Blog 4

Imagine this situation: You are working for the government of an area in extreme need of services and infrastructure like schools, clean water, health care staff, etc. You have all of these separate donors who want to give you money and implement projects they think will help the people of your area. Some of these donors have never been to your area. Some of the donors are doing projects that overlap. You can’t say no to these donors because you don’t want to lose their support and money - it is often their money which is keeping your District above float. So you go along with all of their projects and do the best you can and although some problems are solved, often the real causes of problems are left lingering.

Unfortunately, this is a situation too often faced in developing countries. I am not saying that donors (including world governments) are causing serious problems and should be blamed. There are those people who believe this but I am not one of them. I believe many donors like World Vision and UNICEF are working hard, and doing work that saves lives and makes a difference for so many. But I believe that things could still be done more efficiently, and if sustainable development and progress is to be made in developing countries, changes need to be made by all of us. Currently, it often seems that we all are placing band-aid over band-aid instead of working on the deeper issues. And let’s be honest, looking deeper is going to be harder – it’s going to require us all to work harder, collaborate and it may not produce the immediate results we all want to hear.

Here are a few observations:

1) There needs to be more coordination among donors
Many donors have a great deal of resources, but no one donor can solve all problems. All donors could work more as a team contributing and collaborating their resources, expertise and experience to the issues that face them all. Furthermore, from a beneficiary’s (like a District government) perspective, you are now accountable to far less people and can spend more time focusing on what actually needs to be done for the District. You can work together with the donor team to plan, achieve and improve; instead of just trying to complete numerous projects with so many donors.

2) There needs to be a change on how donors, and the public see development
Currently, we the general public, often look at development as generalized results like schools or hospitals built. Less focus is put on actual long-lasting impacts because these impacts are not as attractive and take more resources. Many times, a severe donor dependency from developing areas is also created as a result.
I was told a story by a colleague here that once he was involved in building a beautiful school. It was state-of-the-art for that area and was fully furnished. Unfortunately, there were no teachers and even though they were able to get an initial group of teachers; they were not as qualified as they should be and learning was affected. Furthermore, little money was set for ongoing maintenance of the school. As a result, the school soon became non-functioning. This is one example and aspect; more effort also needs to be centered on training (e.g – vocational), facilitating, supporting people in developing countries so they can take their countries to the next step and sustain it. Citizens of developing countries have the best knowledge of their country and what needs to be done. Many times, they just need support to make it happen. Unfortunately, these types of results are often unquantifiable. I am very guilty of it and often find myself trying to stop trying to make things happen and create results, and instead support others in their pursuits.

3) There needs to be more information and follow-up from the donors
Donors often, (sometimes through no fault of their own) send sporadic amounts of money or spring workshops on beneficiaries. As a result, beneficiaries like local governments here are taken away from their own work or plans and thrown into something completely different. Often, they can’t say no because they do not want to lose vital support. Developmental planning becomes ineffective because schedules from any donor are unpredictable.
Furthermore, when donors do these workshops or projects, very little is spent on follow-up after. And as a result, local governments and communities often go idle and are not held accountable for what happens afterwards (which is often the most important time). I have seen where even a little follow-up from donors afterwards has spurred continuous positive action from the local government.

I have talked a lot about deficiencies from donors. And I will emphasize that this is not the complete picture and also that I believe donors are creating some positive results. The above are observations of ideas on how we can do better.

I also want to state I believe beneficiaries and developing countries are ultimately responsible for successful development (that is a huge discussion in itself). For some context, Barack Obama made an amazing speech Saturday to the Ghana House of Parliament with many points on that subject.

I definitely admit that I don’t have the answer. And I am probably not even close to having it. But I know one thing now for sure, it is not as simple as more aid and more money.

I would love to hear any of your thoughts or ideas on this topic or anything! Thank you so much.

All the best and keep giving em your all!!

Love and best wishes,

Shamir

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” – Helen Keller