Here is what I am listening to today – Here and here . (Just finished part 1) Well worth listening to. There are, unfortunately, still strong currents, in some development circles, that promote dynamics that are misguided, and really harmful. To set the record straight, Africa is not a country, it is a continent. Unless you are going on a trip to the whole continent, you are not “going on a trip to Africa”. You are going to (or were in) a specific country or countries. Listen to the podcasts for further discussion of this and other dynamics. 🙂
Coming up next: “Called, Not Qualified” (here). One of my biggest, most long-standing issue with how some projects are still run. Wanting to do a job, and being qualified to do it, are two very different things. Hopping on a plane (or driving somewhere else), doesn’t change that. If you are not trained or qualified to teach in a school or as a social worker or to run a poverty reduction program or something else, you are not doing any favours by “volunteering” to teach in someone’s school or work in an orphanage or distribute goods and services in a community – especially if you live somewhere else and simply drop in for a short time before leaving again.
Making yourself the star of someone else’s life (or using their kids in your pictures, without a long-standing relationship, especially if you are using those pictures for fundraising) takes agency away from others, which is the opposite of what true development projects aim to do. We can, and must, do better. 🙂
