Racism, colonialism and whiteness in development: insights from Pacific professionals following repatriation of white staff during Covid-19

Abstract

The sudden departure of foreign, mostly white, development staff from Pacific countries in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, created a ‘natural experiment’ where local staff continued to work but without the accompaniment (and oversight) of their foreign counterparts. This paper reflects on evidence from the lived experiences of 12 experienced local development staff during this time. They detail how the absence of foreign staff led to increased opportunities for local staff, greater cultural sensitivity and relativity in the workplace, and the successful on-going operations of programs left in the hands of local workers. We position these experiences in relation to broader issues of racism, neo/colonialism and the centring of whiteness in the development industry to highlight the on-going structures that inhibit black and brown colleagues, and to provoke white development actors to work to redress on-going injustices in the industry. We specifically recommend white development actors openly discuss racism in the industry, enhance their knowledge of local cultures and politics, and work to cede space to local staff.

Keywords:

• Colonialism
• locally led development
• post-development
• power
• racism
• whiteness

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank our research participants for their generous time and detailed insights, both during the interview and review phases of this project. We also wish to thank Gordon Peake for his helpful suggestions on the initial draft of this paper and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful insights and suggestions. Any errors are our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

This project was approved by the La Trobe University Human Research Ethics Committee on 24 June 2020 (ref: HEC20210). Research participants were informed of the nature of the study, the intended use of data and the right to withdraw consent. All provided written consent to participate and have their data published, with one participant later withdrawing, as discussed in the paper. Initial drafts of this paper were shared with research participants in 2023 and their feedback has been considered in later drafts. All efforts have been made to anonymise research participants.

Notes

1 Names of research participants are pseudonyms.

2 We use the term ‘actors’ to signify that the development ecosystem involves paid and unpaid individuals working across a range of fields towards positive social change, some of which may not be classically considered as ‘development’ work.

3 In our experience, our black and brown counterparts in the Pacific use the term ‘white’ to describe a set of behaviours and privileges displayed by colleagues from Western countries, no matter their racial origins.

4 Seven Fijians based in Fiji, one Papua New Guinean in Papua New Guinea, one Samoan/New Zealand citizen who was evacuated from Fiji to Aotearoa/New Zealand, one Solomon Islander in Solomon Islands and two ni-Vanuatu in Vanuatu. The details of the participant who withdrew their involvement with the paper are not shared here. We acknowledge that there is a majority Fijian presence and this risks contributing to perceptions of Fijian hegemony of Pacific development, however this also reflects the reality of Fiji as the regional hub for development organisations in the Pacific, including being home to the two largest autonomous Pacific multilateral organisations: the Pacific Community and Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

5 Kava houses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yeshe Smith

Yeshe Smith has been working as a partnership broker since 2008 and as an Authorised Practitioner Trainer with the Partnership Brokers Association since 2012. Most of her working life has been in international development, working across a wide range of areas including governance, civil society, private sector engagement, youth, education, and health. She has lived and worked long-term in Papua New Guinea, Ghana, and Fiji. In recent years, as well as on-going international work, Yeshe has participated in partnership work in Australia, primarily in education, health, and the community sector. Yeshe has a particular interest in racial dynamics within partnerships and across teams, and a focus on managing race-based issues openly and honestly during partnership processes.

Aidan Craney

Aidan Craney is a research fellow at La Trobe University on the ARC Discovery Project, ‘The future of the Pacific: Youth leadership and civic engagement’. A development scholar, anthropologist, and social worker, his research looks at youth civic engagement and livelihoods in Oceania, and the practical and philosophical challenges for aid donors in supporting locally led development practices. Aidan has worked with development initiatives in the Pacific region on how to integrate local values systems into developmental reforms and advised youth activists in Australia and the Pacific on thinking and working politically. He is the author of Youth in Fiji and Solomon Islands: Livelihoods, leadership and civic engagement (ANU Press).

Chris Roche

Chris Roche is Professor of Development Practice at La Trobe University and Director of the Centre for Human Security and Social Change. Prior to joining La Trobe in 2012 Chris worked for over 25 years for International NGOs as a project manager, evaluator, policy researcher and as a director. Chris is particularly interested in understanding the practice of social change processes and how those involved might be more effectively supported. He is the author of Impact Assessment for Development Agencies: Learning to Value Change (Oxfam), and co-editor of Ethical Questions and International NGOs (Springer) and The Politics of Evidence and Results in International Development: Playing the Game to Change the Rules (Practical Action Publishing).