Rethinking Trust, by Ben Ramalingam
Trust is regularly cited as a critical factor in effective aid organizations and is seen as essential for partnerships. But all too often trust is mentioned as if it can simply be designed, imposed and managed.
Trust is regularly cited as a critical factor in effective aid organizations and is seen as essential for partnerships. But all too often trust is mentioned as if it can simply be designed, imposed and managed.
A continuing list of 5 more ideas for changes in international development policy and practice. “Development policy needs to be kept real.”
We all know it’s easier to identify problems and critique. Here’s a starting list of 5 ideas for changes in international development policy and practice.
“The kids in Africa were soooo amazing and so darn cute.” And so, the smoke poured out of my ears before I could even have my morning coffee.
My personal list of raw ideas that helps me contrast what I consider to be “old school development” and the long overdue emergence of alternatives to “business as usual” in foreign assistance.
I believe that our role as “outsiders,” whether we are working for a multilateral donor in Nairobi or having wanderlust dreams during our unfulfilling job in Ohio, must be about getting community leaders the resources that they need to address their own priorities.
Yes, the paradigm of development can break our hearts. But everyday, we have a choice. Will we slump into the system? Or will we challenge the parts of it that prevent us from feeling and exhibiting compassion?
A local sovereign organisation is an authentic expression of the will and voice of its own constituents. While it may accept funding to provide services, it is not a surrogate vehicle for the projects of another agency’s purpose.
Sovereignty is both a quality to be developed and a right to be respected and defended. It is a particularly powerful concept when applied to organisation, suggesting authentic qualities, describing a home-grown resilience, an inside-out identity, the idea of an organisation being the expression of the free will of its own constituents.