A) Culture, Education, and the Africa/Canada Divide
From Hasan:
It is interesting to try and view what we are going to be doing as JF's in the same way as missionary work (I think that is the point of this discussion?)
Growing up as a Baha'i I was exposed to a variety of religious customs and beliefs, as I've grown older I've come to respect the role that religion and spirituality can play in a person's life. I know that some people wouldn't be able to function without a system of beliefs they consider to be divine proclamation.
An argument I constantly had concerned the value of religious doctrine in our world; we have had organized religion as far back in our past as we as humans can see and yet we still haven't reached any sort of universal utopia. From there I would argue that a human being only needs the ability to empathize and exposure to other opinions in order to act morally, the idea of a god for me doesn't come into the equation at any point (I don't disbelieve in the possibility of a god, but that is another topic).
The response I usually received revolved around the fact that yes it is true we cannot look into our past and see a time when religion or spiritually wasn't present and there is a reason for that. The claim is that exposing people to religious doctrine gives them a starting point from which they will cultivate their own beliefs and values; it gives them a set of morals to grow from. The belief they (Baha'i's I've talked to) have is that society wouldn't have developed without a manifestation of divine will here on earth to guide us. I think that is what the missionaries were basing their placements upon, and it is eerily similar to what we are doing, or at least what I hope to accomplish.
Going overseas I want to contribute to the movement towards universal access to education and knowledge. I believe that for societies to grow in this day and age it is important to be able to see how others have done it(which implies different levels of growth). I believe that every human being has the right to understand their situation and place in this world, to also understand the situation of others and then make informed decisions on what they want to do and where they want to go. That is extremely important to me.
I like to think that the difference between proselytizing and what we are doing is in the small print. Religious doctrine is supposedly unassailable, it can do no wrong as it is supposed to be absolute eternal truth, for many religious doctrine is the only truth and the only thing that matters, I believe that is the opinion of the pastors in Things Fall Apart.
Access to education on the other hand is not inherently moral, it is in fact amoral. When I say I want to provide access to education I mean I want to empower men, women and children, I want to give them access to more tools, I want them to see what the possibilities are and then decide on what approach they wish to take. Religious doctrine gives you the approach, and if you don't follow it you are going to hell. Access to education is access to opportunity. I don't know if I have the right to grant access to education and I don't know how damaging or positive doing so will be. I quite simply do not know.
So how am I going to act given my views on culture and religion? How is the fact I believe I am doing something to help Ghanaians going to manifest itself? Am I going to act arrogant and lose out on what they have to offer? I believe humility is the only answer, and I hope that my desire to understand how they experience life will overpower my arrogance.
I've been trying to figure out an appropriate posting to the culture question, I've written several and in the end realized I wasn't saying anything useful. Can we make a distinction between cultural beliefs and personal beliefs? What about mannerisms and cultural beliefs? I'm confused about what we are discussing.
Just [to] be a devil's advocate, Hasan;
"Access to education on the other hand is not inherently moral, it is in fact amoral. When I say I want to provide access to education I mean I want to empower men, women and children, I want to give them access to more tools, I want them to see what the possibilities are and then decide on what approach they wish to take."
There is a very repudiated philosopher by the name of Jacques Ellul who wrote about propaganda. His definition of propaganda includes more or less anything that conveys a message, so even the act of educating and socializing is an act of propagation. I generally disagree with him, on the premise that propaganda is its own word with its own meaning, and attempting to apply it as a blanket term is effectively conflating it with "persuasion," but there is some merit to this. if the west introduces a western style education curriculum, using a western school system, with western values, are we any better than the priests? a big part of religion is education afterall - you can certainly claim a difference in what it is that is being taught, but how it is taught, by whom, under what conditions, etc. is equally important. as Gramsci argued, education is a means of creating ideological supremacy, and can be easily hijacked for that purpose. we here in the west are educated to be strong supporters of liberal values and free market systems, and to think these things are essentially infallible, yet capitalist and liberal ideology have existed for less than something on the order of 200 years, which is an awfully short time relative to our species on a whole - clearly they are not infallible or natural. yet we seem to have no problem introducing these models to Africa, and convincing officials there that they will work by virtue of the fact that they worked for us. so, basically, education is not necessarily amoral, and access to it will not necessarily empower anyone, it may in fact marginalize or render them powerless. introducing a western model that we *think* allows us to fully understand and comprehend other peoples points of view (if this is the case then i fail to understand the rampant racism that still exists systemically in our society) can be binding not only on the people being educated but the entire society.
