My Lens of Development When I arrived at MIIS, I was very interested in community development, but I did not quite have

a complete definition in mind. I knew I wanted to contribute to social change, especially in the areas that I am passionate about, but I did not know how. I am graduating in a few months and I still find myself in discussions of how to define development, poverty, happiness, a good life, and social change. The answer for my ongoing search is that there is no one definition for any of these concepts. They are strong, important, and relative terms that affect all of us. We are all tied to them in different contexts and we are viewing them with our own lenses. What I see through my personal lens is that development is vibrant, dynamic, relative, flexible, complex, exciting, challenging, and necessary. Adding to these, development is powerful and vulnerable at the same time. Its components and outside influences are all interdependent and related to each other. While development is a relative term and there is a different fit for every context, universal human rights and basic needs are overarching guiding points for my understanding of development. Cultural awareness is an important balance for universal human rights, and I will further discuss this in the following pages. Development is not about having more computers, bigger homes, more training, or more cattle. It is about moving forward to whatever is good for the subject person or community. It is about social change and it is tied directly to conflict resolution. People can move forward and "develop" easier when they are safe. I envision a world where all people around the world are able to enjoy their human rights and meet their basic needs. I envision people being free from violence, hunger, and constant anxiety. If people can enjoy their human rights and do not have to worry about being killed, injured, raped, being hungry or cold, then they can work up their way to thrive as individuals and communities. Helping people by removing the barriers to their human rights and basic needs is key for meaningful change and useful development. I see the world as billions of different people who were born without being able to make that choice and who deserve the same rights. We are all made of flesh and blood; we all feel pain and happiness. Therefore, we all deserve equal rights. Believing in universal human rights does not eliminate the fact that cultural differences and norms should be respected. How can we balance between the cultural norms and rights we all deserve as humans? While defining universal human rights and/or cultural norms, how can we be sure that all voices are heard? Who is going to come to claim the authority of 'universal' truth?" (Philips) Who gets to decide that genital cutting is a cultural norm, and who gets to decide that every person has a right to decide for her own body? As citizens of the world, can we be both different and equal in terms of rights at the same time? (Philips) As social change agents, are we promising more than we can deliver by advocating for universal human rights? (Philips) My development approach includes the constant search for these answers. Basic Human Needs and Poverty "Poverty is like heat; you cannot see it; you can only feel it; so to know poverty you have to go through it." (Quoted in Narayan, 1999) "Voices of the Poor" is an article that I always refer to when it comes to poverty. The author explains that "poverty is a relative term and poor people define it based on their own experiences and perceptions." (Narayan, 1999) Our own experiences, lenses, and expectations shape our perception of needs and poverty. To make it more objective, I prefer to reference

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid. Needs are grouped as physiological, safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization. The definitions of each of these may differ from person to person and within different contexts, however, they are all needed in the way they are perceived. For a father in San Francisco, poverty might mean not being able to send your child to college. On the other hand, for a father in Syria, poverty may mean not being able to find anything for his child to eat that day. But if we look at the pyramid, we will see that both fathers need things like food, shelter, and security. Having enough food to eat may be the part of the definition of a good life. Good and Bad Life What does "a good life" mean to you? What does it mean to a Chinese orphan? Or a banker on Wall Street? The answers will all be different. Development practitioners, social change agents cannot and should not dictate what a good or bad life is to anyone. Everyone has his own reality and understanding of happiness and misery, and we can only respect that. The good news is that "enough for a good life is not a lot." (Narayan, 1999) Most people in ill-being want surprisingly little. Most poor people do not want to have mansions and billions; they want enough to feed their families and a roof on their heads. Foster children do not expect everyone they like and trust to adopt them. Sometimes all they want is a smile and a pat on the shoulder. Unless we understand people and see through the surface, we may think they want a lot and we simply cannot save everyone! However, most of these people "aspire not for the moon, but for imaginable, realistic improvements in their condition." People in need are realistic. "They hope for moderate, not radical or revolutionary improvements." (Narayan, 1999) Security Although the levels of security we all worry about may be different, what we need is the same: to be safe. I worry if I locked my front door at night while my Iraqi friend worries if a bomb will explode that day near his family back at home. No matter what the context is, "the bad life is deeply embedded in insecurity and feeling vulnerable." (Narayan, 1999) Constant fear does not contribute to a person's or community's wellbeing. Security is defined as the absence of constant fear. (Narayan, 1999) Having confidence in our survival and being worry-free about our safety contributes to our wellbeing, which enables social development and good change. Feeling safe is a pre-condition for development and advancement. Constant Learning Development and social change are long-term learning experiences. As development practitioners, we need to always be open to learning and internalizing new perspectives and ways. As Caldwell states, we need to "learn from lessons." (Caldwell, 2002) We must learn from our own mistakes as well as others'. There is no room for unnecessary pride or stubbornness. Learning happens also on the receiver's end. The people or community we are working with will learn from us and one another just as we will learn from them. Learning should be facilitated and enabled at all levels. As we discussed as a "Big Idea", "a change in knowledge does not equal a change in behavior." (Big Ideas) Things will not change just because we provided training for people. We need to go beyond and deeper than that to accomplish our goal.

