Whitepaper Review

Key phrase for me 'One definition of development is ‘children and families better able to use their God-given abilities and take advantage of opportunities within their own context.’

As I reflected on the Developmental mindset white paper and the current Program redesign efforts,I found a close correlation. While there is common agreement on the the child, sponsor and partnership development outcomes, the road map to these outcomes consists largely on cultivating a developmental mindset. We desire to see the right stakeholders involved on planning, implementation and evaluation of their plans using local resources. The different stakeholders (churches, families and children) grow in use their gifts and talents which promotes self reliance and brings in sustainability of the efforts. We have effectively cut off prescription of what the partners are to plan for and this gives them freedom to focus on key contextual activities that lead us to the desired outcomes. The developmental mindset comes in by facilitating them to see what works, aligned to outcomes, aligned to church vision, participatory, cost effective, sustainable, measurable and prioritizing whats necessary for a given season.

Studying notes on Developmental Mindset has really challenged me especially on the attitudes and approach with which i do my work. I had to pose and reflect for a moment and i believe i need to do better than i do today in this area. I will do more reflection on the biblical thinking about the church, the children and my role. It is challenging to learn about "Avoiding to start something the church will not continue with after CI has left". Starting small with what people are familiar with is the way to go because that encourages them as they recognize their efforts, relate easily with what they know, find it easy to implement and enjoy it. Indeed that fosters long lasting development. The most empowering statement that has stuck in my mind is the definition of development of children and families "being able to use their God given abilities and take advantage of their own opportunities withing their context". That way the dependence syndrome is also broken.