From Hasan:Hey Warwick, thank you for responding.
I should clarify what I mean by education, and maybe give you a better idea of how I view culture. Beware this is a rant, and I haven’t really responded to yours, I just wanted to vent. Sorry.
You mentioned the problem of racism in our society, I can vouch for the fact that racism exists and is living quite happily within the borders of
I’ve also seen racism between the two major native groups in
When I say the word culture I sometimes cringe. You talked of propaganda being misused as a blanket word, well for me culture is the ultimate blanket word. It is used to describe (and condone) all sorts of things; music, theatrical arts, political systems, rape, genocide, racism, FGM.
I can’t define Canadian culture (you spoke of this in your original post, much more eloquently than I can); I don’t even know what people mean when they say Canadian culture. Do they mean respect towards women? Do they mean hatred of Aboriginals? Do they mean saying please and thank you or do they mean our continual mockery of Americans? What is it that we Canadians do differently than Ghanaians? If we removed the language barrier and viewed of our cultures side by side what would the differences be? Without having lived in
I do know that I have no claim to what I view as the better parts of our society, I didn’t end racial segregation, I never helped with the women’s right movement, and to be honest I haven’t helped with the lgbt movement here in
To me those movements towards equality (is that a liberal thing? judging people on their actions and not skin color, etc..) are not just Canadian, they are universal. Those personal rights trump the rights of a society to hold on to religious orientation, political systems and cultural beliefs. In my mind a society hasn’t developed until women and men can argue in public on any topic and have their opinions judged completely on intellectual value.
When I say I want access to education, I mean equal footing for everyone on an intellectual scale. I don’t want people to have the same opinions as I do, I don’t want people to have the same understanding of reality as I do (I wouldn’t wish that upon another human being), I simply want everyone to be able to put their thoughts out there. Am I hoping to force social paradigms on others? Yes, one could say so. There are some things I would forcibly change in other cultures and many things I would forcibly change in
I don’t know what western education is and beyond mathematics and science I don’t think curriculums should be universal, each culture requires its own topics. My education as a westerner has come from more than textbooks, it has come from the people I talk with at university; the Iranians and Germans I discuss theology with, it comes from the Africans and Quebecois I play soccer with. It comes from a myriad of sources, none of which I would have had access to if I hadn’t attended university. Everyone should have those sources, not just me.
You say that liberal ideology has been around for 200 years? I don’t know what you mean by that. I also don’t understand what you mean by capitalist ideology. Humans have been greedy for as long as we have had goods to envy (greed is what comes to mind when I hear capitalist). Human rights and ‘liberalism’ have been around for quite some time haven’t they? Capitalism is just a term, as is liberalism.
What is the natural progression of human society and how is anything humans come up with not natural? How could one argue that an aboriginal or tribal belief is more ‘natural’ than a western belief? I’m sick of hearing the argument that an aboriginal community left alone has a culture of more value than western culture. No one knows if it does and what the hell are the requirements? You don’t get the picture as an outsider, by simply being present you are altering the culture. If I were to try and explain Canadian culture to someone I would not be able to tell the truth, it is simply impossible. In my mind all that matters is a persons experience, their existential knowledge. Morals cannot be taught, you have to see both sides, value cannot be given to a person one has to earn it through experience. Everyone has a wealth of knowledge to give, to share simply by existing. Culture is not a human being but there are parallels; like a human, culture grows and expands; some get sick and die, others are killed.