Understanding and Respect Understanding the context and people who we are working with for social change is crucial. Successful programs all begin with "a thorough, systemic problem analysis." (Lessons Learned About Why Projects Succeed) Before we begin, we need to analyze the situation; all the stakeholders; internal and external factors; and the impact of not intervening. Context is golden, and we should understand it before searching for a solution. This may require a lot of effort and time, but patience is the way to success. We need to be able to ask the right questions that are meaningful and that take us beyond just scratching the surface. We need to leave our biases behind and strip ourselves from all of our assumptions. Understanding the stakeholders and conflict parties are just as important since they are key elements of the context. Since situational analysis requires a multidimensional perspective, we need to "conduct a holistic analysis of the needs and rights of the target population and the underlying causes of their conditions of poverty and social injustice." (Caldwell, 2002) Going deep; taking extra time and extra steps to get to the bottom of the situation; and "understanding of issues beyond the immediate problem" will bring meaningful results rather than artificial solutions to the wrong issues. While analyzing a situation, we must be culturally sensitive. What may be wrong or bad for us may be good for others. Our cultural lens might prevent us from being objective and aware. People in need do not need our pity. One of the biggest mistakes made by development professionals, especially those that directly work with clients, is showing them pity. Empathy is what they need, not pity. Putting myself in someone else's shoes will help me understand a lot more about that person than showing pity and making him/her feel bad about themselves. Empowerment I do not believe that merely throwing money at people or countries will solve their problems. Excessive and poorly managed aid can create dependency and corruption. As they say, teaching a man how to fish is better than giving him fish. If you can teach the man how to fish and remove the barriers that prevent him from fishing, it will lead to his empowerment and a sustainable solution. We cannot empower people, we can remove barriers so they can empower themselves. Development should be about spending more money on empowerment and capacity development than giving money away that rarely reach the needy. Often, people are not aware of their assets, talents, and the resources around them. Raising their awareness regarding these aspects and helping them broaden their vision for life may be the best approach for their own empowerment. We need to believe in people and help them believe in themselves! Inclusion and Participation "Participation is when stakeholders affect a development goal from the beginning of the process by sharing control, responsibilities, and project resources." (World Bank, 1996) Inclusion of marginalized groups, the oppressed, the poorest of the poor, and the voiceless is essential for meaningful and useful change. What do these people want and need? What is their position in the situation, and how can that be improved? Impact will be hard to achieve without the inclusion of all parties and their equal participation. "Every project should be explicit about its process of participation and consultation, aiming for openness and transparency." (Care, 2003)

Inclusion is not enough; we need to enable and facilitate the active participation of each group while providing transparency and equal opportunities. Open communication is the key ingredient for transparency and trust amongst all parties. Clear goals, responsibilities, and roles provide ease and good structure for development initiatives. The mission and role of each stakeholder needs to be communicated well from the very beginning of the process. One Cannot Do It All "Collectively, we are brilliant!" was one of our big ideas. (Big Ideas) Social capital is a good tool to tap into collective wisdom. We are part of something bigger and we are not alone. Establishing relationships based on trust and mutual respect will help us achieve our mission with less self damage. We are in this together. You will see better with more eyes and achieve more with more hands. Achieving Mission Having a well-defined and framed mission that is clearly communicated is just as important as our effort to making an impact. Our actions and relationships need to be aligned with our mission. Mission creep is an important and sneaky threat, so self-reflection and re-alignment with our mission will be necessary along the way. Attitudes Claiming the process instead of being a facilitator is a common mistake we make. We must always keep in mind that we are not higher than anyone in the given context. Respect and boundaries will help us contribute to a greater impact. Another alarming attitude is when development practitioners claim to be experts of the given context. The locals are the experts of their own situation. We are outsiders as we arrive. We listen and learn from them while work with them. Eventually we should become an insider and remove the concept of "us" and "them." We must understand that we do not work on people, we work with people. We need to eat, drink, and breathe with the people we are working with. Our office desk is not the place we can make meaningful impact. Get out there! Community and Ownership Community development starts on the individual level and carries on to the national and global spheres. As we work with communities, we must "focus on strengths and assets already present and what the community and stakeholders are aiming to achieve in the future." (Kretzmann and McKnight, 1993) We need to focus on what is already there instead of what is missing without ignoring the problems. An assets-based approach will generate both positive attitudes and change on the community and individual level. Whether it is a big international social change organization or a small grassroots organization, the design, implementation, and evaluation of a social change program needs to be participatory and community led. We are intervening in a process that the community needs to lead. Telling people what they need and how they should live will not provide the basis for community ownership and meaningful impact. We may change things in their lives, but it might be pointless for them. Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development in Peru is a perfect example of a community led participatory social change organization. They "believe that real and lasting

