In session 10, our guest speaker talked more about his personal experiences working in development in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the major issues discussed was the idea of political sensitivity and getting things done in countries in an authoritarian context. Similar to the previous lecture earlier in the semester, this speaker stressed the need for interpersonal relationships and care for the culture of the country. One of the stories told highlighted how it is necessary for people who wish to work in different countries need to consider the context in which they are working, when he and a senior colleague, who happened to be female, needed to change their behaviour to make it clear that she was the senior colleague as before due to patriarchal systems, the opposite had been assumed. Furthermore, he stressed not just talking to the people you meet through a certain context. Especially when gathering data, as leads on projects would have a vested interest in showing themselves in the best possible light.
The strategies shared by the speaker would also be useful in the case of Rwanda. Rwanda is home to many development projects especially in rural areas. When assessing them, it is important for researchers coming from the outside to familiarise themselves with Rwandan culture and customs and be ready to create relationships in order to speak to the widest breadth of people possible. Rwanda, despite campaigns to the contrary, still is regularly plagued with corruption and creating relationships and moving beyond the initial contacts would be incredibly important in that context. In order to get an accurate view of the struggles faced by locals, wide networks, an understanding of customs and local context and the willingness to engage with multiple people would all be critical for work in Rwanda.
Rwanda Reconsidered 