When I think about Ghanaian culture I think of functionality, I think of gender roles being borne out of necessity. We have been told that children are sometimes required to work in the fields instead of attending school. What exactly is wrong with that? Physical labor is gratifying in a way academia will never be. My second favorite job was demolition, pounding tiles with a sledgehammer for 14 hours a day. I have not felt that level of satisfaction since and may never again. So if that is all there is going on why in the world would anyone be concerned with
Can we agree that there are some issues that need to be dealt with? Is everyone in agreement that there are things that need to change? What are those things? I’m of the opinion that not everyone has a voice, not everyone has the opportunity to have a voice. If I go over and the voice I hear tells me I am not wanted then ok, I will know (at what expense to them? Who knows). Until then I’ll stick to my guns and say there is a problem that needs to be addressed and my approach is to learn about it, my initial response is to push for universal education.
I may seem like a strong supporter of women’s rights, the reason behind that is my family. I have four sisters, three of which are Baha’i’; my little sister Bahiyyih is in
From Me:
Firstly, on liberal and capitalist ideology:
liberalism, socially, believes in more or less letting anyone do whatever they please, usually with the caveat that it cannot be something that harms another. as far as applying this concept goes, it is very, very new - it certainly wasnt the guiding principle of things like the various empires we've had in our past. Not until very recently has liberalism become an institutional norm, that people have tried to apply to culture and society as a whole. I personally think the attempts by liberals to "liberalize" other societies are intrinsically hypocritical to the philosophy itself, and it would make much more sense for liberals to try and help societies liberalize themselves, if they wish, if they truly hold to the values they espouse (equality, liberty, etc.), but thats another issue.
As for capitalism, its a similar thing - greed and capitalism are not the same, greed is merely an attribute/side effect of capitalism. there are many people who argue against basing an ideology on the concept that acting badly will do good (instead they argue the novel idea that doing good will do good. shocking i know). there have been various iterations of this concept throughout history, mainly that "might is right," or if you have a bigger gun than the next guy you get to make the rules. nowadays its if you have a bigger bank account than the next guy you get to make the rules. they sound similar but there are important differences, namely that violence never got an entire ideology built around it. our society has glorified greed to the point that its nearly destroyed itself, as we can see down in the states. capitalism is a human construct - therefore something came before it, therefore it wasnt always the way we did things, and therefore it isnt the only way we can do things. for instance, if we used a bartering system, the accumulation of wealth would become significantly more difficult, wouldnt it?
as for the "natural progress of human society," that's certainly a difficult thing to answer. a liberal would be inclined to say that natural progress is whatever happens when a group of people get to make their own decisions, and arent being messed around with by another group in any way. Cosmopolitans argue on the other hand that segregating humanity into different groups is pointless, we are all one group, so any action taken anywhere constitutes our "natural" development. I think you fall more on the cosmopolitan side, which is where our society seems to have been heading for a few years now. i think this concept is a bit dangerous though, and needs to have some limitations put on it. it ignores the concept of cultural relativism, the idea that people who werent born in the same geographical, economic, social, or political situations you were might have different values or priorities. I've been trying to formulate a social deconstructionist argument around this concerning firstly the idea of the state, and secondly the idea of supply and demand, ill copy and paste a piece of a blog post i made on it:
"basic philosophy from Plato/Aristotle:
every object has form and matter
a wooden chair has the form chair, matter wood, an iron chair the same form but different matter.
the form can be defined more precisely depending on the object. If you want to differentiate between a something like an office chair or a luxury chair, for instance, the form chair can be expanded on in both instances, while the matter does not necessarily change but can.
The state: form being an organized, territorially defined system, the matter being people. states are not the only way to organize people, there are tribes, fiefdoms, etc., so we can then posit that the state is a social construct - it does not exist necessarily. This is clearly true since we can point to a period of history where the state came into being. I would argue here that since the state is socially constructed, it is not necessarily a universal given. I.E. we can point to instances where the system of a state has in fact not been the ideal system of organization for a community of people. Thus while the state system was an ideal solution for Europe at the time of its inception, in Africa for instance, it may not be, and perhaps a different socially constructed system should be created to accommodate firstly the different situation, but secondly the difference in *matter* - people in Africa are not people in Europe, so the presumption that a European-style state would function with Africa-style people seems somewhat pretentious to me."
