Comments

How wonderful to read such a frank account of what actually happens in development work. A far cry from the sterile and sanitised accounts found in formal project reports and evaluations. It illustrates how far the linear, 'logical' approach to development, set out in program plans and frameworks, is from the complex reality of the lives of the people we work with. I am sure most of us reading this excellent post will have experienced pangs of conscience when we read the words: "Farmers (may we also say health workers, teachers, and others?) often complained, however, that they saw too many agents from projects who said they were visiting to learn from the people and then neither listened nor waited long enough to learn anything. Too many untrained, uninvited, visiting oxen trampled on their hope that privileged strangers cared enough to help." And, as John concludes: "So much to learn and so many to be taught. In this quest, detachment is a sensible strategy." But I wonder if such detachment is ever possible, or even desirable.

This is a great comment, thanks for contributing. You've laid out some really sound ideas that I agree with. But I think it would be really difficult for most volunteers to meet a KPI that was related to this lofty idea that a volunteer is supposed to build the long-term ability of an organisation to manage its own affairs, for example (depending on the role). You'd be setting a lot of people up to fail. And this is the trouble--you have to get the expectations of the program right and clear before you can start setting any sort of performance measures on volunteers. The program is still confused, still aiming for the stars instead of some level of practicality, and the evaluation seemed to recommend even more whimsy on the type of capacity building that it should be aiming for. So when I mentioned a stripping back of formal expectation in the program, I was meaning at this higher level. Isn't it enough that the volunteer program makes a very positive contribution to development? Why should we expect more and more from it? This seems to be what drives unrealistic assignment descriptions that are littered with aid-world jargon rather than practicality and reality, for example. The evaluation also didn't say much on what the partners paid to deliver the program should be doing. A lot more on what volunteers should be doing, but not on the structural issues in the program that make the 'job' of the volunteer more challenging. So basically, in my view there needs to be a clearing up of the expectations all around. Until these are cleared up, I would be surprised if we saw any progress on the areas you have mentioned in your very thoughtful comment. The ODE evaluation (which is what I was writing in response to) didn't put forward strong ideas on how to fix these problems.

Thank you Ashlee for your article, i m in Siem Reap right now and was planning to visit the Tonle Sap with my family tomorrow. I was doing my research and thanks to you i know what i have to do and what i have to avoid. Kindly, Philippe

Narratives to bring back the human voice in particular. SenseMaker is one approach that places people's experiences at the centre. We've worked with thousands of girls stories, <a href="http://www.girleffect.org/news/2013/10/sensemaker-insights-girls-in-ethiopia/" rel="nofollow">for example</a>, in Rwanda and Ethiopia, to bring what I call 'voices in the room' so those with the power to decide can no longer ignore girls' lives. Other resources are available <a href="http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/amplifying_local_voices1" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://www.ipdet.org/files/2012%20Guest%20Lectures/Guijt_Guest_Lecture.pdf" rel="nofollow">here</a>. But like any approach, it is easy to say 'let's collect narratives' and <a href="http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/media/publications/sensemaker_r_experience_a_method_tested_and_rejected" rel="nofollow">rather more difficult</a> to embed this systematically in organisations. The Most Significant Change method has also gained much popularity in development circles to avoid the dehumanising of results and reports. And there are many others

Thank you for the points that were raised on your discussion paper on the above topic. I was one of the first graduates of APTC in Port Vila, Vanuatu when the college was first opened, in Cert IV, Training and Assessment (TAA). I could not agree more as for many graduates, there remained lack of opportunities to move ahead. What they got was a Certificate that said that it fitted the Australian Qualification Training Framework and is recognized here in Australia but opportunities to come here are non existent. Having said that, there is also the other side of the argument that not all graduates had the desire to move either regionally and or overseas and I think that was mentioned in your paper. One of the aims of APTC was for labor mobility but the other which should also have equal emphasis is the up-skilling. After graduation, I was the President of the Alumni association for APTC graduates from Vanuatu and there was a sense that we were fortunate to get the training but wanted to promote this to other communities, towns and villages to ensure others also benefited. And we set about this by beginning to plan for programs that enabled us to use the skills that we had learned and give back to the community. The Carpentry graduates volunteered to make bookshelves for the local library and built seats and tables in the public parks and kids playground and so forth. What we lacked was the funding to support us in this initiative even though several requests had been made to APTC headquarters. The other aspect that is worth mentioning is the request for these graduates to go on a sort of "apprentice program" for short periods. This would enable them to practice the skills they had achieved and at the same time prepare them for the testing requirements that are necessary for obtaining the appropriate visa's to migrate overseas. And more importantly for countries in the Pacific, is the experience and skills they can pass on others. Perhaps this opportunity maybe realized for the Hospitality graduates in the Seasonal Workers Program (SWP), should Australia decide to open up its tourism sector under this scheme in the future but for other graduates in Automotive, TAA and Carpentry, that possibility remains bleak.

