The Classroom Experience vs the Field Experience

By Gloria Makafui Dovoh, 1st year MDP student

One of my greatest aspirations in my academic career is to apply my classroom knowledge to practical experiences. I consider this an essential background to suggest sustainable interventions for issues related to gender and education. I embarked on a journey to experience practical learning with the Regional Advisory and Information Systems (RAINS) in Ghana.

RAINS is a non-governmental organization that works with communities and development partners to improve the quality of life for vulnerable groups such as children, women, girls and people with disabilities. RAINS strengthens local structures to take actions to promote and ensure fairness for all people in society. The organization envisions a just society that is based on equity with equal opportunities for all and respect for diversity. 

RAINS logo - two interlocking horns

The interesting thing about RAINS is the variety of projects available, ranging from; alternative approaches to education, women and girls empowerment programs and supporting smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacities to climate change. Interestingly, all of these project activities have gender issues cutting across. My work here is simple - To participate and learn from the various activities the organization is undertaking with various communities in Northern Ghana.    

From interactions with some community members and project officers, the issue of female migration has been reported to be exceptionally difficult to tackle. Young females migrate independently of their families to urban and/or peri-urban areas in search of greener pastures. These young females are usually vulnerable since they have a low economic capacity, low education or training among other structural vulnerabilities. This practice of young girls migrating down south happens to be deeply rooted in the conventions of the people for many decades and seems too complex to eliminate.

Children at African Union Day of the African Child 

Based on this experiential learning, I realized the importance of considering the context and cultural principles of the said community in order to understand these practices. Relationship building and open-mindedness are also useful tools for working with community members. 

A striking report on the dynamics of migration explains how social status is gained as a result of migration. “Girls who return from urban areas are perceived to have higher social status than girls who have not migrated. Additionally, migrant females are more likely to be empowered and confident in comparison to their non-migrant counterparts.” - Female community member.   

"Also in some communities, returnee female migrants have higher bride prices as compared to their non-migrant counterparts.” - RAINS Project Officer.             

Strengthen Local Capacity in Sustainable Development

By Titima Wanwilaiwan, 1st year MDP Student

Time flies, and I have finished my field placement with the Blossom Project with ADRA Vanuatu. I learned a lot about the livelihoods and the situation of Indigenous peoples in the South Pacific.It has been a great experience for me to work in field of development in a diverse cultural setting. 

Community Elder carving a traditional boat

One of the lessons I learned is that relationship building is the most important element. Relationships built on mutual respect must be at the foundation of development goals; in fact, I would consider it as the golden goal. Regardless of the politics and where the money comes from for the development projects, mutual respect and sincere collaboration is at the core for sustainable development. I am grateful for the insights I gained in my MDP Indigenous Evaluation course, because I was able to see the value of humility as an essential part of intercultural communication and learning.

As I mentioned in the first blog, I spent a lot of time out of working hours weaving myself into the Ni-Vanuatu culture so I could learn more about their values, and understand how they look at and find solutions to different problems. For example, tackling complex issues like domestic violence, it is hard to use the ‘Gender Equality’ framework applied in a Western context, since the cultural context of Vanuatu is quite different. Therefore, imposing foreign values onto the local people could result in more conflict within the community. That is not to say that the serious problem of domestic violence should not be addressed; however, careful consideration of the community values regarding gender roles and expectations must be acknowledged, and included in any plan or strategy. In my observations, I noted that the local staff of the Blossom Project does an excellent job utilizing and building on the capacity of local people and communities. It is important to support and enhance local capacity and move away from reliance on outside sources and expertise.

One excellent example of local cultural values is in their marriage ceremonies, where both men and women play important roles. I attended a wedding ceremony in Vanuatu and observed that a wedding is regarded as two families bonding, and not only the two people. This bond is a valuable social structure that provides a protective system and support network for the two families. During the ceremony, women were honored for their importance to family and community life, and given a place of honor and respect.

Preparing handwoven wedding mats for Bride's family as show of unity and respect between the two families

Another way to build on local capacity is to support the community care model for children rather than the orphanage model. In Vanuatu, there are no orphanages, and no tradition of legal adoption. Instead, members of the child’s extended family take on the parenting role, and provide the care and love. Imposing a formalized legal adoption and child welfare system would not work because it would be resisted by the population. In contrast, the community care model could be promoted and supported. 

Therefore, I would like to end my field placement with the idea of ‘Accentuating Positive Practices’ in the upcoming project activities. I have seen many inspiring examples of resilience and strength in the Ni-Vanuatu community, and I believe that they deserve the right and the opportunity to practice self-determined development.

I have learned so much, but there is still more to learn. Again, thank you ADRA Vanuatu, ADRA South Pacific Office and the MDP program of the University of Winnipeg. It has been a tremendously meaningful experience.

ADRA Vanuatu staff & ADRA South Pacific trainer at Emergency Response Training Workshop, Titima (far right)

Complexity of Real World

By Gabriela Jimenez, 1st year MDP student

For twelve weeks I have been researching and learning about the methodologies used to prepare Environmental Assessments for engineering projects, specifically the social and cultural aspects. Corporations can follow standardized methodologies; however, they also can go beyond the minimum requirements and develop projects that are more sustainable. 

To achieve sustainability, the challenge is to pursue collaborative processes, which can be very complex. In order to get consensus or agreements on any topic, all participants need to understand each other’s positions, to develop empathy, and to be clear on the principals and goals that brought them to the table. So, negotiation is the key word for successful collaborative processes. 

We know from our studies that the environment-human system is complex, so any plan designed to remediate an effect, will influence some other variable. In real life, it is even more complex than studied, because the positions taken during human interactions sometimes are unpredictable. Even though I was not involved in any type of negotiation during this internship, I studied and perceived the complexity and variety of obstacles that might influence agreements. This includes political decisions, legal frameworks, health concerns, cultural values, etc. This experience confirmed for me that we can get tools in the classroom; however, we acquire the learning when we have to face, participate and/or lead the negotiation process.

Gabriela in front of Kettle Dam, Nelson River, Manitoba

I would love to work on project development building the bridge between the social and the engineering aspects. Therefore, this placement was very relevant, since it nourished my professional background by exposing me to the complexity of the reality of sustainable development. 

Energy will always be needed and thus engineering projects will keep happening. The approach taken should be socially and environmentally inclusive with the goal of obtaining the most benefit for all parties’ involved, as well as reducing the footprint to the minimum possible. I recognize that each situation will be different because of the type of the project, nature of the participants, negotiation process, circumstances and power/economic relations; but understanding the principles to achieve effective agreements will absolutely help ensure development is sustainable.