Staff profile
Mr Christopher John Roche
Chair in International Development, Associate Professor
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
School of Social Sciences Institute for Human SecuritySS Room 310, Melbourne (Bundoora)
- T: +61 3 9479 1997
- E: c.roche@latrobe.edu.au
- W: Institute for Human Security
Qualifications
B.A. (Hons) Geography, Liverpool University, UK M.Phil Geography, Liverpool University, UK
Membership of professional associations
Member of the Australasian Evaluation Society
Area of study
International Development
Brief profile
Chris has over 25 years’ experience working for International NGOs as a project manager, evaluator, policy researcher and as a Director. He has recently joined La Trobe and is the convenor of the Masters of International Development. He is particularly interested in understanding how social change happens, who is involved, and how the effectiveness of attempts to promote change is assessed. Chris is keen to develop new linkages between academia and development agencies and is keen to hear ideas and proposals about how best to make this happen.
Research interests
International Aid and Development
- Complexity, power and politics
- Leadership, networks and coalitions
- Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of development programs and processes
- Poverty, gender relations and inequality
- Role of civil society in social change
- Role of international actors (aid agencies, NGOs, social movements) in supporting local process of social change
- Social accountability and learning as a force for change
Teaching units
- POL4MSH – Making Social Change Happen
Consulting
Recent work with AusAID, Anglican Overseas Aid, Cardno, the Developmental Leadership Program and the Pacific Leadership Program
Recent publications
- 2013 ‘Reconceptualising Development: the painful job of thinking’ with Andrew Hewett in Damien Kingsbury (forthcoming) Reconceptualising Development, Palgrave.
- 2012 ‘ Monitoring and Evaluation When Politics Matters’ with Linda Kelly, Developmental Leadership Program, Background Paper No.12
- 2012 ‘ The Evaluation of Politics and the Politics of Evaluation ’ with Linda Kelly, Developmental Leadership Program, Background Paper No.11
- 2012 ‘Security From Below: An Alternative Perspective on Human Security’ with Gerhard Hoffstaedter, in Altman, Camilleri, Eckersley and Hoffstaedter (2012) ‘Why Security Matters: Rethinking Australian foreign policy ’, Allen & Unwin
- 2011 ‘All the world's a stage: Structure, Agency and Accountability in International Aid’, with Gerhard Hoffstaedter, Journal of the Asia-Pacific Economy Vol 16:4 529-543
- 2010 Edited book ‘Ethical Questions and International NGOs’, with Keith Horton, Springer
- 2010 ‘The Seeming Simplicity of Measurement’ chapter in Horton and Roche (2010) ‘Ethics and International NGOs’, Springer
- 2010 ‘ Promoting Voice and Choice: Exploring Innovations in Australian NGO Accountability for Development Effectiveness’ , ACFID,
- 2009 ‘ Oxfam Australia’s experience of ‘Bottom-Up’ Accountability’ , Development in Practice, Volume 19, No 8, November 2009
- 2008 ‘ Guidance on M&E for Civil Society Programs’ , with David, R and Kelly L Prepared for AusAID Program Managers, AusAID
- 2006 ‘Organisational Assessment and Institutional Footprints’ in Alan Tomas , Joanna Chataway and Marc Wuyts Eds (1998) Finding Out Fast: Investigative Skills for Development Policy and Development , Open University Press – Updated from 1998 version
- 2003 ‘Impact Assessment and Disasters’, Chapter in World Disasters Report 2003, IFRC, Geneva,
- 2003 ‘Evaluating the Performance of Development Agencies’, with Linda Kelly in “Evaluating Development Effectiveness: Challenges and the Way Forward”, World Bank, Washington, D.C.
- 2001 ‘Middle Aged Man seeks Gender Team’ in Sweetman, C. Ed “ Men’s Involvement in Gender and Development Policy and Practice: Beyond the Rhetoric ’, Oxfam GB,
- 2000 ‘ Impact Assessment: Seeing the wood and the trees’ Development in Practice Vol10 Nos3/4,
- 1999. ‘ Impact Assessment for Development Agencies: Learning How to Value Change ’ , Oxfam Great Britain,
- 1996 ‘ NGOs, civil society and the State: building democracy in transitional countries ’ Development in Practice, Conference Report, Volume 6, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 270 – 271
- 1994 ‘ Operationality in Turbulence: the need for change’ , Development in Practice, Vol 4, Issue 3
- 1993 ‘An NGO Perspective on Food Security and the Environment: ACORD in the Sahel and Horn of Africa’, IDS Bulletin , Volume22, Issue 3, Pages31–34, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex
Research projects
- 2012-13 Co-convenor of the Big Push Forward Conference on the Politics of Evidence at the Institute of Development Studies, April 2013.
- 2010-12 Support to the Developmental Leadership Program and its partners on the Monitoring and Evaluation of programmes aimed to promote coalitions for change.
- 2012 – 2013 Support to the Pacific Leadership Program’s monitoring and evaluation processes.
