#dc#dc comics#batman#bruce wayne#dick grayson#dc fanart#dc universe#tim drake#batfam#batfamily
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Why development workers should read children’s books by Weh Yeoh of whydev.org
Ideas please! Help shape the next “How Matters Hub”
“For all of us who are in the ‘change the world’ business, we seldom reflect on our own attitudes and behaviours as donors, facilitators, managers, experts, technocrats. Yet we want to see change in the attitudes and behaviours of those we serve?! We do not want to change the power status quo within organisations and amongst ourselves, yet we are telling ‘communities’ to do so?!” ~from a how-matters.org reader
Much of the talk about poverty reduction and international development rests firmly within the cerebral aspects of our work – complex issues or interdependent sectors such as jobs or health, target groups such as girls, policy changes, or the paradigm of foreign aid itself.
Yet as people working for change, we rarely have an opportunity to reflect on how our own personal approach affects the relationships and processes of which we are a part. People need more structured, honest, and in-depth conversations to explore how to work within power asymmetries and challenge the “infusion of outside expertise” mentality, getting community leaders the resources they need to address their own priorities.
This is why I have been busy working on a “How Matters Hub” concept, a way for people to include and initiate dialogue on these important, though often overlooked, issues.
Dr. Shawn Humphrey, founder of the Two Dollar Challenge, has offered me a chance to pilot the first “How Matters Hub” at the 2012 Poverty Action Conference, hosted by the University of Mary Washington in two weeks.
So far, the How Matters Hub guidelines are built around 27 (and counting!) topics, each presented in separate sections. Each topic is guided by an overarching question related to international assistance. (And yes, some are asked tongue in cheek, so don't jump all over them.) The guidelines are created to be general enough so that they can be applied to a variety of specific issues or themes i.e. the organizers of a conference or meeting could use them if the gathering were about education, just as if it were about malaria.
Each section is a collection of conversation starters and stimulators—discussion questions, short articles/stories, video/audio clips, and images. The sections conclude with suggested readings for facilitators and/or participants to learn more about others’ perspectives on the topic. I’ve already included some articles from whydev.org, A View from the Cave, Good Intentions Are Not Enough, iOnPoverty, Journeys towards Justice, Waylaid Dialectic, Tales from the Hood, Staying for Tea, Lessons I Learned, Water Wellness among others, but more are needed!
And here’s where I need your help, readers and fellow bloggers! I’m asking you to share the articles/blog posts, media, and books you’ve read or written that you would help people answer each of the questions below! Please leave them in the comments section.
Let’s help our colleagues and the next generation of aid workers learn how to do this work better and quicker than we did.
It’s time to make new mistakes, not old ones.
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"How Matters Hub" Guiding Questions
What is a good life?
How do I teach people to fish?
How can I explain difficult concepts to “uneducated” people?
How can I serve as a “voice for the voiceless”?
How do I build rapport with people who are vastly different from me?
Is throwing back “just one starfish” enough?
How can I sell the difference between “charity” and “empowerment”?
How long does it take to “make a difference”?
Isn’t it good enough as long as I’m doing something to “make a difference”?
What’s the difference between doing “for” or doing “with” the people I want to help?
How do I know if there are people already working on the issues/areas in which I’m interested?
How do I learn how people approach their own problems?
How can I focus on what resources people do have, rather than what they don’t have?
How do I help unleash community action and get behind people’s existing efforts to help themselves?
What do I do when things aren’t going my way? (which they sometimes won’t)
How do I get feedback from the people I want to help?
What does it mean to “walk boldly” and “fail proudly”?
With so much information at our fingertips, how do I stay open to what I don’t or can’t know?
Do I romanticize poverty?
How do I identify and challenge my own assumptions about people in need?
How can I best portray Africa when people have so many pre-conceived notions? (HINT: It’s not a country.)
How do I tell a compelling story about people in need that doesn’t simplify or stereotype?
What constitutes “expertise”? Who has it?
What knowledge or skills do I need to be successful in international assistance work?
How do I know if I should start my own organization?
How do I find a mentor?
How can I determine if I should become an expat “aid worker”?
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This post originally appeared at: http://www.how-matters.org/2012/09/24/ideas-please/
Acknowledgements
Initial ideas and inspiration for the “How Matters Hub” came from a meet-up that occurred in Washington D.C. in August 2012. I’m very grateful to Oscar Abello, Marc Maxson, Julienne Lauler, Fabrice Musoni, Alison Carlman, Maria Anderson, Peck-Gee Chua, Debbi Winsten, and Christina Perkins for their willingness and enthusiasm to help shape these guidelines.
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Development is like music
A guest post by Oscar Abello
That video of Victor Wooten doing a solo electric bass performance of Amazing Grace just blows my mind. In a recent TEDed video, he plays a slightly toned-down version in the background while he's explaining his belief that music is a language and must be treated as such. People don't learn their first language by studying the rules, he says, but rather they learn by making mistakes and playing often. We learn from jamming with "experts"—from having conversations with parents, family members, friends, teachers, coaches.
