Beyond the celebrity vs. politician whoo-ha, there is another story to take notice of– the behind-the-scenes persistence, vision, and impact of the local leaders and effective, indigenous organizations who are working to solve their own country’s problems, on their own terms.
I’ve worked for many years with the leaders of Eye of the Child, Malawi’s leading child rights advocacy organization, which led the civil society charge for an injunction against both of Madonna’s adoptions. Though they were not successful in preventing the adoptions, they have been incredibly successful in forging closer ties with government officials to support them to navigate tricky donor relations with such funders and foundations as Madonna’s, as well as to reform Malawi’s contradictory laws governing adoption and child protection.
That’s the story I’d rather hear–one of citizens holding their governments to account. Not as sexy, but way more important at the end of the day.
You can read more about Eye of the Child’s current work here.
The founder and leader of Eye of the Child, Maxwell Matewere, is in the US currently. You can read about his trip here: http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php/daily-times/headlines/national/14641-child-rights-activist-on-lecture-tour-in-us and here: http://pse.stanford.edu/news/tackling_development_challenges_in_africa_three_social_entrepreneurs_join_stanford_community_20130312/
Happy to put people in touch with him.