Comments

Thanks! Road maintenance involves remedying defects such as potholes that occur in the carriageway from time to time (corrective maintenance) and providing treatments such as crack sealing which will slow the rate of deterioration (preventative maintenance).

Nice piece. I have thought about the exact issue - sharing my research findings with the study participants, and have started sharing my findings as short public health information on my Facebook page. Thanks a lot.

Thank you Dr Rooney for this interesting blog post. I also shared my PhD findings with the people of the two key villages in Madang Province of Papua New Guinea where I conducted my research. For each village, I printed a bound version of the thesis and also asked the printers to create a hard cover box for the thesis in the same colour, to protect it in the village setting. I also took and left in each village the various publications, newspaper articles and so on that had mentioned the research. In each village, I gave an oral presentation, explaining the process and the findings in Tok Pisin, and introducing and passing around the various materials. The villagers were delighted that I had "brought the name of our village to the world", as they said it in Tok Pisin. I think they were thrilled to see their ideas and photographs of the village in print. Thanks again for this blog post. I will share it with the students in the research methods course that I am currently teaching at the University of Papua New Guinea. Dr Amanda H A Watson

Thankyou Andrea. Happy to engage with the blogs and share some of our learnings about adaptive programming. Looking forward to more discussions.

Thank you Margaret. It was interesting to read that some of the challenges you discuss in the Zambia context- research fatigue, helicopter researchers with preconceived ideas, and over researched communities - resonate with the PNG context. Thank you for sharing it.

Thank you Alice. I hope it helps. The more people I speak to I realise that this is something many researchers think about so it's good to know we are not alone.

Thank you Anna for your kind words. Still so much more we researchers can do to share our research with communities. Tenkiu tru

Hi Oliver, Thank you. I agree with you that simplicity is best. Glad you like these ones although I do wish I had the time to translate it as well as more time to workshop the research findings. I left several copies with different people and at the school and hope they will be used. I also left lots of paint and canvases at the school and hopefully the students might do some of their own posters - this, I would have loved to spend more time with. The Port Moresby GIS maps were prepared by the very excellent ANU CartoGIS team. Cheers, Michelle

Hi Elizabeth, Thank you. Interestingly village courts were only mentioned in very few cases). The table fees that women mentioned are mainly in reference the settlement komitis. The relationship between the various services is important and I think there is much more to be understood. We are hoping to get a few more emerging results out soon. I think there is a need for more understanding on how women navigate between the different services.

Hi John! I’m really pleased that you’re engaging with the blogs. You are one of the people we are learning from about the value of adaptive programming in PNG. The way you work and the results you get when you are able to be flexible and respond to changes in context on the ground is really impressive. I hope we can engage with you more to learn from your approach (including the challenges you face in working adaptively and how others can support these ways of working).

Have been following adaptive programming with interest, and this is another great article from the 3. I work in the front line of implementation in aid program in PNG for many years now, and can attest that programming which is informed by proper research and learning always has a place, but unfortunately never given the proper place and space to grow. The diversity of PNG provides a challenge in aid programing, but it also provides a great research and learning environment, so as other diverse contexts in other countries I would think . Positive deviants from aid programs are also many, as well general learnings from implementations, something that can be nurtured, promoted, and importantly inform policies and aid thinking and approaches. This can be done through a solid research and learning strategy that forms an integral part of a given aid program. Adaptive programming approach provides a conducive research and learning environment, and also provides the opportunity to do 'development differently', and is promising.

Very interesting article. M&E and L is an integral part of programming. Adaptive programming just took it further, and try to make M&E and L more realistic and relevant, I believe. With multiple sources of data collection and analysis, and at various points and levels, should provide an holistic picture of the change story, and value for money- something donor programs are pressed to account for in an adaptive and complex environment. Also agree that Logframe approach is limiting in evaluating human interactions and social change, in which 'context' plays an important role, and use and application of, 'thinking and working politically', and political economy analysis, among others are necessary.