tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-793779584572004932024-02-18T21:38:56.138-08:00Provoking PolicyThinking critically and writing provocatively about the implications of policy for people, places and politics. No fancy words, no jargon, just the facts, some questions, some answers and a whole lotta rant.policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-58002258218411943732017-09-28T21:54:00.003-07:002017-09-28T21:54:49.228-07:00Goodbye Blogger, Hello MediumThank you for reading my posts on Provoking Policy. It has been a wonderful journey as a writer to be able to share my rants on issues that matter to me at various points in time.<div>
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From now on, I will be writing on Medium as <a href="https://medium.com/@ruthcwhite" target="_blank">Ruth C. White, PhD</a>. I have chosen Medium as a platform because it gives me more of an opportunity to <i>read, write and share stories that matter.</i></div>
policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-84640445321776605682017-09-19T16:01:00.000-07:002017-09-20T22:15:55.821-07:00Free Speech, Safe Spaces and Academic Freedom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">Fall is here and students are back in the classroom and free speech is back on the agenda.</span><br />
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Just a few weeks in and already the hottest topic on campuses across America is free speech. In particular, my alma mater - the University of California, Berkeley (UCBerkeley) - is at the heart of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/09/18/organizers-of-free-speech-week-at-uc-berkeley-vow-to-hold-events-even-if-they-cant-get-indoor-venues/?utm_term=.f336f21ebd91" target="_blank">the controversy to bring 'conservative' speakers to campus</a> in what is being billed as Free Speech Week. It can either be seen as ironic, or a full circle revisit, that UC Berkeley is in this place, given <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353849567/when-political-speech-was-banned-at-berkeley" target="_blank">its role in creating the free speech movement </a>which grew out of a series of protests during the 1964-1965 academic year. It is now focused on right-wing ideas while back then it was focused on the protest speech of the left. It was as a place for radical ideas that I got to know most about UC Berkeley as a young girl growing up in Jamaica, and one of the primary reasons I chose to attend. The flood of articles that focus on the issue of free speech in the academy almost seems reminiscent of the McCarthy era, when the smallest of infractions against what McCarthy considered to be 'American' values <a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1965/6/17/the-university-in-the-mccarthy-era/" target="_blank">could ruin one's career on campus</a>, in Hollywood and in society writ large. (For further exploration on how speaking about politics at your job can get you fired <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/21/your-money/speaking-about-politics-can-cost-you-your-job.html" target="_blank">click here</a>).<br />
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<b>Academic Freedom and Free Speech</b><br />
In a document titled, <a href="https://www.jamesgmartin.center/acrobat/AcademicFreedom.pdf" target="_blank">Academic Freedom: What it is, what it isn't and how to tell the difference </a>(John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, 2009), academic freedom was defined as 'the freedom of scholars to pursue the truth in a manner consistent with professional standards of inquiry' (p.4). They note that as a first amendment right it applies only to scholars in public institutions because it protects against "illegitimate governmental action or state law". The author of the document further states that though the Supreme Court supports the idea of academic freedom it has not established clear criteria for its application, and that <a href="https://www.aaup.org/get-involved/issue-campaigns/speak-speak-out-protect-faculty-voice/legal-cases-affecting-academic" target="_blank">due to a 2006 ruling</a> it has allowed lower courts to rule in favor of schools that seek to restrict faculty speech that is within the execution of official duties.<br />
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As a member of the academy I find it abhorrent that anyone would want to stifle the discussion of ideas in universities. This violates the principle of academic freedom, beyond the legal protections provided by the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment" target="_blank">First Amendment of the US Constitution</a>. Furthermore, limiting 'exposure' of students to only ideas that are seen as 'acceptable' in a particular context of time and space, supports an environment of censorship that also limits the learning of students. University is also a place where people learn to explore ideas and to propose ideas based on evidence and to go beyond to propose ideas that have yet to be tested. Creativity, innovation, exploration, critical thinking and learning rules of argument using evidence, are essential skills that define the university classroom experience.<br />
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I consider myself a 'radical free-speecher' in that I don't believe that any speech should be stifled. (Okay, I agree that you shouldn't yell fire in a crowded room but...). As a black woman, I've been called naive, stupid, a race/gender/queer denier etc because I believe that regardless of how someone may feel or think about me, they have the right to say so in a public forum. I believe that if ideas related to justice, peace, love etc cannot prevail in the face of discrimination, hate or 'alternative truth', then what good are they?<br />
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My teaching load has included courses on race, ethnicity, class and gender. I've also taught courses on social policy. These courses inherently invite a range of opinions and experiences and ideas about what the world is, what it should be, and what it will become. Because students are usually afraid to 'offend', it is often a challenge to get students to be intellectually brave and to use their imagination to propose innovative or radical ideas, whether on the left or right.<br />
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When I was a graduate student, the idea of tenure was sold to me as a way to protect free speech in academia. The logic being that if one had a job for life then they would feel free to put forth controversial ideas without the fear of losing their livelihood. However, that is no longer true. Several professors at all levels have lost their jobs in the past few years because their ideas were 'offensive' or inaccurate. In 2015, Professor John McAdams <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/02/stripping-a-professor-of-tenure-over-a-blog-post/385280/" target="_blank">was stripped of tenure by Marquette University because of what he wrote in a blogpost</a>. In 2017, Lars Maischak, an adjunct professor in history at California State University in Fresno, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/07/after-anti-trump-tweets-fresno-state-removes-adjunct-professor-teaching-position" target="_blank">was removed from his teaching assignment because of a tweet</a> in which he declared 'Trump must hang'. Kevin Allred, an adjunct professor at Montclair State U. and Rutgers U. <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/02/montclair-state-removes-courses-adjunct-whose-tweet-became-controversial" target="_blank">had his course assignments repealed</a>. And in 2014, Professor Steven Salaita - a Palestinian American - <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-salaita-speaking-tour-met-1007-20141007-story.html" target="_blank">lost a job offer from the University of Illinois </a>because of tweets he made about the state of Israel. There are many more examples that can be found by simply doing a Google search of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=professors+who+have+lost+their+job+because+of+controversial+ideas&oq=professor&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j69i60l2j69i61j0.2597j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank">'professors who lost jobs because of controversial ideas'.</a><br />
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The response to this suffocation of 'controversial' ideas has led to the creation of several organizations that were formed to protect free speech in the ivory towers. These organizations include <a href="http://www.afaf.org.uk/" target="_blank">Academics for Academic Freedom</a> - a UK organization founded in 2006 that creates a list called '<a href="http://www.afaf.org.uk/free-speech-university-rankings-2017/" target="_blank">Free Speech University Rankings</a>', <a href="https://cascholars4academicfreedom.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">California Scholars for Academic Freedom</a>, and the <a href="https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/" target="_blank">Scholars at Risk Network</a>. It also includes the <a href="https://www.aaup.org/about-aaup" target="_blank">American Association of University Professors (AAUP)</a>, which was founded in 1915, and states that its primary goal is the protection of academic freedom.<br />
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<b>Snowflakes and Safe Spaces</b><br />
