What is international development? Any global shift towards more just and sustainable systems must address this question. With roots in colonialism, international development has traditionally been unjust in both concept and practice. A manifestation of the old hierarchical world system, development privileges one way of life above all others, elevating certain nations and cultures while inducing those below to follow suit. Fortunately new visions of development are emerging as the global transition continues. Within the industry itself, professionals are pushing for international cooperation instead of Western dictated development strategies or calling for the collective pursuit of global sustainability rather than imposed processes of sustainable development. Around the world, hundreds of thousands of grassroots initiatives are exploring alternative conceptions of what it means to live well together including holistic, indigenous, religious, and cultural conceptions of a good life. However for the individuals and organisations supporting these “alternatives-to-development” there often exists a marked gap between vision and practice. This misalignment, well documented and frequently observed, suggests the need for greater connection between alternative approaches to international development and inner-transformation.

One of my most memorable encounters with the gap between vision and practice occurred while working in Bolivia. I remember standing next to my boss as the conversation grew increasingly awkward. He was outlining a soil erosion project to a group of indigenous campesinos (farmers) gathered beneath the impossibly low sky of the altiplano. Surrounded by parched brown hills he explained how digging trenches on the slopes and mounding the dirt below would collect rainwater and slow erosion. Resilient grasses would be planted on the earth mounds to anchor them and provide feed for local livestock. Things began to come unstuck when the campesinos explained that their llamas would eat the grass before they could harvest it and that the only place the grass would be safe was in the walled fields of the valleys. Of course there was no need to dig trenches on the valley floor, it was flat and there was no erosion, but that was exactly what the villagers were told to do. Supposedly this was “endogenous development”. “Development from within” driven by local community leadership, priorities, and cultural values. Something had obviously gone awry. The organisation’s director clearly believed in endogenous development and the importance of indigenous culture and leadership. Field staff paid lip-service to this vision and had apparently facilitated an in-depth collaborative process that analysed problems and developed solutions. Yet here I was witnessing the same old top-down practice of development as usual”. What appeared lacking was a personal engagement between the NGO’s field staff and the alternative development vision of the organisation. Likewise the organisation’s director appeared unwilling to personally confront what was actually happening in the field.

This experience and others like it led me to an awareness of the great need for integrating inner work as part of alternative development practice. With this focus in mind, I undertook post-graduate studies and was greeted by a deafening silence regarding the role of the personal in international development practice. Since then, I have been heartened by a growing movement of individuals and organisations within the United States that are engaging with inner-transformation as part of their social change work. This transformative change movement is composed of diverse social justice organisations that seek to integrate personal, social and systemic change. Transformative change practitioners not only seek to transform unjust systems but also their own change practices. They engage with their inner-worlds – their emotions, values, beliefs, and change visions – and seek to develop a practice that embodies their aspirations and addresses their fears and weaknesses. Currently a range of transformative change organisations offer courses and trainings that help practitioners integrate inner-work as part of their outer-work and foster inner-transformation as part of systemic outer-transformation. However, I am unaware of any courses or organisations that focus on the field of international development.

The connection that I would like to see is greater dialogue and cooperation between those seeking alternatives-to-development and those exploring transformative change. Alternative development practitioners could learn much from the inner focus of transformative change approaches while transformative change practitioners could gain insights into the global hierarchies and systems of oppression in which their own work is situated. Organisations already offering transformative training could expand their focus to those involved in development just as international development institutes could add transformative approaches to their training curricula and field methodologies. It is my hope that fostering such an exchange will lead to the emergence of a transformative alternative development practice. A practice that encourages practitioners to engage with their inner-worlds and clarify their own personal understandings of development. Such a practice would enable practitioners to align their inner vision with their outer change work and to explore the diverse understandings of good change at play in development processes. In this way practitioners could begin to address the gap so often seen between alternative development

vision and practice. Confronting this gap through aligning inner and outer work could transform the field of development from within, contributing to the global shift towards a more just and sustainable world.