![]() ![]() And, third, it takes two to tango but only one to break a negative cycle of behaviour, so invite your partner to be on the same side, fighting these cycles together and fighting inequality together – which is, after all, said Bianca, the whole point of the partnership. Second, make requests for what you need from your partner without assigning blame (she has a “tried and tested way to not put your partner on the defence”). First, be vulnerable enough to let your partner pleasantly surprise you (leave your stereotypes and expectations aside). She has three recommendations for being “a good partner”. Don’t worry, said Bianca Gay from Catalpa International, help can be found in couples therapy. Organisations are made up of people and relationships are messy. He is proposing an “exciting initiative”, an NGO master trust fund: “a unitised wholesale fund structure designed to shift capital from international development donors to SDG impact in emerging markets alongside the Australian NGO community”. It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it is possible to achieve development outcomes (both environmental and economic) while generating financial returns.įurthermore, said Clay, demand from investors is strong. ![]() Where is the necessary investment to come from? “Impact investment”, said Clay O’Brien from the Australian International Development Network and Brightlight. Programs can’t be run without resources, and currently there is a shortfall of nearly A$3 trillion in the money needed to reach the Sustainable Development Goals goals by 2030. He wants development practitioners to report on change from the beginning of, and continuously throughout, programs, whether it is in the official guidelines or not. Sounds like the aid program, right?Īid program reports cover budgets, training and widgets but not the actual benefits to the people, communities and institutions that aid programs are meant to support, Neal said. Nobody agrees on anything much except that the hospital needs more money. Everyone associated with the hospital (except the patients) regularly talks about how the hospital is going and plans for the future. There’s lots of reporting on the hospital budget and buildings, the salaries of medical staff and administrators, and even the quality of the cafeteria food – but nothing on the patients. Imagine, said consultant Neal Forster, a hospital where nobody knows if any of the patients are getting any better. “Localisation” is increasingly seen as best practice – Lautoa would rather call it “locally-led and owned”. Listening needs to begin in the design phase, with the people who are going to be most affected by a program sitting at the table when it is planned. And listening, said Lautoa Faletau from Deloitte Australia, is the art that development practitioners need to learn if they want to meaningfully engage in the Pacific. The flip side of telling stories is listening. Let’s produce stories of children solving problems in local contexts – stories where children are development heroes. ![]() So, said Melody, let’s inspire children with stories that convey the development sector’s core concepts of shared community, equal opportunity and self-determination. Translated into 140 languages, and adapted to video, animation and puppetry, the story has influenced millions of people. It uses a fantasy creature travelling the world to help children handle COVID-19 with information and coping strategies. The UN-initiated children’s picture book My Hero Is You is a case study in what can be achieved. She wants to use the power of stories to inspire children “to become the global citizens, aid practitioners and policymakers that we need”. The development sector hasn’t made the best job of making development work intelligible and attractive to adult tax-payers, much less to kids, said Melody Zavala from The Asia Foundation. In an energetic, laughter-filled session, seven presenters raced against the clock to sell their big idea to an enthusiastic audience which then voted for a winner. 3MAP: the three-minute aid pitch – a conference favourite at the 2022 Australasian AID Conference in November – asked them to come up with the solution as well. Give an aid and development practitioner three minutes and they’ll be able to tell you in detail about something that is wrong in the sector. ![]()
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