The notion of 'safe spaces' has evolved to the point where students demand to be 'warned' about ideas that may 'trigger' them. The backlash has been to call this generation 'snowflakes' - who are easily hurt and traumatized by anything that challenges their sense of self and identity. So widely has become the use of the term 'snowflake' that it has evolved from describing the 'hypersensitivity' of the millennial generation to having <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/28/snowflake-insult-disdain-young-people" target="_blank">The Guardian newspaper declare it, 'the defining insult of 2016'</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/safe_space" target="_blank">Dictionary definitions of a 'safe space' </a> generally agree that it is a place where '<i>a person or category of person can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm</i>'. Granted, noone wants to be in a classroom where people are mistreated, the notion that a university classroom will have non-offending speech is asking a lot of professors to be able to assess, monitor and silence that which may constitute 'emotional harm'.<br />
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<a href="https://www.aaup.org/report/trigger-warnings" target="_blank">Being 'triggered' </a>is at the heart of the definition of what it means to be a 'snowflake'. In the context of 'safe spaces' it is defined as an act that causes a '<i>negative emotional response</i>' such as panic, fear, flashbacks etc. As a social work professor, it would be practically impossible to teach classes that do not create a 'negative emotional reaction' given the nature of our work with marginalized, disadvantaged and populations traumatized by violence, abuse, neglect, illness, war etc. The expectation of a 'trigger warning' when writing or speaking about such topics would create an untenable classroom environment. In the <a href="https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/fall-2017-bugged/opening-new-chapter" target="_blank">Fall 2017 edition of California Magazine</a> - UC Berkeley's Alumni publication - Berkeley's incoming chancellor, Carol T. Christ suggested that, "Ultimately, the safe space is inside yourself and you have to build that kind of sturdiness for self-worth where you can hear hurtful things and feel assured in your own center that they're wrong". Acknowledging the complicated nature of the topic she suggests that it is one to be explored as a community to show that people can have respectful conversations even though they may disagree.<br />
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Interestingly, the campus reactions to the post-2016 presidential election revealed that academics can also be 'snowflakes' if their negative emotional response can be taken as evidence. Many campuses had faculty groups where people talked about feeling traumatized - basically 'triggered' - by the election and what it meant for the future of the country. A lot of time and effort was spent on how to make classrooms safe spaces for conservatives as students wrote private letters to deans and open letters to the public about feeling that conservative voices were unwanted on campus as a backlash to the election outcome.<br />
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<b>Diversity and the Future of Academic Freedom and Free Speech on Campus</b><br />
Ultimately, the heart of the issue is the willingness to listen to ideas that differ from one's own and be able to learn not only about another way of thinking but also to clarify one's own stance on an issue. The desire to live in an echo chamber where everyone agrees with you means there is no room for learning about difference. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-chilling-study-shows-how-hostile-college-students-are-toward-free-speech/2017/09/18/cbb1a234-9ca8-11e7-9083-fbfddf6804c2_story.html?utm_term=.741a2d1d8720&wpisrc=nl_popns&wpmm=1" target="_blank">A recent study by John Villasenor</a> - a UCLA professor and senior fellow at a Brookings Institution - on college students' perception of free speech on campus revealed a lack of knowledge about First Amendment rights (too many don't know that hate speech is protected) and an intolerance for voices that radically divert from their own.<br />
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It is ironic that often the very people - liberals and lefties - who push for diversity on campus have decided to stifle diversity of viewpoints with the premise that only their ideas warrant expression and opposing voices and opinions should not be heard. Yes, the world has been dominated with a particular perspective connected to whiteness and maleness and wealth and power, but dissent need not silence these voices in order for alternative ones to be heard. If there is no room on campus for divergent thought, extremes in ideology, critical thinking and intellectual exploration, then the notion that universities are a place for expanding one's mind will no longer exist.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo Credit: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/08/16/wired-notes-silicon-valley-companies-are-starting-to-doubt-concept-of-free-speech/</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-14257985558316644322016-11-28T01:51:00.002-08:002016-11-28T02:17:27.183-08:00Cuba and Castro: Liberation, Oppression and Socialist Ideals<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">It's been two years since I have written a post because I write when I have something I need to say and not to keep the blog gods happy. So today, I decided to comment on the death of Fidel Castro from a policy perspective. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Why Comment</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I am inspired to write on Cuba and Castro because as a young Jamaican girl on the island during the 1970's, Castro had a featuring role. In many ways he was the reason my parents left Jamaica. During the worldwide recession due to the oil crisis in the 1970's, Jamaica was led by Michael Manley - a friend to Castro who loved democracy but wanted the social gains of Cuba. Cuban doctors came to Jamaica. Cubans built schools including Jose Martí Technical High School in Spanish Town. Manley nationalized hotels and my family could afford a nice holiday at a hotel for the first time. Prior to that, tourism catered to whites from abroad, not the brown people of the island. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Manley also nationalized other industries and promoted education with a liberation theme and an Afrocentric focus. I learned about liberation movements all over the world from Angola to the Mau Maus and the Irish Republicans. I studied the kingdoms of Kush and Sumeria. I performed for Julius Nyrere on his state visit. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Of course, the USA was not happy about the 'encroachment' of Cuban ideals on their neighbor to the south and they reacted as they would to all socialist-leaning governments in the Caribbean and the Americas. (Though there were rumors of CIA-backed interventions, there was no confirmation from the USA nor was there denial). Violence broke out in the streets, states of emergency were declared and Bob Marley performed his peace concert. In search of loans for Jamaica, Manley was asked to pay Jamaica's firstborns in interest so he was happy to get help from Castro. Michael Manley told the nation that if they didn't like the new Jamaica they could take one of the five daily flights to Miami. Though I come from a family of lefties that include Jamaican politicians, my parents reacted to the political instability by leaving with the very few dollars with which we were allowed to leave (due to devaluation and a desperate need for US dollars). We didn't go to Miami like a couple of my mom's siblings, but late in December 1977, we ended up in Ottawa with one of my mom's sisters. We never returned to Jamaica to live as a family but my parents retired there soon after 9/11 in 2001.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Social Equality and The Protection of Rights</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I have always been a bit of a socialist. I like the idea of government owning key resources for the benefit of all. I like collectivism. I like the idea of providing free education and healthcare. I like the idea of equality. I like the idea of everyone having food in their bellies. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">But coming from an island (and family) of wanderers and big mouths that freely spew and are passionate about political debate, the concepts of freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and freedom of political choice are also near and dear to my heart. I hover between being agnostic and atheist but I also believe in the right to worship as one pleases.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">have yet to read any political, philosophical, theological, or moral proposition that would argue that the cost of health, education and food be the surrender of the right to speak, the right to move, the right to worship, and the right to choose a leader. (Being forced to listen to 5-hr speeches is a mere annoyance). What I love about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - which I consider the most significant and powerful policy statement ever written on the global stage - is that it doesn't force a choice between rights, nor are the rights conditional. Surrendering one for another is somewhat of a Solomonic choice.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Resistance Abroad But Not At Home</b></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Castro put to good use the cash, wheat, arms and technology from the USSR, but he also chose the path of narcissism and despotism for which they are also known. Being held hostage in paradise for social benefits is quite the dilemma. And benevolent dictators are dictators nonetheless. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">As the successful leader of a resistance movement, he supported resistance abroad - with soldiers and weapons backed with Soviet cash - and yet he squashed it at home. He ironically portrayed his oppression of Cubans as the cost of liberation, and a blameless consequence of being caught in the middle of the Cold War.