The Dev Method

So I'm watching BBC right now and am having a blast.  I am watching a program concerning a community development initiative within Pakistan, working toward the fulfillment of the UN Millenium Development Goals.   The basis of these goals are to cut global poverty by 50% by the year 2015.  As poverty is not just financial, but also includes issues such as equitable access to education, health care, and clean water, the fulfillment of this goal requires a multifaceted approach to solving the problem.  It requires the efforts of governments to fulfill the obligations to which all 192 signatories had agreed.  The United States agreed to contribute 0.7% of its Gross Domestic Project per year toward international aid, and thus far has failed to do so since signing this agreement in 2001 - yep, that is how much American tax dollars go toward the solvable problems of global poverty, famine, and sickness.  To fulfill these goals it is important that nations participate, as it is the first time in the history of human kind that a problem of this scale can actually be solved, and so soon!  This is to the benefit of all of us as it will lead to development of stronger markets, greater trade and competition, improved security and stability, and a broader consumer base for industry. 

But it takes more than just money to solve this problem.  It takes people on the ground to put it to use.  It requires trained professionals working for Non Government Agencies (NGO) to build the necessary infrastructure to alleviate poverty, and get things going so that new systems may operate in a long term, sustainable manner.

On the BBC episode I was watching, an NGO was attempting to assist a particular community in Pakistan to improve education and health care in the region. At first it looked like a classic 'text book' project, where the aid worker/engineer/health professional/educator arrives, does some social research, and works with the community to solve the problems (problems determined within the research) from "the bottom up." This is important because people  need to solve their own problems to the extent that is possible, so that they are equipped to continue solving these problems in the future.

But then the show started to change.

What was amusing was hearing the locals talk about their experience within the development project.   They were willing to participate and work toward improving their situation, they are constantly working to take care of their families, school and clothe their kids and have a decent life, but they never had the resources to really improve conditions.  So the NGO shows up, announces that things will be better now, and proceeds to do a series of exercises with community members to work toward development.  The first was a "community mapping" project.

When I went to East Africa a couple years ago, I had attempted to do a community mapping project as well.  The idea was for community members to draw a map of their village, and provide information about the map.  They are to note information  what road is a good road, what well has dirty water, where is the school and market located... and so on.  The idea is to make all of this data - data that people take for granted - and distinguish it as a valuable body of knowledge in the eyes of the community.  Additionally the goal is to help determine the strength, scale, and distribution of available resources within the local vicinity.  Sometimes such mapping exercises are critical to the pursuit and success of a community development project, and furthermore these maps can serve the basis for extensive operations outside of the initial project scope.  However, without a thorough explanation and a directly percievable link between the role of the map and the goal of the project, such maps maybe simply become futile exercises that waste the precious time of folks who need to go to work, cook dinner, and help their kids with homework.

Within the BBC program, the reporter was asking participants what they thought about the mapping process.  Half of the community members had already left, clearly thinking the project was a waste of time, while others said things such as "we have no idea why we are doing this, I thought we were going to improve our schools and build a hospital, this doesn't make any sense."  Others were asked if they had participated in such projects in the past, "Of course, every so many years someone will show up and say they want to do something with us.  Then they leave and nothing has changed."

In the meantime, the NGO worker was pulling his hair out.  He said that people were not responsive to the project, and that there could be no success with such lax commitment.

Two years later the journalism crew returns.  The hospital was never constructed, although the school building had improved.  It was unclear if the improvements were in any way connected to the efforts of any outside NGO, as it may have simply been the work of some concerned parents who compiled some money for a few cans of paint.  The quality of education had not changed, although more children are enrolled in school thanks to the efforts of concerned local elders.

Unfortunately I believe this is a fair representation of many development projects throughout the world.  Such projects are founded on archaic notions of the outside expert whose specialized training and knowledge will help the poor locals to build capacity and mobilize internal resources. What about instead sharing knowledge, communicating, mobilizing outside resources to meet internal demands, and exercising existing capacity?  People generally know what they have and what they do not, and they generally know what barriers exist in the way of successfully obtaining what they need.  Why try to build a new highway, when you could try to isolate the problem that is creating slow traffic?  Is it the poor condition of the road, the necessity of an additional lane to accommodate population growth, the necessity of a stop light, or is there wreckage in the center lane from a problem 25 years ago that is standing in the way?  No matter how much you help people become better drivers, it doesn't mean that traffic will flow more easily.

Certainly there are times for outside expertise.  Certainly there are times to import concepts and tools, and there are times to "build capacity."  But those are times that require extensive investment on behalf of the outsider.  You need to integrate with the community and know how they communicate with each other so that you can properly communicate with them.  The NGO in Pakistan wasn't wrong in its efforts, it was just wrong in its approach.  Unfortunately, it creates a negative idea of development workers within such communities, and only makes the job harder for anyone else who should try to do such things in the future.

Still, having learned these lessons the hard way, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has made such mistakes.