“Changing Things in the Real World—Learning from the Edge”

This chapter takes the reader to another lesson of development for the people. Strategy always needs to be a multidisciplinary affair as we are dealing with whole cultures, social systems and community, knowledge and technology, economic dynamics, history, and international relations. The book now starts to move towards applying lessons learnt in West Papua more generally. This chapter’s focus is on other tribal communities within fundamentally different cultures—here the Mentawai Island society on the very remote island of Siberut west of Sumatra. Learning from the edge of a traditional society confronting the modern world from a 1,500 year old traditional culture and economic base. The book then moves on in subsequent chapters to contemporary urban communities where UNESCO could play a highly constructive role in assisting where the people felt was the greatest need within their culture. Stephen’s overall UN responsibilities on which this wider view is based were much broader than only assisting indigenous communities of Indonesia—covering other East Asian and Pacific countries across all UNESCO’s mandate as Principal Field Director and Ambassador whilst at the same time, the UN’s Regional Director for Science—as far up as for North Korea and Mongolia.