Comments

Thanks Darian. Yours is certainly a story of academic perseverance paying off. All the best in your future career in the sector! Jonathan

Tom, I share many of your sympathies but I shied away from writing about them as I was either afraid of spreading too much hypocrisy throughout the paper (as I said, this is built off of my own experiences and not meant to be a prescriptive exercise) or I am simply too naive about the issue (particularly when we talk about image, settling in a developing country, what people are looking for in a development career etc). On the point of volunteering in rural communities, I did make the point that any work done in Indigenous communities is valued far greatly than any other volunteering one does overseas. I stopped myself from going too far into the subject because I also have never volunteered in an indigenous communities. I do, however, know many people that have done it and found it very rewarding, and plan on doing it myself at some point in the years to come. Overall, however, I don't think I share your cynicism about what drives people to work in the development sector. From the people I have met in my (limited) career to date they are all passionate and driven to see positive changes for those less fortunate. Or maybe I am just too well sheltered in my ivory tower think tank environment. If you want to flesh out your ideas further (and you are not prevented by your employer to do so) I would encourage you to write a blog for us to keep the conversation alive. Thanks a lot for your comments! Jonathan

Dear Benjamin, Thanks for your comments. I have heard about the oversight mechanisms you have mentioned, and my understanding is that they have started to become effective in improving the coordination of evaluations across government. However, in a way, this is an example of the overlapping M&E mandates I refer to in my article: as you point out, there are now several coordination mechanisms for M&E, each of which has a similar mandate but has different meeting schedules, reporting lines and composition. The risk is that the coordination of M&E might itself in the future become as complex as the M&E system itself, if it is not properly managed. The Baraza program does indeed look very promising, even though it is still in a pilot phase. As I mention in my article, it will be most useful if it becomes a forum for generating change: if the feedback that community members provide to their representatives is properly responded to, and their concerns are acted upon. Time will tell if the program will achieve this goal, but the early indications are positive. Thanks again for your contributions.

I agree with Bryant. I think the SWP is a sham. I have been working on various projects in the Solomon Islands since 2005. Many of the young people we have trained for the People's Survey and the CSP Snapshot would make excellent short-term workers in Australia. They are keen to gain experience in industry, learn new skills and have a bit of fun at the same time. The agents in Honiara charge the applicants for the processing of their requents and nothing happens. If we are serious about improving the lifestyle of the educated urban youth then Australia needs to follow the example of the NZ seasonal worker scheme. Many young people in Honiara think the scheme here was set up to fail and announced by the PM just to keep friendly with the SI government.

I am in PNG at present. I have a young man here who would be ideal for the SWP; hard worker, speaks English and is very keen to work in Australia to gain experience that he would apply back in PNG. But there is no information whatsoever available in PNG as to how to apply. The PNG contact provided on the one web site does not reply and does answer phone calls. DFAT's web page is full of promise but says in a number of places they do not administer the program and applicants should apply in their home country - but there is no information on who to contact. I think 6 PNGeans have worked in Australia so far. The whole scheme is a sham and has only benefited the crooks who have pretended to be agents, have taken the K1500 or so applicants and run off with the money. The SWP is all talk and no do.

Hey Jonathan, Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that volunteering overseas is very useful to those wanting a career in or related to international development (however that is defined!) but it is not essential. I am 26 and currently doing a PhD having completed my undergrad degree in Agricultural Economics. I have spent several months in South Africa for research purposes and have spent short periods in Cambodia and Laos working (really short- just a week or two) but have never volunteered overseas (Only for Oaktree here in Australia). I am towards the end of my PhD and this year I applied for some short term jobs with the World Bank (where I was successful) and for the grad program with AusAID (where I was also successful). While I have never worked substantially- even in a full-time job in Australia, evidently my PhD research and the skills I have developed as a researcher and an economist are enough to get me interesting paid work. (My grades aren't spectacular either, I just have a credit average at USyd) I'v been at uni for 8 years, so can not claim to have any suggestions for a 'fast tracked' career in development, but I do know that there are many pathways into the sector (if you could even call it a sector). I'm sure you will come across a wide variety of stories.