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>My Experience of Cuba</b></span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">I've lived in two countries under leaders who considered him friend - Pierre Trudeau in Canada and Michael Manley in Jamaica, and I've lived in the USA for more than two decades. I also visited Cuba in 1991 (as a Canadian tourist with no restrictions) when tourism just opened up. (A really cheap spring break from McGill on a smelly Russian plane from Montreal). So I've seen Cuba and I've been exposed to very contrasting and polarized views of Castro and what he and the people of Cuba represent. My experience - as one half of an interracial couple when I visited - was that racial equality wasn't what it was portrayed to be. People found an interracial couple so novel that we were fawned over, and it clearly wasn't something they saw very often. In our 10-day stay we didn't see any others. We also saw that there was a segregation related to roles in society. People seemed to be equally poor, but healthy, literate and fed. (It was interesting to note that at that time you could only use USD but all the beer was Canadian). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Military presence was strong and though we could wander without 'supervision' and did so throughout Havana, Playa del Este, where we stayed, and along the northern coast, there were places we did not venture because the AK-carrying armed forces made us think twice. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">My then bf was befriended by a member of the national baseball team he met while out for a run and they hit and caught balls on a nearby field. One night we had an interesting - and really scary - talk with him about his desire to defect to Canada, when a plane the team was to take to the Netherlands landed in Canada for refuelling. (That conversation had me sooo paranoid and it took a while for me to trust my Spanish that it was really what he was saying). He gave my boyfriend a parting gift of a baseball jersey signed by the national team. </span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><b>Rebels and Freedom Fighters, Despots and Dictators</b></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">So though I am somewhat of a pinko, the glasses through which I view Fidel and Cuba are far from rose-colored. I have a love for rebels and freedom fighters but I have disdain for dictators and despots. Thus despite acknowledging that the social goals of literacy, public health and equality that Castro achieved in Cuba are a shining example of what is possible when states commit to them, I cannot deny that the accompanying suppression of rights did not seem to be a necessary requirement and tainted what could have been a real socialist ideal. </span>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-45565832216017578472014-09-18T21:06:00.000-07:002014-09-26T20:12:13.259-07:00What the Wealthy Have to Offer to the Study of PovertyI have in a previous post (October 27, 2012) expressed my intellectual, personal and ethical discomfort with the extensive 'subjectification' (more trendily termed "participation') of poor people in research with the lofty and well-intentioned goal of 'understanding the poor' or 'understanding poverty' in order to alleviate the plight of the exploited and excluded. It resonated with many people and was read by multiples of the usual number of readers of my posts. However, I offered no alternative, so here goes.<br />
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Let's interview the wealthy. Yes. Let's find them in their communities, offer them up something they desire, like to shake the hand of Bill or Hil or an invite to Davos (if they aren't already shuttling in on their private jet), and ask them pages of questions about why they do the things they do and ask them how they could do them with less harm to the world.<br />
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<b>Community-Based 'Solutions'</b><br />
Poverty is not 'created' by the poor. And though the poor shall be with us always as the Bible says somewhere within its covers, the degree to which that poverty is experienced is easily controlled by social policies that have nothing to do with an interview with a divorced single mother of 2. Just like the rich, the poor want good childcare, good schools, a decent primary care health service that is accessible and suits their needs, and good infrastructure like roads and a pipe that brings clean water inside their doors. These are good places to start. Micro-planning at the community level with some really cool 'innovative' program that is designed with 'local participation' by all 'stakeholders' is a nice hippy dippy way to feel good while not really changing the lives of the billions that hover near, and wallow in, destitution.<br />
<br />
In full disclosure, I too have created and supported such local, community-based initiatives (Maama Omwaana in Njeru, Uganda) at the invite of a Ugandan community to which my child belongs. I struggled with my role as 'expert' that seemed to have been granted as much for my learned ways as for my foreign status. I did not want to practice what Bill Easterly described in the title of his book as 'The Tyranny of Experts' and tried hard to make myself increasingly unnecessary until I was. That the local initiative grew to national action, with the support of the White Ribbon Alliance, has provided some salve to my wounded and conflicted professional identity as community organizer and public health professional.<br />
<br />
<b>Social Policy and Poverty</b><br />
The solutions that brought the US and the EU to 'manageable' levels of poverty (and the sarcasm is dripping from this statement as the degree of poverty in the USA and UK is far from acceptable) are a good start: government-funded healthcare, investment in a good education system that starts early and ends with a useful qualification, other necessary infrastructure such as roads, individual and industrial waste management and clean water, and a decent wage. I would argue that the money spent on a dysentery vaccine could go much farther if united with the various initiatives to get people clean water, which would make a dysentery vaccine null and void.<br />
<br />
<b>Capitalism as 'Solution'</b><br />
It is a sad, sad story that clean water is widely, readily and profitably provided by Coca Cola, whether in fancy flavors of Fanta, or in containers with the classic red/black product logo known in every cranny of the universe, or the 'purified' H2O in their everywhere-present Dasani bottles. Why Coke has a chokehold on clean water is a much better question than asking some poor woman about where she wants her well or giving her some 'innovative yet simple' gadget to filter the crap she and her daughter(s) must go miles to fetch. (And of course there is the microloan to make it a microenterprise for her to sell said gadget to her friends). It is also a sad commentary on our own efforts at managing waste that we dump such waste unto those who can't afford to say no, whether at home or abroad.<br />
<br />
The emphasis on individual or local community based solutions to national and international problems created by the same rich people who want to shine their ugly metal by donating some of the funds they earned through rampant capitalism and tax-dodging (through off-shore shenanigans and eponymous grant-giving enterprises), will always be broadly ineffective.<br />
<br />
<b>Welfare States</b><br />
I am not suggesting that every country can be the idealized model of Sweden and the rest of the fabulous nanny states that are Scandinavia. However, basic needs can be met without serving pre-schoolers breakfast on white tablecloths with proper cutlery. Denmark may be forward-thinking and smartly self-serving in providing not only free tertiary education, but a stipend to make sure one can eat and house themselves without graduating into poverty (more poverty than the guy in the hut because his negative cash flow is likely to be much lower than the newly minted college grad of the UK or USA), but they need not be alone. The price of a college education need not equal the downpayment on, or full price of, a house (depending on whether it's Birmingham or San Francisco).<br />
<br />
<b>Human Rights and Social Welfare</b><br />
There is a widely-translated document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which Eleanor Roosevelt led the charging in writing that was adopted by many countries in Paris in 1948, and many more countries since then. If instead of asking poor people questions about their lives (they're happy even though they're poor!), and offering them up all manner of 'innovative' 'solutions;(because I suppose what worked for us wont work for them), we started by providing people with the most basic of rights to which the UDHR said that we all deserve, then the question of poverty would be less pressing. If countries would 'clawback' that which has been ravished from the bowels of Angola, Nigeria, the 'stans', the Congo etc ad nauseum, and provide these basic rights to decent housing, food, hygiene, education and a living wage, then we could stop poking and prodding poor people as if they are a species newly discovered.<br />
<br />
The Elizabethan Poor Laws of 1601 began an approach towards poor people that in places like the United States has not far evolved. That which the Otto von Bismarck initiated in Germany in the late nineteenth century is still not provided in the USA in the early 21st century. It doesn't take a genius or some Ivy-housed researcher to understand the basic starting point on which all human endeavour should be founded. Neither does it take randomized controlled trials to know that clean water and a way to get rid of human waste would solve a whole lot of global health problems.<br />
<br />
<b>Researching the Rich</b><br />
The issue is who do we think have the answers. And I propose and would strongly argue that the people who create and maintain systems of inequality, exploitation, discrimination and exclusion are the people who have the answers to the problems created by these conditions. And that IS NOT poor people.<br />
