In my professional life I appear to be involved in 'development' work in the Pacific. Having said that, I don't think of myself as being a developmental expert. I think we all contribute to 'development' in one capacity or another whether we are living in a developing region or not. Here are some ramblings about development with a focus on development in the Pacific.
Development
Development - a 2 way street
Friends & family often ask if I've come from Europe to the Pacific to stay forever. Certainly there's more than enough to keep me here. I've started a family, a business, a school here. But I often explain to them that I see my time here as part of an unwritten bargain. I get to come from Europe, if you force me to focus on one nation it would be Scotland, to bring certain talents, skills, mindsets which 'may' be of potential use in the development of some Pacific nations. But the other side of the pact is that I get to learn about many things that the Pacific has that I need to bring back to where I grew up and received my education; because that is the deal.
I get to be a conduit both ways, from European values to the Pacific, and then from the Pacific back to Europe.
This of course…
Professional Developmentalists
I often have this discussion, but I first had it with my (brilliant) friend Jo from Wan Smolbag Theatre company based in Vanuatu. When you live in a developing region like the Pacific, there are many developmental programmes to help these nations. The problem is that there seems to be little evidence that the nations are actually 'developing' despite decades of support and many, many, many dollars spent on this. I know that commentators would like to say that development takes time and they often talk of how Europe took thousands of years to get where it is today, whereas we're asking our Pacific nations to come up to speed in decades.
All of this maybe true, but I've a sneaky suspicion that part of the problem lies in some (if not many) of the mindsets of the so called developmental…
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