Last week marked the middle of the 3 year Agricultural Water Management Solutions project, the larger effort that includes my little case study in Katuba. The meeting was a wonderful opportunity for me to meet colleagues from all over (Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, India, the United States, and of course Zambia), learn about all sorts of impressively awesome research, work on my networking (huh-um) skills, and practice not running up to brilliant strangers and asking for a job.
The workshop covered a whole panoply of (for me, at least) wonderfully exciting topics, findings, musing, mishaps, and the like. Unfortunately, I do not have enough space or time (ok, so literaly speaking i do have the space… i think this blog can go on forever.) Anyhow. Here are a few random observations that may or may not be related to small-scale farming, irrigation, women’s empowerment, or anything else:
- In a workshop, as in both the development world and life in general, power, education, and yes, sometimes money, appear at face value to be correlated with how often one’s opinion is heard and also how cogently it is presented. There are and were exceptions to this. One woman farmer was particularly vocal. She also seemed, compared to her peers in her village, to have had some sort of advantage/leg up to get her where she was – and relatively speaking, she was doing quite well.
- Donors are donors, which means 1: they make decisions. 2: everyone has to be nice to them. 3: they will not hear about failures, even if they insist that they won’t pull funding and that they really, really, want to know.
- Gaps persist. The appropriate use of buzz words (bottom-up, pro-poor, gender, gender, gender) is perhaps an indication of good will. This isn’t a bad thing. But when it comes down to it, donors and project managers need financial, political, and human capital and GUMPTION to really push through any of the wonderful ideals. Organization and follow-through won’t happen on its own. Especially not when there are six countries involved.
- Never underestimate the importance of the coffee break.
- On “joint-venture” and “outgrower” schemes (essentially commercial-smallholder cooperative arrangements; farmers give up land, labor, and decision-making for an equity share and, if the project is successful, substantial improvements in income and food security). They actually seem to have a good deal of potential, maybe even more so than the small-scale stuff I’m working on (so many have given up, already, on the idea that small-scale farming can be a viable enterprise). The road from colonialism is always more complicated than it looks at face value.
- The World Bank, apparently, is still intimidating. Even for a seasoned professional from the FAO. Hrmph.
- For some, rain means bad weather: for others it means a full stomach. This is good to remember when you’re soaked and splashing through puddles in slippers on the way home, like yesterday afternoon. ; )
Alright, back to work. Peace.
“and practice not running up to brilliant strangers and asking for a job.”
That’s right. You have to WALK up to the brilliant stranger and CIRCUITOUSLY ask for a job.