<br />
Instead, let's ask the Forbes 400 how they feel about their wealth. Or perhaps some of the 1,645 billionaires that Forbes* says controls $6.4 trillion dollars could spend an hour or two on a questionnaire. Let's ask them how they feel when they pay wages they know remove the dignity of life from their workers. Or to have pulled the lever of internet IPOs and won the Silicon Valley jackpot. Give them the tools to learn how to share that which they took, by luck or design, and how to learn to take less and give more. (Maybe all they need is a drive through neighborhoods they only know from the nightly news or the front page headlines of the New York Times, The Guardian, Times of India etc).<br />
<br />
If the people who settle themselves so wonderfully in the money/power fest that is Davos spent just a few minutes in conversation about collaborating on bringing pipes to South Asia the way they find a way to get minerals out of the Congo, perhaps all that poking at poor people will abate and we can live in a more just and humane world. Instead we are stuck with their eponymous foundations that live on forever as their glorious legacy while their offspring drown in their wealth for generations.<br />
<br />
But I suppose since that is about as likely to happen as ice in the Caribbean, then we can all fall back on our prestigious documents that prove our intellect as we dither about on planes, trains and fancy automobiles changing the world one village and one family at a time. If we settle for that then we deserve broken backs as we fall.<br />
<br />
*Kerry A. Dolan & Luisa Kroll, Forbes, <b>Inside the 2014 Forbes Billionaires List: Facts and Figures</b>. Retrieved on September 18, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2014/03/03/inside-the-2014-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-240024964996844112014-08-04T13:26:00.001-07:002014-08-04T13:26:43.043-07:00New Name, Same Game: The Africa Summit and "Global Resilience"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdf-e7nPqVjLPtMu3tQM_4rpC_kNq8__RUZmbo5JtrCfRSWNe0FHOvWuY3uSr60mm3xZj-I9ZOzud1IjwtY2I52YZ67GHE97vM_YODvtmwopb9EYYqu1YTs5a3-PoCrvePH5iECt9qykT6/s1600/african_leader_summit_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdf-e7nPqVjLPtMu3tQM_4rpC_kNq8__RUZmbo5JtrCfRSWNe0FHOvWuY3uSr60mm3xZj-I9ZOzud1IjwtY2I52YZ67GHE97vM_YODvtmwopb9EYYqu1YTs5a3-PoCrvePH5iECt9qykT6/s1600/african_leader_summit_logo.png" height="122" width="320" /></a></div>
I am not a fan of 'summits'. And this first ever African Leaders Summit is not changing my mind any. That it's the first time anyone considered Africa worthy of this kind of attention is telling but I will give someone credit for FINALLY acknowledging that Africa is a market ripe for umm.... exploitation(?). Though it isn't a far leap to think that the Chinese invasion into Africa has 'nudged' the USAID machine into action. Like Dambisa Moyo, I question if another 'aid program' is the solution but I leave those arguments for her and Bill Easterly to do it justice.<br />
<br />
Summits get folks all fired up then they go away and come back a couple years later and have a another go at it, reporting on what happened and what didn't and what they are going to do next time (which is usually more of the same with a new name and another big splash out of media attention) and everyone travels far far away in business class and say what they could skype in and reports get written and written and written and .... yeah.... anyway....<br />
<br />
There's a new program for Africa and the Global South called Global Resilience with #globalresilience as it's Twitter hashtag and @grp_resilience as it's Twitter handle. (The marketing of aid initiatives is a whole marketing subspecialty and the 'cuter' the names the more annoyed they make me). As usual these projects are run by the aid gods (with local partners... uh huh....) that uses development economics language that may sound cool to them but reads like a mixed pile of horse, goat, cow and pig poo in 100%humidity at 100 degrees Fahrenheit to everyone else. Especially if you're one of the local partners. It's all newname/samegame.<br />
<br />
Quotes below are from the <a href="http://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/aug-4-2014-usaid-and-rockefeller-foundation-announce-100-million-global-resilience-partnership" target="_blank">USAID press release</a> announcing the new USD$100million collaboration between USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation and 'local partners':<br />
<br />
"the Resilience Partnership will enable communities to prepare for, withstand, and emerge stronger from shocks and stresses in a way that reduces chronic vulnerability and keeps them on the pathway to development." HUH??<br />
<br />
"“The Global Resilience Partnership will help communities and individuals capitalize on the resilience dividend—the difference between where a region is after a shock where resilience investments have been made, compared to where the region would be if it hadn’t invested in resilience,” said Rockefeller Foundation President Dr. Judith Rodin." WHAAA??<br />
<br />
And of course there are 'new' proposals with a new name:<br />
<br />
"An essential feature of the Global Resilience Partnership will be a competitive Resilience Challenge—a call out to the best and brightest to present bold and innovative solutions to the toughest challenges facing the three regions. The Challenge will launch later this year and be open to non-profits, academic institutions, and the private sector, with a focus on local and regional players.".<br />
<br />
As if that isn't what they are always saying they are doing.... Saying it again and again - competitive, innovation, local - is just [expletive] annoying. Same crap, different package. (Actually the package seems the same too: a short-term grant to do stuff that requires long-term evaluation).<br />
<br />
I am hoping for talk of family planning because one cannot talk about desertification and other impacts of climate change without considering the numbers of people that vulnerable geographic areas must support. But I wont get my hopes up because economists don't speak much of family planning but a growing family income doesn't have much impact if the family is also growing.<br />
<br />
My favorite line: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.850000381469727px;">The need for the Resilience Partnership is clear: Over the last 30 years, total development losses as a result of recurring crises represent $3.8 trillion worldwide." Which is basically an admission that all the previous 'challenges' taken on by the 'best and brightest' to create 'bold and innovative solutions' have not worked. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.850000381469727px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.850000381469727px;">I wonder what makes them think it will work this time. </span><br />
<br />policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-52169409802706978962014-08-02T10:39:00.001-07:002016-11-29T13:26:01.164-08:00The 'Good' Tourist: 6 best practices for visiting the world<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkA1VUgapvl8IHbPfmp5e5V0ZLnDTeY-kJNxSoSFc-HJ9MO-zJWTLmI283rrxQz1_ObYclN7wRdxYV36X1eD1hPPhAFufbflat83SYIwd7Xj3yTKStNGVaRsd_Mee2wMQ1lT3fz0irmNFV/s1600/pic_travel_and_tourism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkA1VUgapvl8IHbPfmp5e5V0ZLnDTeY-kJNxSoSFc-HJ9MO-zJWTLmI283rrxQz1_ObYclN7wRdxYV36X1eD1hPPhAFufbflat83SYIwd7Xj3yTKStNGVaRsd_Mee2wMQ1lT3fz0irmNFV/s1600/pic_travel_and_tourism.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Tourism and Development</b><br />
Many developing countries in the world (and communities in
the USA) depend on tourism as their primary source of economic income and
development, but the good intentions of tourists can have a negative impact on
a community and leave them at the will of far-away-owned hotels, cruise-ship
companies and tour organizers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Happy Holidays</b><br />
So as you plan your holidays you may want to consider the
country/people you are going to visit and the impact you will have on them and
their communities. If you don't want to contribute to the degradation of the
environment but want to promote social and economic justice, here are a few
ways to making your sustainable contribution to local economies that reduces
global inequalities and builds personal, community, and organizational
capacity.<br />
<b style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></b>
<br />
<ol>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">AVOID
CRUISE SHPS</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. (If you're going to Alaska, you are forgiven as there's no
other way to see much of it). Cruise ships are the biggest tourism offenders in
destroying our natural resources - the very same ones you go to visit on their
ships. The volume of waste they produce (and dispense of in the water!) is
phenomenal and in general, their impact on host sites skews the economics in
their favor (i.e they discourage guests from buying from locals and encourage
them to buy from cruise ship approved vendors). Furthermore, they significantly
change the local culture when they disembark thousands of people in one place
at the same time for no more than a few hours.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>A</b></span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">VOID ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. These places have no connection to their locales, very
little economic impact on local communities and usually puts the local economy
at risk by sucking in all the money (and sending it back to their home country
or tax haven) and human resources that otherwise would be spent on building
local capacity with much less infusion of capital.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">GO LOCAL</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.
