Some thoughts on African aid and development

I came across both of these videos last week and they made me happy.  I think the second one provides an alternative to the stereotypes and cliches the first one critiques. 



From the website:
"Imagine if every person in Africa saw the “Africa for Norway” video and this was the only information they ever got about Norway. What would they think about Norway?

The pictures we usually see in fundraisers are of poor African children. Hunger and poverty is ugly, and it calls for action.
The truth is that there are many positive developments in African countries, and we want these to become known. We need to change the simplistic explanations of problems in Africa. We need to educate ourselves on the complex issues and get more focus on how western countries have a negative impact on Africa’s development. If we want to address the problems the world is facing we need to do it based on knowledge and respect."

This is excellent and in line with a lot of the things I've been thinking, since taking an African History course in University and gradually increasing my understanding of world issues since graduation.  Travelling, reading a lot and talking to local people really does do a lot to undermine the story we are told through advertising on TV, I think. 

And here is one idea for a better way to approach aid: 

NGO hustle

Initially that was NOT supposed to be a blog post in itself. I had been waiting (for 3 hours!!! hence the original title: "Indian (and other variations of) Time, to be continued another day) to go visit some of the projects that an NGO was running and just as I started a blog post (I had run out of other Internet-time-wasting things to do), the director finally called me into his office.

So. . .I met someone who was a business partner with my friend and was impressed that I seemed to genuinely want to work in human rights/social justice issues without any concern for advancement of my career/finances (apparently that's NOT like everyone. . .!) so he introduced me to someone he knew who is a coordinator for some different NGOs (who will remain nameless, sorry for the suspense), who introduced me to a specific one in Delhi where I went today. I had been to the office on Friday to meet the director and find out what kind of situation I was potentially getting myself into.

The director explained that they did nothing related to human rights or the environment, so I wasn't a good fit for the organization. Fair enough. I certainly prefer honesty over exploitation. Then the conversation shifted to the prospect of fund-raising. . .uh oh. "I could put together a team for you and you could come up with some fund-raising strategies, after of course you know everything about the organization, how transparent we are, what we are doing, how sustainable we are. . .you know, sustainability is the key these days, how much money we need, etc." Ok, not ideal, but of course every organization has to do at least some form of fundraising. . .right? "For now we can pay you 8000 rs for trial but after a few months, depending on your skills and ambition, there's no limit. . .we don't have a problem in this area." ummm. "You could set up an office for us in Canada, be the face of the organization there, find Canadian donors there and have the funds transfered to our account.". . . .right. . . .something about that seems somewhat unsustainable to me. . .

Not to mention that they are already getting funding and support from their "Mother NGO" and the government. AND that he failed to acknowledge that corruption was happening with respect to entrance to government schools. Provided, perhaps this doesn't apply to the particular ones that they are working with. . .(possible?). When I was working for a week at NCDHR the people living in the slums straight up told us that their children rarely got into government schools because, although entrance was supposed to be based on a lottery system, in actuality, it was often based on how much you were able to pay the administration. Dalits and other people living in the slums didn't have much opportunity. Ok, so Dalit rights aren't an issue you're working on. Fine. That doesn't mean it's ok to be unaware or dishonest about a huge problem affecting the demographic you largely work with.

Sometimes I think I'm being way to critical and will never be able to do anything. . .good or bad, because of it. Nothing will ever be 100% good (the rule of the yin yang?) Sometimes I wonder if it's more a fear of involving and investing myself in something that will inevitably have some negative aspects. I prefer to dwell in the grey>leading white as much as possible. . .but the black is also a necessary part. . .Maybe if I actually took the position and invested myself I could help them do things in a better, more sustainable way. . .not because i'm a foreigner, thus automatically more knowledgeable or because i have a hero complex. . .but simply because i'm critical and trying my best to be honest with myself about the situation.

