Thing 11, Foreign Aid, Paternalism, and Africa
In class yesterday something very interesting was stated by either Ashley, Manuel, or Professor Douthwaite Viglione on the topic of foreign aid and how it is actually harmful to some developing nations. Thing 11 (Africa is not destined for underdevelopment) piqued my interest because this topic comes up so much when discussing global development.
The greatest issue with how the media portrays foreign aid and the "wonderful" picture that they paint of poverty is that it is not a complete depiction of what the issue actually is. The issue of poverty is far too complex to mark it as something clear-cut, or “black or white” that can be solved systematically with a “quick fix” such as volunteers coming in and heroically fixing every issue that plagues a country. Social problems are not "one-time" issues to be conquered and that's that, rather they are often cyclical and reoccuring. So when celebrities travel to these countries and show videos of the barren land and desolate people, or to elicit a shock from their audience for dramatic purposes, photographers capture a perspective of helplessness and vulnerability in their shots without highlighting the positives, what ends up happening is that they unknowingly create the wrong impression that these people are helpless and cannot improve on their own. We are all guilty of this way of thinking and at one point or another fall prey to this mentality. Ha-Joon Chang describes this phenomenon as a commonality in media on our views on Africa, writing: "many people see Africa as an amorphous mass of countries suffering from the same hot weather, tropical diseases, grinding poverty, civil war and corruption" (114). And what is most harmful about these beliefs, is the consequences that arise when we think this way. A rich person who is better off than the poor people develops a superiority complex (even subconsciously) and a poor person gets wired to think that they are not good enough. There is a "romantic fantasy” created about helping the poor, in a similar way to how we saw Hugo writes of the poor in Les Miserables. People argue that "African countries should be put on some kind of permanent 'disability benefit' through foreign aid and extra help with international trade (e.g., rich countries lowering their agricultural protection only for African -- and other similarly poor and structurally disadvantaged -- countries)" (116). Ha-Joon Chang describes in this chapter how people believe that all of these invisible "policies" exist which prevent Africa from becoming economically developed.The problem with this mentality is that one reinforces the idea of helplessness.
And this is where the connection to foreign aid and the poverty industry arises. See, alarmingly enough, and unfortunately it is often the case, the poverty industry itself benefits more corporately from its own system than the people they are serving. I went to a talk by Ray Offenheiser a couple of weeks ago, who said the very same thing about the way in which developed nations "do" foreign aid. Haiti has more NGOs than is necessary, to the point that it is considered unproductive. In fact NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America), reports that no other country in the world has more NGOs per capita. Edmont Mulet the head of the UN mission in Haiti, estimates that before the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti there were already 10,000+ NGOs. But how much of this aid is actually contributing to the greater good? Because there is a point when it becomes unbeneficial and this is true in many underdeveloped countries. The problem is not the want that people have to help. Often, there is the well-intentioned, natural, human urge to want to provide aid to others, but there is also a personal benefit to this action. We must be careful and always remain humble when helping others because it is easy to create a “superman” complex which can feed the ego and make a person feel influential. Additionally aid must be given with the intent to give not just for the motivation for data for research, tax cuts, influence, fame, and so forth. This is crucial in the transparency of these organizations and the percentage of the budget that is actually funding directly into projects.
The goal should be to someday be in such a good place that these organizations can leave and move on to help another nation. This idea is not a novelty either, José Martí published something similar in 1891 in his essay Nuestra America where he said that a country should be moved forward by its citizens, those who know it best. The idea of paternalism needs to end. The people of these developing nations need to help themselves. Of course, we can help them get there with resources, tools and by teaching methods that have worked for us, but like a parent teaching their child to ride a bike, there comes a time where we have to let go, so that the child can ride the bike. Partnerships need to exist to allow entrepreneurs to create their own businesses and move their country’s economy forward. “Having a heart for the poor is not hard, it’s having a mind for the poor that is the challenge.” We must treat them as equals and partners to put the responsibility of their futures on themselves so that the foundation of these issues is addressed and long-lasting solutions are created. That is why the goal of developmental projects should no longer be to be there forever, but instead to give the resources, teach, and allow the people of a country to pick themselves up and strengthen their own nation. Ha-Joon Chang echoes a similar thought in his book when he writes that the argument that Africa is suffering from all of these "barriers" is null because of "the fact that most of today's rich countries themselves used to suffer ... from these conditions" (124) which he says is "indirect proof" of the fact that the continent of Africa is not doomed. There is hope in the world yet!
If you want to know more about foreign aid and its effects, check out this very cool and informative documentary called Poverty Inc. You can access it through ND's resources or click on this link: https://vimeo.com/121923394 (Enter the password: roco824 but please don't share this around because it is ND private property).
