Editing Talk:Employment in international development

==Great addition==
I really like this addition.  I want to attract the "consumers" of the Appropedia content, and I think job or volunteer opportunities help make this a "one stop shop" and can also help us get endorsements from those job/volunteer organizations.--[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 15:27, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
:Hi [[User:Singkong2005|Singkong2005]] (now known as [[User:Chriswaterguy| Chriswaterguy]]), Thank you for posting your expertise.  These simple hints will probably help out a lot of people in this often obfuscated field.  I look forward to seeing it grow. --[[User:Lonny|Lonny]] 17:07, 11 October 2006 (PDT)

===Other possible (desired!) category addition===

Similar thought that came from my EWB meeting last night is that we could maintain some information about regional materials availability and resources.  This is the kind of information that some people know and other people want, and it's hard to come by (the Rwanda version of "Home Depot" does not appear on Google) and hard to share, and a wiki is perfect.  The situation was, EWB-SFP is working on a Solar project in Haiti.  The project came from another chapter that had too much on it's plate, but is working nearby in Haiti on a bridge or something.  Both of these teams need to know what they can buy where, and they're gonna call each other.  Suboptimal approach.  Local community organizations can be the ones to provide the information, and EWB and other groups can post questions.  

Another thing I really like about this is related to involvement of local organizations.  I think (others with more real world experience should disagree as appropriate) that local advocates are likely to make a big difference in the long term success and usage of projects.  Requesting this kind of information is a good and visible way to measure local support and enthusiasm.  It's easy to say "we want a well", but takes a bit more energy to answer some questions.  Of course, this may lead to need for links to translation sites, but that's easily handled as well.

I haven't boldly created categories, etc, yet, because I haven't thought about structure / policy etc, but this new category makes me think in similar fashion.--[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 15:27, 11 October 2006 (PDT)

::Is [[:Category:Supplies]] similar to what you are talking about?  BTW google "Humboldt ca supplies" yields us at #1.  --[[User:Lonny|Lonny]] 16:53, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
:::"Supplies" covers, well, supplies.  But there are other resources and infrastructure too.  Maybe "local conditions" (phone, cell coverage, electricity, (is that a supply?), paid transport, fresh water, sanitation, nighttime temperature, weather concerns, mosquitos?) or "infrastructure"?  Answers to basic questions that a traveler / field person would want to ask.  Some will be addressed in tourism books, but bet a nickel that many of these places are not adequately handled in such resources, hence the suggestion...  --[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 20:01, 11 October 2006 (PDT)

::::My initial reaction was that this would be an enormous task... but I realized that we don't have to (and shouldn't try to) have info on everywhere in the world, but rather just have info that will be useful to people doing projects in a certain area. E.g. Supplies info for Parras is a good idea as Humboldt people are likely to be going there for future projects. 

::::In terms of local conditions, I'd be inclined to put this info on the locality page, such as [[:Category:Parras]]. --[[User:Singkong2005|Singkong2005]] (now known as [[User:Chriswaterguy| Chriswaterguy]]) &middot; <small>[[User talk:Singkong2005|talk]]</small> 18:45, 12 October 2006 (PDT)

===Other volunteer oppty?===

Another thought that came to me about volunteering is that there may be willing souls that have some bandwidth but are not expert in any area. (I'm thinking of other people like me, which I bet I can find at work and church, etc.)  What can folks like them (and me) do?  Well, it clicked for me that the EWB folks are actually quite busy, and they already feel like they invested a lot of effort posting their content on their own wiki (Twiki-based), or maybe it's in a word doc or powerpoint or whatever.  Demotech is a similar content provider that Lonny is investing in (right?).  If we could attract "Appropedia volunteers" and connect them with content providers, bingo!  We can kick start that by putting me and potentially other folks on the list of volunteers that content providers could contact.  In some cases, the volunteer would need to gain login access or whatever in order to reach the content for importation.--[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 15:27, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
:Great idea.  Coincidentally, last night in the way too many edits, you can find in the way too many edit summaries - the following allusion to what you are suggesting: <tt>porting pages notice and link to page that is needed: Porting pages, input cd3wd, demotech and other suggestions</tt>.  I think we should create [[Appropedia:Port pages]] and link it from the [[Appropedia:Community portal]].  This page should have suggestions on where from and how to port pages.  We can start the page with links to demotech pages and the CD3WD database.  Other users can offer their html pages, word docs, etc., with copyleft, for porting as well.  I think this is a great way for those that want to help out, and learn about AT/SustDev, to get involved.  --[[User:Lonny|Lonny]] 17:00, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
::Perfect!  It occurs to me that this can work both ways.  In addition to creating "Port pages", we can have a page or Category of "porting helpers".  If a page, then Appropedia users can add a link to their user page.  If it's a category, then we can just add [[:Category:Porting helpers]] to our user page?  Then we can point content providers to the list of volunteers.  I'm going to boldly assume the category approach and offer myself.  --[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 07:17, 12 October 2006 (PDT)
:::Hi Curt, You may want to have even more fun with this, and explore the somewhat convoluted labrynth of [[Appropedia:Userboxes|Userboxes]].  Possibly superfluous, but a fun challenge, not that we do not have plenty to do already.  --[[User:Lonny|Lonny]] 10:28, 12 October 2006 (PDT)

===Another content possibility===
Also makes me think of things like "site assessment" (soil, accessibility/roads, power, medical, lodging, yada yada) and potentially "census" and other key "processes" that would be valuable for a prospective team.  A semi-standardized set of forms or questions would make it easier for the locals to provide the information, and also easier for consumers to find things.--[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 15:27, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
:[[:Category:Tool]] and [[:Category:How to]] are both great categories for these type of pages (in addition they will also be part of the category ''Site assesment''', or the like).  As these categories fill up, we will definitely include [[:Category:Tool]] on the nav bar and main page.  I am currently slowly working on a [[Home energy analysis]] spreadsheet tool for inclusion in the [[:Cateogry:Tool]], [[:Category:How to]] and the [[Sustainable Energy booklet]] page.  --[[User:Lonny|Lonny]] 17:05, 11 October 2006 (PDT)
::I'd like to add requests for this kind of content to the Community Portal.  Do that when I have a moment...  --[[User:Curtbeckmann|Curtbeckmann]] 17:24, 11 October 2006 (PDT)

== proposed re-organization ==

currently, there are three pages on getting more involved in international development, I propose we have one page on volunteering and another page on working. I propose that https://www.appropedia.org/Category:International_volunteer_opportunities be the volunteering page and https://www.appropedia.org/Employment_and_volunteering_in_international_development be the employment page. --[[User:David.reber|David.reber]] 14:06, 9 May 2008 (PDT)

:That makes sense to split the two cleanly, now there's a fair bit of info.

:[[Employment_and_volunteering_in_international_development]] is more about finding work, whereas [[Choosing a job in development]] is about which opportunities are most worthwhile. I have a slight preference for keeping those as two articles (in which case the first one be moved to [[Finding work in international development]]). --[[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]] 23:13, 16 May 2008 (PDT)
::*perhaps we are in need of a portal (david reber but i'm too lazy to log in :)
:::Good idea - can't commit to this right now, but can help if someone else leads. --[[User:Chriswaterguy|Chriswaterguy]] 07:38, 19 May 2008 (PDT)