Comments

Satish, I drink kava pretty much every evening and agree with you about its importance - but it tastes foul, even after 18 years - come visit us soon and we will have a shell!

Any discussion that blatantly glosses over O'Neill's corruption, as this one does, is a worthless discussion. This is a gross insult to all those individuals, institutions and organisations that are fighting the overwhelming evil of corruption in PNG.

Tess, thanks for this update. We have many friends and relatives in Vanuatu and our thoughts and prayers are with them. The ni-Vans will bounce back: wait just six months to see the return of the food, the festivities, and the lush bush that you miss now. My lone qualm with your story is the claim that kava is "the most foul tasting substance you would ever voluntarily put in your mouth". I drink kava every week, Vanuatu kava is the best around (hard for a Fijian to admit though), and I pay good money for the product. And the drink is desperately needed to soothe the pains of Pam right now - taki!

Hi, The points you raise are critical to the development endeavour and much broader than my specific contribution in this book. You ask, what do we do when religious/cultural values don’t align with those of mainstream Western development. Well, for those who believe in grassroots development the answer should be that we don’t impose our values on others, but of course communities are not homogenous units but complex constellations of individuals some who may welcome Western development and others who don’t. This leads into the much more complex debate of whether all aid is a universal right or only humanitarian aid being universal and development assistance being an extension of Western values, the former being apolitical the latter highly political. Rather than arguing a particular perspective, my book offers a model that offers insights into the extent of the assistance that religious groups could offer in the statebuilding endeavour and then providing insights into how to better understand the relevant doctrines of two religions in relation to post-conflict statebuilding, but I leave it to individuals to interpret for their particular situation whether this is to be used as a tool to avoid potential challenges from religious groups or as a means of better tailoring assistance to believer’s hopes and aspirations. As for religion and culture, yes I agree that religion is a factor that shapes the broader concept of culture, but its a particularly important one that seems to be wilfully taken off of our radar. Its as if there is an unwritten rule that allows for discussions of tribal structures, traditions and practices but none that may fall under the rubric of religion and in particular if its one of the major religions. Thanks for your comment. Please note that the first chapter of my book is available for free from the Palgrave site.

Very interesting and important post. I absolutely agree that organizations need to recognize the value of people's time and labor, particularly in the case of research, which likely will not bring any benefit to the participants. In Timor-Leste and elsewhere in Asia/Pacific, is the norm for attendants at such meetings not to receive any compensation at all? In many places I've worked in Africa, meetings like these would provide meals, in-kind gifts, or per diems - some type of compensation. It's almost the opposite of what's described in the article, as per diems for say, a 2-hour meeting can easily be the equivalent of multiple days of labor. It became clear in many cases that people attended almost solely for the goods/money they would receive simply for showing up. I'm curious whether this is a regional difference or difference in who the largest donors are in each region, or perhaps due to the aid industry having a larger presence and longer history in some parts of Africa?

Thanks Tess for the article. It is a great summary of the very changed situation here in our island home. The speed at which the people have come together to get things up and running is impressive to say the least. As you say there are many challenges ahead in the rebuilding of Vanuatu after Pam. I am optimistic and even more so after witnessing the initial response of the people in the first stages of recovery.

Denis, thanks so much for this post -- I agree that religion is a hugely underrepresented topic in development, and I look forward to reading your book. Certainly it would be fantastic if development agencies and practitioners routinely sought a deeper understanding of the religious contexts in which they work, with the goal of identifying those mutual 'hopes and ambitions' you mention. But I wonder if I could press you a little bit more on 'what now?', in those cases where religious/cultural values don't align with those of mainstream Western development. Do we (development agencies/workers) just have to walk away? I'm thinking particularly of issues of power and oppression within religious communities, and the risk that we might overlook these by accepting the most dominant interpretation of values. More generally: should (or indeed can) we consider 'religious' and 'cultural' values as separable? Personally I am inclined to think of religious belief/practice as inextricable from culture, and vice versa. Should those working in development approach 'religion' differently from 'culture'?

Yes, it's good that we finally know what "Indo-Pacific" means. It will be even less of a stretch for the government to stay above 90 per cent than we thought. However, even as precisified, this geographic term is unhelpful. Touching shared oceans is hardly a sensible criterion for aid rationing. What's more, this property is absent in the case of a few recipients -- Afghanistan, Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal -- and present in the case of quite a few poor non-recipients -- Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar and Yemen to the west, and various struggling countries in Central America to the north-east. (Presumably the Red Sea nations of Sudan and Eritrea will be at a disadvantage because they face a mere inlet of the Indian Ocean.) Assuming that none of the currently excluded Indo-Pacific countries will partake of Australia's aid budget anytime soon, it would have been better to stick with the line that we are primarily an Asia-Pacific donor, and explain bilateral support outside our region on a case by case basis, without reference to ocean views.

Oh - sorry. That last comment was fro me not jo. I posted using her iPad and auto complete did the rest. Terence

I applaud the World Bank for its wake up call and encouragement to Australia to open its gates to Pacific Islanders especially people from Kiribati and Solomon Islands who are severely affected by the effects of climate change and sea level rise. It is true that if Australia should adopt the New Zealand Pacific Access Quota it would make a lot of difference to the lives of Pacific families who has experienced hardship and poverty due to the effects of climate change. Not only that but Australia could really benefit from the inputs of Pacific Islanders who are honest and hard workers. Cheers.

Thanks Chris, Just quickly as I am on a supposedly computer free beach holiday. If I had to recommend one work of fiction with much relevance for development and change I would say the Wire. maybe somewhat depressing when it comes to illustrating how hard it is to change things but also excellent at showing how complex the world is and how rigid structural factors are. And there are still small wins amongst everything. There is a good book on the wire and public health policy which shows that some of the successes in real world Baltimore have been bigger than one might take from the fiction alone.

Could not agree with you more about the power of fiction. We use <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalDevelopment/pdf/WP/WP61.pdf" rel="nofollow">this great paper</a> by Lewis, Rodgers and Woolcock in one subject of our Master of International Development at La Trobe. We then get students to read one of a growing list of novels we have selected and write a reflexive piece on what thoughts about social change have been provoked by the book. It seems to work well. I was thinking of doing something similar using <a href="http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-6491" rel="nofollow">this paper</a> by the same authors on cinema and development. Maybe you could get the ball going with a review from developmental/social change perspective of a recent movie. Selma? Pride? Other suggestions anyone?