We learn to play instruments first, be they our voice and body or some other object, to communicate ideas, emotions, desires. Only later do we learn the formal rules and eventually a few of us end up studying a language in-depth, music included.
I am starting to think development is like music.
Economics. Political science. Anthropology. Sociology. History. Project management. Communications. Accounting. These aren't just disciplines relevant to development. They're instruments. The greater the diversity of instruments, the greater the vibrancy of what's produced. An acapella group or solo cellist may be dazzling, but they just don't compare to a full orchestra or even just a punk rock trio. The greatest blues players strummed but three chords on a guitar, but they paired that with a voice and changed music forever. Different instruments working together to establish rhythm and melody isn't just music; it's also development.
If you are thinking about what to study to work in development, don't study development first. People don't study music before they learn to play an instrument. You pick an instrument and you learn how to play. Sure you can get lessons from music teachers or books, but don't ignore what a good jam session can do for you.
Fortunately, thanks to the Internet and social media, you have unprecedented access to some cool development players like Jennifer Lentfer, Tom Murphy, Edward Carr, Owen Barder, Duncan Green, Linda Raftree, and a whole world of researchers and implementers from a growing variety of locales. Every tweet, blog post, or blog post comment thread is a chance to start or join a jam session where you can practice playing an instrument and discover your unique playing style—that personal edge that every musician brings to their work.
Every discipline is an instrument. No one discipline has all the answers. Learn a discipline, and bring that into conversation with people who play other instruments to make beautiful music.
Perhaps the most important way development is like music is this: the geniuses, the brilliant minds who touch and transform the lives of millions of people for centuries on end, the ones who inspire generation upon generation to believe in themselves and in a better world, the true artists of their time, can come from anywhere and any background, and they never do it all by themselves.
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Oscar learned to play economics at Villanova University. His first gig out of college was at the Center for International Private Enterprise, where they played a lot of Hernando de Soto and Doug North. He moved to Results for Development Institute in September 2011; it's a young organization that's coming close to finding its tune. Oscar’s been jamming for a few years at Nextbillion.net, and recently he started jamming at Co.Exist, the Fast Company blog on world-changing ideas and innovation. If you want to jam with Oscar, the easiest place to find him is @oabello.
***
This post originally appeared at: http://www.how-matters.org/2012/09/10/development-is-like-music/
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Whether you have just graduated or are an experienced aid worker, there is always room to learn and develop new competencies. But, which competencies are the most valued? Which competencies should you focus on for your career and professional development? Brendan Rigby crowdsources the opinion of some very bright and respected aid and development professionals to expose the some of the more hidden competencies needed to work effectively.
The only way for aid to improve is to welcome new perspectives and fresh eyes. Welcome new grads I say!
Navigating the development sector’s inherent complexities is exactly the kind of work that does not lend itself to dualistic thinking—A review of Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers: The Challenges and Futures of Aidland, edited by Anne-Meike Fechter and Heather Hindman and published by Kumarian Press.
Interview questions you should be asking of aid organizations
Last week at happy hour, we found ourselves giving advice as to a budding aid worker who was about to have her first round of interviews for her first "real" aid job. She wanted to know what questions she should be asking of the organizations and people with which she's interviewing. These are the questions that one has to have ready, when inevitably interviewers say, "Now what questions do you have for us?"
She got some great suggestions from @oabello, @gurrity, @PatrickOdongosn, and now my readers can share them too, thanks to @marcmaxson who suggested this post. I hope these can be useful to those people hoping to determine the "right fit" with an organization's values, approach, and management style. Here's some of our ideas, in no particular order:
How would you describe the organizational culture?
If I were to be offered the position, what do you see me accomplishing in my first month? In the first six months?
What other organizations would you consider to be your organization's peers? With which other organizations do you collaborate?
What was the last book that you read related to your work?
What mechanisms does your organization use to obtain feedback from the people you serve?
How are strategic decisions made in the organization? And how are they communicated?
How do you ensure community ownership of your programs?
What are your organization's most promising or "provocative" programs?
Do you consider your organization a learning organization? If so, how is this demonstrated?
Do you think your organization offers something unique to the aid sector? What is it?
How would you describe the relationship between programs and communications/marketing/fundraising?
How has your organization changed over the last 2-5-10 years (as appropriate)?
What is the most important piece of practical advice you would offer to someone starting on their first day on the job?
How does your organization monitor what percentage of its financial resources reach the ground?
How does this position contribute to the organization's overall mission?
Others? Kindly share them via the comments!
And job seekers, if you're not yet following iOnPoverty's video series...well, you need to be. The latest video offers some great interview tips from Regina Starr Ridley of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. She highlights the importance of asking good questions!
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