Many thanks to Durgadas Mukhopadhyay for the recent comments to this list.
Could these remarks indicate the phenomenon of recipient fatigue?
People are often fed up with international agencies waltzing in to provide
development for communities, whether or not the communities want or need it.
Humanitarian aid and disaster mitigation, amongst other activities, are
increasingly competitive and increasingly the sustainable livelihoods for
many international organisations, consultants, and academics. Perhaps
recipients are bewildered and frustrated by the array of development
programmes and agencies which exist and by the top-down approaches seeking
to implement mandates, resolutions, declarations, and development plans and
ideas which were produced far away and which inadequately account for
indigenous desires, competencies, knowledge, and skills.
Of course, it would ridiculous, unforgivably rude, and entirely inaccurate
to suggest that all disaster, development, and sustainability programmes
work in that way. A wealth of examples exists of successful programmes. I
know many dedicated, competent people in international agencies who do not
exploit others' knowledge or needs for their own gain, who are respected and
continually thanked by those with whom they work, and who make immense
sacrifices to make their work successful.
Furthermore, cases exist (for example suttee, female genital mutilation,
genocide, racism, and ostracising HIV-positive people) where I would contend
that we all have a responsibility to work with communities to change their
ways whether or not those communities initially want it and even where it
might mean altering a cultural practice. The human rights approach to risk
and disasters (see Radix
http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/geography_research/radix ) also suggests
cases of not leaving everyone alone, but instead working carefully and
sensitively to achieve fundamental standards and ideals. In such cases,
appropriate international agencies or consortia would have an important role
to play.
Flying halfway around the world to implement a disaster-resistant
sustainable energy programme in a community which never asked for it could
be counterproductive. Yet if we do not, then people could die while we
would have to pay even more in financial and energy costs when a disaster
does strike and the community must boil water, keep hospital rooms warm,
cook food, and power their communication systems. Surely we seek an
appropriate balance and exchange rather than an extreme of abolishing all
international work or of establishing complete control by international
agencies?
I would thus hope that more responses to the concerns raised would be
forthcoming. Are people in international agencies so busy answering emails
and sitting in meetings related to developing new programmes that there is
no time to acknowledge and respond to a severe critique of past work? Do
these agencies accept that they neglect the social, cultural, and
psychological factors of disasters and development? Have others shared the
experience of being inundated with unwanted development and of having their
work and ideas stolen? Does Ian Davis' response successfully answer all
issues raised? Is this 572-word email simply reiterating old debates while
wasting your time and inconveniencing your electrons?
I suggest that we should use this opportunity to address the concerns
constructively, recognising the problems which have resulted or which are
perceived to have resulted. We should also commit to improvements. Would
the online conference be a more appropriate venue? Could I ask John Twigg,
as moderator of both this email list and of the online conference, for brief
guidance on where he would prefer to see responses?
We should never forget that our work should serve everyone, not just
ourselves,
Ilan
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