VSO Training, Ottawa, March, 2009
on Margaret Campbell's Rambles (India), 05/Apr/2009 03:56, 34 days ago
We spent the last four days in March in Ottowa in our first training session on international development. Quite a change from steamy New Orleans. We had just heard on Thursday that we were being considered for a placement for 12 months in a small town in rural and remote India and this had more of an emotional charge than I expected. We have been talking about doing this project for years but I found myself feeling, if not buyer's remorse, at least a tug on my heartstrings. I realized how much I would miss my kids, even though I don't see them that often and we mostly communicate by email. Thinking about missing summer trips and winter holidays was weighing on my mind. It was good to have the long weekend to start processing what this will all mean. The material at the workshop was very helpful in putting some flesh around the theoretical. There were numerous videos about the credit crisis and world bank, successful placements, and volunteers adjusting to life in very different conditions from what they must have been used to. One group worked in a remote area of Cameroon where there was no electricity and I remember thinking, gosh, what would I do from 6 PM to 6 AM without reading? There was quite a lot of discussion around how to be an effective participant in development, which I found sounded a lot like being a successful consultant: really listening and trying not to guess. But VSO has a bit of a different angle from the kind of projects that we do at Accenture in that their mission is not so much to"do" as to share skills in order to collaborate and mutually learn. Thus, it's not so much delivering services as building organizational capacity. Yes, IT projects do go rather terribly wrong at times (never at Accenture, of course :-) ) but what is the impact really compared to changing culture or policy?There have been so many unintended consequences. The placement I'm considering is working with a community based organization that is helping tribal people who have been repeatedly displaced since the 50's when large dams were built in Orissa - one of the poorest regions in India. It seems straightforward enough to help these 3,000 families get access to basic needs like health care, education and the rights to live on forest land, but with all the mistakes that have been made with various interventions, who could say for sure? I intend to read more about issues in development to help myself think about these matters more intelligently. Although I went to graduate school with folks in community development and international agricultural development I really don't know much about the theoretical frameworks and historical perspectives. I was the only person in my cohort who was studying to work in corporations - imagine what a popular gal I was :-). Jan and I have decided that we quite like this placement opportunity and have expressed a willingness to go forward if our CV's are approved by the local employers. Thus, I won't elaborate on it yet as it might jinx the deal. However, in the meantime I am getting shots for INDIA! Just one snap of Ottawa - did you know there is such a thing as a curling club,"eh?"