the supply and demand thing im getting confused on so i wont go into it (is supply and demand a term that can be applied anywhere, and is thus a neutral theoretical construct, or is it implicit to capitalism and westernism, and just so integrated in our preconceptions that we cant consider not using it? does it have any implicit meaning or is it a generalized, flexible tool of analysis?)
my argument then is that western values are "natural" in the context of a western culture, but in the context of an aboriginal culture they are foreign and potentially re-constitutive, maybe to the benefit of the aboriginal culture, maybe to its detriment. when I go to Ghana, yes my mere presence there will influence their culture, but i hope this is by the fact that my external viewpoint will be able to identify attributes of their culture, and by my description of their culture they will become more self-aware of themselves, more capable of driving their own success, and defending against attempts to re-constitute who they are on other peoples terms. e.g. when Africa was colonized, the imperial powers tried to make Africans more like them, and to a point they sadly succeeded - Africa is now run by a system of european-style states, with european-style seperations of power - systems that absolutely fail in many places. the implication of a state system of government is as arbitrary as the lines defining the territory of those states, in my mind. if we could go back in time and hit the play button on Africa 100 times over, what is the probability that it would be separated into state governments every time? it could just as easily be a continent of fiefdoms, or a single empire. or, they may look to Europe and say "hey, that state idea is pretty cool" and copy them. I think cosmopolitanism needs to find a balance between realizing that liberalism can potentially be right, that self-determination is important, while also espousing its claim that "any idea can be a good idea."
so i kind of touched on my thoughts concerning your question Aline - basically that its impossible not to dilute both cultures, but that this can be a good thing - it depends what you dilute with =) i can also sort of reply by posting my summary of the white privilege article, which is what i logged on to do anyways:
"White Privilege
- We are socialized to be ignorant to the fact that many of our behaviours and institutions work to maintain the status quo. We are taught that other groups are disadvantage but not that our group is advantaged. This actually has the effect of marginalizing the other and continuing the system - disadvantaged is a term we use to de-value people. A disadvantaged person is not as capable as someone who is "normal." Thus even the system we have created to try and resolve the issue at present is still couched in terms of ignorantly maintaining this division. It would be significantly more productive to identify why we are privileged, and work to counter these things.
- It is important to identify factors to which one can relate being disadvantaged, so that one may understand the situation from anothers point of view. For instance, I am disadvantaged entering politics because I am not Christian. I can use this to identify with other disadvantaged situations and understand their context by relating it to my own.
- How does this apply to traveling overseas? Firstly, many of the privileges I have will be taken away - e.g., I cannot ask to see "the person in charge" and expect them to always be white, if ever. My culture will not be readily represented, I will be thrown into the position of the minority, and so it is important to understand the situation of the minority within my own culture so that I can more readily understand it within another cultural context. Secondly, many other of my privileges will be greatly amplified and become very evident, because I will be amongst a group of people I have been taught to view as "disadvantaged," rather than amongst a group of people I have been taught to view "as morally neutral, normative, and average, also ideal." I must work to identify what in my actions are socialized norms that attempt to turn other people into entities more like myself, and realize that these are incorrect because that cannot be my goal - but rather to encourage people to be more like themselves in every context."
i figure ill have trouble identifying what is important to me until i get there and i dont have it anymore - "you dont know what youve got until its gone," at which point ill probably be upset for a bit before figuring out a way to adapt. i wont be able to become Ghanaian, but i will be able to become a western version of Ghanaian, what my best imitation of a Ghanaian would be as restricted by my cultural background.
