10 August 2008

Press statement
For immediate release

New book makes sense of development-speak!

Do you know your IDU from your IDA IDB, IDP, or IDT?

A new book of terms and acronyms, to be launched in Wellington on Thursday, 21st August, will ensure that you don’t mistake Injecting Drug Users (IDU) for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). The Guide to International Development Terms and Acronyms – Pacific Focus (116pp, RRP$20) provides definitions and critical summaries for everything from the meaning of ‘development’ to more than 1200 jargon terms and acronyms that can easily trip up people working or researching in international development.

Professor John Overton, Director of Development Studies at Victoria University, is concerned that we are “plagued with an ever-increasing lexicon of development-speak”. He says, “this guide provides us with a means to translate this often-impenetrable language into something that can be understood by all”.

Co-editor Alice Beban-France, Information Officer at Wellington-based organisation Development Resource Centre (DRC), believes the book is unique. “We have heard from so many people frustrated with all the jargon used in development. This is the first comprehensive guide that makes sense of development language in our region”.

Head of Development Studies at Massey University, Associate Professor Regina Scheyvens, says the new book is “a pithy, informative and highly relevant guide to the multitude of terms, organisations and theories about development, that…should be an essential addition to the backpack or briefcase of development practitioners, academics and students working in the Pacific region.”

The book is a project of the Development Resource Centre (DRC), and was produced in collaboration with academics, development practitioners and activists. The DRC is a non-governmental organisation that works to inform and educate Aotearoa New Zealanders to take action to create a just world. The DRC also runs a free public library of resources on global issues, manages an extensive website, provides training for teachers and youth workers and publishes a variety of magazines and newsletters.

ENDS

For more information: www.dev-zone.org/devguide

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