Earlier in the year, we put together a collection of our favourite posts to the Devpolicy Blog that were focused on the Pacific island region (excluding PNG) during 2013 and the first half of 2014. It includes a selection from the ‘Pacific Conversations’ series and also looked at a wide variety of topics including labour mobility, regionalism, service delivery, agriculture and the rule of law in Nauru.
As well as making it available online [pdf] we had a batch printed. People that attended the Pacific Update in June took a lot of them away and a boxful was sent to Vanuatu. We’ve used our networks and opportunities that have presented themselves to take one very modest publication to places and people it might not otherwise have reached.
Since we started strategically sharing this product it has found its way into the hands of regional educators (and next year will be in the Law Library of the University of the South Pacific), community influencers and the prime minister of Vanuatu (see photo). We have negotiated for it to be included on the e-platform in Vanuatu as a teaching and learning resource for those secondary schools with internet connections. And it is currently under review by Vanuatu’s Curriculum Development Unit as a potential teaching resource for next year (for those teaching Development Studies to Year 11 students).
We also gave a couple of copies to the Pacific Division of DFAT when we met with them to discuss aid to the Pacific several weeks ago.
There are some important lessons to learn from this exercise. One is that no matter how internet focused we may be, people like to have things in hard copy to share with others, to scribble on, or to photocopy for students. The other is that there is a whole lot more to sharing knowledge than simply publishing it. There are many tools available to help with getting products like this to people but it seems that one of the most effective remains handing it over (everyone loves a present!).
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