Chris Roche
Biographic Data
| ID | 3611978 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chris Roche |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chris |
| FAMILY NAME | Roche |
| SIGNATURE | ROCHE C |
| AFFILIATIONS | La Trobe University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9879-5769 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1983 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Supporting ‘Doing Development Differently’ Effectively: Analysing Attributes, Networks and Impacts of Donor‐Supported Pacific Development Coalitions
Despite growing appreciation for the complexity of development and the need for adaptability, there remains a limited evidence base of how, where and why adaptive approaches to development improve development outcomes. This paper examines the organisational and political attributes of support provided to locally led development initiatives in the Pacific region supported by an Australian government development programme, as well as the extent to …
Adventures in the multiverse: A Collective Experience of Pracademia
This paper explores the experience of a collective of pracademics who work together at the Centre for Human Security and Social Change at La Trobe University. While there is some emerging scholarship on pracademics as individuals, in this paper we seek to fill a gap in the literature related to the collective practice of a pracademic team. Developed through a structured process of reflection and critical engagement with our own practice, we analy…
Racism, colonialism and whiteness in development: Insights from Pacific professionals following repatriation of white staff during Covid-19
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 inc…
It's a coffee with a purpose: Perspectives on thinking and working politically in the Pacific
Thinking and working politically is an approach to manoeuvring within social and political realities to achieve development goals, which some see as a new orthodoxy [Teskey 2017. Thinking and Working Politically: Are We Seeing the Emergence of a Second Orthodoxy? Governance Working Paper Series, Issue 1. Massachusetts: Abt Associates]. This research explores the practice of thinking and working politically in the Pacific, through in-depth intervi…
Monitoring and evaluation for thinking and working politically
This article explores the challenges of monitoring and evaluating politically informed and adaptive programmes in the international development field. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of some specific evaluation methodologies which have been suggested as particularly appropriate for these kinds of programmes based on scholarly literature and the practical experience of the authors in using them. We suggest that those methods which assume ge…
Thinking with complexity in evaluation: A case study review
Adopting complexity thinking in the design, implementation and evaluation of health and social development programmes is of increasing interest. Understanding institutional contexts in which these programmes are located directly influences shaping and eventual uptake of evaluations and relevant findings. A nuanced appreciation of the relationship between complexity, institutional arrangements and evaluation theory and practice provides an opportu…
Leadership and Change in Asia-Pacific: Where Does Political Will Come From
We introduce this thematic issue by exploring the role of leadership in social and political change. In current times, the importance of leadership and choice has proved as important as ever. Leadership is often the critical variable separating success or failure, legitimacy and sustainability or collapse. This thematic issue explores a range of in-depth case studies across the Asia-Pacific region that help illustrate the critical elements of lea…
The Characteristics of Locally Led Development in the Pacific
There is a growing recognition of the effectiveness of locally led processes of social change and development. However, most of the case studies that have been discussed in the literature are focused on programs run by international development agencies. This article examines three locally led processes of change in the Pacific. These include the Simbo for Change Initiative in the Solomon Islands, the Voice in Papua New Guinea and a regional proc…
Article Locating Leadership and Political Will in Social Policy: The Story of India’s MGNREGA
The term ‘political will’ is often conveniently used to explain the success or failure of any policy or programme. It has emerged as the “sine qua non of policy success which is never defined except by its absence” (Hammergren, 1998, p. 12). Therefore, a structured examination of the term is necessary to analyse social policy and programming. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by India’s United Progressi…
Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change
"Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change." The Journal of Development Studies, 54(12), pp. 2247–2248
Does Impact Evaluation in Development Matter? Well, It Depends What It’s For
All the world's a stage’: Structure, agency and accountability in international aid
This paper explores recent critiques of aid and responses to them, with a particular focus on attempts to address accountability concerns. It describes, with particular reference to Africa and Melanesia, some of the assumptions that underpin these responses. Using the allegory of theatre, we suggest that much of the formal process of interaction between aid agencies and local actors can be seen as a ‘performance’, and what goes on behind the scen…
Ethical Questions and International NGOs: An Exchange Between Philosophers and NGOs
The Seeming Simplicity of Measurement
Oxfam Australia's experience of 'bottom-up' accountability
Oxfam's experience suggests that ‘bottom–up’ accountability can be an important mechanism whereby men and women living in poverty can hold others to account. The first section of this article illustrates this with two examples of Oxfam experience in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The second section draws out some of the lessons from these examples and attempts to situate them within the broader debate about approaches to accountability. In the third sect…
