Hendrik Visser
Visiting Faculty
Biography
Hendrik Visser has worked for over thirty years in international development and he has lived for 26 years in Bhutan. Hendrik works as a free-lance development practitioner in the Asia, Pacific and African regions and he employs a holistic systems view in areas as Public Sector Reform, Local Governance, Basic Service Delivery, community empowerment, Civil Society strengthening, and Climate Change. Hendrik has a passion for social and behavioral change as well as shaping transformative change processes and team retreats. Hendrik provides a reflective learning course at the JSWLaw on ‘environmental ethics and animal welfare’, which explores human’s value attachment to nature and animals from a Buddhist and Gross National Happiness perspective, as well as from a ‘western’ Judaeo-Christian mind. The course also explores how different worldviews lead to divergence in Animal Welfare and environmental laws.
Hendrik is also a founding board-member and director of the civil society organization Bhutan Animal Rescue and Care and he is actively engaged in facilitating dialogue in Bhutan on the role of civil society and its contribution to Bhutan’s development. Hendrik has an MSc in Sustainable Development (Imperial College London), an MSc in Civil Construction Management (Delft University) and a BSc in Civil Engineering.
Areas of Interest
Hendrik has a passion for social and behavioral change as well as shaping transformative change processes, from a perspective of individuals as well as collective systems. He is especially interested in social determinants of Human’s relationship with nature and animals
Publications
Making Local Institutions Work for People and the Nation, The Druk Journal, Perspectives on local government, Volume 8, Issue 2, 2022.
Capacity Development Strategy for Gross National Happiness, a Strategy for Local Governance in Bhutan, Department of Local Governance Bhutan, March 2011.
Capacities at multiple levels and the need for connection, Chapter three of ‘Capacity Development in Practice – A resource for professionals’, Earthscan Publications, 2010.
Bridging the micro-macro gap – gaining capacity by connecting levels of development action, Chapter 12 in ‘Capacity Development in Practice – A resource for professionals’, Jan Ubels, Rinus van Klinken, Hendrik Visser, 2010.
Human development for happiness in Bhutan – Capacitating human systems through compassionate relationships, Thesis MSc Sustainable Development, September 2009.
Multi-stakeholder sector development and complex change facilitation; the case of Environmental Friendly Roads in Bhutan. Hendrik Visser, Ingrid Richter, 2009.
Courses
Hendrik provides a reflective learning course on ‘Environmental Ethics and Animal Welfare’, which explores human’s value attachment to nature and animals from a Buddhist and Gross National Happiness perspective, as well as from a ‘western’ Judaeo-Christian mind.
Period: Spring 2021 and Spring 2022.
Education History
Hendrik has an MSc in Sustainable Development (Imperial College London), an MSc in Civil Construction Management (Delft University) and a BSc in Civil Engineering (Leeuwarden College).