Archives September 2018

Hi all,
Since my last update (around 10 days ago), we have been averaging 15-20 signatures/day, with approx 30/day in the last few days. We started this stretch around 625 signatures, and are now at 788 and counting!
Thank you all for your support. Let’s keep it up! 🙂
SJM
https://www.change.org/p/doug-ford-end-discriminatory-funding-for-catholic-public-private-schools-in-ontario

Excellent article on the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm . Well worth reading.
Here are a few quotes:

Voluntourism may be fuelled by noble feelings, but it is built on perverse economics. Many organisations offer volunteers the chance to dig wells, build schools and do other construction projects in poor villages. It’s easy to understand why it’s done this way: if a charity hired locals for its unskilled work, it would be spending money. If it uses volunteers who pay to be there, it’s raising money.
But the last thing a… village needs is imported unskilled labour. People are desperate for jobs. Public works serve the community better and last longer when locals do them. Besides, long-term change happens when people can solve their own problems, rather than having things done for them.

What puts children in crisis isn’t something hugs can solve. Andrea Freidus, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina, wrote that voluntourism gets in the way of recognising the structural issues that create humanitarian crises. “My research suggests that students who engage in these programmes actually contribute towards the mystification of larger systems that produce inequality, poverty, particular patterns of disease distribution and various forms of violence.”
In a 2012 essay on what he dubbed “the White Saviour Industrial Complex,” the novelist Teju Cole pleaded for humility. It is “not about justice,” Cole wrote. “It is about having a big emotional experience that validates privilege.” Voluntourism, he argued, perpetuates the myth that change happens as a result of expressions of caring from rich white people.  [Bold mine.]

I have always had concerns about this kind of trip that still seems to be happening. I certainly agree that anybody who wants to get educated on global issues/development etc should do so (using reputable sources, naturally.) However, we need to separate out our own desire for education from tourism and doing actual development work through formal systems with qualified, professional staff.
So, let’s commit to separating out our goals: adventure, holidays, tourism, work, education etc all have value, but generally not in the same trip, which will likely do more harm than good if we combine them when they should be distinct goals.  Systems changes are needed, but are far bigger (and often less glamorous), than anything that can be done in short trips done by well-intentioned by often misdirected outsiders.  Let’s make sure that what we are contributing is actually making the world a better place, and truly putting others first, even when that’s the seemingly more mundane choice. That’s worth so much more than the chance to post some pictures to Facebook. 🙂
 

I have been thinking of writing this post for a while, and struggled with how to articulate my thoughts on this. So, I’m going to do my best, and trust that you will give me the benefit of the doubt in anything that is unclear or poorly worded. I’m aiming to look at systems and patterns here, so please stick with me and we’ll see what we can figure out together. 🙂

NOTE: I am intentionally not naming specific organizations here, and will often leave specific details out. I am not trying to publicly shame here – in fact, I’m trying to do the opposite. I’m trying to have an open discussion about a system-wide problem, without specifically implicating anybody. If you know me and know organizations that I have been connected with, please do not try to guess which item might have happened where/when/with which people – you will probably be wrong and that’s missing the point of this exercise.:)

Problem: In the last few years, as I have shifted into working freelance (still trying to pick up more projects, but that’s beside the point), I have been connected with a lot of organizations – some new to me, some not. Most, if not all, are organizations that are doing amazing work, and that I have lots of respect for in many ways. The list includes NGOs, political parties, small for-profits, churches, organizations both looking for funding and dispersing funding and others. Not every organization that I’m connected with has demonstrated the problems that I will be outlining below. However, I have observed clear trends, and a very high percentage have been observed doing at least some of these things.
In my contacts with various organizations (again, many of which I highly respect), I have seen a shockingly high amount of work that just doesn’t seem to meet the bare minimum bar for how I think great organizations should operate. A sampling of what I have seen (from multiple places, in different fields and regions), includes, in rough categories:
– Serious and/or almost complete failure to recruit and/or utilize and/or hold volunteers. This includes, but is not limited to, not promoting ways for people to get involved, not giving meaningful work or failing to even try to keep them engaged with the organization after a certain task/item/event is completed. It includes treating external experts with undue suspicion and refusing to seriously consider recommendations after bringing in outside support. It seems to be that we should be opening the doors wide to new supporters, and this is a key piece in that puzzle, and one that we can’t afford to be slack on.
– Consistent gaps in basic admin when tasks are being worked on eg replies that are incomplete or don’t actually answer the question, complete failure to read or reply to emails etc etc. Total failure to even reply to basic emails has happened to me so often in the last 3 years that I have quit counting. If I’m donating my time to help your organization get a task done, I don’t think that I should have to beg for you to reply to my emails with the info I need to get the job done.  🙂
– Donor/project relationships: I have seen many organizations fund many great projects over the years. At the same time, I have also seen funders focus on only either the minute details (eg accounting for every penny and indicator) or the very broad picture (eg the project looks nice on the website, and/or somebody we know likes it, so let’s support it.) Both of those pieces can be valuable, but they are not the whole picture in terms of organizational health. What I see missing is the middle: Is the project really strong in terms of all big picture indicators including finances, admin structures, balanced relationship between expats and locals, organizational sustainability beyond this funding cycle etc etc. To me, this middle piece needs to be strengthened significantly, and will benefit both donors and projects. And yet, what I’m seeing is projects hiding this piece (either actively or simply by neglect, because they are never asked for this type of info), and donors actively looking the other way, when some hard questions about important topics would benefit everyone and help build stronger organizations which are better equipped to fulfill their mandate. 
A basic example to illustrate the point would be an organization that is struggling to meet day to day demands (ie admin staff, basic operating costs etc), but is promoting an expansion to appeal to what they believe donors want to hear – a situation which is not to anybody’s benefit, and yet still happens. (I had a program rep respond to a concern that I raised by dismissing it, saying, paraphrased slightly “our  program has a 100% success rate, so you must be imagining the concerns you have raised because they don’t/can’t exist in this program because it’s perfect.”) I could give countless other examples, but I won’t.  You get the point: no program is perfect – let’s focus on the important areas and see where that get us. 🙂
Here’s the summary: NGOs are doing great work, and are perpetually underfunded, which needs to change. Staff are underpaid and overworked and things fall through the cracks. At the same time, one piece of the solution, in my opinion, is to open the doors more widely and bring in more supporters, to share the burden, while increasing transparency and accountability. Instead, I am seeing organizations do the opposite, acting more like an elite club than a welcoming community of supporters working towards shared goals for the common good.
I hope that what I have been observing is an anomaly – although it has happened surprisingly often in fairly diverse settings. So, this is my challenge to all of us in the NGO world – if ever unity and inclusion was needed, now is the time. Let’s open the doors wide, and bring in new supporters. Let’s be honest and open about challenges we face, instead of hiding gaps in the hopes that funders won’t notice, and then work hard to change before tackling something new and expanding again. Funders, please focus on the pieces that really matter, helping to build relationships with organizations that are well-balanced, open and organizationally sustainable. This is not a comprehensive list, but hopefully it will help to start a discussion and find positive ways to move forward.