The Fertile Brain and Inventive Power of Man: Anthropogenic Factors in the Cessation of Springbok Treks and the Disruption of the Karoo Ecosystem, 1865-1908
The demise of springbok treks, the irruptive migration patterns of the species in South Africa's Karoo region, has long been attributed to the rinderpest epizootic understood to have coincided in both time and space with the last of the great springbok treks. This is incorrect. Instead the cessation of springbok treks can be attributed to a variety of anthropogenic factors. This article first examines and then rejects the case for rinderpest, bef…
‘The Springbok … Drink the Rain's Blood’: Indigenous Knowledge and Its Use in Environmental History — The Case of the /Xam and an Understanding of Springbok Treks
(2005). ‘The Springbok ... Drink the Rain's Blood’: Indigenous Knowledge and Its Use in Environmental History — The Case of the /Xam and an Understanding of Springbok Treks. South African Historical Journal: Vol. 53, Special Issue: Environmental History, pp. 1-22
Impact assessment: Seeing the wood and the trees
This paper summarises the results of a joint action-research project undertaken by a number of international and local NGOs, which involved case studies in four countries in Africa, three in South Asia, one in Latin America, and one in the UK. The paper seeks to situate the discussion of impact assessment in the context of a growing critique of international NGOs. Overall, it is suggested that simple models of cause and effect which link project …
NGOs, civil society and the State: Building democracy in transitional countries
"NGOs, civil society and the State: Building democracy in transitional countries." Development in Practice, 6(3), pp. 270–271
Operationality in turbulence: The Need for Change
What are the implications for NGOs of the increasingly unpredictable environment in which they work? This article highlights lessons from the natural sciences and from private-sector management. If development is about the process of change, then we need a more refined analysis of what change is. Food crises and conflicts are about struggles over power and rights and are, therefore, but moments in continuing processes of change. Strategic interve…
An NGO Perspective on Food Security and the Environment: Acord in the Sahel and Horn of Africa
Sussex 31 analysis of the causes of the 'problem'2 leads to factors relating to poverty, land tenure, macro-economics and the varying and conflicting political and economic interests of the farmer or herder, government and donor. Within communities, and indeed within households, there is differential access to, and control over resources, based on age, gender, class and ethnicity. These relations are determined by wider socio-economic and politic…
Population Estimates from Settlement Area and Number of Residences
Population Estimates from Settlement Area and Number of Residences
Using modern data from the Lake Patzcuaro Basin in Mexico, the author evaluates in this paper the correlations between settlement areas and populations in order to assess the possibilities of estimating the size of prehistoric populations on the basis of the extent of occupation areas. The relationship between number of residences and population is similarly explored. Predictions within the defined categories are accurate in nearly two-thirds of …
Does Impact Evaluation in Development Matter? Well, It Depends What It’s For
The Fertile Brain and Inventive Power of Man: Anthropogenic Factors in the Cessation of Springbok Treks and the Disruption of the Karoo Ecosystem, 1865-1908
The demise of springbok treks, the irruptive migration patterns of the species in South Africa's Karoo region, has long been attributed to the rinderpest epizootic understood to have coincided in both time and space with the last of the great springbok treks. This is incorrect. Instead the cessation of springbok treks can be attributed to a variety of anthropogenic factors. This article first examines and then rejects the case for rinderpest, bef…
The Characteristics of Locally Led Development in the Pacific
There is a growing recognition of the effectiveness of locally led processes of social change and development. However, most of the case studies that have been discussed in the literature are focused on programs run by international development agencies. This article examines three locally led processes of change in the Pacific. These include the Simbo for Change Initiative in the Solomon Islands, the Voice in Papua New Guinea and a regional proc…
Population Estimates from Settlement Area and Number of Residences
Using modern data from the Lake Patzcuaro Basin in Mexico, the author evaluates in this paper the correlations between settlement areas and populations in order to assess the possibilities of estimating the size of prehistoric populations on the basis of the extent of occupation areas. The relationship between number of residences and population is similarly explored. Predictions within the defined categories are accurate in nearly two-thirds of …
Monitoring and evaluation for thinking and working politically
This article explores the challenges of monitoring and evaluating politically informed and adaptive programmes in the international development field. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of some specific evaluation methodologies which have been suggested as particularly appropriate for these kinds of programmes based on scholarly literature and the practical experience of the authors in using them. We suggest that those methods which assume ge…
Supporting ‘Doing Development Differently’ Effectively: Analysing Attributes, Networks and Impacts of Donor‐Supported Pacific Development Coalitions
Despite growing appreciation for the complexity of development and the need for adaptability, there remains a limited evidence base of how, where and why adaptive approaches to development improve development outcomes. This paper examines the organisational and political attributes of support provided to locally led development initiatives in the Pacific region supported by an Australian government development programme, as well as the extent to …
