A big thank-you to the McGill African Studies Students’ Association for the invitation to speak this evening on Women of Kireka. It was refreshing to have an honest discourse about the challenges Women of Kireka faces, as well as the progress we have made. Participants asked very perceptive questions which allowed me to take a critical look at our work and Women of Kireka’s future.
Prof. Gilles Cloutier started the discussion with an interesting commentary on working in international development and what he might have done differently had he just been starting out. His comments were thought provoking. In particular, the idea of coming into the development ‘field’ with a free mind – i.e. shedding the clutter of being focused on trying to get a good job with a machine like the World Bank and more with the idea of learning and exchanging – was a straightforward but important point that can easily be forgotten in the process.