After six long weeks I am finally getting back to this. Summer has not been conducive to blogging for some reason. Its not even that hot here in Seattle. Anyway...
I have added a link to another great organization called Care to Give. Their mission is primarily to build wells to bring clean water to people in the hill country of Viet Nam. They are also trying to build schools. Please consider a donation.
The election in the Congo has finally brought more much-needed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe there. I was astonished to read that nearly 2 million children have died in the Congo in the past several years (from a total of 4 million deaths overall) due to war, disease and malnutrition. Eastern Congo is still very unstable, with warfare continuing unabated. In an of-ed piece in the July 28 NY Times, a journalist writes that he witnessed a massacre in April that was carried out, in part, by UN "peacekeeping" troops. Some 25-34 civilians were killed.
The UN calls the situation in the Congo the equivalent of a tsunami every week. In some ways, this is Rwanda all over again. (In fact, many of the fighters are Rwandan Hutus.) The world pays close attention to the Middle East (with good reason) but, again, little heed to the condition of millions of people in a resource-rich country the size of Western Europe. How do these things happen?
I have been reading a novel called "Acts of Faith" by Philip Caputo. Set primarily in southern Sudan, it is the story of the interaction of NGOs and missionaries with the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, the Nuban people of southern Sudan and, to a lesser extent the Sudanese regime in Khartoum. The book, which I heartily recommend, has made me think more about how best to pursue international development and the people who can do so most effectively. In so doing, I came across a quote from a book called by "The Prince of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq" by Rory Stewart. (I have not read this yet--the quote is from a review of the book.) Here is the quote: "The best kind of international development seemed to be done by people who directly absorbed themselves into rural culture and politics, focused on traditional structures, and understood that change would always be very slow." This makes a lot of sense. In my limited experience, solutions imposed by outsiders who do little more than fly in and fly out rarely work. First, one cannot possibly understand the situation "on the ground" without spending time there. What may have worked in one country may have absolutely no chance of success in another. Second, one cannot expect to simply dismantle and replace structures and traditions that have been in place for decades or perhaps centuries. One must usually try to incorporate changes into the traditional practices. Finally, patience is critical--the consultant who thinks she can fix complicated, long-standing problems in a few weeks or months usually fails.
Finally, a few words about a recent study of the extent to which the $12 billion spent by the World Bank since 1990 on education in developing countries has borne fruit. The analysis was done by the Independent Evaluation Group and is summarized in an article in the July 15 edition of The Economist. According to the study, there has been significant improvement in the number of children attending school but the quality of education has not improved anywhere near as much. Donors and governments are good at funding the construction of schools and the purchase of school supplies but not so good at improving the quality of education. This suggests there is still a shortage of qualified, adequately paid teachers. The article reports on a successful strategy for improving the level of instruction in India. In some districts, high school graduates (who had no teacher training beyond the two weeks provided by the program) were hired to help students who were falling behind. The results were very encouraging and the cost was low as they "children's friends" as they were called were inexpensive. This strategy may warrant further application elsewhere, depending of course on the availability of local teachers, funding and other local conditions.
I have added a link to another great organization called Care to Give. Their mission is primarily to build wells to bring clean water to people in the hill country of Viet Nam. They are also trying to build schools. Please consider a donation.
The election in the Congo has finally brought more much-needed attention to the humanitarian catastrophe there. I was astonished to read that nearly 2 million children have died in the Congo in the past several years (from a total of 4 million deaths overall) due to war, disease and malnutrition. Eastern Congo is still very unstable, with warfare continuing unabated. In an of-ed piece in the July 28 NY Times, a journalist writes that he witnessed a massacre in April that was carried out, in part, by UN "peacekeeping" troops. Some 25-34 civilians were killed.
The UN calls the situation in the Congo the equivalent of a tsunami every week. In some ways, this is Rwanda all over again. (In fact, many of the fighters are Rwandan Hutus.) The world pays close attention to the Middle East (with good reason) but, again, little heed to the condition of millions of people in a resource-rich country the size of Western Europe. How do these things happen?
I have been reading a novel called "Acts of Faith" by Philip Caputo. Set primarily in southern Sudan, it is the story of the interaction of NGOs and missionaries with the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, the Nuban people of southern Sudan and, to a lesser extent the Sudanese regime in Khartoum. The book, which I heartily recommend, has made me think more about how best to pursue international development and the people who can do so most effectively. In so doing, I came across a quote from a book called by "The Prince of the Marshes and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq" by Rory Stewart. (I have not read this yet--the quote is from a review of the book.) Here is the quote: "The best kind of international development seemed to be done by people who directly absorbed themselves into rural culture and politics, focused on traditional structures, and understood that change would always be very slow." This makes a lot of sense. In my limited experience, solutions imposed by outsiders who do little more than fly in and fly out rarely work. First, one cannot possibly understand the situation "on the ground" without spending time there. What may have worked in one country may have absolutely no chance of success in another. Second, one cannot expect to simply dismantle and replace structures and traditions that have been in place for decades or perhaps centuries. One must usually try to incorporate changes into the traditional practices. Finally, patience is critical--the consultant who thinks she can fix complicated, long-standing problems in a few weeks or months usually fails.
Finally, a few words about a recent study of the extent to which the $12 billion spent by the World Bank since 1990 on education in developing countries has borne fruit. The analysis was done by the Independent Evaluation Group and is summarized in an article in the July 15 edition of The Economist. According to the study, there has been significant improvement in the number of children attending school but the quality of education has not improved anywhere near as much. Donors and governments are good at funding the construction of schools and the purchase of school supplies but not so good at improving the quality of education. This suggests there is still a shortage of qualified, adequately paid teachers. The article reports on a successful strategy for improving the level of instruction in India. In some districts, high school graduates (who had no teacher training beyond the two weeks provided by the program) were hired to help students who were falling behind. The results were very encouraging and the cost was low as they "children's friends" as they were called were inexpensive. This strategy may warrant further application elsewhere, depending of course on the availability of local teachers, funding and other local conditions.
posted by Darryl Vhugen at 4:26 PM
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