Racism, colonialism and whiteness in development: Insights from Pacific professionals following repatriation of white staff during Covid-19
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 inc…
It's a coffee with a purpose: Perspectives on thinking and working politically in the Pacific
Thinking and working politically is an approach to manoeuvring within social and political realities to achieve development goals, which some see as a new orthodoxy [Teskey 2017. Thinking and Working Politically: Are We Seeing the Emergence of a Second Orthodoxy? Governance Working Paper Series, Issue 1. Massachusetts: Abt Associates]. This research explores the practice of thinking and working politically in the Pacific, through in-depth intervi…
Thinking with complexity in evaluation: A case study review
Adopting complexity thinking in the design, implementation and evaluation of health and social development programmes is of increasing interest. Understanding institutional contexts in which these programmes are located directly influences shaping and eventual uptake of evaluations and relevant findings. A nuanced appreciation of the relationship between complexity, institutional arrangements and evaluation theory and practice provides an opportu…
Article Locating Leadership and Political Will in Social Policy: The Story of India’s MGNREGA
The term ‘political will’ is often conveniently used to explain the success or failure of any policy or programme. It has emerged as the “sine qua non of policy success which is never defined except by its absence” (Hammergren, 1998, p. 12). Therefore, a structured examination of the term is necessary to analyse social policy and programming. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by India’s United Progressi…
All the world's a stage’: Structure, agency and accountability in international aid
This paper explores recent critiques of aid and responses to them, with a particular focus on attempts to address accountability concerns. It describes, with particular reference to Africa and Melanesia, some of the assumptions that underpin these responses. Using the allegory of theatre, we suggest that much of the formal process of interaction between aid agencies and local actors can be seen as a ‘performance’, and what goes on behind the scen…
Impact assessment: Seeing the wood and the trees
This paper summarises the results of a joint action-research project undertaken by a number of international and local NGOs, which involved case studies in four countries in Africa, three in South Asia, one in Latin America, and one in the UK. The paper seeks to situate the discussion of impact assessment in the context of a growing critique of international NGOs. Overall, it is suggested that simple models of cause and effect which link project …
Population Estimates from Settlement Area and Number of Residences
Population Estimates from Settlement Area and Number of Residences
Using modern data from the Lake Patzcuaro Basin in Mexico, the author evaluates in this paper the correlations between settlement areas and populations in order to assess the possibilities of estimating the size of prehistoric populations on the basis of the extent of occupation areas. The relationship between number of residences and population is similarly explored. Predictions within the defined categories are accurate in nearly two-thirds of …
An NGO Perspective on Food Security and the Environment: Acord in the Sahel and Horn of Africa
Sussex 31 analysis of the causes of the 'problem'2 leads to factors relating to poverty, land tenure, macro-economics and the varying and conflicting political and economic interests of the farmer or herder, government and donor. Within communities, and indeed within households, there is differential access to, and control over resources, based on age, gender, class and ethnicity. These relations are determined by wider socio-economic and politic…
Operationality in turbulence: The Need for Change
What are the implications for NGOs of the increasingly unpredictable environment in which they work? This article highlights lessons from the natural sciences and from private-sector management. If development is about the process of change, then we need a more refined analysis of what change is. Food crises and conflicts are about struggles over power and rights and are, therefore, but moments in continuing processes of change. Strategic interve…
NGOs, civil society and the State: Building democracy in transitional countries
"NGOs, civil society and the State: Building democracy in transitional countries." Development in Practice, 6(3), pp. 270–271
Impact assessment: Seeing the wood and the trees
This paper summarises the results of a joint action-research project undertaken by a number of international and local NGOs, which involved case studies in four countries in Africa, three in South Asia, one in Latin America, and one in the UK. The paper seeks to situate the discussion of impact assessment in the context of a growing critique of international NGOs. Overall, it is suggested that simple models of cause and effect which link project …
‘The Springbok … Drink the Rain's Blood’: Indigenous Knowledge and Its Use in Environmental History — The Case of the /Xam and an Understanding of Springbok Treks
(2005). ‘The Springbok ... Drink the Rain's Blood’: Indigenous Knowledge and Its Use in Environmental History — The Case of the /Xam and an Understanding of Springbok Treks. South African Historical Journal: Vol. 53, Special Issue: Environmental History, pp. 1-22
The Fertile Brain and Inventive Power of Man: Anthropogenic Factors in the Cessation of Springbok Treks and the Disruption of the Karoo Ecosystem, 1865-1908
The demise of springbok treks, the irruptive migration patterns of the species in South Africa's Karoo region, has long been attributed to the rinderpest epizootic understood to have coincided in both time and space with the last of the great springbok treks. This is incorrect. Instead the cessation of springbok treks can be attributed to a variety of anthropogenic factors. This article first examines and then rejects the case for rinderpest, bef…
