I initially started working internationally in the early 1980’s (yes, I know that seems a long time ago!). I have worked for numerous big and small organisations involved in various aspects of ‘engaging internationally’ to try and make the world a better place. In the past few decades there have been many changes in the international environment. Here are some of my observations on those changes:
1) “Capacity building” around the world – Many Western governments and agencies have conducted various types of ‘management training’ in the past 10-15 years that has helped to nurture independent and innovative local efforts. Western or donor country organisations that may have struggled in the past to find local partners (or assumed that there weren’t any) now find it easier to find them. This transition is still unfolding – and the development of true partnerships is a work in progress – but as an international community we are moving in a positive direction.
2) The rise of the Internet has allowed for communication across traditional organisational lines - This can be beneficial. It allows communication to happen between parties that in the past could not communicate directly. But it can also be challenging. There can be so much communication and data that finding what is relevant can be frustrating and time consuming and coordination can be hard. We now have a lot of data flowing in many different directions but as this information flow can sometimes seem like a flood, it makes the need for knowledge management and the role of ‘curators’ even more important.
3) Social media forums don’t have the seniority that real life and organisations do - On social media platforms the ‘voices of experience’ combine with the ‘voices of enthusiasm’ in a way that does not happen as easily offline. This allows for some amazing opportunities for synergy and lot of opportunity for cross-generational learning. See this great cartoon re: the need the older generation has to not lose the wonderful creativity of youth!
4) Labels don’t mean as much - We used to be a lot more concerned with somewhat rigid sectors – are you working in the private (corporate) sector, government, NGOs, etc? Today, the sectors are more porous, and concepts such as social entrepreneurship have become more common. There is more of a focus on impact. I wrote more about this here: Impact without Boundaries.
5) Skills needed - There is a growing set of skills that are needed to be successful in working internationally. Although basics like communication and organisational skills are on-going ‘staples’, skills like cultural competency, the ability to be a good listener and ‘filtering skills’ (see #2 above re: the increasing flow of information) are increasingly important. Michael Keizer wrote a good post about some of these skills “Eleven helpful skills and traits for aid and health logisticians“.
I would be very interested in also hearing what other veteran practitioners may have observed. Also, what are young folk perceiving as the latest challenges in the world of development?
About Bonnie Koenig
Bonnie Koenig is a consultant working with non-governmental organisations on developing their strategic thinking and international programs. She has worked for over 20 years with local, national and international organisations in the areas of strategic planning, organisational and program development, staff training, and other governance and management issues.
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Thanks for sharing these thoughts and insights Bonnie. What I think is required of aid workers in the future is the time, patience and skill to see and respect what is living in communities that is authentic and that has potential. This requires a subtlety of practice to give thoughtful and careful support where it is needed that the "expertise infusion" aid models of the past did not. International engagement in the future will require that development practitioners, including donors, pay more attention to the concept of organisation itself and the practice of facilitating the development of authentic and sovereign local organisation and social movements.
Thanks, Jennifer. I alluded to this new focus on international engagement but you do a good job of developing it further. I certainly agree that going forward donors and development practitioners will need a 'subtlety of practice' that will include patience, listening skills, respect and other traits you mention. Fortunately we are beginning to see a movement in this direction. (By the way, I am also a big supporter of the term 'international engagement'. It is certainly not a term unique to me, but I used the term 'international engagement' in a book I wrote back in 2003 before the term had moved to more common usage.)
I think the biggest change I have seen in my 17 years as an aidworkers is "connectivity", as a combination of Internet and social media. That connectivity is a major aspect in communications (individual as well as from an organisation). I can "talk" to anyone I want from anywhere. Or pretty much so.
at the same time, I can publish any type of content I want and have it accessible by millions in a matter of minutes.
At the negative side, in a way, the "public relations" has become MUCH more predominantly important in any nonprofit. Up to the point where PR threathens to overtake the importance of "content": a good program, making impact… Over the past years I have seen a superficiality of programs and projects which are sold as hot cakes to the masses, but often contain nothing but hot air. Cheap aid consumerism…
Peter
Thanks, Peter, for your comment. I completely agree that 'connectivity' is a huge change and has its positives and negatives. It remains to be seen how we adjust to all of this connectivity.
Good post, Bonnie – very good to have voices, like yours, of those who've been around a little longer and better able to take a longer-term, less urgent angst and drama view of some of this stuff
Your thoughts ring true for me. I'm going to push you a tiny bit on your last two points, though:
#4) Is there really more focus on impact? I'm not sure there is. I mean, of course there has been an absolute increase more or less (less, really) as the aid sector has also grown over the past 20 years. But while I can't "prove" it, I really do believe that there is proportionally less focus on impact now than there was when I first got started (just a year or two after you
). I see the industry becoming more and more and more about marketing and PR and image and perception – what Peter very aptly calls "hot air. cheap aid consumerism…" People start NGOs now the way that I started garage bands in college. You're correct – labels do mean much less now than they used to. But in some cases I think that's to aid's detriment: between the Facebook "causes" function and Kristof trending on twitter and Huffington Post deciding who counts as "making a difference" based on Klout scores and local media describing as "heros" kids who sell cookies for good causes… I think we could do with a little firming up of the "aid" label.
