James Statman shared his experiences on the nature of international development interventions; the contexts, challenges and joys of the work, and the academic, personal and experiential requirements for professional and program success. For the past 25 years James has been engaged in the design, implementation, administration and evaluation of international development interventions, working primarily with most-at-risk and marginalised populations often in post-conflict environments. The work has included programs for ex-combatants in South Africa and Nigeria; violence mitigation interventions in Guyana and Zimbabwe; youth development and education development and participant training interventions in South Africa; HIV/AIDS behaviour-change and health system reform projects in Zimbabwe and Albania.