Robyn Alders: saving chooks, empowering women
By Ashlee Betteridge
1 March 2016
The first of our series of Aid Profiles is featured today on a new Devpolicy website: https://devpolicy.org/aidprofiles/.
Dr Robyn Alders is an Australian veterinarian scientist who has spent much of the last two decades working in Southern Africa with village women to immunize their hens against Newcastle disease, a major killer of village chooks. The profile, written by Devpolicy Director Stephen Howes, tells Robyn’s story. It describes the voyage, but it also talks about the impact of her work, and the role of Australian aid, government and non-government.
It analyses the success factors, and draws out the lesson from her work, concluding that:
Looking back at Robyn’s own journey, there was in fact never a master-plan, nor even a ten-year project. But she took a long-term view, and the Australian aid program was well-enough managed to support her over that long period. And, in the end, it worked. It’s not a new lesson, but it is one that we need to learn afresh. The sustained and dedicated pursuit of specific goals is critical for development success.
It’s a compelling read, with photos, videos, audio and links. Start here.
The article was also published by The Canberra Times.
As announced yesterday, we will be writing a number of Aid Profiles over the coming year. From these, one will be selected for the first Mitchell Global Humanitarian Award which we will announce in early 2017.
About the author/s
Ashlee Betteridge
Ashlee Betteridge was the Manager of the Development Policy Centre until April 2021. She was previously a Research Officer at the centre from 2013-2017. A former journalist, she holds a Master of Public Policy (Development Policy) from ANU and has development experience in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. She now has her own consultancy, Better Things Consulting, and works across several large projects with managing contractors.
