Dear Greta and Djaffar,
Namaste!
Let me first congratulate both of you., I (Anupa, Mili,
Radha like to call I henceforth) am simply moved with the stories of you
both. I have no words that would explain how much I admire you both.
Recently, my vision blurred when I saw your donation to one
of the UN agency. I broke. Literally, I broke. You are repeating a mistake,
simply repeating.
I do understand your emotional pain, you inspired the
photos/videos of children with gasping especially from Asia and Africa. I have
immense respect for your kindness, compassion, and empathy that ultimately
wants to decrease poverty, and the consequences resulting from poverty. Sadly,
you are contributing to increasing poverty instead of eliminating it.
I do know that you will not be happy with this letter, and I
worry that this will break you. This particular agency is just an example. All
UNs, many INGOs, and few NGOs fall into the same category. In order to avoid
pointing fingers at one organization, I like to use the word of a development
agency (DA) henceforth. Let me explain though it is not as new as Corona virus.
It is an open secret but rarely mentioned especially in the global north.
Poverty increment: Do you know the operation cost of these
DAs? Do you know who is working there?
Do you know who gets the access to work there and why? Do you know how much
salary they get? I do not like to explain everything here. You are better to
calculate than me.
I only like to say that the people who are working there,
are not exceptional people like you. They are the average people or may be less
than average with other means for access to success. They graduate from the
same schools with the same excellence. Definitely, there are not opportunities
for all graduates who want to join there. Because of the irrational privileges
provided by DA, the economic and social status changes after a few years.
Eventually, the irreversible category formed and operated as modern poverty.
Your donation played a role to divide the society at large. Here, your
contribution doesn't reach the poor children who are floating over the internet
either from Asia or Africa.
Merely reached to the poor people: Here, your donation is on
the way to reach the poor people but how much, and where? Could you ever
confirm that your donation addressed the underlying cause of poverty or climate
crisis or breaking the vicious circle between them. Do you know how long that
program has been launched? Do you ever calculate the amount of dollars that
actually reached the poor? Do you know how many stories are taken from them and
to where it displayed? Do you know of their humiliating experience they have to
go through? Do you compare the remuneration between the top level of employees
and employee/volunteers who are reaching the poor family, finally? Those
volunteers are working under hostile weathers, with no good shoes, no food and
so many things but they do not get anything or merely a droplet. That droplet
does not have the capacity of mutation as a novel Coronavirus to enhance the
capacity of livelihood of this family. They could be individuals, CSO workers
who can't speak English, do not have fair white skin, and living in a rural
setting or anyone who represents the base of the pyramid. They have the same
capacity to serve, to grow but they never get the opportunity for it. Their
brains are washed in way that they are happy to work as volunteers; they are
local, they do not know computers and English that is why their knowledge,
skills and resilience are not written as a theory of change or log frame or
strategies for project management and eventually they are waste people by
virtue of fate. DAs are there for getting things done as documented or as
taught by the Universities in the global north instead of needs and rights of
people of the global south. DAs have been working for more than six decades but
what is the impact of it at large? In conclusion, the poorer are poorer and
richer are richer. Few locals who silently accept all instructions or
puppetism, or showcase as principle of inclusion, are well off. The rest of
them and their support disappeared after a while as a rainbow of evening.
Liberation or dependency: Do you ever think whether your goal
of donation meets or not? Are you helping for liberation or dependence? Why is it happening largely? Why the most of
the poor people living with further poverty.
Do you think that strategies developed by DAs are useful or exploitative
or empowering? Do you think the employees are compatible for the people,
culture and all for achieving your goal? Do the indigenous coping and
resilience mechanisms are recognized and maximization of its use?
Contribute for corruption: Are you aware your donations help to
institutionalize the corruption? Are you aware about the deep and huge
psychological tug of war between government and DAs? Having the same time and
more or less results, the people in DAs are enjoying the substantial privileges
and claim that they are coming from the moon as outstanding. The governments
are not happy with the way of working by DAs and the DAs are not happy with the
way of working by the government. There are so many stories under the carpet.
There is no functional system to maintain integrity and a transparent system
mostly from both sides due to the individual approach instead of system. After
a while, DAs hook influential people in government by providing the opportunity
to travel aboard or consultancy opportunity by taking leave or anything. The
fancy reports produced with the photos/videos of government people but it is
not by system or no accountability. It's just temporary knots between
government and DAs for the sake of formality which are not relevant or less
relevant with the reality. Instead of being transparent and integrity, the DAs
are busy making the system corrupt, paralysed and dependent. If you do not
trust me, see the response against COVID-19, pandemic. The government
authorities were made busy for 365 days by DAs before the COVID-19 but the
result was almost zero. It was not only
now. Same was happen during the devastating earthquake 2015 and other countries
from the global south. Because of their presence, so many local practices
changed e.g. increased rental rates and majority of people cannot afford. In
other side of the coin, the small NGO's are battling for either arranging fake
documents or writing fake reports. Most of them are unbale to produce same
version of reports so they use the fund for hiring the consultants by
manipulating the documents. In top of that, there was no fund for either
operation cost or contribution of board members or both.