change is community-driven" and they "invest in locally grown and owned sustainable solutions." (http://alianzaandina.org/our-principles/) While living with the locals, they waited for the community to identify its needs and come up with solution ideas as a result of good facilitation on the organization's end and collective effort on the community level. The locals came up with the idea of building greenhouses and collaborated with the organization and local government to achieve their goal. When the program was launched and greenhouses were built, the locals considered the program to be their baby and they took full ownership of it. This directly affected the sustainability of the program that still successfully operates after several years. Summary of the Process It is always important to conduct a situational analysis that will go beyond stating the obvious. Set your goals, be realistic, and have plans B and C ready. Design a logical model for change. Think out of the box and use design thinking for innovative and sparking ideas. Design your evaluation model in the first stage. Develop a strategic plan and ensure inclusion and participation of all stakeholders. Set up realistic benchmarks. Implement while checking for mission creep. Monitor and evaluate during the entire process, do not wait till the very end. Reevaluate, then adjust. Be flexible, adaptable, and innovative. Believe in the process and be patient. Do not rush. Think globally and act locally. There is no one solution for all. Move from a wider view to a narrower view. Focus on achievable problems. Be realistic and focus. Tools are not goals they are to be utilized to achieve mission. Not every tool fits in every situation. Sometimes we will need a combination of tools. Your program and projects will not and do not have to last forever. Focus on sustainable impact that will continue even after you are gone. Have your exit strategy ready, as you will need to depart eventually. Evaluate and learn from your mistakes. Do not be stubborn and control your ego. This is not about you. Who Will I Partner With? Depending on the context I am working with, I will look into and analyze all assets and resources and identify the ones that may be able to contribute to the impact I am working on achieving. This will need to be a collaborative and collective effort so I will seek for synergistic and healthy partnerships with parties that have aligned visions. Measuring Progress Setting benchmarks along with clear goals will help me monitor and measure progress. Whether I am working with homeless populations or abused women and children, seeing them meet their basic needs and enjoying their human rights will indicate that we are making progress together. Establishing a baseline for measuring change can be very helpful in this process. "A baseline study, on the other hand, should focus on measuring indicators of effect and impact with a level of rigor required for a before-and-after comparison with evaluation." (Caldwell, 2002) Using a logical framework will help me set a significant, yet achievable and measurable final goal. (Caldwell, 2002) Development is a puzzle that excites me. It is complex, dynamic, and constantly evolving. All the elements of development are interlocked and connected. There are multiple ways of defining and explaining everything along with a set values that I will always follow. Learning, active listening, respect, empathy, deep analysis, and collaboration through

participation will always be my most useful tools along this challenging but incredibly exciting path.

Bibliography Adair, Margo & Howell, Sharon. (2001). Creating an Atmosphere Where Everyone Participates. A Handout of Tools for Change. Big Ideas. https://dpmi2013s.wiki.zoho.com/Big-IDEAS.html Brown, Tim & Wyatt, Jocelyn. (2010). Design Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Caldwell, Richard. (2002) Project Design Handbook. CARE International. CARE International. (2003) Project Standards Measurement Instrument. IDS. (1998) Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation: Learning From Change. Issue 12. John P. Kretzmann and John L. McKnight,. (1993) From Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets, Evanston, IL: Institute for Policy Research. Lessons Learned About Why Projects Succeed. (2013) DPMI Readings. Narayan, Chambers, Shah, Petesch. (1999) Global Synthesis, Consultations with the Poor. Poverty Group, World Bank. Philips, Anne. Multiculturalism, Universalism, Democracy. The Andean Alliance for Sustainable Development. http://alianzaandina.org/ The World Bank Participation Sourcebook, (1996)