Interactions with Rural Residents Living in Pakistan

Extracted 21JUL2011 from http://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/node/688?cid=EXT_TWBN_D_EXT

Fountains of Knowledge: Interactions with Rural Residents Living in Pakistan's Northwestern Border Areas

Submitted by Zeeshan Suhail on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 12:12

The best part about working in a country office is the wide array of stakeholders one gets to work with. Development is never a solitary, insular process; indeed, it combines the expertise and inputs of a variety of people from diverse backgrounds: the government, civil society, the private sector, multilateral and bilateral financing institutions – the list is long!...

On a personal level, two inter-related points will continue to be at the forefront of my thoughts... One is that I am constantly humbled by my ignorance. The FATA residents we met and interacted with taught us so much about their customs, traditions and lifestyle that I was left speechless at how mis-informed and ill-informed I was. And this relates to my second point, which is that we need to visit these people in their communities to see how they lead their lives. It is my sincere hope that one day, the security situation improves to the extent that I can sit with them and deliberate on a village dispute, or that I can help them rebuild a small business that was destroyed in the militancy crisis.