Buy your goods and services (hotel, food, travel & souvenirs) from locally
owned businesses. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Scared of eating
local? Buy/Eat it hot and fresh. Spread the wealth. Build the capacity of
people and communities worldwide with your travel budget, no matter how small
it is. You will contribute to the growth of sustainable economies instead of
the growth of surreptitious companies.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">MAKE A
FRIEND</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. Get to know at least one local person that is not serving you or are paid to be nice. Knowing people gives you a great inside
perspective to the country and culture and also makes the world smaller in
meaningful ways.</span></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">BE A
GREAT GUEST</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">. You are a guest of the country so act in the way you would
want a guest in your country to behave.</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><b>LEARN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE</b></span><span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">. Learning even a few words of the local language shows goodwill. If you learn a few basic words/sentences ('travel fluency'), you will find your experience to be less stressful and more enjoyable. You will find it goes a long way in going local, being a great guest and making new friends. </span></li>
</ol>
</div>
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<!--StartFragment--><!--EndFragment-->policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-62544057538488638452014-07-27T04:47:00.000-07:002014-07-27T05:15:31.781-07:00Peace-Building in the Middle East: Joining hands across borders, religions and institutions<div>
This is a story of peace-building amidst all the stories of war-mongering. <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/ican/about" target="_blank">The McGill Middle East Program </a>(now known as the International Community Action Network - ICAN) is based on the ground even as rockets fly through the air. It is a story of hope, faith, trust, hard work, and cross-border, inter-faith and institutional collaboration. It is a story of people much more than a story of politics.</div>
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Amidst the fray of Middle East dramas (btw the USA bombs kids too - they are called 'collateral damage'), it is good to remember that that there are many people in Palestine and Israel wanting and fighting for peace. People who believe in peace despite all the reasons that make it seem impossible. People who have risked life, limb, sanity, health etc to create community-based peace solutions (that also involves politicians at high levels). </div>
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In the interest of disclosure I acknowledge that this blogpost is also committed to giving props to my mentor, friend and best teacher ever -- <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/socialwork/faculty/torczyner" target="_blank">Jim Torczyner</a> of <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/socialwork/" target="_blank">McGill School of Social Work</a> -- an energetic, tenacious rebel of a (Jewish and Israeli) man, who has always believed in peace solutions and has applied his incredible gifts of gab, humour, intellect and tenacity to creating peace strategies. He inspired who I am as 'intellectual', practitioner, teacher and activist as he so strongly believes in, and acts on, the belief that ordinary people are at the heart of social change and that all humans deserve basic human rights. As an academic he is brilliant and as a 'doer' he is amazing! There are many more people like him (well, not quite... as he's quite the character:-) who believe in peace and are fighting for it but it is difficult to see and hear them among the cacaphony and visual horror of Middle East geopolitics. </div>
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This is also the story of a peace project rooted in human rights, collaboration, community mobilization, political strategy, practical 'intellectualism' and a whole lot of trust and faith. It is a story of bridge-building across cultures, faith systems, institutions, political ideologies and national borders.</div>
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"“The argument is: Look, there will be an earthquake,” Torczyner explains. “It’s not going to be a Jewish, Muslim or Christian earthquake. It’s going to kill people.” He argues that to save lives, victims must be taken to the closest medical facility, even if it’s across the border. Protocols for such cooperation are being developed now. Thanks to the efforts of the MMEP, 18 Jordanian students are now studying emergency medicine next door in Israel—instead of Australia, as they needed to do in the past."<br />
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As an example of 'practical education' and education for social change, the project builds networks of like-minded people to change people's lives. It directly links classroom and community to make education useful and relevant to the people whose lives are the focus of study.</div>
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"Each MMEP centre is founded and directed by a McGill graduate, and that initial connection blooms into even more connections on the ground. “It connects universities with practice and practice with real people,” Torczyner says." </div>
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Despite the never-ending challenges that are presented by conflict, mistrust, history, politics, stereotypes and discrimination, Torczyner is focused on the future of the lives touched by the project, and war makes things more difficult but he plans to keep going.<br />
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"Torczyner doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. He’s planning 20 new centres and aims to enlist young volunteers in the next five years as part of a cross-border social movement: “Imagine having 10,000 Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian social entrepreneurs in these neighbourhoods, pushing the same message and learning from each other!”"</div>
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<a href="http://publications.mcgill.ca/headway/magazine/and-social-justice-for-all/" target="_blank">Click here for the complete story of The McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building</a></div>
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<a href="http://aoc.mcgill.ca/give/ways-give/seeds-change/projects/middle-east-program" target="_blank">To give to the program, click here.</a></div>
policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-68658875879975454562014-04-11T12:34:00.001-07:002014-04-11T12:35:19.766-07:00Why Are We Racist?I appear on this week's episode (Friday, April 11, 2014) of the BBC World Service show, 'The Why Factor' as they explore the whys and wherefores of racism. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/whyfactor" target="_blank">Listen to the podcast by clicking here.</a>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-33011308833360846172014-01-30T14:43:00.002-08:002014-01-30T21:17:51.494-08:00Perkins ParanoiaWhen Tom Perkins, founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers wrote an<a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286" target="_blank"> inflammatory letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal </a>on January 24th, I wonder if he knew how explosive his letter would be. He should have. We all know that Holocaust references are only made to create a firestorm. Which makes one question the editorial choices of the Wall Street Journal which most likely gets hundreds of letters a day on much more pressing issues than the brief tasteless burst of paranoia that was Mr Perkins letter.<br />
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What Mr Perkins feels in terms of hostility towards the ultra rich in America is undeniable. People want to find a target for their economic frustrations and so they find a group to pick on. That is never a good idea as Mr Perkins so inappropriately acknowledged in his short missive. Whether it is immigrants, the wealthy or bankers, making any group the target of hate does not reflect the complexity of the problem nor does it solve it or make us feel better.<br />
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However, be sure that whatever frustration Mr Perkins may feel it does not come close to the hungry bellies, inadequate housing or unstable employment that is the fate of the poor in the USA. If you are poor in the USA it is easy to feel that someone thinks you are not worthy of the basics of human life: food, shelter, a good education for their children etc.<br />
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That said, there need not be a contest for who has it hardest in the USA because noone, not even Mr Perkins himself, could possibly feel that his luxurious life is one to be pitied. His poor little rich boy pity party was quite unbecoming a man of his stature.<br />
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What is to be pitied are the policies that permit Mr Perkins his fabulous wealth while depriving others of basic sustenance. Hating rich people gets us nowhere. Instead, their should be vitriol for food stamp policies. For tax policies that give poor kids poor schools and allow the wealthy to maintain their wealth through tax loopholes and low tax rates (relative to other countries in the OECD). Even the generous who set up foundations are coddled by the taxman for their philanthropy, which is needed to plug the holes left gaping by a social safety net with holes so big it is saving noone.<br />
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I am sure that Mr. Perkins has been duly chastised by his Jewish friends for his unfortunate use of metaphor. Perhaps if Mr Perkins knew some not so wealthy people he may not feel so persecuted. In the meantime he could take his formidable legal skills and work with other rich folks like Bill Gates Sr. to reform taxes to make this country more economically equal, and thus a less scary place for Mr. Perkins.policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-14082406329877575572013-12-17T02:16:00.000-08:002013-12-17T02:16:32.604-08:00A Simple Argument for A (Barely) Living WageI couldn't say this any better so I will repost it.<br />
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It's Not OK That Your Employees Can't Afford To Eat<br />
by Peter Cappelli<br />
Professor of Management at the Wharton School<br />
Harvard Business Review Blogs Facebook Page<br />
December 16, 2013<br />
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http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/scrooge-is-alive-and-well/policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-36191439130450481022013-11-28T08:14:00.002-08:002014-11-01T16:28:37.755-07:00A Feminist's Thanks GivingToday is a day when I want to give thanks for some human rights I deserve and some things I am lucky to have as a woman.<br />
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I am grateful that my parents were happy I was born a girl.<br />
I am happy that my parents valued my education, and for all the education I have achieved and that I can use my education to take any job I choose.<br />
For tampons and feminine sanitation, I feel lucky.<br />
For contraception and the right to abortion, I thank the women who came before me.<br />
For being free to marry who they choose when they choose, I am happy for my sisters who thinks this the right choice for them.<br />
I wish my 17 year old daughter would appreciate her good fortune at having the right to drive.<br />
I am thankful for a job that allows me to buy as much or as little clothes that I can wear as I please.<br />
I am grateful for laws that protect me from rape and violence (the effectiveness of such are left for another day)<br />
It is liberating to be able to have sex outside of marriage.<br />
I am happy to not need a male escort to appear in public.<br />
Without wanting to practice any religion, I am happy that I can change my mind at any time.<br />
Lastly I am grateful for being able to write this piece without impunity or censorship.policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-56415343080038311222013-11-20T00:52:00.000-08:002014-03-02T16:16:17.811-08:00Good Intentions and Questionable Outcomes: The 'Voluntourist'To be clear, I honor the good intentions of people who take trips around the southern (and sometimes Eastern) part of our world trying to alleviate the pain and suffering that can be found there. However, good intentions is not enough and sometimes it gets in the way of doing good and being useful.<br />
