Transcript Three Lessons from Nepal

Three Lessons from Nepal
Steve Chisnell
Royal Oak High School
Lesson 1: Lessons in Development:
A Simulation
Objectives
 Learn fundamentals of
project management
through case study of
building a school in Nepal;
 Understand systems theory
through simulated
teamwork;
 Develop critical thinking
skills through debriefing
simulation.
Overall Structure of Unit
Two to Ten Hours of Instruction
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Introduction of Scenario /
Developing critical questions
Group Dynamic Setting –
Pre-planning and strategy
Opening Decisions and
Results
Debrief of Initial Results
SCENARIO: Follow-up
Decisions; Results;
Complicators; Recording of
Progress
Final Assessment of Successes
De-brief
Simulation can be broken into smaller
parts, but these steps should be part
of any lesson.
The Scenario
 Your NGO (group can choose name) has decided to help a
small community in rural Nepal build a school for its
children. Your job in this scenario is to employ your best
leadership and organizational skills to realizing the goal.
 The school will be built in Hamsapur, outside the city of
Pokhara, Nepal. It will teach as many as 125 students across
all grades.
 To date, for our scenario, these children have had no local
school and, if they attended, they have had to walk to
neighboring villages.
Phases of Project
 Land Acquisition and Procurement of Building Supplies
1.
2.
3.
Financing
Facilities/Classrooms
Utilities: Power, Water, etc.
 Construction & Materials
4.
5.
6.
Labor
Classrooms
Technology
 School Management
7.
8.
9.
Curriculum
Governance
Future Change/Growth
Group Steps
Sub-questions/challenges are placed before the group (i.e.
“How will building materials be acquired and delivered to
Hamsapur?” (Overall cost: $xx,000.)
2. Groups will have different general approaches for each
challenge. For instance:
1.
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Foreign direct aid
National development aid
Partner NGOs and charitable contributions
Local community fundraising efforts
Private / corporate donors
Group Steps
Each decision they make must be carefully written (managed) to
reveal that they understand SMART management.
Instructor reveals results of decision based upon Suvedi/UNDP
lessons of development.
Results are scaled based on
3.
4.
5.
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6.
7.
Physical Success of Project
Happiness of Community
Likelihood of Long-Term Self-Sustainability
Groups de-brief and re-align work before next decision and new
challenge is given.
Advanced groups may make additional decisions on their own
beyond the challenges offered (i.e. setting up a computer lab).
Suvedi-UNDP Lessons Summary
Suvedi Lessons
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Respond to their needs (leaning and change)
Informal local leaders over formal nat’l
Outsiders develop, locals lead
Capacity-building takes time and consistent
effort
Fund projects to reimburse costs piece by
piece
Decision-making power with locals
(accountability and responsibility)
Locals know how to manage problems and
resolve disputes
Respect culture, listen to local leaders and
people; stay away from politics: water has
no color
UNDP Lessons
 Political commitment at nat’l levels is
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too low or too short-term
Outside actors do not understand local
needs or capabilities, often erring low
Nat’l ownership and leadership is key
to success.
Local capacity to negotiate and
coordinate.
Local budgets and projects (SWAps—
sector-wide approaches, like the rural
sectors of Nepal for UNDP)
Understanding that public sector is
dynamic
Each decision result from instructor will be based upon above lessons
until students are able to generalize these concepts for themselves in
de-brief at end of unit.
Background Concepts
 UNDP Development Process:
 Engage, Assess, Respond,
Implement, Evaluate
 UNDP Core Issues for
Concern:
 Institution, Leadership,
Knowledge, Accountability
 SMART Decisions:
 Specific, Measurable, Agreed,
Relevant/Realistic, Time-Bound
 SMARTER Decisions:
 Add Energizing/Exciting and
Recorded
Scoring
 Whichever group has the most total points in Build and
Happiness (and who funds their project sustainably) win!
 Every decision earns or loses Build pts., Happiness pts., and
money.
Sample Crisis
The local school board is divided over whether to appeal to the
regional government for a computer lab. Two elders of the
village are on opposite sides; one is the school headmaster (for
it) and the other is the village mayor (against). Do you:
Support and help pay $1000
2. Support the lab
3. Oppose the lab
4. Let them work it out
1.
Sample Crisis
The local school board is divided over whether to appeal to the
regional government for a computer lab. Two elders of the
village are on opposite sides; one is the school headmaster (for
it) and the other is the village mayor (against). Do you:
Support and help pay $1000
2. Support the lab
3. Oppose the lab
4. Let them work it out
1.