Interesting to read this and the associated comments by the World Bank about its own publications not being read. Can I suggest that it is an issue that is current across academia, about research impact ? It's otherwise called knowledge translation and Professor John Lavis at Canada's McMaster University has developed many useful methods of proceeding from knowledge translation to knowledge broking. The Chief Scientist of New Zealand (Professor Sir Peter Gluckman) has also been active on this theme of science into policy. There always seems a great deal of tension between a professionally-written document that advances the writer's academic career and the ultimate impact on the intended readership, much less the demonstrable uptake in the associated policy.

It should also be noted that MMV received $2.5 million from the Australian government, with the agreement continuing until the end of the financial year.

Hi Ashlee, An interesting post. As a former AYAD (circa 2007-08), i can empathise with a number of your points. On capacity building - as my own career has progressed, it's become increasingly evident that 'capacity building' is a medium-long term ambition. And volunteer roles are partly defined by being relatively short term. Seeing any tangible outcomes in 6-12 months is in many/most cases a pretty unrealistic expectation. What you actually get, assuming the volunteer has both the skillset and organisational support to do any 'capacity building' (two big 'if's), is a series of short term outputs - training sessions, 'mentoring' sessions, edited/translated documents etc. With volunteer roles focusing on capacity building, it strikes me that this is only going to be both effective and sustainable if it's part of a broader institutional engagement (ie between DFAT, host-org, and partner org). By being part of a broader strategy, volunteer roles can be both responsive to what's happened before, and help lay the groundwork for what's going to happen afterwards. I suspect this would entail a more cohesive, long term approach than is currently the case. Capacity building should also be regarded as a distinct skill, and one that your average 25-29 year old volunteer probably hasn't been exposed to much previously. There are a range of different approaches that can be taken. If we're serious about this part of volunteer assignments, than it might make sense that specific training is provided for all volunteers on how to design and deliver capacity building activities. A few years sitting behind a desk in Canberra, or doing a Masters in development studies, probably isn't very good preparation for having to build the capacity of staff/an organisation in an environment very different in terms of culture, language and resources. From my experience, a focus on tangible skills during the Canberra-based training or in-country orientation might be far more beneficial than the more generic introductions they usually entail, particularly for those volunteers who already have experience in that country or more broadly in aid/development.

These cuts are disappointing and concerning. On a separate but somewhat related matter, many NGOs have, or in the process of shifting the focus of their advocacy to be demand-driven approaches - i.e. NGOs support/facilitate citizen action in the country where there is an inadequacy, enabling citizens to demand and hold their Government accountable for their human rights. Media, of course, is one part of facilitating citizen action, and you make mention of the multiplying effect of stories first heard on Pacific Beat spreading across Pacific Media. Will there now be one less channel by which NGOs can work with citizens on a large scale to inform them of their rights and to build awareness and support for such issues? (Of course there will still be Pacific Media, but stories will be less-easily picked up from interviews on Pacific Beat, for example).

It is wonderful to see this sort of detailed funding analysis published AND promoted. Hopefully this will be a very useful tool for both government staff and community activists working to improve services in PNG.

Maree Excellent development in your GDLN Networking , many idea that we can reply , please let me know iy you have chance in your agenda to have a videoconference with GDLN America Board, to share ideas and experiences between Asia and LAC GDLN , Thanks for sharing this document , I will sent to all the members, Anna Karina Barboza GDLN Americas

How much annually does it cost to run Radio Australia and Pacific Beat?