there are liberal-based individual rights, and group-based, communitarian rights. some people see these as mutually exclusive, but i cant really fathom why (a group needs individuals to exist, individuals would have no culture without a group). regardless, cultural relativism is sometimes used to defend infringement of individual rights by communal groups - this is not the cultural relativism im trying to defend, because a crime is a crime as far as im concerned. id elaborate but i think ive written enough today so ill just leave it at that simplification =Poh, and finally, re:education @ Hasan
what you described is the ideal education system, one that allows people to flourish, grow, and cultivate themselves for themselves, on their own terms. I definitely want this as well, but I doubt I will ever see it - if our society let us develop ourselves in such a manner, it would probably fall apart the way it is right now, because no one would be forced to drop out of highschool or college and work menial, low paying jobs because they couldnt afford an education, and thus thered be no bottom bracket to our society to support the rest of it. thered also be no place for governments to promote their own agendas (duty to the state, to be a good worker and contribute to society, to builds a national identity such as the Canadian identity project undertaken by the Trudeau government). our education system, as it stands now, rewards doing repeated, tedious tasks that tax most peoples patience rather than their intellectual ability. perhaps assignments occasionally push people beyond their intellectual limits at that time and place, but theres no reason to think they couldnt reach those points on their own on a longer time-scale, and there wouldnt be anything wrong with that. instead the education system is designed to pump out workers for each level of work needed as quickly and efficiently as possible. this was pointed out in the keynote at the Gala - scientists never learn how to write a proper argument, just how to do science. why arent they taught to exchange ideas, only achieve results? exchanging ideas is integral to personal growth, achieving results is integral to soceity as a whole - i think society only really has an interest in fostering one of these, the other one we seem to have to go out and find for ourselves, and often i see people miss out on it.
to relate this to Africa - we are trying to help a community of people who have been terribly scarred when it comes to their personal growth *as* a society. If we simply said "heres a model for education, set it up like this," we would very likely, instead of helping Africa, be creating a system that continued the systemic oppression that began with colonialism. Essentially my argument stems from your claim that education is amoral - i definitely perceive it as potentially being an enduring tool for oppression, marginalization and imperialism if it isnt dealt with very carefully. as the "white privilege" article points out, it has that affect here in our own society, so i think its very possible it can act in that way globally.
atleast, this is how i interpreted your argument and how i perceive our society*. i dont want to come across too strongly or anything! gotta work on that =S maybe im just cynical, haha
________
so that was pretty intense. I feel as though I may have misinterpreted Hasan's meaning of amoral in this instance - my thinking of the term has always been that something that is amoral is something that not only is not intrinsically good or bad unto itself, but also incapable of being utilized or turned into something good or bad. a grain of sand is amoral, for instance. i suppose this definition would mean that you couldnt claim water was amoral though, because you could drown someone in it or give them a glass of it to save their life... bother. Regardless, it was an interesting and informative discussion for the both of us I'm sure.
B) Post-EWB National Conference Reflections
Note: If you're only going to read a part of this (baha, I've posted what, 10 pages already? here's another 10 for your poor brain), skip to the last one on national security since I didn't hear many cautionary voices on the subject.
Agriculture (
“Agriculture as a business.”
We were provided with a short case study and asked to break it down into a timeline, which looked something like this:
- Construction of a dam was begun but left incomplete, leaving a water basin at roughly 20% it’s intended capacity
- A group of 10 farmers took advantage of this water basin to begin growing vegetables, a rare crop in the region. They did this for 5 years.
- EWB and Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) staff begin helping the farmers progress.
- The farmers tell the staff that they need a loan à at the start of a growing season they need money, but they want to wait to sell their crop yield until the end of the season so it will get a higher price. They would like the loan to facilitate the storage and wait period. However, Banks issue short term, high interest loans that require collateral. So MoFA and EWB negotiate a 0% interest loan for the farmers.
- To facilitate their profits, the farmers want to buy fertilizer and dig wells to increase their crop. MoFA staff calculate that if this loan and development plan is successful, each farmer will make a gain of 100 units of Ghanaian currency each.
- The farmers expand their fields by 40%
- Come harvest, the farmers are disappointed to find their yield to be much lower than expected. It is discovered that the fertilizer was expired. They store what vegetables they have in hopes of making up the loss at the end of the season.
- In storage, 50% of the yield is lost to a fungus.
- Upset with how MoFA staff handled the problem, EWB cuts relations in the area. Some of the farmers are left in debt and they are all angry with one another.
We were then asked to identify the points where things went wrong, and come up with possible explanations/solutions. Each point was then categorized as either an issue of Input Market (I), Output Market (O), Finances (F), or Extension (E).
I:
Fertilizer
- Was not properly checked for quality by either MoFA or the farmers.
O:
Market
- Price fluctuation in the product they wanted to sell was perhaps an unwise risk to take. Was the price fluctuation dependable?
