What are the actions of development?

Development in Action Logo

Development in Action (DiA) is a small UK International development Non-governmental organization run "by young people for young people". Its main objective is to promote global citizenship by encouraging engagement in global issues amongst young people in the UK.

The charity offers 5-month (Sept-Feb) and 2-month (July-Sept) volunteer placements in India. During their placements, candidates get hands-on experience of grassroots development, and are encouraged to engage in the wider issues of global citizenship and sustainable development. Each volunteer is supported in the planning and production of a 'DIA Project.'

Activities[edit]

The Development in Action programme achieves its aims through:

• The DiA placement scheme, which provides opportunities for volunteers to learn about, and participate in the work of its various partner organisations in India. Activities include teaching, field work/research, child-care, health education and administrative work. In every placement, the aim is for the volunteer to learn from and with their fellow workers and the local community.
• The volunteer 'DIA Project', where each volunteer is encouraged to produce a project/develop resources during their time in India. This can be in any form that the volunteer feels is appropriate to their material and theme, although DiA suggests different methods and approaches during training. Past volunteers have worked on activity worksheets, articles, information sheets and photography stretching over a variety of topics such as recycling, solar energy, children's position in the community and the empowerment of women. Volunteers also use their DiA resources and the experiences they have gained from the volunteer placements in India for development education activities in the UK.
• A DIA newsletter which is produced quarterly and is a product of volunteers experiences and knowledge from India, DiA activities in the UK, topical educational development activities in the UK and the voice of our partner organisations in India. The publication aims to facilitate increased understanding of international issues to a broad-based audience.

History[edit]

DiA sprang from a gap year scheme in which student volunteers taught English in village schools in Western Madhya Pradesh, India. The organiser was retiring, but the local communities in India and the participating volunteers wanted to continue the programme. In February 1992, while still in India, the volunteers and locals began to plan a new scheme to continue the link. 'Student Action India' was founded, and in 2004 it changed its name to 'Development in Action.

Development in Action is a registered charity in the UK (No. 1037554) and it is part of the Make Poverty History campaign.

Development in Action is a member of the Humanitarian Centre.

Awards[edit]

Recent Development in Action recruitment campaign

DiA won the national prize of Youth Clubs UK for "International Awareness", and received an award from Lord Westminster at St. James' Palace, November 1995.

See also[edit]

• Make Poverty History
• International development
• India

External links[edit]

• Development in Action homepage
• Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Development in Action documentary video
• Development in Action entry at OneWorld.net
• Travel journal and photos from an ex-DiA volunteer[permanent dead link]

In previous articles we already discussed the importance of personalized development plans. As a reminder, we will first briefly summarize the three kep points required for implementing these plans:

• Set business goals and identify the right employees for achieving these.
• Identify the people to take part in designing and implementing the development plan. The HR department, managers, and employees must collaborate in different ways to determine the existing and missing collective skills of the organization.
• After identifying who will participate in the design, then move on to creating the plan itself, splitting the design of the development plan into two phases:

1. Development plan based on evaluating performance and development.
2. Development plan based on evaluating potential and development.

After defining these points, next is what tools or methods can we use to carry out development actions linked to each personalized plan? Here’s a list of the more common ones below:

1. Training Plan

The purpose is to provide employees with the desirable training actions that come from needs detected in various employee appraisals and interviews. These actions are directly targeted to enhancing knowledge or skills that the employee does not possess at the right level to bring him up for his job.

To do this, we define a specific training plan that indicates courses, activities, leaders and dates. This plan also considers the employee’s personal circumstances.

enables online training platforms(LMS) to be made available so that the employee can carry out training actions online whenever and wherever. The employee can also participate in scheduled and recorded webinars (live distance learning). Through these platforms, the employee can access everything he or she needs to successfully complete the training action: documentation, forums, remote and offline tutorials with teachers, etc.

It is important that this training platform (LMS) is integrated with the company’s HR management system. This way, online courses can be directly associated directly to the development plan through end-to-end software management.

1. Coaching

Coaching is a method that consists of guiding side by side, instructing and training a person or a group of people, with the purpose of helping them to meet goals or develop certain specific skills.

Coaching is also known as the interactive and transparent process through which the coach or trainer, together with the person or group involved in this process, seek the most effective way to achieve the targets set, using their own resources and skills. There are many methods and types of coaching. Some of their techniques are workshops and supervised practice. Using this method, in the business field:

• Employees learn to detect obstacles, resolve problems independently, and improve internal relations. They are also encouraged to overcome personal challenges and increase the organization’s productivity.
• The manager obtains key information on abilities, skills, knowledge and competencies that he was not aware of and which may worth applying to the current job, or to other jobs or functions within the company. The manager also has a means to transmit or communicate to the employee whatever he has not been able to convey during the day to day.

In coaching, the manager’s role is important since his or her main function is to stimulate development and learning within the team. The manager will be responsible for implementing the plan defined for each person, while providing support and also acting as an effective coach. Likewise, it’s the manager who serves as an intermediary between the employee in question and the HR department in two-way reporting on how the development plan is executing.

1. Mentoring

In the business environment, we can say that mentoring is a career development relationship in which a more knowledgeable or more experienced person helps another who is less experienced or has less knowledge. The main function of the mentor is to share know-how and experience for different issues and problems.

For all of this actions to take place, it is necessary that HR uses the right kinds of intuitive talent tools and methodologies.

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Extra considerations for personalized plans

Lastly, it is worth keeping the following aspects in mind for a personalized development plan:

• Set the milestones for the complete development plan, detailing the timeframes in which each action included in the plan should be done.
• Assign the person or people who should tutor and control, making sure that each action is done within the stipulated timeframe.

Once we have a clear notion of the development plan to present to the employee, it will be essential to maintain an interview with him to:

• Explain the targets sought in this developnent plan (promotion, succession, collaboration with another department, etc.). If we are not transparent in the process, then we are risking the credibility of the development plan, and consequently, the company’s image.
• Find out if the employee agrees with the plan or if he would make any changes so that he can take responsibility for ensuring agreed deadlines are met.

If we successfully involve the employee so he signs off the plan’s design and takes ownership of it, there will be greater motivation and engagement to accomplish the plan.

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