Writing about how we as development workers need to take a closer and less lenient look at our performance, I guess I didn’t expect much. But I was wrong. In these few days to follow the publication, I’ve received e-mails and tweets showing support (no arguments against, unfrotunately) and sharing initiatives and stories related to the issue of improving the quality of development aid. I’m delighted to share two of them below.
- The first one to share is a poster campaign created by Deeda Productions for the website Investing Time in People.
The message is simple and strong. “All of us involved in this project feel that we have made mistakes in the way that we have given our time and money and, by sharing what we have learned, hope to influence positive changes in how others approach social sector work.”
- The second initiative, which immediately stole my heart, is “Building an international support network for isolated aid workers” launched by whydev.org. Money for the project is being raised via crowdfunding platform Start Some Good. Here is how it works:
These are both wonderful initiatives showing the way to change how the aid sector works – step by step, bottom-up, via multiple various actions, initiatives and experiments. We have created a complex system, which cannot be changed by a single top-down decision. Therefore, it is our responsibility to change it by ourselves and to start changing it right away (as it may take some time…).
Since there are very few things I despise more than preaching about what we should do without saying how to do it, I shall be writing follow-up posts with ideas and examples on how to turn things around in the aid sector. I will be delighted to hear your opinions, ideas and questions! If you disagree, please, speak up! It would be a tremendous loss if we ended up patting each other on the shoulders and overlooking any arguments against.
Life & Dev 