F:
- MoFA should have encouraged the farmers to buy anti-fungal spray with part of their loan as well to protect their investment.
- Risky business plan – did not account for risk (best case scenario, but no worst case scenario). Did not take into account conflict resolution and business soft skills
E:
Storage
- Were the vegetables stored in proper conditions?
- Were the vegetables stored separately to prevent one fungus outbreak from damaging the whole yield?
- Did the recurring storage of a single crop promote this fungus?
- Breaking ties – EWB and MoFA should have worked together to learn from their mistakes and mediate the farmer’s conflict. EWB should have helped MoFA expand its knowledge base.
EWB is currently mainly focused on
MoFA has been operating with these farmers for 4 years, and has a staff of 30 volunteers. However, their work is not well-linked, thus they produce minimal results. MoFA needs to create a long-term strategy, and become much less centralized if it wishes to be successful – they need to make appropriate and effective interventions at the ground level. MoFA used to provide solely information and technical advice, but has been shifting to promoting agriculture as a business. Part of this is helping farmers improve their access to markets. Their methodology has been one of promoting technology, using a participatory approach, coaching farmers and improving linkages between I/O and F.
Silver Bullet for Change
The purpose of this workshop was to improve our ability to understand and influence a complex system, such as society. A system is anything which is made up of many components, an alteration to any one of which will influence the rest of the system. An example of a simple system would be a shoelace. A complicated system would be an airplane. A complex system would be raising a child.
A complex system is unique in that there are many interconnected factors, and no certainty in change. You can be certain doing something differently while tying your laces will have a clear and immediate result. Doing something differently while raising a child may have no result at all.
Essentially, one should learn to recognize and take advantage of times when one may influence society as a system. For instance, when attending a meeting about a company budget, bring up fair trade coffee, organic foods, or other alternatives to whatever the company is doing now. Be aware of other influences on you – why are the bananas you buy green when they’ve been shipped all the way from
John McCall MacBain presentation
M.M. is involved in bringing green electricity to
There are some possible critiques of this project. For one, M.M. expressed his desire to light up the “dark continent.” To some degree this is a valid point – if you were to measure which continent were the most “developed” by the amount of light visible from space, North America and Europe would stand out, and Africa would be dead last. On the other hand, light pollution does have health repercussions, both on humans and other wildlife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pollution). Thus, while M.M. may be commended for trying to make his projects carbon-neutral, he is simultaneously bringing another form of pollution to
Cuthbert Baba Kuupiel Presentation
Cuthbert is currently the Ghanaian Project Manager for the Community-Driven Initiatives for Food Security. His presentation focused on how rural communities could work with their government to satisfy development needs through simple local leadership, as well as the importance that African development be lead by
One point that struck me about Cuthbert’s presentation was his description of how the community went about interacting with the local government (the District Assembly). In the west it is often the case that a community will make a demand of its municipal government, and if it doesn’t get what it wants react negatively. In Cuthbert’s case, it was interesting to see that the community instead molded their thinking and saw the issue through the District Assembly’s point of view. This is potentially negative for the community, as the power relationship means that requests are not always translated correctly between the two groups. Many examples exist of this happening, such as a clinic in
Agricultural Development
A panel discussion, this was essentially an informative session on current trends in agricultural development in
Issues affecting agricultural development in the market include:
- Variable food prices (affected by uses of biofuel for electricity and standard supply/demand issues), which can make a market potentially unreliable for providing income.
- Trust issues between producers and retail – traditionally business has been conducted between kinsmen, but the introduction and necessity of new market systems has complicated relationships. People do not always trust one another and this creates complicated market relationships.
Presently about 5% of aid money goes to agriculture, however it is widely believed agriculturally development stands a very good chance of bringing many African countries out of poverty and more money should be spent in this region. Development teams wants to take more practical action on this front, and include African country’s abilities when it comes to emergency response to food crises, and to develop food security. Part of this is to improve production through improved market systems, but also to lobby a right to food as having precedence over tariffs or other economic issues. It seems to be generally agreed that a longer-term approach is required that focuses on protecting a country’s ability to produce food.