#5) I'd argue that cross-cultural skills are no more important now than they were before in an absolute sense. The ability to communicate easily and cheaply across cultural lines – some call this bridging the digital divide – have simply pushed the importance of cross-cultural skills to the fore, in some cases by making it painfully obvious where those skills are lacking.
Sorry… this sounds more nit-picky than I mean it. Let's go have a beer…
Thanks, J. I appreciate your comments and your 'pushing me' and the conversation – always a good thing to do
Re: #4) There is certainly a lot more 'noise' and activity, but I also think more quietly we have made progress on accountability and transparency, which in many ways are the important precursors to work that is also taking place on evaluating impact. I'm not saying that we don't have much work still to do but there has been a lot of good progress in this direction. For example, if we take the 'longer view' all of the following originated just in the past decade: (1) the INGO Accountability Charter http://www.ingoaccountabilitycharter.org/ and the efforts of individual INGOs such as (2) Action Aid's Accounting, Learning and Planning Systems (ALPS) http://tinyurl.com/7623y9k and (3) governments such as Australia's Development Gateway http://www.developmentgateway.com.au/cms/sectors/….
Re #5) That's a good modification – not that cross-cultural skills are more important in the absolute sense (yes, they always have been) but it is harder to ignore them and it is 'painfully obvious when they are lacking'.
Looking forward to that beer at some point
Thanks for sharing Bonnie. Your thoughts are complemented by insights from Jennifer, Peter and J. I always appreciate a long-term, historical view. As J said, it is all to easy to get caught up in moments . I just want to add something in regards to #5, skills needed. I am still not sure we truly understand what skills are needed. I guess it varies from sector to sector, and role to role within aid and development. And, although cross-cultural communication/competency is a cross-cutting one, do we really know how to teach it or how students learn it? Critical thinking skills are identified across many professions and disciplines as a fundamental 'skill', but from my research, many higher education institutions are not really sure how to teach it. The evidence of what works is very skim. This is not made any easier by the fact that students learn in different ways, by different means.
Disciplines such as business conduct skills surveys across students, academics and employers quite regularly. And, work quite closely with government and industry bodies to identify what skills are valued and important in the business industry. What skills are valued and of importance in the aid and development sectors? How are needs changing? Can higher education learning keep up?
Thanks, Brendan. I agree with you that the question of skills needed is a constantly evolving one, as well as varying based on the situatuion and context. How to teach these skills can be a somewhat separate (although clearly linked) topic. You may have seen some of the recent blogs discussing that specific question. I've included some of them here in case other readers may be interested: http://morethanaruby.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/int… & http://tinyurl.com/cqc8nxv
I would disagree Bonnie that the teaching and learning of these skills is separate. The issues are, as you say, linked. I would say they are interlinked and inseparable. There is a gulf between higher education and the aid and development industries that needs to bridged. This is a very over-looked issue and not one really addressed by higher education institutions, some whose programs seem to reflect more the interests of individual academics, rather than the ever-changing complexities and needs of international engagement (I explored this in the linked provided below)
Yes, I saw recently the posts by Chris and Karen. Similarly, I threw around some thoughts earlier, and others contributed with some very thoughtful comments on studying and learning 'development': http://www.whydev.org/so-youre-thinking-of-studyi…
Thanks, Brendan. I dont think we are really that far apart here. I wasn't trying to imply that there isn't a very important link that needs to be made between what is taught and what skills are needed. The reason why I chose the wording they 'can be somewhat separate topics' is that many skills are taught and learned on the job and not through academic learning.
Thanks for divulging your extensive experience in such a concise post, Bonnie! Clearly, one of the things that you mention consistently, which is also reflected by your own attitude, is that there is a mixture of experience and youthful enthusiasm, particularly in an online setting. How do you think this is reflected in a workplace setting? Do you think the majority of old heads are utilising the enthusiasm and other skills that young people bring, and if so, how?
It's a good question, Weh, and I suspect the answer will vary quite a bit by people's own experiences. I am not sure the willingness of 'old heads' to incorporate the particular characteristics and values of younger employees can be taught. It may be personality (and sometimes culturally) determined, although it may change as there is more inter-generational 'mingling' online. I'm not sure we are there yet, though. Would be interested the experiences others have had with this.