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As someone who made 5 trips to Belize with (mostly) white girls in tow to spend 2 weeks (for college credit) doing sustainable service in collaboration with local non-profits, I have spent a lot of time questioning my intentions and challenging the intentions of my students. I still find it hard to reconcile some of the racial, economic and geopolitical implications of the work that I did there, and also on another project on which I worked in Uganda.<br />
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So for those considering taking a trip abroad to do service, perhaps you may find these two pieces relevant. Perhaps you may question the implications of your good intentions. Perhaps you may find ways to make your trip more useful or perhaps you may find that there are other ways to contribute. These pieces are here for you to ask questions of yourself; questions for which you may not find answers, at least not easy ones.<br />
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A repost of a Guardian piece titled, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/13/beware-voluntourists-doing-good" target="_blank">'Beware the 'voluntourist' doing good"</a>, written by Ossub Mohamud, published on February 20, 2013 in Guardian Africa Network.<br />
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Since first posting this post in November, I found another blogpost which is germane to this topic. It's called, <a href="https://medium.com/race-class/b84d4011d17e" target="_blank">"The Problem with Little White Girls (and boys). Why I stopped being a voluntourist"</a><br />
<br />policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-85761836384728602022013-11-06T14:03:00.000-08:002013-11-07T14:51:08.702-08:00'Partnership' in the Context of Global HealthThe word 'partnership' is trending in global health and has been for quite some time. Foundations, NGO's, and universities in the global north and south 'partner' with local communities in Asia and Africa to implement research or programs that will move forward knowledge about what works and what doesn't.<br />
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But what does 'partnership' mean in the context of huge power imbalances that come with differences in human, knowledge, institutional and fiscal resources? How do hierarchal institutions that assign power based on title, rank, alma mater, publications, departments etc share power with people who, if they had any, would preferably not be 'partnering' with people they do not know, who do not know them and who view them as in need of assistance?<br />
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With good intentions, professors, doctors, nurses, social workers and various sundry 'helping' professions write proposals that say they will listen to the local folks and link with the existing power structures although most do not integrate with public heath providers on the ground but choose to provide parallel services because of distrust of local systems.<br />
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But evidence-based practice is also trending in global health which means that helpers must implement what has been shown to work, regardless of the fact that the effective program was proven such in another country in another language or with another ethnic group. So what does partnership mean if one already arrives in-country with plans and cash? How many organizations involve communities in the writing of proposals for programs that will impact their lives?<br />
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And what of the products of these partnerships? The grants, the accolades, the publications, the promotions? How do local people get their share.<br />
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Granted, there are increased efforts to bring local voices to the mostly useless meetings where unenforceable documents get written and unachievable goals get set. And this is a good thing when the practice has been to sit on stage and tell the story of that mother, that child, that grandmother that foreign expert met in whatever country that moved them, changed their life or is evidence of the need for their program. Those stories get old when told 'on behalf of' instead of in-person. And after a while, one wonders why we need such stories at all. Is it not enough that said community is resource poor? Would we not expect sad stories of non-existent health services that caused death, injury or disability?<br />
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So what does partnership mean?<br />
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Partnership means equality in the relationship, and given the lack of respect for local knowledge and local intellectual resources, and the mismatch of status and money, partnership has a hollow sound when said in the context of global health. Partnership requires humility. It requires transfer of power. It requires acknowledgment of the legitimacy of existing structures.<br />
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Partnership requires that we (those who go to help) accept and acknowledge that we are pretty clueless about if it will work and with who and how. We all can't go around the world doing randomized controlled trials in each community to 'prove' what will work. But starting out by asking for permission, for guidance, for leadership with the communities we hope to change, is a start.<br />
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After reading this post, Dr. Joerg Maas, head of DSW in Germany (who is a friend) said the following, "Not sure I agree fully with the article - equality is not a prerequisite for partnership - isn't it more complimentarity and playing roles organizations can play best given their experience which matters?"<br />
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In response to his question, I believe that equality is about power and not necessarily about having the same skill set. Complimentarity is ideal but one partner is receiving and one is giving and that is often the key fact that drives this notion. And because the roles are somewhat determined by who is picking the partner, the same roles tend to get played by the same players.<br />
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One thing to note is that partnerships are often based on serendipity with regard to people connecting with each other, but also quite often academics and NGOs choose their locations and thus choose their partners by going south. It is rare that communities from the south come seeking a particular partner.<br />
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As the phrase goes... he who pays the piper calls the tune.policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-47554713949244964712013-09-25T16:54:00.000-07:002013-09-25T17:10:13.536-07:00Exploring the poverty line and poverty guidelines: definitions, impact, historyHow do we define poverty?<br />
Who is poor?<br />
What does poor mean when you live in New York City or Birmingham, Alabama?<br />
Survive or thrive or well-being?.<br />
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For a measure on which so many of our social safety net depends, we calculate it in such an anachronistic way and our floor is so low that although more than 40 million Americans are considered poor, so many more millions are caught in-between destitution (below the poverty line) and borderline survival, that the measure clearly needs updating so that people can get the help they need.<br />
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Click on the links below to explore how the poverty line was created, how it is evolving, the impact it has on the lives of poor people, and what the future is.<br />
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/20/224511346/episode-487-the-trouble-with-the-poverty-line" target="_blank">NPR discusses the relevance/impact of the poverty line</a><br />
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<a href="http://provokingpolicy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/npr-planet-money-trouble-with-poverty.html" target="_blank">How the Census measures poverty</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/methods/definitions.html" target="_blank">The nomenclature of poverty</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.census.gov/hhes/povmeas/publications/orshansky.html" target="_blank">The development of the Orshansky Poverty Thresholds and their subsequent history as the official U.S. poverty measure</a><br />
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<a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml" target="_blank">2012 Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines</a><br />
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Fight for a higher floor for poverty. Write your congressman and say you want poverty guidelines and a poverty line that reflects the world of 2013 when housing is our biggest cost, not food.<br />
<br />policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-38551500288054966962013-08-08T19:20:00.003-07:002013-08-08T19:29:57.786-07:00Opting in or Opting Out. Social Policies and the Childbearing and Childrearing Choices of Smart WomenIn the last two days, there have been two highly controversial and widely read articles that have explored the choices that women are forced to make about having a career and having children.<br />
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In an article in the Guardian by Sadhbh Walshe titled, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/07/smart-women-not-having-kids" target="_blank">"Should we care that smart women aren't having kids"</a>, women who have achieved academically and in their careers are having low birthrates. Duh!<br />
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This is based on some new research that is rather controversial. According to Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist from London School of Economics "maternal urges drop by 25% with every extra 15 IQ points". He discusses his findings in his new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Intelligence-Paradox-Intelligent-Choice/dp/0470586958" target="_blank">The Intelligence Paradox</a>. I am not sure why Kanazawa thinks it is a paradox because the social policies in place for women with children do not provide an incentive for making this choice.<br />
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On the other hand, the New York Times' Judith Warner wrote an article titled, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/magazine/the-opt-out-generation-wants-back-in.html?pagewanted=all" target="_blank">"The Opt-Out generation wants back in"</a> in which she details the trials and successes of women who chose to have children and decided to leave successful careers and stay home to raise them. Mostly there are trials and very few successes. It turns out that women who are choosing not to have children are making a decision which current social policy supports through its neglect of families.<br />
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So what are the social policy requirements that may change women's decisions to have children and when they have children, have the freedom to stay home and return to careers??<br />
<ol>
<li>Fully covered maternity care so that co-pays and lack of insurance does not present a cost barrier to giving birth. Being in debt from having a baby just when you need the money is not conducive to choosing to give birth.</li>
<li>Paid maternity leave. As one of the last countries on earth that does not provide a federally mandated paid leave after pregnancy, (California and New Jersey excepted), the USA provides a hostile environment for women who want to have children and return to work. It also provides a hostile environment for children who are often weaned because many workplaces are not conducive to pumping. All Vault 100 law firms and Fortune 100 companies have paid maternity (and often paternity) leave because they know it's good for recruiting and retaining the best talent, which makes their companies competitive and saves them money.</li>
<li>Child benefit that is paid to the parent who is not in the workforce. This would provide a source of income support that is not directly tied to the breadwinner and would reduce the impact that income dependency has on a relationship.</li>
<li>Subsidized high-quality childcare for everyone. For many poor women, staying home is the better economic choice and for middle class women, the economic incentive to work is so small that they are often doing it for reasons of identity, accomplishment and a more egalitarian relationship with their spouse. </li>