Some of the analytical tools used include a look at household livelihood security, assessing a household’s vulnerabilities, its negative or positive assets, etc. Developing a household’s livelihood security involves protection (ensuring the household is productive, healthy, and has early warning of health issues) and promotion (developing assets such as livestock and introducing value chains). This analysis brings up an interesting point – to some degree, some food aid can be seen as a harm – it discourages people from looking for ways to increase their own production and food security.
Some other general points:
- Agriculture in
- Often, simple technology can improve efficiency many times over. A simple ox and plow beats a woman with a hoe, for instance. The difficulty is bringing families to the point of wealth where they can afford an ox.
- It’s important to keep in mind that helping a few does not necessarily mean you are helping a larger population, or solving hunger for very many people at all. A few improved farming communities does not necessarily translate into a revolution in agricultural practice across a region, this is a separate step that requires just as much energy and focus.
The take-away point of this panel seemed to be the feeling that if agricultural development can be made to be efficient (less labour = more food), equitable (a proper share between genders, etc.), and inclusive (a wider market system), it stands a better chance of success.
Building from this, two other points came up during the panel discussion. The first is market failure. Factors that cause a market failure include:
- Blockages
- Failed public institutions
- Weak policies
- Excessive concentration of power (which it should be noted is a feature of value chains)
The question arises; are we developing a sustainable market system in
Appropriate Technology
This was a look at how technology can negatively or positively impact a community. Not every innovation or technology fits a community in a way that improves their livelihood, so it is important in development to ensure the right technology is getting to the right place. Generally, you want to KNOW if something is appropriate, and if it isn’t (or in some cases even if it is), you want to MAKE it appropriate.
e.g. a suction versus lifthand pump – does the community this is being introduced to have the resources to repair one but not the other? Is it small enough that it can be easily transported by them? Set up easily by them? Etc.
It is also useful to develop markers to see if a technology is appropriate – did a farmer double his/her income? Looking for feedback from the customer is useful as well.
In making a technology appropriate, it is important to make a human centered design. This was described as “hear, create, deliver” à know and understand what the customer needs, create it out of resources the customer has, and deliver it in a way the customer can use. Not everyone has a flatbed truck to carry a pump around, so maybe it has to be designed so that it can be mounted on a bicycle. Maybe it needs to have interchangeable parts so that if one side fails it can be replaced with the other. Maybe it needs to be built so that a small failure can be patched up with a bent nail or a piece of rope. Etc.
Paul Polak Presentation
Mr. Polak has engaged in a somewhat controversial form of development in that he runs his projects as a business – selling equipment to communities in
I have some fairly strong critiques of Mr. Polak however. While I agree that his concept and why he is doing it seem very valid and useful, HOW he goes about it might have room for improvement.
Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher from
Another point worth making is that while a consumer may want a pump that lasts only 2 years because they can’t afford the single lump payment to buy a 7 year pump, and thus Polak company perceives this as a desire of the consumer, the 2 year lifespan pump may actually be serving to prolong their poverty. If a 2 year lifespan pump costs 100 dollars, but a 7 year lifespan pump costs 200 (i.e. significantly less than buying 3.5 2 year pumps) then repeatedly purchasing a 2 year lifespan pump is effectively draining a customer of their income. Instead a system of financing seems much more likely to succeed, or at the very least financing the cost of the product related purely to the profit meant to be made off of its sale, and having the customer pay up front only for the production value.
Leadership is an Inside Job
Stages of Learning:
- unconscious incompetence (you don’t know you can’t ski)
- conscious incompetence (your first attempt at skiing was less than successful)
- conscious competence (you have figured out how to consciously control skis)
- unconscious competence (you can do calculus while skiing)
A successful spirit/leader has passion, which generates a drive to improve, which makes one self aware, which allows one to set goals, thus take action, and because of action be more self aware, repeat ad infinitum.
These two small descriptions come together to form a map for how one may improve any ability one possesses. Most view leadership as an inherent trait, which cannot be impacted by events, training etc. But EWBs philosophy is that leadership is just another skill. Thus becoming a successful leader is simply a matter of training oneself. A successful leader is passionate about what they do, wants to be better at it, and is self aware of what is holding them back from being better. Thus goals are set and action taken. This applies both to the leader individually and to the project the leader is a part of.
