Development Buzz Words and Phrases explained  

Participatory

If the Friendship Agreement is going to be successful, it will need to be consultative. It cannot be the brainchild of one or two people in Timor and Australia who decide what is best for everybody else. The Agreement will have to be as inclusive as possible recognising that local knowledge is crucial to the success of the Agreement. Knowledge of the local culture, environment and politics is the product of decades if not centuries of observation and local people will know best how to put in place activities. So it is important to include them and consult with them. Don't just include the District administrator or local Mayor and think that you are consulting. Try and get a broad groundswell of ideas and visions and opinions on how best to proceed with the Agreement and how to prioritise activities. (See section on conducting needs assessment for further details).

Relevant

It is important that people see the activities as relevant to their lives in order that they develop an interest in it. Relevant programs and activities will only come out of consultation with local people and consideration and prioritisation of local needs.

Empowering

If people can see that their efforts and activities are contributing to the development and betterment of their community, they are more likely to get involved and to learn from the experience and to transfer the knowledge to other aspects of their lives. For example a popular literacy activity can have multiple spin offs. It can give people confidence in their ability to develop their own activities; it can facilitate learning around health and education issues, and can help people develop economic projects (See case study)

Capacity building

Many organisations talk about the need to strengthen capacity. Some mean improving infrastructure, some mean transferring skills resources and knowledge, some mean sharing expertise. It is important to recognise that while the Timorese may lack capacity in some areas deemed important to Australia such as computer literacy, they may have extremely well developed capacities in other areas,  such as subsistence agriculture, It is important to find out what people's capacities are before presuming that because they lack things, they lack capacity. There are always political and economic factors underlying poverty and lack of resources. The people may not lack capacity but may have been discriminated against politically or economically in the past. This limits their ability to create the necessary continued means of survival and growth. So it is very important to determine what the needs of any community are and what their capacity is to achieve those needs without overwhelming foreign intervention. Sometimes communities do have the capacity; they just need a little support to get initiatives up and running. They certainly don't need outsiders to come in and take over and do everything for them. This builds dependency not capacity.

Dependency

This is where one party to the relationship regards themselves as having all the expertise, resources and knowledge and determines what projects, activities and processes are good for the other party. This can result in the other party feeling inadequate and becoming dependent upon the first party for the provision of resources, goods and services. Australian friends will need to be aware that even though they do have access to more resources this does not necessarily make them better equipped to know what is best for the Timorese. The best development projects and processes come out of consultation and joint design and respecting local needs and local knowledge rather than assuming that Australian services and knowledge are better. If Australian friends keep telling the Timorese that what they have is inadequate and offer to provide resources that they think the Timorese need, then there is the possibility of the Timorese friends becoming dependent upon those resources and beginning to believe that they are less able than Australians.  See cautionary tale in section on friendship and relationships.

The pace of development

Different groups will develop their relationship and activities at different paces. Their progress will depend upon frequency of visits, amount of funds, numbers of volunteers etc.  In order to track how your group is developing, how the Friendship is growing, it is sensible to map your progress. If you start mapping from the initial visits then as things progress and develop, you can see what activities you are achieving, what needs you are meeting, the impact of your activities and the growth of the friendship. This is all part of the process of program design and monitoring and evaluation. It is important to recognise that what seems like a small achievement to you might be a significant achievement to others. For example one group cited the establishment of their Timorese Commission as a very significant event and evidence of a good progress. Groups who have had commissions for years may consider this an insignificant event. Each context will vary. It is unwise to try and measure your progress against that of other groups, particularly if they are better resourced than you and have been in existence for longer.

Inclusive

Other sections of the manual have noted how women in the districts are the most disadvantaged in terms of illiteracy and poverty. It is important to ensure that all your activities seek to include, as far as possible, women in the design and implementation phases. Timorese society has traditionally placed men's needs before those of women and so you may encounter resistance if you request that women are included in the Commission and in all of the activities. However, if you do not include women they will continue to be disadvantaged.  Similarly, it is important to ensure that the needs of all in the community are identified and catered to. Youth in the district may have missed schooling opportunities during the years of occupation. It is important to identify the specific needs of the youth in the district (not what you think they need but what they identify as needs), and encourage their inclusion in the design and implementation of all activities, as far as it is possible.

 

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