Trailer:
To be fair, I will say, like most films this documentary has an obvious purpose: a definitive stance against paternalism and very much for reforming our current global development strategies, so this would be a great resource for one side of the "foreign aid" argument. Keep in mind however that this is not the whole picture, only one side of the story. I believe it is always very important to see as many perspectives as possible when learning about a subject.
The greatest issue with how the media portrays foreign aid and the "wonderful" picture that they paint of poverty is that it is not a complete depiction of what the issue actually is. The issue of poverty is far too complex to mark it as something clear-cut, or “black or white” that can be solved systematically with a “quick fix” such as volunteers coming in and heroically fixing every issue that plagues a country. Social problems are not "one-time" issues to be conquered and that's that, rather they are often cyclical and reoccuring. So when celebrities travel to these countries and show videos of the barren land and desolate people, or to elicit a shock from their audience for dramatic purposes, photographers capture a perspective of helplessness and vulnerability in their shots without highlighting the positives, what ends up happening is that they unknowingly create the wrong impression that these people are helpless and cannot improve on their own. We are all guilty of this way of thinking and at one point or another fall prey to this mentality. Ha-Joon Chang describes this phenomenon as a commonality in media on our views on Africa, writing: "many people see Africa as an amorphous mass of countries suffering from the same hot weather, tropical diseases, grinding poverty, civil war and corruption" (114). And what is most harmful about these beliefs, is the consequences that arise when we think this way. A rich person who is better off than the poor people develops a superiority complex (even subconsciously) and a poor person gets wired to think that they are not good enough. There is a "romantic fantasy” created about helping the poor, in a similar way to how we saw Hugo writes of the poor in Les Miserables. People argue that "African countries should be put on some kind of permanent 'disability benefit' through foreign aid and extra help with international trade (e.g., rich countries lowering their agricultural protection only for African -- and other similarly poor and structurally disadvantaged -- countries)" (116). Ha-Joon Chang describes in this chapter how people believe that all of these invisible "policies" exist which prevent Africa from becoming economically developed.The problem with this mentality is that one reinforces the idea of helplessness.
And this is where the connection to foreign aid and the poverty industry arises. See, alarmingly enough, and unfortunately it is often the case, the poverty industry itself benefits more corporately from its own system than the people they are serving. I went to a talk by Ray Offenheiser a couple of weeks ago, who said the very same thing about the way in which developed nations "do" foreign aid. Haiti has more NGOs than is necessary, to the point that it is considered unproductive. In fact NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America), reports that no other country in the world has more NGOs per capita. Edmont Mulet the head of the UN mission in Haiti, estimates that before the 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti there were already 10,000+ NGOs. But how much of this aid is actually contributing to the greater good? Because there is a point when it becomes unbeneficial and this is true in many underdeveloped countries. The problem is not the want that people have to help. Often, there is the well-intentioned, natural, human urge to want to provide aid to others, but there is also a personal benefit to this action. We must be careful and always remain humble when helping others because it is easy to create a “superman” complex which can feed the ego and make a person feel influential. Additionally aid must be given with the intent to give not just for the motivation for data for research, tax cuts, influence, fame, and so forth. This is crucial in the transparency of these organizations and the percentage of the budget that is actually funding directly into projects.
The goal should be to someday be in such a good place that these organizations can leave and move on to help another nation. This idea is not a novelty either, José Martí published something similar in 1891 in his essay Nuestra America where he said that a country should be moved forward by its citizens, those who know it best. The idea of paternalism needs to end. The people of these developing nations need to help themselves. Of course, we can help them get there with resources, tools and by teaching methods that have worked for us, but like a parent teaching their child to ride a bike, there comes a time where we have to let go, so that the child can ride the bike. Partnerships need to exist to allow entrepreneurs to create their own businesses and move their country’s economy forward. “Having a heart for the poor is not hard, it’s having a mind for the poor that is the challenge.” We must treat them as equals and partners to put the responsibility of their futures on themselves so that the foundation of these issues is addressed and long-lasting solutions are created. That is why the goal of developmental projects should no longer be to be there forever, but instead to give the resources, teach, and allow the people of a country to pick themselves up and strengthen their own nation. Ha-Joon Chang echoes a similar thought in his book when he writes that the argument that Africa is suffering from all of these "barriers" is null because of "the fact that most of today's rich countries themselves used to suffer ... from these conditions" (124) which he says is "indirect proof" of the fact that the continent of Africa is not doomed. There is hope in the world yet!
If you want to know more about foreign aid and its effects, check out this very cool and informative documentary called Poverty Inc. You can access it through ND's resources or click on this link: https://vimeo.com/121923394 (Enter the password: roco824 but please don't share this around because it is ND private property).
Trailer:
To be fair, I will say, like most films this documentary has an obvious purpose: a definitive stance against paternalism and very much for reforming our current global development strategies, so this would be a great resource for one side of the "foreign aid" argument. Keep in mind however that this is not the whole picture, only one side of the story. I believe it is always very important to see as many perspectives as possible when learning about a subject.
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