development (2013-08-30)
Borda-Rodriguez, A. and Johnson, H.
Public Administration and Development, 33(5) (pp. 343-356)

Developmental education for innovation: lessons from an experience in Kenya (2013)
Adwera, Andrew; Hanlin, Rebecca and Johnson, Hazel
International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 6(3) (pp. 244-261)

Engagement, learning and emancipatory development management: a commentary (2012)
Johnson, Hazel; Pinder, Richard and Wilson, Gordon
Journal of International Development, 24(5) (pp. 623-636)

Learning and mutuality in municipal partnerships and beyond: a focus on northern partners (2009-04)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Habitat International, 33(2) (pp. 210-217)

Communities of practice and international development (2007-10)
Johnson, Hazel
Progress in Development Studies, 7(4) (pp. 277-290)

Sustainable development and African local government: can electronic training help build capacities? (2007-06)
Johnson, Hazel and Thomas, Alan
Compare: A journal of comparative education, 37(4) (pp. 447-462)

Knowledge, learning and practice in North-South practitioner-to-practitioner municipal partnerships (2007-04)
Wilson, Gordon and Johnson, Hazel
Local Government Studies, 33(2) (pp. 253-269)

Individual learning and building organisational capacity for development (2007-02)
Johnson, Hazel and Thomas, Alan
Public Administration and Development, 27(1) (pp. 39-48)

North-South/South-North partnerships: closing the 'mutuality gap' (2006-02)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Public Administration and Development, 26(1) (pp. 71-80)

Connecting people and places: spaces for thinking, learning, knowledge and action (2006)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Journal of International Development, 18(6) (pp. 747-755)

Professional capacity and organizational change as measures of educational effectiveness: assessing the impact of postgraduate education in development policy and management (2004-09)
Johnson, Hazel and Thomas, Alan
Compare: A journal of comparative education, 34(3) (pp. 301-314)

Biting the bullet: civil society, social learning and the transformation of local governance (2000-11)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
World Development, 28(11) (pp. 1891-1906)

Institutional sustainability: community and waste management in Zimbabwe (2000-04)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Futures, 32(3) (pp. 301-316)

Guest Editors of Special Edition on 'Development Management' (1999-02)
Hewitt, Tom; Johnson, Hazel and Eade, Deborah
Development in Practice, 9(1-2)

Institutional sustainability as learning (1999-02)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Development in Practice, 9(1/2) (pp. 43-55)

Guest editors' introduction: development management in practice (1999-02)
Hewitt, Tom and Johnson, Hazel
Development in Practice, 9(1/2) (pp. 7-8)

Vulnerability to food insecurity among Honduran maize farmers: Challenges for the 1990s (1996-09)
Johnson, Hazel
Journal of International Development, 8(5) (pp. 667-682)

El Salvador: background to the struggle (1980)
Lapper, Richard and Johnson, Hazel
Race and Class, 22(1) (pp. 63-75)

Learning for Development (2009)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Development Matters
ISBN : 978-1-84813-198-9 | Publisher : Zed Books | Published : London

Exchange relations and food security: maize and maize markets in Honduras (2000)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Bastiaensen, Johan and Ruben, Ruerd eds. Rural Development in Central America: Markets, Livelihoods and Rural Governance (pp. 21-38)
ISBN : 9780333739723 | Publisher : Palgrave McMillan | Published : London, UK

Local forms of resistance - weapons of the weak (2000)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Allen, Tim and Skelton, Tracy eds. Culture and Global Change (pp. 159-166)
ISBN : 0-415-13917-1 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

Investigation as empowerment: using participatory methods (1998-05)
Johnson, H. and Mayoux, L.
In: Thomas, Alan; Chataway, Jo and Wuyts, Marc eds. Finding out Fast: Investigative Skills for Policy Development (pp. 147-172)
ISBN : 0-7619-5837-1 | Publisher : Sage | Published : London, UK

