All good things must come to an end – this is our final joint post on the Developmentality blog. The team behind this blog has deeply enjoyed developing this platform and strengthening our ability to critically reflect on the development sector and our understanding of the broad developmentality theme over the last few weeks.
To say that exploring (for some of us) new channels such as Clubhouse and trying to make sense of diverse aspects of a development sector in flux has been challenging at times is an understatement. Yet, as we have reached the end of this short blog journey, we are filled with gratitude for our lessons learned and motivation to keep critically reflecting on the development ecosystem and playing our small part in making it a more equitable and just space.
Lesson Learned: Safe spaces are key to learning and fostering curiosity
Navigating the transforming aid and development sector is no easy feat. Safe spaces where people with different backgrounds and vantage points meet and discuss what works, what does not work, and how the sector can be redesigned to serve its humanitarian goals is key. The development sector is complex, and talking about it in spaces where differences in opinion, confusion, or misunderstandings are penalised instead of met with respectful explanations and friendly discussions can hold not only individuals but the entire sector back.
In the context of this blog project, we were able to create open and friendly spaces where we could discuss, sometimes disagree, and learn from each other, including the Clubhouse session, our group meetings, and Clodagh and Indigo’s coffee chat.
Central topic of discussion: Participatory development projects and programs
Core elements of the developmentality approach are the power dynamics and mechanisms that enable and restrict relationships between different actors in the development space, including funding institutions, practitioners, recipient institutions and local communities that are the target of development programs and projects. A common thread in the majority of our articles was local participation and inclusion, for example in Mazin’s piece about the role of interpreters in development communication for development activities and Erika’s article about how WEIRD (white, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) disaster relief programs are likely to be in 30 years.
In late October, members of the Developmentality team participated in a 2.5-hour session on Clubhouse, run by Geopolitics. Also in this session, how to go beyond viewing participation as a tick box exercise was discussed. Many international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies (including UNICEF, the World Food Program, and MSF/Doctors Without Borders) have launched innovation units, offices or programs in recent years. While innovation is absolutely necessary, it comes with an inherent risk of excluding marginalized and vulnerable groups. People in the so-called Global West design many, especially technical, innovations, and even with the best of intentions, the results that come out of projects where the planned users (often referred to as beneficiaries) have not been part of the project from the getgo can be useless, at best, and harmful, at worst.
Indigo’s post about how empty words can be harmful and Clodagh’s article shining the spotlight on failed humanitarian aid programs in Haiti both – in different ways – discuss how and why the failure of working with people with lived experiences of e.g. marginalization, climate change or armed conflicts and delivering more than words is critical. On a related note, however, Jakob’s post about the manifestation of the Digital Saviour Complex in news and social media reporting also showcases the complexities and challenges that arise when wanting to communicate on behalf of marginalized and vulnerable people.
Where do we go from here?
This is, as mentioned, the final joint post the Developmentality team will publish on this blog. The site will remain online in a static stage for the foreseeable future.
You are more than welcome to go back here and re-read our articles if you ever want a refresher or recommend our content to your friends and networks. The Developmentality team will, however, not continue to approve or respond to new comments on our blog posts after November 7, 2021.
Thank you for being a part of the Developmentality blog journey!