<li>A school day that lines up with the workday so that after-school programs are not required (they are very costly and inconvenient) and students could learn more in a longer school day.</li>
<li>Social security benefits that give women credit for staying home to care for children. If it costs a woman to have someone else care for their children then their work as a mother clearly has economic value. How we calculate that value is another issue but women should not be fiscally penalized in their old age for raising their children.</li>
<li>Lastly, what cannot be legislated are the antiquated and deeply ingrained value systems that infiltrate even the most evolved relationships once a 'traditional' relationship is created based on woman out of the paid workforce and husband the only breadwinner. The challenge is that once a woman knows the power and freedom of earning her own way, it is hard to depend on her spouse for money. And once that woman is unemployed, men's expectations of her change.</li>
</ol>
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<br />policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-29092073645058583472013-07-27T15:55:00.002-07:002013-07-28T17:49:00.615-07:00The Charitable-Industrial Complex - A reviewThis opinion piece by Warren Buffet's son Peter Buffet is a game-changer in the world of philanthropy not because of what is said but for who is saying it and where and what the implications are for his foundation and others.<br />
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It's good to see the wealthy, powerful, and charitable own up to their shortcomings, their savior complexes and their ignorance. Of particular significance if the 'conscience laundering' (his term) and the inappropriate use of certain business principles in the growing industry that is philanthropy.<br />
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For those of us who are part of the implementation of these philanthropic endeavors who have struggled with the challenges of changing priorities, trendy strategies and what often seems like the whims and fancies of well-meaning (and guilty-feeling) wealthy donors, this op/ed (his first, hopefully of more) makes us feel heard. That finally, someone gets what we have been saying, writing and even whining about all these years; that just because you have money and hired some bright and eager, Harvard-minted consultant does not mean you have THE answer to the world's problems.<br />
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As Mr. Buffet admits, people are solving problems with their right hands that others (and in my view sometimes themselves) help create with their left. The same tax laws that benefits the wealthy and encourage the creation of foundations are the same tax laws which reduce the amount of money that the federal government has to spend on the same social problems that these philanthropist want to address.<br />
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I am not against wealth. I am not against capitalism. But there is something perverse about how wealth is created and preserved in the USA. Even Peter Buffet's own launch into philanthropy (his dad Warren Buffet set up foundations for his children) reflects the self-serving gifting of the wealthy who obviously think they can do a better job than government or anyone else. Each non-profit being based on a great idea competing with other non-profits for funding of the next attempt to solving 'the problems of poverty' often maintained (through union-busting, foreign outsourcing etc) by the same corporations which fund these foundations.<br />
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So it really is a relief, surprise and a bit of a validation to read this piece by Peter Buffet.<br />
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Thank you Peter Buffet for saying what needed to be said by someone with the money and power to make a difference in how philanthropy operates in the USA and the world. You have opened the door to new ways of thinking by saying you are willing to listen.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/opinion/the-charitable-industrial-complex.html?_r=0" target="_blank">The Charitable-Industrial Complex by Peter Buffet, New York Times, July 25, 2013, p. A19</a><br />
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<br />policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-62718773662772041762013-07-26T16:59:00.003-07:002013-07-27T16:06:11.146-07:00Dear Barack Obama, What About the Poor?I could write a long list of statistics about poor people in the USA but at the end of it all, you will know what you already know: being poor in America is a hard row to hoe. What with the cutbacks in food stamps, subsidized childcare and a stubborn unemployment rate, being poor means to do without and to struggle to get what you have and fight to get what help is offered.<br />
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And yet.... it is not the poor that <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/07/24/4365030/obama-urges-renewed-focus-on-economy.html" target="_blank">President Obama is worried about as he does his stump(?) speech</a> on his economic plan for America. It's the middle class. It's the people who may have to tighten their belts but their kids will go to college. They have health insurance (or soon will be forced to under Obamacare) and tend to live in the suburbs unless they are flush enough to live the more expensive life of the urbanite. It seems the poor have nothing to contribute to economic growth. <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html" target="_blank">Our Gini index </a>could put us on par close to Jamaica and Cameroon and behind Uganda in terms of income inequality, which data in several social sciences link to quality of life.<br />
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So as a social worker, public health professional, professor and mental health activist, I would like to ask our president, "What about the poor?" What do they get from Congress? Where do they fit in your economic plan for America's future?<br />
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Mr President, it was the middle class who 'occupied' America fighting against the inequality that keeps growing because it seems that most politicians in this country do not care about the poor, even when they are not running for election.... like you.<br />
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Mr President, you have already admitted that Congress is going to fight you on whatever economic strategies you put forth to help the middle class so since they are already middle class and it is the poor that is being left behind, why not just go for it and fight for the poor the way some Republicans fight for wealthy taxpayers or the unborn.<br />
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Go for it, Mr President, be THAT guy. Be the President remembered for using his last 3 years to fight for those who are being left behind. Those with whom you worked as a community organizer in Chicago. As my Dad would say, these are the people for whom the first meal is a surprise and the second a wonder. The people for whom the roof is a sky and a pillow a rock. The ones with kids who have decaying teeth despite having insurance (but have low health literacy). The ones in crappy schools and unsafe/crowded housing. The ones eating one meal a day and sometimes it's the one their kid brought home from a free lunch program... of course that's if they still qualify.<br />
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I get it. Middle class people vote more than poor people. And maybe that's because noone is representing the interests of the poor. They get nothing from their vote but to give some guy another chance to screw them over.<br />
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So dear Mr President, I ask you..... "What about the poor?"<br />
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<i>If you get this far, click on the following link:<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments" target="_blank"> contact the white house </a> and write to the president and ask him what he is doing for poor people. </i>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-60373756429763253852013-07-17T14:54:00.002-07:002013-07-17T15:23:56.714-07:00Global Citizen v Global Subject: A critical discussion of study/service abroadFull disclosure: I have developed and led service-learning abroad programs in Central America for 5 years. It is my experience as leader and as traveler that have led me to question the methodology and intent of such programs with regard to their implications for the communities outside the USA in which they are implemented.<br />
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As globalization penetrates the towers of ivory, there is a push for the development of graduates who can participate in the world beyond their own localities and their own national borders. This corps of 'global citizens' are supposed to have an identity that transcends geography and borders with an identification with the common humanity that bounds us all.<br />
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To create this cadre of new world graduates, institutes of higher learning are pushing the study/service abroad agenda. With colleges and universities setting targets for how many of their students get to go abroad before they graduate. Of course, this trend is also growing among the high school crowd who seek to gain an edge on college admissions or to improve their language skills.<br />
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The primary goals of study abroad are usually to build intercultural skills and often to build language fluency that help develop such skills. There is also an emphasis on experiential learning of global problems. The places students go include local language schools, foreign-based branches of American or UK institutions, international schools or a home-stay and attendance at a local educational institution.According to Sachau and Braser (2010), more than 250,000 American students study abroad.<br />
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Service learning abroad includes the goals of study abroad but these are achieved through direct service in local communities abroad. Reflection is an integral part of this process as students grapple with the issues that come with integrating service into their learning.<br />
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So I am not going to argue that there is anything wrong with the intention of service/study abroad programs. Human beings need to engage with each other across borders in order to understand each other, both culturally and linguistically.<br />
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However, I will argue that the one-directional structure of most programs create global subjects that are studied or serviced in the development of global citizens. The class bias of the latter is obvious as most middle class or poor students cannot afford the cost of study abroad tuition and travel and the opportunity costs of lost wages from their jobs that support their educational pursuits. This class bias that already exists in higher education relegates most study/service abroad programs to the reach of wealthier students who then gain further advantage for graduate and hiring programs who give an edge to such 'global citizens'.<br />
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But how much global citizenry do these students develop? On a recent trip to Greece, I ran into a group of students who were obviously American students doing study abroad. (As a leader of such trips I have acquired a sense of who these students are when I see them). These students were mostly white, mostly girls and were exploring the Ancient Agora on their day trip from their <a href="http://www.seamester.com/?gclid=CLPM6c68t7gCFS3hQgodfjIAHQ" target="_blank">Semester at Sea</a>. I spoke to a few of them about their engagement with local populations as they traversed the oceans and were taught on board by an international faculty. They admitted that the trip was what each person made it but that most people hung out with their friends and did not make friends where they visited. This tends to be the trend among most students who don't do a home-stay version of these programs. Language programs that are full immersion are much better than ones where groups of American students go off to Florence or Paris and spend a lot of time visiting sites and partying as much as they spend learning the language, which they often don't speak because they have each other with whom to speak English. Having local communities learn about American life through these programs is not usually an objective. There is hardly an 'exchange' but more of a "Thank you for letting me learn about you" attitude. And if you're an Italian in Florence, you don't learn more than a bad stereotype of the worse of what American college life can be.<br />
