IF is committed to achieving a realistic and responsible approach to development guided by existing research and ongoing evaluation.

IF Praxis Development Award

Each year IF offers the IF Praxis Development Award  to support and promote links between development research and practice. The award of $500 is granted to a person or organisation undertaking research that IF believes will contribute, in a practical and accessible way, to community development.

IF also provides non-financial support to award recipients, including access to our organisational experience and contacts and, as appropriate, introductions to communities that we are working with. In return we may ask recipients to assist IF by reviewing a project to ensure that we are applying key theoretical principles in our work, submitting research articles to our newsletter or speaking to IF volunteers and the management committee about development research.

Information for Applicants in 2005-6
IF Development Praxis Award 2005-6 (119 KB)

IF Praxis Award 2007 - Ian Seal

We are proud to announce that the Indigo Foundation Development Praxis Award for 2007 has been given to Ian Seal. Ian’s capacity to link research and action has been demonstrated in his long research/development career which has benefited us recently. As mentioned earlier in the newsletter, Ian volunteered his time and expertise to work with Lemba Education and Community Development Foundation (Lua Lemba) in Rote, Indonesia to develop a Reproductive Health Program. He also collaborated with the schools to develop a curriculum of health education.

Ian is currently exploring opportunities to provide capacity building support to an organisation in Africa that works with HIV/AIDS orphans. Specifically, Ian's aim is to improve psychosocial outcomes and reduce risk factors for poor health in orphans by strengthening and supporting the capacity of families and communities to protect and care for their children. Ian will be travelling to Africa later in 2008 to develop the project.

We hope this praxis award provides Ian with extra assistance in the development of his project proposal for HIV orphans.

Inaugural Winner (2004) – Leanne Black

Leanne is researching the links between capacity building and poverty reduction in developing countries. She is working with communities in East Timor to establish what (if any) on-the-ground benefits accrue to communities if a capacity building approach to development is taken. Over the last decade, ‘capacity building’ has become a key principle in development, and indeed IF’s approach is based on providing capacity building support to local community-based organisations. Yet, whilst the principles of capacity building appear sound, the complexity and dynamics of it are not well understood. Moreover, there is limited systematic evidence that a capacity building approach actually does reduce poverty or contribute to sustainable development. Leanne’s research is aimed at determining what the links are, and how they work best.

Leanne recently completed a B.A. (1st class Honours), majoring in Community Development and has worked among nomadic herders in Niger, West Africa using a participatory development approach. Her insights into the practicalities of development and her keen ability to critically analyse and clearly articulate development theory will be of extreme benefit to IF. We are extremely happy to be able to support her work.

For more information on IF Praxis Development Award, please contact Susan Engel at indigo.foundation@bigpond.com.