In this particular situation though, I think I will decline. Some people just make you feel uneasy. . .

aidlolz made me laugh today :)

This one particularly reminds me of the Phenomenal Food Tour team ;) Laughing leemers?

http://aidlolz.tumblr.com/

a bit of a sinking feeling

I finished watching round 2 of Avatar The Last Air Bender series yesterday. Just as good as I remember, if not better. I definitely don't feel the same way that I did after the last time I watched it though. I think it's a culmination of a number of things. . .

I think my Canada World Youth exchange took a lot out of me. Before starting I was very confident and self-assured. I felt very connected to people and things and felt like I was really connected to the great one-ness of all things. . .I saw dualism in everything. . .could advocate on behalf of anything in the name of compassion. . .I realized fully that having hatred and disdain for even your worst enemy would not lead anywhere and would only cause more pain and suffering for yourself. To love your enemy and have compassion for them as well was much more powerful. . .and beneficial for everyone. This is still something I know.

But then in Honduras, and as a result of Canada World Youth I learned about the political coup that split the country in half ideologically speaking. Some believe the president was trying to make the country communist, some believe he was trying to give more power to the people and less to the corporations in the country (different ways of saying the same thing?). He was ousted by the Supreme court who were very much against his actions (in trying to "change the constitution" by proposing a survey to see if people would want him to remain in office for longer if it were an option). . .in any case, there was a lot of turmoil, many people decided not to vote in the following election. . .however, Canada and the USA were two of the first countries to recognize Honduras' new government after the coup.

Just politics and history, no big deal.

Until you find out about Gold corps and their mining exploits in Honduras. It becomes obvious that Canada and the US have vested interest in countries like Honduras. They are cheap places to attain natural resources that can make a lot of people rich (and secure a pension for the large number of citizens that will be expecting one when they retire). And Honduras isn't really in a position to argue. . .in 1998 after a giant hurricane devastated large parts of the country and economy it would understandably become easy to allow international corporations or countries offering some assistance to come in and help your people. . .So Canada and the US give Honduras 1% of their profits from gold and take the rest. . .fair, right?
It makes it hard to have a lot of faith in development efforts from these countries as well. Especially as a Canadian to hear that a lot of foreign aid is being cut and learning that CIDA has decided to focus on only 20 countries

In the CIDA release, the agency said the vast majority of Canada's bilateral aid money will go, in addition to the Caribbean and the West Bank/Gaza regions, to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Ukraine and Vietnam.

One can't help but wonder if foreign aid might have ulterior motives or even, if it is maybe a retributive gesture, in exchange for gold (or other resource) excavation, that can "help repair the country in need" by giving more opportunities to western volunteers (a lot of the time). . .And I guess I do think that ultimately foreign aid is a band-aid solution for a system in crisis anyway but back to the original point. . .

Seeing all of this and understanding it on a deeper level took away a lot of my confidence. It is hard to argue for the good in this entire system. It is hard to see the situation in Honduras and know that a gold company is coming in and poisoning water, destroying environments and homes of innocent people who are impoverished and far away. Who aren't able to make enough noise for the majority of people to notice (not that this is in anyway their fault) and who may be disappeared or killed for trying. The same things happen all over the world, even in Canada . That paired with the selfishness I witnessed from others and that I know I am guilty of myself, that most people are not willing to make even small changes in their lives so that people can have their most basic human rights met. We are not willing to look at the gold in jewellery stores and say "Hey, you know what, I don't want something that is made at other people's expense". . .Most people are unwilling to give up even a bit of their comfortable lifestyle so that everyone can have a chance to live. It's disheartening and it's very hard to see these things as necessary and part of a unifying whole. . .
I've also noticed how it seems the more people have the more suspicious and fearful they become of others. . .
I think North American philosophy is in desperate and immediate need of revision.

another interesting article

Perth - Gracias 2010/11: Canada World Youth Adventure VI

Cheque.

