Jargon and DevelopmentSpeak

1. Jargon and DevelopmentSpeak

2. What is jargon? • Special language used in business, science, government, and development work • Tries to make the message and its sender seem important • Uses long, impressive-sounding words • Uses several words instead of one • Makes the message harder to understand

3. Let’s start with the project progress report. George, can you please act as acronym and jargon translator?

4. Jargon • On average, among adults, total food intake is higher for males than for females • Men generally eat more than women • The shift in farm production technology that takes the form of substituting machines for labour connotes the presence of prior changes in the traditional production mode • Before farmers start using machinery, they usually make other changes in how they grow crops

5. Jargon We used a production function to capture the stochastic character of dryland climate affecting yields. Wheat yields and pasture yields were predicted on somewhat similar nitrogen-based quadratic models, using daily weather data for the simulation of moisture stress. Both models were developed for dryland conditions, while calibration and validation were done with data collected in Israel. No-till wheat and pasture yield values were then fitted to a gamma probability distribution function, while input and output prices were fitted to a normal distribution.

6. DevelopmentSpeak A special type of jargon used by development organizations • Gender mainstreaming • Agroecosystems analysis • Enabling measures • Pro-poor economic growth • Poverty Reduction Strategies • Value chain development • Income generating activities • Millennium Development Goals • Participatory rural appraisal • Farmer field school • Community mobilization • Climate change mitigation

7. DevelopmentSpeak The concepts of empowerment, participation as well as social equity draw on right-based approaches and are interested in increasing the power of the disadvantaged to exercise their rights, obtain access to resources and participate actively in the process of shaping society and making decisions.

8. DevelopmentSpeak Research partnerships are international networks of universities and research institutions which jointly create a platform of exchange for studying global problems of unsustainability and mutually learning for tackling solutions.

9. DevelopmentSpeak Continuous support and capacity building of “grass root organizations” and empowering local stakeholders by enhancing their access to information regarding their legal rights is imperative for successful participatory resource management activities.

10. DevelopmentSpeak • Does your audience understand it? • Probably not • Policy makers (eg, parliament members) may be non-specialists • Policy makers have to deal with many subjects, not just yours • Avoid DevelopmentSpeak if you can! • Find another way of saying it more simply

11. Translate these into English • Gender mainstreaming • Making sure that men and women are treated equally in all aspects of the project • Agroecosystems analysis • Studying the soil, crops and pests • Enabling measures • Ways to make things happen • Pro-poor economic growth • Economic growth that benefits the poor • Income generating activities • Ways to make money

12. DevelopmentSpeak • The Horn of Africa Region is characterized by arid lowlands and humid highlands. • In Ethiopia, the lowlands are dry, while the highlands have more rain.

13. DevelopmentSpeak • Systematic validation has shown that in some countries, strong cultural barriers exist towards handling and reusing of human waste. • People in many countries do not like handling or using faeces.

14. DevelopmentSpeak • To adapt to climate change, agro-pastoralists implement various activities. • Farmers and herders adapt to a changing climate in various ways.

15. DevelopmentSpeak • Going forward, the development and implementation of a robust framework for targeting the delivery of consistent excellence organization-wide is key. • We will do our best.

16. FFSLWM ADB HMG OVCs MDG PRA PLHIV Abbreviations • Make the reader work to understand what you are saying • Hide what you really want to say

17. What do they mean? • PRA • PTD • FSR • FFS • PRSPs • SWAPs • INGO • OVC • CBD • DFID • GoZ • ADB • MDGs • ARVs • M&E • CA • NRM • ICT • M&Q

18. Three rules for abbreviations • Kill! • KILL! • KILL! • If you absolutely HAVE to use them • Use them VERY sparingly • Explain them first

19. Play DevelopmentSpeak bingo • Make a list of 12 development jargon words and abbreviations • Photocopy the list and distribute it to your friends before a meeting • Listen to the presentations and discussion • When you hear a word on the list, cross it out • First person to cross out all the words shouts Bingo!

20. More on jargon • The Communications Network. Jargon finder. http://tinyurl.com/bv3kml • Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. Foundation jargon. http://tinyurl.com/ylyz6e6 • BBC World Service. Guide to development speak http://tinyurl.com/yhjczjd • 250 words the public sector shouldn't usehttp://tinyurl.com/yj8uvuc • 50 office-speak phrases you love to hatehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7457287.stm • The business award for talking 'guff' goes to...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12596528 • Trina Wallace. Here's to a jargon-free voluntary sector in 2011http://tinyurl.com/66c7upq • 10 things every charity writer should know http://tinyurl.com/3cfsn22