Oxfam Australia's experience of 'bottom-up' accountability
Oxfam's experience suggests that ‘bottom–up’ accountability can be an important mechanism whereby men and women living in poverty can hold others to account. The first section of this article illustrates this with two examples of Oxfam experience in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The second section draws out some of the lessons from these examples and attempts to situate them within the broader debate about approaches to accountability. In the third sect…
Ethical Questions and International NGOs: An Exchange Between Philosophers and NGOs
The Seeming Simplicity of Measurement
All the world's a stage’: Structure, agency and accountability in international aid
This paper explores recent critiques of aid and responses to them, with a particular focus on attempts to address accountability concerns. It describes, with particular reference to Africa and Melanesia, some of the assumptions that underpin these responses. Using the allegory of theatre, we suggest that much of the formal process of interaction between aid agencies and local actors can be seen as a ‘performance’, and what goes on behind the scen…
Does Impact Evaluation in Development Matter? Well, It Depends What It’s For
Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change
"Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change." The Journal of Development Studies, 54(12), pp. 2247–2248
Leadership and Change in Asia-Pacific: Where Does Political Will Come From
We introduce this thematic issue by exploring the role of leadership in social and political change. In current times, the importance of leadership and choice has proved as important as ever. Leadership is often the critical variable separating success or failure, legitimacy and sustainability or collapse. This thematic issue explores a range of in-depth case studies across the Asia-Pacific region that help illustrate the critical elements of lea…
The Characteristics of Locally Led Development in the Pacific
There is a growing recognition of the effectiveness of locally led processes of social change and development. However, most of the case studies that have been discussed in the literature are focused on programs run by international development agencies. This article examines three locally led processes of change in the Pacific. These include the Simbo for Change Initiative in the Solomon Islands, the Voice in Papua New Guinea and a regional proc…
Article Locating Leadership and Political Will in Social Policy: The Story of India’s MGNREGA
The term ‘political will’ is often conveniently used to explain the success or failure of any policy or programme. It has emerged as the “sine qua non of policy success which is never defined except by its absence” (Hammergren, 1998, p. 12). Therefore, a structured examination of the term is necessary to analyse social policy and programming. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by India’s United Progressi…
Monitoring and evaluation for thinking and working politically
This article explores the challenges of monitoring and evaluating politically informed and adaptive programmes in the international development field. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of some specific evaluation methodologies which have been suggested as particularly appropriate for these kinds of programmes based on scholarly literature and the practical experience of the authors in using them. We suggest that those methods which assume ge…
Thinking with complexity in evaluation: A case study review
Adopting complexity thinking in the design, implementation and evaluation of health and social development programmes is of increasing interest. Understanding institutional contexts in which these programmes are located directly influences shaping and eventual uptake of evaluations and relevant findings. A nuanced appreciation of the relationship between complexity, institutional arrangements and evaluation theory and practice provides an opportu…
It's a coffee with a purpose: Perspectives on thinking and working politically in the Pacific
Thinking and working politically is an approach to manoeuvring within social and political realities to achieve development goals, which some see as a new orthodoxy [Teskey 2017. Thinking and Working Politically: Are We Seeing the Emergence of a Second Orthodoxy? Governance Working Paper Series, Issue 1. Massachusetts: Abt Associates]. This research explores the practice of thinking and working politically in the Pacific, through in-depth intervi…
Racism, colonialism and whiteness in development: Insights from Pacific professionals following repatriation of white staff during Covid-19
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 inc…
Supporting ‘Doing Development Differently’ Effectively: Analysing Attributes, Networks and Impacts of Donor‐Supported Pacific Development Coalitions
Despite growing appreciation for the complexity of development and the need for adaptability, there remains a limited evidence base of how, where and why adaptive approaches to development improve development outcomes. This paper examines the organisational and political attributes of support provided to locally led development initiatives in the Pacific region supported by an Australian government development programme, as well as the extent to …
Adventures in the multiverse: A Collective Experience of Pracademia
This paper explores the experience of a collective of pracademics who work together at the Centre for Human Security and Social Change at La Trobe University. While there is some emerging scholarship on pracademics as individuals, in this paper we seek to fill a gap in the literature related to the collective practice of a pracademic team. Developed through a structured process of reflection and critical engagement with our own practice, we analy…
Political science (17 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Law (11 works) · Economics (10 works) · Politics (9 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Economic growth (6 works) · Geography (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works) · International Development and Aid (5 works)