THE INDUSTRY OF AID: Who Do You Work For?

Written by on July 22, 2011 in Africa, Entrepreneurship - 1 Comment

Since I was a child, I’ve been almost supernaturally compelled to help the oppressed, abused and less fortunate. It’s who I am.

I’ve dedicated my life to serving humanity because I genuinely care, and it brings me great joy to do it. I am not sacrificing anything. In fact, I feel quite privileged to do this work. It’s rewarding on a level I do not have words to describe.

And there are millions of people just like me out there, genuinely compelled to serve humanity. They help because it’s the right thing to do, and it brings them joy. These people represent the backbone of our international aid community.

Philanthropists have lived among us since humanity came into existence. They saw problems that could be solved with money and manpower and they created mechanisms for obtaining these integral resources. Thus, the Industry of Aid was born.

Now there are thousands of aid agencies all over the world, many of which are based in countries outside of the area or people group they serve. Decisions are made by a board of directors often comprised of people that have never experienced those people or their land.

As an aid worker, you are forced to adhere to the desires of the donors and the board, regardless of how it affects the beneficiaries. Much like most things in life, decisions typically come down to who has the most power, money or influence.

Out of necessity, aid workers are forced to work for the controllers of the resources, as opposed to the beneficiaries. This system is broken. What started as something pure and beautiful has been twisted into another dysfunctional, money driven bureaucracy.

The system is there because we must have accountability and mechanisms to prevent impetuous emotional decisions that can exacerbate the vary problems we’ve set out to correct. Yes, we must have a system, but the current system is flawed.

Donors provide the funding and the board dictates the programs based on what compels the donors to keep giving. So, as an aid worker, who do you really work for, the beneficiaries or the donors? What criteria are your final decisions really based on?

And what is the solution? I don’t know. But I think it has to start with creating systems that are no longer dependent upon donor funding. Then we might be able to put the power back in the hands of the people we set out to serve.

What is a better solution? Solving the problem for someone, or making the long term investment necessary to inspire and empower them to figure it out on their own? Perhaps we’re just too driven by our desire for immediate results, which often stems from pressure from the same guys making decisions from a board room in Washington DC.

What do you think should be done to create a better aid solution for developing nations?

JaredA

I am a philanthropy consultant and social entrepreneur, living in East Africa since March of 2006. I believe that in order to empower developing nations to prosper, we must first treat them as equal and capable business partners and not a charity case.

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  • http://Elfalakiste.posterous.com Ahmed Nazmi

    We’re facing another facade of the same problem in Egypt Jared, where the funds always and forever come with an agenda (but when don’t they?). As a developing country we have access to different funds from different countries but there is such terrible mistrust between the ngos and the average Egyptian thanks to various scams or great projects being funded by USAID (enter social sector’s slimy cousin with muscles, politics); and that all lends itself to the problem you describe of a dysfunctional system. There are too many stories of npos registered in Egypt that used to operate by claiming to run an educational program at a village or other and then end up swindling the money and buying notebooks and pencils for the kids. That’s the practical element, then there’s the really distressing dynamic of having to go to foreign countries with different agendas for aid when there is loads of money in Egypt, simply mismanaged. It’s in no way a nod to discriminatung due to nationalities, but with our history of colonialist rule and struggle for self-determination the citizens of any country are entitled to the right to be self-sufficient, especially when the resources are there.
    I guess to try and tackle the problem you shed light on I think as social entrepreneurs we have to spread a ‘social activism mantra/manifesto/declaration’ . Nothing heavy, something simple that speaks to the real ‘why’ and purpose of why we choose to live our lives as social entrepreneurs and showing people that everyone has the right to give some *time* to doing good. I think if that mentality is spread in schools and proliferated in society we will find more grassroots resources available, and as we continue to develop the tools that enable greater participation the focus will be less on the few and forever more on the many, and that is much more democratic and fair. That’s the world I want to live in.
    Great article!