ABSTRACT
Robert Chambers has had a profound influence on the thinking as a development professional. His constant reminder that the ‘realities of poor people are local, complex, diverse and dynamic’, and his pioneering of the methods of participatory poverty appraisal to bring out these realities, are major contributions to development studies. They certainly had an effect on this economist, well-schooled in the discipline’s deductive/empiricist/quantitative methods, with perhaps unthinking allegiance to its epistemology. Working on poverty issues, whether in international agencies, in bilateral donor ministries, in academia, in think tanks, in foundations, or in many non-governmental organizations, has become a well-defined career path, with ladders that one climbs and financial compensation to match. Certainly, poverty professionals should not have to go around in sackcloth and ashes or disadvantage their children to retain the moral high ground. A fitting tribute to Robert’s legacy would be the regularization of immersions/exposures as a normal part of the poverty professional’s career.
