A new paradigm for development?
Sasha Fisher
Hi LSF!
Thank you to everyone who has been participating, the posts on this forum are continually a highlight for me each week.
I’m writing from Uganda where I have been thinking about Human Security and dignity in development and would love some input through this weeks LSF discussion.
We often talk about the ‘shifts’ that need to be made in
development efforts and attempt to redefine what assessments we can use for
development organizations. We are at an exciting time in these efforts – we
have realized the many negative side effects that aid has had over the past
decades and we have the opportunity to try and find better approaches to it. We
are learning. The posts on Local Solutions Forum thus far are encouraging.
There are so many efforts working towards supporting locally-led solutions
instead of driving aid from the outside and shifting from treating people as
beneficiaries to changemakers. When I was in university I was interested in
these ideas but I wasn’t sure how to frame them until I learned about Human Security as a paradigm. I find
Human Security highly relevant to the ongoing discussions of development on LSF
especially in regards to encouraging dignity building development.
The Goal
What is the goal of development? Is it poverty alleviation?
Food security? Happiness? When it comes down to it, I’m interested in everyone
on our earth being able to meet their basic needs, have security that they will
continue to meet them, and live a life with dignity. These add up to human
security.
How do we meet this goal?
Support local solutions that build dignity. Let’s invest in local ideas and local action to prove that we trust and will invest in the ideas of those living without their basic securities. When microfinance emerged as an innovation, it was exciting because all of a sudden money was invested into the ideas of the poor and they could choose what to do with their returns. Grassroots NGOs are appealing because they tend to work closely with communities and have a good idea of what communities really need. These are all exciting trends that are moving towards supporting locally-led development.
A question arises in these efforts however on building dignity. All too often it seems that communities are sidelined by the very aid meant to help them. I tend to think that organizations that have input from the community helps to build dignity into their programs because it shows that the organization is trusting and investing in the ideas of the people on the ground, not just on their ability to adopt external ideas. I’m a huge proponent of Human Security because it prioritizes supporting people to meet their basic needs while building their dignity.
What have we been doing wrong?
Aid has been continuously externally led and is often
invested at the state level and more recently in the private sector as well.
States are still most commonly represented at the UN, awarded billions of
dollars of aid and they are given substantial legitimacy, when most states in
the developing world are corrupt, were created by external forces and are held
accountable by external agencies rather than their people. (Check out Pierre Engleberts work for more on this). All the while
assessment tools and structured support for NGOs and CBOs are largely lacking.
For example, every time I travel to Uganda it seems that
there is another massive corruption case – PEPFAR money being used by
government officials for themselves, voting scandals etc. Due to our
allegiances to states however,
we often give less legitimacy to non-state
actors that are impactful, such as NGOs, families and villages.
Where are we going right?
The nice thing about the social sector is that it is social.
We are all humans and human psychology is important. We need to build
opportunity structures for the poor to believe in their ideas, to access
resources to implement them and receive credit for their good work.
I recently came back from a meeting with a group of women in
southern Rwanda. The women are widows of the genocide and wives of the
perpetrators. We asked them about their MicroGrant project and one woman said “thank
you for coming and sitting and listening to us, for being with us”. She said
they would have appreciated the visits alone without the MicroGrant but of
course they really appreciate the money as well. She went on to say that they
were reminded that they are capable women with their own ideas and they don’t
have to wait for someone else’s. I’d like to claim that this engagement was dignity
building.
The ‘formal’ structures we have been attempting to believe in for the past 67 years are proving problematic. Now is our chance to revolutionize development by exiting the state-based mindset and being human with the humans we are attempting to support.
If you want some more information about Human Security, check out:
How Matters
Now is the time to be corrective, restorative, and imaginative, with
imperative and profound effect.
In working with large corporate aid agencies over the years, I
continually experienced the limitations of large-scale, donor-
controlled, project-based funding, recognizing the profound need for
community-driven development initiatives that were genuinely
responsive to local needs. I’ve also had the unique privilege to
experience the impact and potential of alternative mechanisms that
directly support community leaders and that, for me, highlight the way
forward for our sector.
WiserEarth.org has already registered over 113,000 local organizations
and movements working on a wide variety of issues in 243 countries.
They conservatively estimate that they may well be over 1,000,000 such
local groups operating across the globe.
Yet the sad reality continues; grassrooots leaders and community-based
organizations are not the drivers of development, nor the setters of
priorities, nor the controllers of resources. While local non-profits
may lack the accountability mechanisms and sophisticated procedures
that would make them more recognizable or esteemed in the development
sector, they have important competencies and strengths that
distinguish them from other civil society actors, such as their
resourcefulness, flexibility and community responsiveness--a new
reality it's time to embrace.
