A continuation of our series of blogs introducing some of our IOD PARC colleagues and the valuable work they do, in this iteration we get to know more about Vijay Shrestha, Principal Consultant and head of the IOD PARC Nepal Office.
Vijay, can you tell us a bit about who you are and your professional background?
I’m Vijay Shrestha, a Principal Consultant and I head IOD PARC’s Nepal office. I have worked in the development sector for more than 35 years, mostly in Nepal and South Asia. A lot of my work has been with UK Aid, first under the guise of the Overseas Development Administration, then with DFID, and now with the FCDO. I have a Master’s degree in Forestry, People, and Participation, and I continue to be very interested in these areas, as well as in livelihoods, governance, and safe and effective development, which are closely related. The University of Wolverhampton in the UK awarded me with a honorary doctorate for my contributions to rural development in Nepal in 2014. In 2013, DFID also explicitly celebrated my contributions to Nepal’s Community Forestry sector over 25 years.
What does your work at IOD PARC focus on?
I represent IOD PARC in Nepal, where we are registered as a legal entity, and South Asia, and manage the company’s office and staff in Kathmandu. A lot of my work revolves around establishing, building, and maintaining relations with clients, partners, and associates, and to identify business opportunities. As a consultant, I like working with people and being out in the districts where the development funds are spent and making an impact. Working closely with communities, understanding their perspectives on their own development, and then working with the client to help shape their practice accordingly is what excites me most. This also allows me to bring in my lifetime of experience and to ensure that any recommendations are grounded in practice.
Can you tell us a little bit more about IOD PARC’s Nepal office?
When I joined IOD PARC, I was the only staff member based in Kathmandu, Nepal. As I started to operate from Nepal, I thought it would make business sense to have an official office here. We wanted our activities in Nepal to be transparent and wanted to accountable to the Government of Nepal as well. The idea was also that this would contribute to providing sustainable, high-quality, jobs for Nepalis in Nepal. We formally registered IOD PARC’s Nepal branch in November 2016. Since then, our office has expanded to eight colleagues who provide regional expertise and long-term consulting support to a number of clients, and we support the overall company through colleagues who work on business development, finance, and administration.
What have you learned through your work over the years?
It is very much about being a role model, personally and professionally. Towards our clients, it is, of course, essential that we deliver quality products on time, but it is also about setting an example for other colleagues. It is about displaying the behaviours you want others to adopt. This means you have to communicate well, be responsive, and, very importantly, be genuinely caring about the beneficiaries you want to impact, your client, and your colleagues. You need to show your interest and understand people’s personal as well as professional drivers and dreams. In my role, it is not just about doing good technical work but also very much about connecting with people and helping them develop.
Can you give an example of how our work has impacted a client?
Many years ago, we were doing a study for a client and while doing so, we came across some issues which could negatively affect the implementation of the project and the reputation of the client. These can be difficult messages to bring to a client, but if you have a good relationship with them, you can do so in a constructive way and help to resolve the issue. We ended up having to go a lot beyond our Terms of Reference to get to the details of what was wrong. In the end, however, this is the right thing to do because resolving such issues is really important for beneficiaries who deserve good support from a project, so then, as a team, we wanted to go the extra mile. Another example is where we were offering MEL support to a client through which we could give them a bird’s eye view. As the client did not have the capacity to look at all programming in detail all the time, we offered support that allowed them to understand and report upwards what was happening. And because we had all the detailed data, there was the confidence that we could provide any evidence asked for, which then frees up our client’s own staff to focus on the things that matter most to them.
Looking back at the past few decades and the future, how has the sector changed and where do you see it going?
Development delivery approaches have changed. We went from an integrated approach to sector-wide approaches. Initially, there was a strong focus on infrastructure, but this gradually moved to focus on livelihoods with the emergence of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework. Nowadays, a lot of aid is also channelled through country governments, so understanding governance and governing systems has become critical.
I have also seen a shift in how development is delivered, which has a lot of implications for NGOs and businesses. There is a lot of competition. International firms and consultants still lead on things like design and methodology, but a lot of delivery is done through NGOs and national companies. Meanwhile, contracting by development actors often goes through frameworks that parties at the national level struggle to get into, meaning they become mostly involved as subcontractors. As a result, they have little influence over designs, which is not good development practice and does not support sustainability. It is difficult for national parties to really work alongside international parties, instead of under them.
If you could design the perfect assignment for yourself, what would it look like and why?
I would love to work on a long-term project, for example over 5 years, whereby an international company or organisation gradually hands over responsibility to a national partner. As the capacity of the national partner is strengthened, the international partner would shift more towards a mentoring/backstopping role. It would really support the localisation and sustainability agenda if we could work in this way whereby the international company gradually reduces its role.
Any final words of wisdom you would like to share?
I have come to learn that trust and relationship building are critical, but also that people entering the sector really need to think about their own dreams. The ‘4D’ model of appreciative inquiry (Discovery, Dream, Design, Destiny) has tremendous power because it builds on people’s strengths and helps them think through how they can achieve their personal and professional goals. But to do so, you need relationships. Now that I am further in my career, I find it more and more important to support others to grow, whether it is on an individual level via mentoring others or whether it is through supporting organisations to develop as in my ideal project. Projects can come and go, but relations form the bedrock for personal and organisational development.