How to avoid having the opposite effect, when attempting to help other countries develop.

Countries help each other. It’s natural.

Part of “sustainable development” is for countries to help each other develop. That is, to help fulfill each other’s needs. 

One country or one group of countries agrees to help another country or group to solve a problem or to “develop.” But is it always a good thing? The recent change of the American administration as regards foreign policy and development aid can be seen as a wake-up call.

My entire career has been dedicated to designing and managing endeavors meant to help humans develop as individuals, organizations, countries, and even as a species. Self-determination is particularly crucial to development success…but it has been lacking in too many cases. We must all claim it back.

Minimum conditions for a development project to succeed

As development aid providers, we must, at a minimum:

• know what a need is (Maslow’s work can help here – hint: it’s generally not about luxury cars or mansions) 
• know what the other party needs exactly, in quantity and quality
• have a clearly expressed demand from them for support (not tell them what they should demand), matching the need 
• have established that we are capable of providing the help demanded
• make sure our contribution is only what’s strictly needed (what they cannot do or provide by themselves)
• include payment provisions, or forms of reciprocity, in the project, if it’s not disaster relief or other emergencies
• have a clearly expressed consent from them over all the details of the aid project
• make sure all parties will be able to honor all engagements

The above is not an exhaustive list, but I hope it is enough for my readers to see that a development aid project requires self-determination from all parties.

But that’s not how development aid has worked up until now

Remember the metaphor about giving fish vs. showing/teaching how to fish?

I distinguish emergency situations, where we just give fish until folks are back on their feet (and then we STOP giving), from development, where we help people acquire the abilities to fulfill their own needs (by themselves) durably.

In both cases, folks are responsible human adults, in the driver seat of their own destinies and development. They ask for our help, only if and when they need our help. Their will is sacred, free, and to be respected.

Unfortunately, many international development aid projects have not truly helped. Numerous independent evaluation reports written by professional evaluators regularly say so. These reports are publicly accessible, generally, so you can verify what I say. For example here, as regards The World Bank Group, and here, as regards the European Commission. I also recommend the movie Poverty, Inc. which shows how many development projects have created dependencies, delayed development, and made large communities poorer, instead of helping them develop.

Giving and helping can be as ego-driven as refusing to give or help

Many emergencies have been exaggerated, and development projects have been supply-driven (not demand-driven) to a large extent. Often, we THINK that other countries need X or Y, but we are the only ones who think so. That’s not development. In fact, it is the opposite. It has bad consequences for both sides, and for the entire world. It works the same way for countries, individuals, and organizations. And I must also say that most of these mishaps were not voluntary. People thought they were helping and, on the other side, thought they were being helped.

After decades of dependency on dominating “others” who told them what to do (or worse: did it in their place), many communities still lack the motivation, the will to develop as free, independent human beings or collectives, capable of intelligence and creativity to define and fulfill their own needs, or go after the best providers.

I have seen the incredible damage done to our individual and collective human psyches, bodies, and entire lives, when we blindly believe in, and get too attached to, the ideas of other people than ourselves. 

We must all regain mastery over our own development. 

It’s time for us to regain our power and our freedom, and be the masters of our own destiny, as individuals, corporations, countries. Even as groups of countries like the European Union (as long as the group does not crush the members).

No one can know our own lives and circumstances as accurately as ourselves. No one can decide for us. This had become one of the pillar principles in international law, with the Charter of the United Nations of 1945. The Charter’s Article 1:2 reads: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.”

We must reaffirm and live by this principle, and: 

• regain our own self-esteem and willpower, whether we are Africans, Europeans, Americans, or any specific country, organization, or individual
• take the time to reflect and formulate what we need EXACTLY
• do what we must do to fulfill these needs, first by ourselves
• ask for help only when we really need it, negotiating fair deals
  

And we will need help, because that’s the nature of things!

What are YOU doing to regain control over your own destiny? What is YOUR ORGANIZATION doing? What is YOUR COUNTRY doing? 

If you want to make sure that your development projects have a better chance of succeeding, contact me here. I can help you save a lot of time, money, and headaches.