Make your campus a “
This was a workshop about how to effectively lobby a university and other stakeholders related to your university to become Fair Trade, although obviously such methods would potentially work with other issues, and thus are fairly valuable as a transferable set of guidelines. Essentially it was a workshop to demonstrate and develop tools to understand and act upon a university.
The first workshop question was what a
Stakeholders:
A stakeholder is anyone affected by and with an interest in what you are doing. Shareholders to fair trade coffee could include: university administration, faculty staff, students, university businesses, community businesses, community members, food suppliers, bookstore, catering, etc. These impacts can be positive or negative. A community business that is successful because it happens to be the only fair trade provider in your university’s community would suffer if students stopped going there for fair trade coffee. Likewise, fair trade might foster a more integrated international perspective in your community and lead to more community action.
It is important to understand stakeholders. The best way to appeal to them is to demonstrate that there is something in it for them to go along with your initiative. It needs to make fiscal sense in most cases, or else it won’t be supported. It is also important to understand how these stakeholders make their policy. Who makes decisions concerning food purchasing? How is their process made? What factors contribute to their decision? It is also important to focus on timing (some decision making bodies may only meet once a year, and you will need to meet that deadline). Support from the surrounding community can be valuable as well – how a stakeholder is perceived in the community can sometimes be more valuable to them than money. If a large number of community groups want a university to do something, its unlikely the university will decline.
It is further important to approach these stakeholders as potential partners, not obstacles to your goal. Remain on good terms with everyone. If previous student/administration relations are not terribly good (i.e. Carleton), try to find a way around it; present yourself as a different kind of student representative. It may also do to keep in account what the mission statement of the university is. Most universities aim to support international issues, which can be a potential in for your cause. Be very specific in your relationship with stakeholders – make it clear what you would like from them. Also be sure that they remain accountable – press them to explain why or why not they are making a decision, and look for alternatives with them rather than leaving it at their flat denial. Be persistent, comprehensive (if possible develop your own plan for what you think a fair trade university should be and present it to them), and integrate yourself into their system. It’s easy to ignore a random student, but much more difficult to ignore something that has become a feature of their social landscape. Be professional, as a good image can go a long way. Lastly, be knowledgable – admit that fair trade isn’t necessarily perfect, but that it doesn’t matter because it is BETTER and that is what is important.
The workshop presenters shared a few tips of what they thought made them successful:
- Outreach:
Don’t be another typical hit and run presenter in the hallway – have conversations with people rather than trying to instantly convert them. Rather than catching them in the hall between classes, go and sit down with them during lunch and begin a conversation about the issue you are lobbying for. Treat them differently than others have treated them. Engage them!
- Build Relationships and Leverage them:
Anyone can potentially help!
- Coalitions:
A coalition with another student group CAN be useful, but it is best to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy and complications in the decision making process. Confer with similar groups and coordinate generally, but don’t get deeply involved unless the benefits are clear.
Neil Turok Presentation
Mr. Turok’s presentation was very intriguing. The point that stood out most for me was his challenge of EWB’s general presumption of “poverty reduction.” He pointed out that this was in fact a double negative – rhetorically it makes sense, but literally one cannot reduce a lack of something. If you were to present this as a business goal, he quite rightly noted that you would be laughed out of the room. Mr. Turok made a number of other points challenging our presumptions and goals as an organization, including our focus on agriculture in the developing world. Again, it does seem perhaps we have become too narrow minded – can agriculture really be a sustainable practice or is it a “development market?” Are we not simply creating another dependency relationship between the west and
Overall it’s very difficult to disagree with the concept –
One critique however goes back to whether or not we are helping individuals, communities, or
Hugh Segal Presentation
Note: I actually missed this presentation, but to my understanding Segal spoke of involving national security in the international development discussion and I think I can comment on that a bit.
Involving national security in the discussion of international development, while potentially very beneficial, is also potentially very dangerous to the country in question. As an example one may point to countries such as
