RSS

January 27th, 2012 - 9:15 am § in Poetry Pause

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Capacity Gap”

I wrote this in a moment of frustration, when it was clear to me that the capacity that needed to be built was not with local partners, but with upper management.

Are you building your capacity to prepare for what Dennis Whittle, co-founder of GlobalGiving.org, terms the pending “democratization of aid”?  It’s time for the ability and penchant to work with organizations of any size or type to become a core capacity of donors, governments, and all key stakeholders working on behalf of people’s well-being.

***

Capacity Gap

You see only what is not,
within your per view,
your limited world view.
A great mind,
but ideas insulated
from true change.
Challenge not.
Ask not.
Criticize not.
As a beneficiary of status quo,
you resist
the shifts
that are necessary.
Yet we gain
with each push,
against the power within.

Have some poems you treasure that you’d like to share with fellow aid workers and do-gooders? Please send them my way at email.howmatters@gmail.com!

***

Related Posts

Hallowed Halls or Ghost Towns?

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Generations”

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Let It Flow” by Mike Klassen

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Sun Sang” by Thomas Centolella

An aid worker’s poetic journey


January 25th, 2012 - 6:50 pm § in Uncategorized

A Common Expat Encounter

Sharing a selection from the December 2011 issue of The Sun Magazine that may be familiar to folks who have lived and traveled abroad, "First Empty Your Cup” by Andrew Boyd.[...]



January 23rd, 2012 - 7:00 am § in Guest Bloggers

Has aid lost its humanity?

“Development work had become more about systems and structures than the actual lived realities of people,” argues Mette Müller, founder of Best Self Experience. Can important concepts like 'empathy', 'understanding' and 'compassion' enter the way we deliver aid?[...]



January 18th, 2012 - 7:45 pm § in Good Practice

The Village Changemakers

Plain Ink is a social enterprise that wants to “fuel a better story” in the developing world. Featuring its latest comic book on sanitation in India, “The Village Changemakers.” [...]


January 17th, 2012 - 11:45 am § in Guest Bloggers

The elephant hasn’t left the room: Racism, power & international aid

“I want to be able to have an open conversation with grantees that allows me to be who I am. That is the only way I know how to use my power and privilege to support others.” A guest post by Sasha Rabsey of The HOW Fund[...]




accountability aid effectiveness aid work aid workers alternatives capacity building CDRA community-based organizations community ownership community participation compassion dependency development assistance donors evaluation foreign aid foreign assistance funding mechanisms GlobalGiving grassroots organizations HIV INGOs international aid international development Kenya M&E Malawi monitoring NGOs organizational development partnership peacebuilding philanthropy poetry poverty power dynamics racism small grants social change social movements South Africa Uganda USAID World Bank Zimbabwe