Thanks this good article. However, there are several coordination initiatives including M&E policy spearheaded by the Office of the Prime Minister, the role of National Technical M&E technical working groups and Joint assessment between Development Partners on Half Annual and Annual Government Performance reporting (Cabinet retreats); Government Evaluation Facility on evaluations on Government. There is also Monitoring and oversight sub committee which comprises of Ministry of Finance, National Planning Authority, Ministry of Public Service, etc and the purpose of the subcommittee is among others to streamline M&E in oversight institutions. In addition, sharing of M&E information is already being done by Office of the Prime Minister. It is known as "Barazas" (public information sharing fora). see details here http://www.opm.go.ug/projects/Baraza_Programme.html Otherwise thanks for the good paper.

Hi Jonathan, I'm a few short years into a development career myself. I did a degree in development studies and went off to work in a multilateral, and am now at a donor. I have come slowly to realise what it is I am interested in - something to do with history and languages and social and political change, regardless of where it is. And working on an aid program is a fascinating way to apply and learn about social theory. But I see it as part of a career as a social scientist, not a development worker. And there's something about the idea of wanting a career in development that I find slightly unsettling. If someone are passionate about social justice, then mental health and Indigenous inequality and homelessness are all issues crying out for attention, and they are a damn sight less sexy than a career in aid. But there's much less competition to work in those areas - and it is a hell of a lot easier to make a difference in a culture and society you know than one you don't. Why is a passion for social justice to be selectively applied to exotic places only, particularly when so many of the talented young people competing to work for AusAID could achieve far more if they focused on some of the issues we face in Australia? If they are passionate about a particular country, then they should go and learn the language and live in that country. But the vast majority of expats never even learn the local language properly (obviously there are exceptions) - because they're not committed to the country enough. Indeed, even the career paths in development don't reward you for it. Some people are committed to an issue - health, or law and justice. But then you're not really working in development - you're working in health, and I would say the people I know who fall into this category would happily work on their issue of choice in Sydney or Port Vila or Paris. If we strip away all of these things - it's not really about passion for social justice , it's not about passion for a place, it's not about even having an affinity for a particular technical issue - then what does it mean to want to work in development? I think - and this is where I become really cynical - that it is about people's identity and self-image, that people want to belong to this imagined community of development workers who have a vocation that combines prestige and passion. I realise it's hypocritical of me to be saying this and I'm not by any means attacking you - I've written versions of your article in my head a dozen times. But I do think that this is a conversation that needs to be had. The most provocative thing anyone ever said or did during my degree was to challenge a table of development students to go and work in Indigenous Australia, if they were so fired up about poverty. None of them have. Anyway - this was just some rough thoughts.

Hi Alex, I have been a fan of Chris Blattman and his blog for a some time now (it's always one of the first development blogs I recommend to people, after our own of course!), though I must say I hadn't stumbled across this particular post before. It is good to see that there is a common theme between our two pieces and that I wasn't too far off the mark! I would encourage everyone to look at Blattman's <a href="http://chrisblattman.com/tag/development-jobs/" rel="nofollow">multiple posts</a> on the subject and also this whydev <a href="http://www.whydev.org/career-advice-from-people-smarter-than-me/" rel="nofollow">blog post</a> (which I mention in the paper), both of which are excellent (and likely better) complementary resources. Regards, Jonathan

John, Thanks for the comment. I was unaware that the quote was misattributed. As I said in the paper it was not supposed to be a comprehensive analysis/endeavor and most of the suggestions I made have been drawn out of anecdotal evidence from my own networks and the development experts I know and respect. I will look into removing the quote but still think, based off of the people and knowledge of the sector that I have access to, that the message it conveys is a sound one. Regards, Jonathan

Hi Christina, Thanks a lot for your encouragement. As I mentioned in the post I have written this aimed at what I know, a developed country audience. It is comforting to know that at least some of the points I raise can be useful for you (and hopefully others in a similar situation). Best of luck and thanks again for your encouragement! Regards, Jonathan

Hi John, You raise some important questions and provide very valid points, some of which I have tried to respond to through my reply to Robert below. The next step of this endeavor will be to interview others in the sector and provide a broader narrative on the development sector, so thanks for the encouragement there! Regards, Jonathan