Frank writes for The Broker’s ‘Treehuggers Treadmill’ blog. He has an educational background in cultural anthropology and international development. Specialized in identity processes among indigenous groups in Peru and Guatemala, and having travelled through Africa many times, one can sincerely call him a fully fledged tree hugger. For over two years now he is working for Oxfam Novib, a Netherlands based development organization. Working as a monitoring and evaluation advisor his main challenge is measuring the effectiveness of development projects and to look at ways to improve these.

With his 27 years of age Frank is still a novice within the World of International Development. Not fully integrated yet, he still has to learn the culture and even the language of this world that still confuses him everyday. Why do they use over a dozen of words for “participation” while they still lack the capacity to make people participate? Talking about capacity: how does one “build” that, and when is your capacity fully built? And why do human rights organizations nowadays work on international development and development organizations on climate change?

Frank has many questions… and will be seeking for answers