development in the field revised uw presentation 24 sept 2010
TRANSCRIPT
Development in the Field
Sarah Lewis, B.A. Economics. September 24, 2010 for INDEV University of Waterloo
After surviving the travel to your destination, organizing accommodations, testing the local cuisine and meeting a few people, it is your
first day at work.
Why are you here?
One thing is certain, your understanding of the world is about to change
Reasons for being in Ghana (2007)
• To be a catalyst for human development• To experience a new culture• To learn how to best contribute to human development
throughout my career
Presentation Outline• Introduction
• Living and learning
• Field work
• Conclusions
Traditional ceremony at home in Tongo, UER
Geography of my Experience
Kitchener-Waterloo OntarioUniversity of Waterloo Undergraduate Studies
Nipigon, Ontario CanadaEconomic Development Officer
Cameroon, Central Africa PHAST Water and Sanitation
Ghana, West AfricaAgriculture As A Business
Living and Working in the Developing World
• Your profile as a foreigner impacts community trust & learning– Where you live– How you dress– How you act
• Use common sense– Culture shock– Water & sanitation– Personal safety– Traffic– Health care– Reverse culture shock
Enjoy yourself!
Charity in the courtyard in Tongo, UER Ghana
Accelerated Learning
Information is found in the people• Active listening, Careful questioning, • Experiential learning, transect walk, mapping• Crosschecking for accuracy
“the important information is likely to be that which one does not know that one does not know.”
– Eric Dudley (1993)
Village Stay: Experiencial Learning
Stirring Tuo Zafi with Justa’s family
Mapping – Nipigon example
We map what we think is significant. For example, this map centers around roadways, work and home sites. In a mapping exercise, a group develops a map collaboratively and identify sites that are significant to the community.
Field Work... Excited?!
“The successful field worker who is capable of stimulating and supporting well-rounded, community-based integrated rural development has to be a kind of renaissance generalist.
Over stretched and under-resourced, the field worker must juggle the issues and strike pragmatic compromises between policies which tend to come to the field in the form of contradictory messages. “
- Eric Dudley, The Critical Villager
Cameroon: Water and Sanitation• Partner: Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) and Projet intégré
pour la promotion de l'auto-développement (PIPAD) a local organisation in Cameroon 2004
• Objective: Reduction of waterborne disease, improved sanitation conditions, construction and community management of latrines
• Funding: Association of Italian Churches, Medical donations from Italy, Engineers Without Borders, CIDA, FAO
• Activities: Participatory Health and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) program implementation, Project planning and fundraising workshops for community leaders, Evaluation of latrine building project
• Results: Partnership terminated
Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST) Approach
Behaviour change to improve health and reduce waterborne disease
PHAST ApproachDeveloped by the World Health Organization, for more info, follow the link: World Health Organization_PHAST
Participatory Health and Sanitation Transformation has three main objectives:• The promotion of improved hygiene behaviour.• The promotion of improvements in sanitation.• Community management of water and sanitation facilities.
It does this by:• Demonstrating the relationship between sanitation and health status.• Increasing the self esteem of community members.• Empowering the community to plan environmental improvements and to own and
operate water and sanitation facilities.
Project Challenges
• Organizational management in PIPAD & continuity between EWB volunteers
• Politics of latrine location and access• Identifying barriers to hygiene/sanitation• Germ theory of disease
Ghana: Agricultural Development• Partner: EWB Canada and the Ghanaian Ministry of Food and
Agriculture 2007-2008
• Objective: Food security, Dissemination of technology, Disaster relief
• Project: Agriculture as a Business
• Activities: Development of the Agriculture As a Business program with farmer groups and AEAs, Evaluation of profitability of small scale vegetable farmers, Drought and flood impact report
• Results: (EWB report)
Moving to a new equilibrium state
• Developed the Agriculture as a Business Program• If the stages of farming development are like
snakes and ladders... • We create ladders
Majority Subsistence Farming
Mixed Subsistence and Commercial
Small Scale Commercial Farming
Engineers Without Borders Annual Report 2009
Project Challenges
• Competing demands on the Ministry of Food and Agriculture as an implementing agency
• Identifying barriers to agricultural development• History of financial
incentives from past donors
Field Work: Who is Poor?
Expenses Rank Income Rank
Gifts / Local Taxes Subsistence farming
Land costs (fees & prep) Sale of surplus crops
Farming inputs Services
Labour Trading
Supplementary Food Foraging
Debt Remittances from family
Remittances to family Sale of assets (ie goat)Medical expenses
School fees
“I know that a family is poor when I see the boy carrying a goat to the market to sell every week in the dry season when the prices are low. It
means that they are selling stock for food in desperation.”
Introduction to a Household’s balance sheet
Field WorkWho are “target beneficiaries”?
Women Community groups Children
Poor people
Rural farmers
Business owners
Do we know how to identify these groups, what their interests are, and what approach will be understandable?
Field WorkCompeting to implement development
• International institutions• Foreign governments• National & local government• International charities• International development org.• Local not for profit org.• ... field workers
How change may not happen
Intended Beneficiary
Interest
Development Worker
Objective
Development Worker
Objectives
Intended Beneficiary
Interest
Right : When our work is not aligned with the interest of the intended beneficiary, the project outputs/targets may be “achieved”, ie. Goats were distributed in a ‘goat giving program’, but the situation has not actually shifted to a more positive state
Left: When our work is aligned with the interest of the intended beneficiary, the achievement of the project objectives will more likely have lead to a positive change
Development workers aim to create positive change, to move from to
After living and working in the developing world for 8 months, it is your first day back in Canada.
What has been achieved?
Did you have fun?