John Staley, who has died at age 88, was a development professional who spent much of his career with humanitarian and educational organizations focused on south Asia. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he served as field director for Oxfam in south India and Sri Lanka, overseeing funding decisions for several hundred voluntary agencies across multiple sectors. His responsibilities encompassed aid administration, policy development, project assessment, funding recommendations, and disaster response coordination, along with liaison work between governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Among his notable contributions was leading Oxfam’s response to a severe drought in Maharashtra in 1973, which delivered food assistance to more than 20,000 people through a work-for-food program. Recognition of his humanitarian efforts came in 1974 when he was appointed MBE for his services to the Indian people. He later served as Oxfam’s research director in India from 1975 to 1976, during which time he became instrumental in developing experience-based training methodologies for group and organizational learning.
In 1976, Staley co-founded Search with Indian colleagues, an organization dedicated to implementing these training approaches within development work contexts. He maintained a connection with Search through an Oxfam secondment that lasted until 1980. He subsequently relocated to the United Kingdom, where he pursued an academic career in development studies, holding lecturer and senior lecturer positions at Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham from 1982 until his retirement in 1999.
Throughout his lifetime, Staley authored three books addressing development themes and learning practices. Following his retirement, he engaged in writing, travel, community participation, gardening, and land stewardship. His wife Elizabeth died in 2019. He is survived by three children and two grandchildren.
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