I have a bit of a moral dilemma relating to workplace practices and its related to a few random comments that have started me wondering about how a lots of us students of development studies go out there in the "real world", work in NGOs and other development institutions and yet don't really practice development theories. You are, of course, free to disagree with me on this count but I think it happens. I'm not saying that we do not try to create positive sustainable change in our own small ways around the world, I think we do, but I think that a lot of the time we do this without thinking about our theoretical backgrounds.
Lets face it, a lot of our time spent in the classroom was spent disparaging the way many big development institutions (the Bank, the UN etc) work and their arrogance of believing that they could 'fix' years of injustice through their approach. And yet, I see myself today working in an organization funded by the World Bank doing many things that I would, as a student, have said were incorrect. I feel that in planning interventions very often we only lightly skim the real issues at the heart of most problems, the structural injustices etc. When, for example, we plan an intervention of supplying a village with clean drinking water there is a lot of talk about sustainability and our work not being charity but I think it often falls into the category of charity.Its not easy to change the habits and mindsets of people who are poor and have for so long been given things for free. How do you truly get them to take ownership, which will ultimately be what changes their lives more so than any water scheme that we may implement? No matter how much I know the importance of this as do my coworkers there is always the talk of deadlines and getting it all done within the timeframe given by donors. Then, how can I say that I am truly working in development?
I left this blog at that point a few days ago, a little bit disheartened that I had so soon given up on the ideals. But in a show of optimism, my faith is renewed by further conversations and interactions. Development is no single cookie cutter solution. It has a myriad of faces and names. Is what I do part of that myriad? I think so, because I think ultimately even the fact that I am thinking about sustainable futures and how to help development succeed is a positive factor in this progress. I am not implementing development or creating it; the will and means of development already exist, I am simply giving it a helping hand by removing some of the obstacles. And even the ownership issue that I had despaired of has been showing signs of life. One of the villages where we were convinced no activism would take place has now become a beacon of activism. They have shown initiative to further enhance the tools we have handed them.
So is development a lost cause, I hope not and on a deeper level, I know not. Its not in small pockets that change has begun but all over the world that people like me are struggling and overcoming obstacles impeding global equity and justice. I have a vision of this world shared by many and I have faith that this vision has a chance of succeeding.
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1 comment:
That's beautiful, Fato.
I don't know whether to comment on the arrogance of academia (judging others' actions but rarely taking action itself) or the politics of development groups (beholden to donors as much as to beneficiaries). My sense is that all development work is a mix of success and failure. I've gone to a few lectures on international development at the local university, and recently added "NGOcracy" to my vocabulary. For every cynical word, though, there's something positive, too.
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