Dare I Say "Done Well?" What is "Development Work" Anyway?

I say 'development work' or something similar quite a lot in this blog, and no where have I defined what I mean by either 'development' or the 'work' that one might do related to it. That's because vague terms that everyone assumes mean the same thing to them as everyone else are convenient rhetorical devices that I shamelessly employ whenever they suit my purpose.

So, if we were going to get beyond the rhetoric, what is 'development work,' anyway?

According to my trusty Mac dictionary, "development" can be defined as "the process of developing or being developed."

... I may have used "trusty" a little prematurely.

"Develop," then, is defined as "to grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate."

Leaving aside the sticky questions about what "advanced" and "elaborate" mean (and especially according to whom) for now (otherwise we'd be here all day), let's move on to "work."

"Work" is "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result."

So, the layman's definition of 'development work' ought to be "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to grow our cause growth so that the object of our work becomes more mature, advanced, or elaborate."
Or something to that effect.

That's a nice, vague definition that raises a whole bunch of interesting questions, no? Questions like:
- (as already touched on) Who gets to define what "advanced" and "elaborate" mean in the contexts of societies that are the targets of development assistance (nevermind "mature")?
- Who is making the effort? Who ought to be?
- In service of who? Of what?
- How do we best go about measuring success?
- Does learning about what kind of effort is involved count?
- When do we get to say 'enough - we have finished growth that is 'development' work and now go do growth that is 'sustainable' social evolution'?

It's also, in the contexts of the work I'm doing, laced with a bunch of assumptions about where we do development work, who 'we' is... and probably others besides.

Lots and lots and lots of people in the development sector claim to have answers to some if not all of these questions. And the ones I've linked to here are just a small sample of the experts - that doesn't even get to the institutions, the non-expert policy-makers, the implementors, the amateur volunteer-type speculators (including yours truly) or even, most important of all, the "intended beneficiaries" of all this (largely held to be people living in absolute poverty or people living in countries where there is widespread absolute poverty).

The truth is, though, that no one has "the" answers. What we have is lots of different answers and lots more questions arising out of those answers (and out of other, complicating factors like what happens when we throw more complicated ideas like "accountability" and "empowerment" into the mix).

For my part, the development work I've been doing so far is a little bit of helping and a whole lot of learning. I'm a volunteer, and I work with people who have a lot of experience doing 'development' in Malawi - all currently employed by a non-governmental organization, but coming from many backgrounds including work in Health, in water provision & sanitation and from governments, NGOs, and the private sector. I'm here to help where I can, to learn more so that I can help more, and to see if I can figure out some piece of this whole "development work" puzzle to help others in the sector work better by getting and then sharing a perspective.

Awhile back, I had a conversation with a traveler passing through Lilongwe. He was French and was traveling across Africa in a Land Cruiser. When he asked me about whether or not I thought I could 'make a difference' in a year in Africa - I could tell by the way he asked it that he was waiting for me to give one of those answers borne of youth and inexperience that runs something like this:
"Sure! My mom told me that if I care enough, I can do anything I set my mind to!"
Instead, I thought seriously about the question and said something like this:
"Probably not. I think though, that I can learn a lot about the challenge and complexity of the work I've signed up to do and maybe I can scratch the surface of understanding it. And I think that, as long as I spend the rest of my life trying to make this year up to the people who taught me about what it would really take to 'make a difference,' this year will be worth it to everyone involved. Plus I might actually discover that there are small things I can do that will change things for the better - but if I do, I'll see that as a bonus."

I still don't know if I was right about the prognosis for my placement on either the learning or the probability of making a difference fronts. But I think I was on to something regarding the essence of what development work is for me. I think, for me, "development work" can take many forms, but at its heart is about being critical of your abilitiy to but nevertheless remaining constantly committed to helping as well as you know how.