We have now been in Honduras for almost an entire month!  It seems like much longer in day to day time but much shorter overall. . .if that makes any sense?

Coffee drying in the sun

The days are still pretty nice, warm and the nights are a bit cool.  Apparently it gets "cold" in December, but we´ll see about that I guess.  It rains relatively frequently because we are in the mountains but not very hard or for very long.  Our diet still consists mainly of tortillas, beans, eggs, platanos, coffee a few vegetables and for lactose and meat eaters chicken or pork, cheese and mantiquilla which is like butter but with the texture of cream.  It´s great.  Other than potaste (chayote), that I seem to be given a lot for lunch as my "meat alternative", I love the food here.

Coffee plantation on the mountain

Inspecting a water system

Work has been interesting.  For the first couple of days Luz and I did mostly nothing but sit in the office and occasionally were asked to do some data entry for the employees. . .then we met another volunteer from the peace corps.  She's a civil engineer.  I immediately bombarded her with questions that I didn´t have the language capacity to ask in Spanish to my other colleagues.  Her job generally consists of designing, assessing, monitoring and planning water systems and the needs for them in the 5 municipalities the organization works with.  Many of the small communities within the municipalities don´t have access to running water and she is primarily working on helping that issue.  She has been working in Honduras for almost 2 years and has some very interesting insights about the organization and the work she is doing.  The ones that are most interesting to me are:

Iglesia in San Sebastian

1. During the military coup last year, many of the past employees lost their jobs and the current director, who was an employee before the coup, assumed the directorial position of the organization.  The peace corps volunteer questions the effectiveness/benevolence (?) of the new director and thinks that alot of his actions are politically motivated.  She is constantly worried about the real motives of her being sent to certain municipalities.  Ex.  If there is an election coming up in San Sebastian (one of the municipalities) and the director sends her out there, at the current mayor´s request, to design an irrigation system (when some communities still don´t have access to running water), her visit under that mayor´s request could help sway the vote.  She tries to be conscious of this and avoids situations where she feels she could have an influence.

2. She is concerned about the work she is doing that could be done by a Honduran national.

Street scene: Gracias, Lempira

These are examples of 2 big problems that I have often come across in my experience with development work.  Maybe not formed exactly like the first one, but politics and corruption are often huge obstacles (or helps if you are the "right people" or paying enough) to development work.   And, it always seems to make much more sense to me to have the nationals of a country working toward their own development as a nation. . .or at least provide training so that when foreign volunteers leave, a local will be able to fill her place.  It´s always much easier to say than do though for a myriad of reasons.

Celaque

This does not mean I hate my job.  Not at all.  Quite the opposite really.  For me, being given the opportunity to learn about these issues more intimately is perfect.  I´ve also been able to do some really cool and interesting things so far.  I went on a 6 hour hike in the mountans surrounding Gracias with the Peace Corps volunteer to inspect an existing water system and assess the problems and whether or not it needs and expansion.  That was possibly the best day of work I´ve ever had!  We had another day where we were brought to a warehouse full of donations (mostly swedow redirected from Haiti earthquake relief. . .proof that donations do not always get to where you expect them to go. . .which was one of the complaints I had to defend when fundraising for Red Cross back in 2006).  We had to sort the donations- shoes, diapers, underwear, coveralls, medical supplies etc.-into 5 equal parts to donate to the 5 municipalities.  But once they left the warehouse the distribution, assurance that they would be getting to people that actually needed them, was entirely out of our hands.

Interesting stuff.

Random Goat in the street :)

Sunset on Celaque

 As for the group, we are still doing pretty well overall.  We´ve had 3 birthday parties already, and 3 EADs where we learned more  about Honduran vs Canadian culture, Public health and agriculture and coffee production.  More running, yoga and an event for Stop Violence Against Women day. 

So. . .I think that brings us to the end of November!  I´m sure I will have lots more to update about next time!  Hope you are having a great time wherever you are!