What is Development?

Tough question.

The introductory session we had on this a week ago was one of the best lectures I have attended in a long time.  There is a certain approach that the Peace Corps has taken to development which is the foundation of the work we will be doing in Panama.

• The Peace Corps has no money.  Therefore, volunteers live and work on the same wages of the people in their communities.  This also means that there is no budget that the Peace Corps needs to spend on projects.
• People and processes, not products and projects.  There is no need for a volunteer to come to a community, build an aquaduct, make sure it works, and then leave.  That has been the case in the development world for the last 50 years.  We are focused on developing capacity of the people who will continue to live the rest of their lives in their community to gain the skills to maintain their systems themselves.
• Development organization or cross cultural exchange?  With no budget allocated or specific project agenda, a volunteer could spend an entire 2 years not laying a single piece of pipe.  By living alongside people in a community, you get to share your life with theirs.  Any aquaduct, business plan, or tourist center that you build won´t be as valuable unless you also build relationships.

Having sat through this lecture was not only inspiring, but a sigh of relief.  The Peace Corps does a pretty good job of keeping you in the dark of the type of work you will be doing and how you will be doing it.  If it were not for speaking with returned volunteers, I wouldn´t have had a sense of these concepts straight from the website or any recruiters.  The approach that the Peace Corps undertakes worldwide is unique and should be its main advertising strategy.

At the end of a conference held by the Peace Corps in Panama, Roland Bunch answered the question with 5 words:  Development is love in action.