Imagine this: you are working in your office and the boss comes in with a stranger, someone who is obviously not from your country or culture and says “This is Some Unusual Name and he/she is going to teach you how to do your job.  Make sure you do as you’re told.”  How would you feel?

Sound familiar?   I’ll bet it does – because if you’re in international development, chances are that has happened - except that you were the stranger from another country with the unusual…

The term “outcome” is probably the most misunderstood term in the International Development field.  Either that or it becomes the most misused term in international development and I would prefer to think it is the former rather than the latter, because the latter would imply an intent that serves no-one at all.

Mind you, the ID field is not alone when it comes to misunderstanding the term outcome.  To put it simply – if you produce something, that is an output.  An outcome occurs as…

I first posted this at The Broker Online - but felt that it was suitable for this site as well.

As international development practitioners and organisations, we should be more insistent on incorporating more underlying essential skills development that enables effective institutional development, sustainable capacity building, widespread community involvement and improved human wellbeing.

Are our capacity building models adequate for the task of improving human…