Playing the Numbers Game

Hezel, Francis X. (2009-11-30). [www.micsem.org Playing the Numbers Game]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar. pp. 1–10.

• Has attachment: File:5UEBAF78.pdf

Abstract: “How many fish did you catch last night?” someone asks. “Plenty” is the answer. “And how big were they?” the questioner asks. So the young man extends his arm and marks off a part with his other hand to show his interrogator the length of the biggest fish he caught. “How far is it to the nearest store?” someone inquires. “Go, go, go and then turn at the cottonwood tree,” is the reply. The driver, an American, scratches his head and wonders just how far “go, go, go” might mean. He is hard-pressed to convert this expression into miles or yards.

These conventional island responses would have satisfied people engaged in casual conversation once upon a time, but they don’t work any longer today. At least not when the conversation is with the person who is paying for the gas used in the fishing boat, or with the man who is trying to deliver supplies to that village store. Yet, all too often we continue to use such vague measures in addressing the request for information from overseas funders.

The conversation today is between island governments and those nations or organizations that fund them. We know that these outside interests expect something more specific, but they all too often receive no more than vague replies. The truth is, however, that we need this information ourselves to steer us in our work and to ensure that we’re putting our energies into the right programs. The old navigators had stars to steer by when making a voyage, and they knew the names of the stars and the islands that lie beneath them off the horizon somewhere. What do we use to steer by?...

Extra details:

DOI: 10.1136/leader-2023-000792
CorpusID: 261706487
OpenAlex: W4386709956