+2 BLDG; -2 HAPP
-3 HAPP
-3 HAPP
+2 HAPP
Debriefing Questions
 What did you predict accurately?
 What surprised you by the results?
 What frustrated you the most?
 What challenges (expected or not) do aid recipients meet in
development projects? What do donors meet?
 Where was this simulation realistic? Not realistic? What
would you change?
 What generalizations can you draw from the results?
 After seeing the UNDP lessons, how effective is SMART? Do
you agree with the UNDP points?
Lesson 2: Educating Ideology:
Escaping Caste Systems
Summary:
 It is often claimed that
education will solved
everything. But like all
cultural ideologies, caste
systems are deeply
entrenched. How does a
country reform itself when
saddled with nonprogressive thinking?
Conflicting Systems
 Goals of Development
(Mardyal): Reduction in
poverty, unemployment, and
inequality
 Caste System: Society is
divided, hierarchical, birthbased, restricted in social
intercourse, occupation, and
marriage, promotes concepts
or purity/impurity, and gives
civil and religious privileges
to select groups
Structure of Lesson
Instructor provides overview of caste system in Nepal
2. Focus on Dalits:
1.
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5.
In Hindu religion
Socio-Economic status
Cultural/Symbolic status
Legal /Political status
Consciousness of Dalits
Students brainstorm social engineering policies which
might be enacted
4. Instructor offers list of methods implemented in Nepal
5. Debrief
3.
Nepali Measures to Uplift Dalits
 Democratic reform at local levels
 Educating leadership in checks and balances systems
 Create social programs for dalit discussion/voices
 Education in literacy, criticism and persuasion
 Development projects that are dalit-led
 Nat’l policy pressure on local communities to accept at temples, water supply,
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milk centers, etc.
Nat’l laws and enforcement (& education in laws for dalits)
Scholarship and job programs implementation
PR campaigns condemning discrimination, etc.
Political participation promotion
Legitimizing traditional/cultural dalit economies
Awareness campaigns (i.e. Dalit alcoholism or dowries)
NGOs promote leadership/management/savings for Dalits
Lesson 3: Poetry in Translation
 Key Questions:
 What ideas are lost in translation?
 What challenges do translators have in working between
cultures?
 What different strategies do they use to capture idea? (Three
approaches) What are advantages and disadvantages of each?
 Is there any value in reading literature in translation?
 Is there any value in learning additional languages fluently?
 What is the relationship between language and idea?
Yuyutsu Sharma, “A Rainbow”
Rain walks
Over the chest of the lake
Making it alive
Tense, tight.
A lonely boat
Appears somewhere
Between the shafts of sunlight
Comparison One
Sharma’s Text
Rain walks
Over the chest of the lake
Making it alive
Tense, tight.
A lonely boat
Appears somewhere
Between the shafts of sunlight
Nabin and Bikram,
Grade 10
Water walks
Upon the chest of the lake
By giving life to the lake
Making me sad, tired
A boat is seen from the point
In the middle of sunshine.
Comparison Two
Sharma’s Text
Rain walks
Over the chest of the lake
Anonymous, Grade 10
Chamcham, it is raining
In the chest of the lake
Making it alive
Tense, tight.
Saving man
By shaking and nirasavdai
A lonely boat
Appears somewhere
Between the shafts of sunlight
There one boat appears
In the shaking lake
In the sun’s face
Comparison Three
Sharma’s Text
Rain walks
Over the chest of the lake
Making it alive
Tense, tight.
A lonely boat
Appears somewhere
Between the shafts of sunlight
Rajani and Babita,
Grade 10
Water flows where
In the chest of the lake
Makes it alive
Feeling fear and sadness
A lonely boat
Appearing from somewhere
Between the rays of sunlight in
his way.
Rain walks
Over the chest of the lake
Making it alive
Te n s e , t i g h t .
Bibliography
‘Capacity is Development’ 2009,” UNDP, CDG Global Event SB 22
March09.pdf, March 2009. www.undp.org.
“Capacity Development and Aid Effectiveness,” UNDP Capacity
Development Group, UNDP Aid Effectiveness Capacity
Development Compendium.doc, April 2008. www.undp.org
Parajuli, Biswo Kalyan & Khagda KC. “The Problems of
Disadvantaged People in Caste Society: An Appraisal from Civil
Society Perspective,” The Institutionalization of Democratic Polity in
Nepal, T.U., 2000: 92-110.
Bista, Dor Bahadur. Fatalism and Development. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman, 1991.
Sharma,Yuyutsu. The Lake Fewa and A Horse. Delhi: Nirala
Publications, 2005.