This blog is dedicated to international development: a field where
technology, innovation and compassion marry and give birth to sustainable and
equitable futures. I have borrowed the name of this blog from a 19th century
poem, "Scholar gipsy" written by Matthew Arnold. In this poem he chronicled the experiences of
the titular hero, a young student who leaves the prestigious University of
Oxford, to spend his life with a band of gypsies. You can reach the poem here . When I was growing
up, this poem had a tremendous and very inspirational effect on me. In my
opinion, there is an inner gipsy in all of us, trying to migrate to his or her
own place of comfort. All of us, on some level want an equitable world free of
racism, prejudices and stereotypes. For me, that world is my profession:
International Development.
International development, in its essence is a change-making process. It is much more than just feeding the hungry or clothing the poor. It is about building the capacity of the bottom of the pyramid. The very nature of this profession makes a development practitioner a nomad. These modern ‘global nomads’ are individuals with highly developed intellectual sense, degrees from respected Western universities, varied academic backgrounds and diverse technical skill sets. They are all set to make this world a sustainable place for a better tomorrow.
Recently, I listened to a talk given by popular Turkish author Elif Safak in which she talked about self created walls and circles which hinder us from finding a mutual ground with other people. Although, she comes from a writing background, her talk inspired me to try to remove my own barriers, break my own walls and come out of my own personal circles.
International development is also the field for the dreamy-eyed author whose heart is filled with hope for a better tomorrow. Being a person of color who immigrated to Canada at age 17, I have first hand dealt with the issues of identity crisis, immersing in an entirely new culture and dealing with an increased self knowledge. My story is filled with raw and powerful emotions and I am sure every person in this world has an equally or perhaps more meaningful story which I want to know more about. In my role of a development practitioner, I would like to highlight the importance of stories, cultural diversity and the role these things play in international development.
Stories have the power to change the world like nothing else can. The best way for a development worker to obtain meaningful, powerful and inspirational stories is field work. In my opinion, a working pair of legs is the best aide of a development worker. A casual, long stroll through the streets, alleyways, boulevards and avenues of a city reveal everything that needs development. Hidden gems like graffiti, old buildings, bazaars, markets, school going children, loitering adults, they all make the fabric of a city. They also help the development worker to get down from the ivory towers of academic research and trillions of reports to identify with the living, breathing mosaic of the world. My intention is not to demean the importance of research and academic writing in anyway. I just want to complement research with right amount of human interaction, which is why; I love the opportunity of doing fieldwork in an actual developmental setting. This opportunity is being given to me by my alma mater, University of Waterloo, for which I am truly grateful. I cannot wait to share my experiences with you.
International development, in its essence is a change-making process. It is much more than just feeding the hungry or clothing the poor. It is about building the capacity of the bottom of the pyramid. The very nature of this profession makes a development practitioner a nomad. These modern ‘global nomads’ are individuals with highly developed intellectual sense, degrees from respected Western universities, varied academic backgrounds and diverse technical skill sets. They are all set to make this world a sustainable place for a better tomorrow.
Recently, I listened to a talk given by popular Turkish author Elif Safak in which she talked about self created walls and circles which hinder us from finding a mutual ground with other people. Although, she comes from a writing background, her talk inspired me to try to remove my own barriers, break my own walls and come out of my own personal circles.
International development is also the field for the dreamy-eyed author whose heart is filled with hope for a better tomorrow. Being a person of color who immigrated to Canada at age 17, I have first hand dealt with the issues of identity crisis, immersing in an entirely new culture and dealing with an increased self knowledge. My story is filled with raw and powerful emotions and I am sure every person in this world has an equally or perhaps more meaningful story which I want to know more about. In my role of a development practitioner, I would like to highlight the importance of stories, cultural diversity and the role these things play in international development.
Stories have the power to change the world like nothing else can. The best way for a development worker to obtain meaningful, powerful and inspirational stories is field work. In my opinion, a working pair of legs is the best aide of a development worker. A casual, long stroll through the streets, alleyways, boulevards and avenues of a city reveal everything that needs development. Hidden gems like graffiti, old buildings, bazaars, markets, school going children, loitering adults, they all make the fabric of a city. They also help the development worker to get down from the ivory towers of academic research and trillions of reports to identify with the living, breathing mosaic of the world. My intention is not to demean the importance of research and academic writing in anyway. I just want to complement research with right amount of human interaction, which is why; I love the opportunity of doing fieldwork in an actual developmental setting. This opportunity is being given to me by my alma mater, University of Waterloo, for which I am truly grateful. I cannot wait to share my experiences with you.
I definitely agree. The difference between research and walking the target neighbourhood is huge and has aspects that just do not transfer. The physical experience contributes so much more to your knowledge.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThanks Katiana, for your feedback. I appreciate that.
So what do you think is hindering all development workers and people trying to 'solve development problems' from walking through the problems firsthand to see what will be most effective in solving the issues, if this is better than regular research?
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Thanks for your comment.
Second, I don't think anything is hindering us. In my opinion, most of the decision-makers of development process(donors,governments,bureaucrats) are usually ignorant of many development issues (or prioritizing them),which is understandable. We as development workers, however, are the machinery of the developmental process so it is important for us to know of issues firsthand so we can candidly and honestly report them to proper stakeholders for maximum efficiency. And that is the reason why after three years of report writing, I really want to meet and see the people about whom I have been writing for so long. As I said earlier, I do not have anything against research(considering the fact it is conducted by people who do it firsthand), but I am mostly in positions where I am using secondary research instead of primary research. Knowing the problems firsthand and fieldwork will just put the human face to the research making it much more comprehensible and real.
I hope my comment answered your question. If not, you are welcome to leave your questions/comments/concerns/suggestions here.
Once Again, Thanks and Have a good day.
So you feel it is the development workers that must take the responsibility to pass on the information surrounding issues that we have gathered through primary research and fieldwork to the decision makers? Is this just providing an excuse for the decision-makers of development processes to be ignorant of the development issues? If they are the ones making the decisions, shouldn't that be part of their prerogative to be fully informed regarding what they are making decisions about??
ReplyDeleteAs I said earlier, it all comes down to delegation of tasks. The donors and decision makers are definitely the ones who need information but will they be able to collect all that information firsthand? I do not think it is an excuse, I just think its our job to be the messengers and their job is to be donors and stakeholders.
DeleteSumbal, I think your philosophy is wonderful. Textbooks and papers can't hold every detail to a topic, and they're not that awesome at describing sentiments. It hearkens back to that idiom of taking a walk in someone else's shoes if you want to understand their strife. Also love the hidden gems bit; it's like you're looking at the bricks, or maybe the cracks in the bricks, instead of just looking at the house.
ReplyDeleteThanks Becca for liking my post. Please come back for more.
DeleteHmmm! Interesting. Agree that stories does have a wider impact n ofcourse field work in any walk of life could help u gain a true insight of almost anything.
ReplyDelete