Supporting locally-led,
transformative policy reforms

The most important takeaway for me is the importance of adaptability above all else — it underscored that although you may have great ideas or plans, if you’re not able to think on your feet and make changes as they become necessary, you’re going to struggle more than is necessary on your reform journey.

Development workers can also be entrepreneurial and adaptive even if the environment (policy space) is bureaucratic and a bit more rigid. I think it’s great to learn about DE and how it was applied in various contexts because from there, we get a glimpse on how we can also apply it in our own respective works.

My important takeaways on this learning are: (1) You need to understand your specific problem first before anything else, (2) Harnessing coalitions and networks will greatly help you in the long run, and (3) Never stop believing and never stop pursuing change and development for your community.

After the four weeks of online learning, I consider myself blessed by learning and appreciating further that there can be really no perfect pathway to advocacy and reform – that is to say that at some point somewhere, obstacles and challenges will be there. What is more important is how to navigate those channels that have been there or perhaps create new channels to continue the push for such needed reforms rather than give up when things don’t go as planned.