Our jobs, whether we are working for a non-governmental organization
or foundation or having wanderlust dreams while we work an
unfulfilling office job in Ohio, must be about getting community
groups the resources that they need to address their own priorities.
All peoples and communities have a fundamental right to be the leading
agents in their own development. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Sasha - here's a list that I keep to help contrast the existing aid
paradigm and what is possible: http://www.how-matters.org/2010/08/05/development-aid-2-0/
On Oct 10, 8:17 am, Sasha Fisher <sashadfis...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi LSF!
>
> Thank you to everyone who has been participating, the posts on this forum
> are continually a highlight for me each week.
>
> I’m writing from Uganda where I have been thinking about Human Security and
> dignity in development and would love some input through this weeks LSF
> discussion.
>
> We often talk about the ‘shifts’ that need to be made in development efforts
> and attempt to redefine what assessments we can use for development
> organizations. We are at an exciting time in these efforts – we have
> realized the many negative side effects that aid has had over the past
> decades and we have the opportunity to try and find better approaches to it.
> We are learning. The posts on Local Solutions Forum thus far are
> encouraging. There are so many efforts working towards supporting
> locally-led solutions instead of driving aid from the outside and shifting
> from treating people as beneficiaries to changemakers. When I was in
> university I was interested in these ideas but I wasn’t sure how to frame
> them until I learned about Human Security as a paradigm. I find Human
> Security highly relevant to the ongoing discussions of development on
> LSF especially
>
> *The Goal*
> What is the goal of development? Is it poverty alleviation? Food security?
> Happiness? When it comes down to it, I’m interested in everyone on our earth
> being able to meet their basic needs, have security that they will continue
> to meet them, and live a life with dignity. These add up to human security.
>
> Support local solutions that build dignity. Let’s invest in local ideas and
> local action to prove that we trust and will invest in the ideas of those
> living without their basic securities. When microfinance emerged as an
> innovation, it was exciting because all of a sudden money was invested into
> the ideas of the poor and they could choose what to do with their returns.
> Grassroots NGOs are appealing because they tend to work closely with
> communities and have a good idea of what communities really need. These are
> all exciting trends that are moving towards supporting locally-led
> development.
>
> them. I tend to think that organizations that have input from the community
> helps to build dignity into their programs because it shows that the
> organization is trusting and investing in the ideas of the people on the
> ground, not just on their ability to adopt external ideas. I’m a huge
> proponent of Human Security because it prioritizes supporting people to meet
> their basic needs while building their dignity.
>
> Aid has been continuously externally led and is often invested at the state
> level and more recently in the private sector as well. States are still most
> commonly represented at the UN, awarded billions of dollars of aid and they
> are given substantial legitimacy, when most states in the developing world
> are corrupt, were created by external forces and are held accountable by
> external agencies rather than their people. (Check out Pierre Engleberts
> CBOs are largely lacking.
>
> For example, every time I travel to Uganda it seems that there is another
> massive corruption case – PEPFAR money being used by government officials
> for themselves, voting scandals etc. Due to our allegiances to
> as NGOs, families and villages.
>
> The nice thing about the social sector is that it is social. We are all
> humans and human psychology is important. We need to build opportunity
> structures for the poor to believe in their ideas, to access resources to
> implement them and receive credit for their good work.
>
> I recently came back from a meeting with a group of women in southern
> Rwanda. The women are widows of the genocide and wives of the perpetrators.
> We asked them about their MicroGrant project and one woman said “thank you
> for coming and sitting and listening to us, for being with us”. She said
> they would have appreciated the visits alone without the MicroGrant but of
> course they really appreciate the money as well. She went on to say that
> they were reminded that they are capable women with their own ideas and they
> don’t have to wait for someone else’s. I’d like to claim that this
> engagement was dignity building.
>
> The ‘formal’ structures we have been attempting to believe in for the past
> 67 years are proving problematic. Now is our chance to revolutionize
> development by exiting the state-based mindset and being human with the
> humans we are attempting to support.
>
> If you want some more information about Human Security, check out:
>
> http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/aboutUs.php
>
> http://www.gdrc.org/sustdev/husec/hs.pdf
> *
> --
> Sasha Fisher
> Executive Director | Spark MicroGrants <http://www.sparkmicrogrants.org>
> @sparkmg <http://twitter.com/#!/@sparkmg> |
> blog<http://blog.sparkmicrogrants.org/>
> | site <http://www.sparkmicrogrants.org>