· on consultation ·
One thing that I've come to realise through both my work at ANTaR and participation in the Sydney Leadership program (which hasn't officially started yet, but I've been doing a lot of reading in preparation) is the need for full consultation before launching into projects that supposedly help other people.
We saw it (and criticised it) last year with our then-government's intervention in NT Aboriginal communities. Our then-Prime Minister John Howard seemed to sincerely feel he was doing the right thing, however his approach and his "solution" was flawed and attracted a lot of criticism. Much of the criticism centered around the fact that his "solution" was being carried out without consultation with Aboriginal communities.
Today I read a very interesting email from Martin Lucas that was posted to the Institute of Distributed Creativity mailing list. Martin has observed how the One Laptop Per Child project has been adopted in Malawi, a country
"whose 13 million people have an average life expectancy of 37 years, 14% of population with HIV/AIDS, and a GDP of about $600 per person - usually rates near the bottom on any scale of development."
Martin's email, which has kindly been reposted on a fellow IDC member's blog, made me wonder whether the OLPC project leaders fully consulted with the communities that they were trying to help (perhaps they did / perhaps they didn't - but the email is a must-read if you are interested in this project). Martin makes some interesting observations about the use of technology in Malawi - and the use of laptops for learning.
However I'm far from pointing the finger solely at John Howard and the OLPC project. I've deployed "solutions" that have been inappropriate ... it's so easy to do, particularly when you find a bit of (online) technology that you think will be "perfect for the job". Martin concludes his email with:
"[Many] groups and forces influence the development of a communications and IT ecology in this marginal but very fertile landscape, suggesting the difficulty of defining a problem, and any possible solutions, when talking about the specific implementation of any IT-based project."
So much of what we do (on the web and elsewhere) does not involve consulting with our audience/beneficiaries. Why are we so arrogant / pushed for time / can't be bothered with internal politics / find it too difficult to define the problem, at the risk of possible project failure?
P.S. I'm still raising money to fund my participation in the Sydney Leadership program ... please help me out and donate using the ChipIn widget on the right :) If you don't, expect an email from me within the next couple of weeks !!
Tuesday January 29, 2008
Categories: Leadership
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