19th August, 2005

CHRIS PIPER

So what makes a good aid worker or development professional? I think it comes down to these main five things: a passionate heart, good relationships, clear objectives, appropriate skills, and being a reflective practitioner.

WHAT IT TAKES: Aid workers need to have a passion for the people they're working with and are regularly such as these impoverished Peruvian boys. PICTURE: Tim McMahan (www.sxc.hu)

In order to do this work there’s got to be some fire in your belly. There needs to be some pulsating, vibrant force which drives you along. This can be a mixture of things - for some it’s the heart of compassion; for others it’s a strong sense of social justice; for many Christians it’s a calling from God to reach out to others. Ideally of course, for believers at least, it should be a combination of all these.

In one real sense, success in the field is all about relationships. Being an aid worker will force you into a multitude of new relationships. The biggest challenge often relates to your workmates - both national and expatriate! How do you also meaningfully identify and empathise with those you’re there to help?

Relationships with other stakeholders will include government officials and your donors back home. As the Bible teaches us - we are encouraged to be in good standing ideally with all we meet. Of course, in the real world, there will be those who will despise, resent, backstab and hate you - but this negative reaction needs to come from them and not you.

Then there’s the need for clear objectives. Why exactly are you out there, and what is the purpose of your mission? What higher objective or goal does it contribute to? Too often we fall into the trap of producing outputs - that is, doing things - without actually thinking through what the real purpose is? This pit is easy to fall into, and surprisingly difficult sometimes to dig yourself out of.

Working out whether you have the appropriate skills can be particularly daunting. You may be trained as a health professional, administrator or teacher, but how does that translate into your new role in the field? Are you there to merely double up on what you were doing in Australia, or is there a more important purpose - such as so-called ‘capacity building’ in which you are involved with building up the skills of the national workforce. Again, easy to parrot but surprisingly difficult to work out in a meaningful, non-patronising way.

Finally there’s the need to be reflective. Over the last few months I’ve particularly learnt the importance of this. If you’re a missionary, is it better that you’re there, or could a national Christian do the job more cost-effectively? In the aid field I work in, I now think that it’s more important to give smart aid rather than merely more aid - indeed the latter can sometimes be counter-productive.

Aid work is an honourable profession, and one which will undoubtedly give you more than the normal share of tears and joy.

Chris Piper is an aid worker of more than 25 years experience. He has worked with World Vision and Save the Children Fund both overseas and in Australia, and since 1992 has managed his own overseas aid consultancy TorqAid. He also teaches part-time as a lecturer at Deakin University on their off-campus graduate International & Community Development (ICD) program – see www.deakin.edu.au/arts/postgrad.