Food insecurity as a sustainability issue: lessons from Honduran maize farming (1997-08)
Johnson, Hazel
In: De Groot, Jan. P. and Ruben, Ruerd eds. Sustainable Agriculture in Central America (pp. 89-107)
ISBN : 0-312-17555-8 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London, UK

Rural livelihoods: action from below (1992-07)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Bernstein, Henry; Crow, Ben and Johnson, Hazel eds. Rural Livelihoods: Crises and Responses (pp. 274-300)
ISBN : 0-19-877335-8 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Introduction (1992)
Hewitt, Tom; Johnson, Hazel and Wield, David
In: Hewitt, Tom and Wield, David eds. Industrialization and Development (pp. 1-9)
ISBN : 0-19-877333-1 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Conclusions (1992)
Hewitt, Tom; Johnson, Hazel and Wield, David
In: Hewitt, Tom and Wield, David eds. Industrialization and Development (pp. 303-315)
ISBN : 0-19-877333-1 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Public action and women's empowerment: experiences from Latin America (1992)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Wuyts, Marc; Mackintosh, Maureen and Hewitt, Tom eds. Development Policy and Public Action (pp. 147-172)
ISBN : 0-19-877337-4 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Developing Production on the Land (1988-08)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Crow, Ben; Thorpe, Mary and Wield, David eds. Survival and Change in the Third World (pp. 127-146)
ISBN : 9780195207163 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : UK

Survival and Change on the Land (1988)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Crow, Ben; Thorpe, Mary and Wield, David eds. Survival and Change in the Third World (pp. 147-162)
ISBN : 0-7456-0166-9 | Publisher : UK | Published : Oxford University Press

Kvinnekampen i Chile ('The Women's Struggle in Chile') (1973)
Johnson, Hazel
In: Hareide, Dag ed. Chile: Pa Vei Til Sosialismen (pp. 71-87)
ISBN : 82-530-0522-9 | Publisher : Pax Forlag | Published : Oslo

Work, Female Empowerment and Economic Development (2008-02)
Horrell, Sara; Johnson, Hazel and Mosley, Paul eds.
Routledge Studies in Development Economics
ISBN : 978-0-415-43757-8 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

Development and Management (2000-01-01)
Eade, Deborah; Hewitt, Tom and Johnson, Hazel eds.
Development in Practice Readers
ISBN : 0-85598-4295 | Publisher : Oxfam Publications | Published : Oxford, UK

Rural Livelihoods: Crises and Responses (1992-07)
Bernstein, Henry; Crow, Ben and Johnson, Hazel eds.
ISBN : 0-19-877335-8 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Gender Relations and Agrarian Change (1991)
Johnson, H.; Bernstein, H.; Hakimian, H.; Jackson, C. and Redclift, N. eds.
London University External Programme
ISBN : 0-86266-121-8 | Publisher : Wye College | Published : London, UK

Third World Lives of Struggle (1982)
Johnson, Hazel and Bernstein, Henry eds.
ISBN : 0-435-96130-6 | Publisher : Heinemann | Published : London, UK

Beyond means and ends: learning, engagement and towards an emancipatory development management (2011-09)
Johnson, Hazel; Pinder, Richard and Wilson, Gordon
In : EADI-DSA 2011 Conference (13th EADI General Conference): Rethinking Development in an Age of Scarcity and Uncertainty: New Values, Voices and Alliances for Increased Resilience (19-22 Sep 2011, York, UK)

Reshaping inclusive development? The case of cooperative enterprises (2015-08)
Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander and Johnson, Hazel
The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Education for development policy and management: impacts on individual and organizational capacity-building (2003-10)
Johnson, Hazel and Thomas, Alan
, UK.

Biting the Bullet: Civil Society, Social Learning and the Transformation of Local Governance (2000)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Development Policy and Practice Research Group, Faculty of Technology, The Open University

Performance, learning and sustaining: reflections on development management for sustainable development (1998)
Johnson, Hazel and Wilson, Gordon
Development Policy and Practice Research Group, Faculty of Technology, The Open University