Overseas Community Development: Lessons Learned
1) Regional development, with the inclusion of key government officials, at the level of the province and below;
2) Villager “psychological investment”, that is to say, project ownership;
3) Mechanisms for dispute resolution, tied to both in-depth understandings of local customs and national laws;
4) Training, with a strong component on "train-the-trainers" and skills aimed at operation, maintenance, and repair of any equipment that might be involved;
5) Projects leading to programs, while avoiding the pitfalls of pilot and demonstration projects;
6) Reliance on any grassroots groups that might be present, to include significant co-involvement of potential beneficiaries in the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes;
7) Reincorporation of any expatriates and former refugees back into the regional and local development processes;
8) Use of counterparts within a facilitative development framework;
9) University development and cross national exchanges, to augment field efforts and provide students with integrated academic-applied opportunities;
10) Thorough restudy of similar, previous projects and programs elsewhere, to determine what worked and what did not work.
Studying the history of past development approaches is essential, but relatively easy. Learning the lessons proffered is more difficult.
Peter VanArsdale
Rotary Club of Denver Southeast
2018