Mis interpretation: Do you see the same level of understanding
against the same condition or word? Have you ever thought that the operational
definition of climate crisis or poverty is very different here than you think
or experienced? Are you sure the foundation of yours and mine is the same? Do
you consider the differences of contributing variables? Let me share one
example. For you, bed and breakfast motel/hotel resemble attached toilet, hot
and cold water, towels, tea sets at least. Your hotel is like a palace for me.
In my country especially in rural setting, a hotel means a place for rest,
could have toilet or not, common room where linens are used for more than a
week and so many things. In contrast, the reports what you received are
manipulated vastly as your desire in terms of words, frames and all. The poor
people with the same status used three times differently like miserable
condition, empower and miserable for proposal phase, reporting phase and
re-proposal phase respectively. The consultants are hired for the proposal and
report writing which is not based on reality but based on your requirements.
They prepared a report like fiction Nobel. The same people write the different
stories as your frameworks. In any community, there are outstanding
personalities no matter whether it is Iran or Denmark or Sweden or Nepal. In
Denmark or Sweden, any change in programming, changes the majority of the
population but here only the changes took place who have potential already with
or without opportunity or majority of population remain unchanged.
Way Forward:
Of course, the global south has other issues that weaken the
systems like unstable government, conflicts, and traditional cultures. Now, the
people like you urged the global community to act, not talk or nice words in
speech. Meanwhile, the COVID-19, pandemic also accelerate the idea of
reflecting and redefine the strategy for equal and better future that includes
the paradigm shifting on DA too as follows;
1. Harmonization of minds: Psychological
and structural hierarchy should avoid. The people who want to love ransom
money, they are free to join business. Working in DAs is for passion to work in
difficult areas or difficult tasks that should not trade off with money. If the
mechanism is similar to the government, with same level of benefits, the change
is easier, equal, faster and sustained as well.
2. Poorer are leaders to alleviate poverty: To build the
capacity of poor people and hold them accountable to them and their government,
the donation should go directly to government or local NGOs/CSOs. They have the
right to govern by themselves. Many scholars may claim that the government is
corrupt or slow or anything. In a way and the other round, DAs keep saying
such. As a result, the government not only boycotted but also weakened in many
ways. DAs can develop mechanisms for transparency or monitoring their support.
3. Celebration of contextual attributes: The poor people must be
in the centre means their language, skills, knowledge should be acknowledged by
DAs. The reality and essence of reality
should not twist or manipulate any more. One size does not fit all therefore,
each community needs a different strategy. The frameworks, strategies and
targets should revise according to the context.
Either in Denmark or
Sweden, the Prime Ministers are running here and there with minimal or without
security. Why do DAs need such security by spending the money at the name of
the poor. The DAs are not reaching out to the real poor people and producing a
new layer of poverty that should stop. The global community must be ready to
unlearn.
The donors, foundations, individuals are fatigued because of
not having a significant impact against poverty. They are expecting the change
or impact but do not try to understand the internal dynamics. They just fall in
love with fancy photos/videos along with thank you letters. We know the world
is complex, it does not move in a linear way thus its needs a multilinear
approach to address too. Likewise, the charity model is also an old-fashioned
model to work.
I know, I could not make the vaccine for the novel
Corona virus but I can teach people, to do research. I may need a guide or
mentor but not hold my hands to walk. The time has already changed. But the DAs
and big philanthropists are busy to show up their logos, to be popular and
compete to make us paralysed.
In this circumstance, the iconic people like you both, need
to liberate from the preoccupied mind about us. You need to stand for breaking
the stereotyped development and human right practices. It sounds insane but it
is the truth and demand of today.
Dear Greta and Djaffar,
Let's challenge ourselves and this world. If you do the same
things as before there is no point to come up with new organizations and
campaigns. Let's join the hands from global south and north and change the
narratives of development for the sake of people and planet.
Hope you both are open to discuss this matter. I also have
so much to share about the discrepancies or controversies between you and me or
global north and south and so many commonalities and possibilities to bring
synergies. Hope you won't overlook my request.
As the novel Corona virus taught us, we need to stop, we need to be slow
and we need to think for the people and planet. All in all, are the members of
the same family.
Stay Safe !
Sincerely,
Anupa Regmi, Nepal, regmianupa17@gmail.com
Milli Adhikari, USA, tadhikari@berkeley.edu
Radha Paudel, Nepal, rpaudel456@gmail.com