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As for service-learning projects, these also tend to be one-dimensional. Students fly from the USA to countries near and far in the East and South (mostly) to donate their time and develop their skills, in contexts that challenge them in many ways. This is great for the American student but the short-term and often non-sustainable aspects of this service is questionable in value for the local communities. I am sure there are programs for foreigners to do service in the USA but I have yet to read of them. Foreigners may come on their own but America is not seen a place that needs 'service' but is a source of 'service'. The socio-cultural and economic implications of this belief reinforce neo-imperialistic ideas of who Americans are and what their place is in the world.<br />
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After reviewing hundreds of articles on these programs, there were only a few that bothered to evaluate the impact on communities because the focus is on the education of the students. Most of the time, the communities that students serve are not the ones requesting such service but are the ones that are chosen for students to serve. These sites are chosen for many reasons that often have to do with the connections of the instructor to those communities or historical ties of an institution to a community.<br />
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So how do we make these programs more of an exchange and not an exercise in which students in one country gain skills through their contact or engagement with people of another culture? How do these programs go beyond 'educational tourism' or 'volun-tourism' to be a cultural engagement that involves meeting and greeting and engaging with local people? I will keep the list short.<br />
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1. Make them truly an exchange. Students of each country should engage with each other in learning about each other and learning language skills from each other. If possible, there should be an exchange of students across borders; not a visit of one to the other.<br />
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2. Let reception communities drive the service/learning that occurs. What are their needs? How can they be met in a sustainable way? Projects should include products like grant proposals, educational curricula, training, buildings etc<br />
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3. Evaluate the impact of these programs on local communities. People of the South and East do not exist to be the cultural experiences of American students that change their lives. They too have educational needs that includes cultural engagement.<br />
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4. Engage with educational institutions in the locality where studies/service takes place. Including local teachers as the cultural guides and paying them for their services makes these trips more valuable to local communities.<br />
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5. Engage before and after the trips take place so that the experience can be meaningful to participants on both sides of borders. Technology makes this extremely easy and engaging this way in the classroom may be a temporal and technological challenge but well worth the equality of experience for both cultures.<br />
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6. Use locally owned services and purchase locally made goods as much as possible. No point in going abroad to enrich the pockets of American service providers.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post is based on a presentation I gave at The Learner Conference held in Rhodes, Greece, July 11-13, 2013.</span></i>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-37456835620932209262013-04-17T23:32:00.001-07:002013-04-17T23:46:59.962-07:00Background checks, guns and deterrenceIn the USA, there are millions and millions of guns in circulation.<br />
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Today, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/04/17/senate-votes-block-expanded-background-checks-gun-sales" target="_blank">Congress failed to pass a bill that would expand background checks</a> to purchase a gun legitimately. The problem is that guns are so easy to come by that those who want to find a gun need not submit themselves to a background check. They can simply find a stolen gun on the street that probably cannot be traced in order for them to do whatever evil desires their twisted minds conjure.<br />
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Background checks are a way to put a tiny little barrier between the bad guy and his bad deeds. Anti-drug laws stop lawful people from buying drugs but anyone who wants to buy anything from heroin to oxycontin wont find it difficult to do so despite all the barriers in place. Even the limits on cough syrup dont much hinder meth production.<br />
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The background check is a distraction from the main issue that guns are still going to be for sale and the secondary sale of guns makes getting a gun fairly easily if one desires. A guy who wants to shoot up a school or a theater need not go through the hassle of a background check because guns are easily available in this society. THAT is the issue. Not many felons are going to go to a legitimate outlet to buy a gun,<br />
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Not to say that background checks are not evidence of due diligence on behalf of the state but its a lame attempt to act on a much more significant problem: reducing the number of guns in the USA. And no.... a background check wont stop a felon from getting a gun to rob a bank. It wont stop a gangbanger from finding the firepower to kill territorial intruders. It wont stop a psychopath, a sociopath or a man on the hunt for the target of his twisted love obsession.<br />
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It will somehow make us feel like we're doing 'something' even if that 'something' makes no difference in the kinds of events we want to stop. Doing 'something' is pointless if it changes nothing.<br />
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The ownership of guns has become part of the American identity for many and so any challenges to the 'American way of life' will meet with strong resistance.<br />
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Perhaps my bar is too high or I am just a cynic but until there are significant measures to reduce the manufacture and sale of guns (reducing outlets is one such measure), all other actions simply create laws that are more administrative hassle than crime stopper.policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-85131540239684653702013-02-01T12:02:00.002-08:002013-02-01T12:04:10.754-08:0028th Amendment (Amendment XXVIII)A Proposal for the 28th Amendment (Amendment XXVIII)<br />
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The <a href="http://beta.congress.gov/" target="_blank">Congress </a>makes the following findings:<br />
1. Firearms injure and kill people.<br />
2. There is common agreement that the right to bear arms articulated in 2nd Amendment (Amendment II) of the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html" target="_blank">Bill of Rights</a> was given to the people of the United States for their safety and protection and the US Supreme Court ruled in 2010 (<a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf" target="_blank">District of Columbia v Heller</a>), that this right was not linked with service in a militia.<br />
3. There are almost enough firearms for every woman, child and man in the country (1, 2) and, 47% of households (3) in the United States possess a firearm.<br />
4. Firearms are a danger to the health and welfare of the citizenry based on their role in the morbidity and mortality of people, especially vulnerable populations such as children, women with violent partners, and people who live in poor, urban settings<br />
5. Therefore, in light of this demonstration of the crisis in our nation, it is the sense of the Congress that prevention of injury and death is a very important government interest and the policy stated in section 6 below is intended to address this crisis.<br />
6. As of February 1, 2013, there will be a moratorium on the sales of ALL firearms in the United States. This moratorium <b>DOES NOT</b> infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms as granted them by Amendment II in the Bill of Rights in the <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html" target="_blank">Constitution of the United States</a> and supported by the <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/" target="_blank">US Supreme Court.</a><br />
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(1) The <a href="http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/" target="_blank">Congressional Research Service</a>, estimates there are 310 million firearms in the USA (<a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32842.pdf" target="_blank">Gun Control Legislation, William J. Krouse, Nov 12, 2012, p. 8</a>)<br />
(2) The <a href="http://www.census.gov/" target="_blank">US Census</a> estimates that there are 314 million people in the United States (2012 estimate).<br />
(3) <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx" target="_blank">Gallup poll on October 26, 2011</a>policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-29397914371959135172012-12-14T14:15:00.001-08:002012-12-18T00:34:03.378-08:00Mass Murder, Civil Rights and Constitutional Amendments<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">The right to keep and bear arms was given to the people of the United States to keep them safe. It is enshrined in the Bill of Rights (<a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html" target="_blank">click here for a copy of the Bill of Rights</a>)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">It states, "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.200000762939453px; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.200000762939453px; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">I'm all for the rights of the people. But I also know that historical documents have 'context' that apply to a particular time and place. Yes, the constitution was once about men and not about women. About whites and not about blacks nor the people that were here when the white folks came.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">And though I think men shooting at rocks and whatnot in the bush or at the range is men being men (and some women being women), i dont get the need for an assault rifle when we are not living in the DRC or are a mercenary on a secret op for Shell or some other Fortune 100. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">I even love reading <a href="http://www.sofmag.com/" target="_blank">Soldier of Fortune magazine</a> and watching <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/sons-of-guns" target="_blank">Sons of Guns</a> on <a href="http://dsc.discovery.com/" target="_blank">Discovery Channel</a>. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">I kinda like guns though I have never shot one. They fascinate me. And the very peaceful women I know who have shot one have loved it. So its not about guns per se. But its about the types of guns, the number of guns, and the availability of guns.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">For more details click on the link for this </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">news report from ABC News in August of this year: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/guns-in-america-a-statistical-look/" target="_blank">Guns in America: A Statistical Look</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">There is a straight line from the Columbine shootings in 1999 to the Newtown shootings of 2012. Obama has 4 more years in the White House and the time is right. People are outraged. Even if you believe in the right to bear arms, the killing of 20 children will be hard to fight on a policy level. Although the White House said that today is not the day to talk gun control, I think the response from the people on Twitter, on Facebook and from recent previous shootings is that the time for change to start is NOW. People before things. Lives before rights.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">Having slaves was once the right of certain people. We got rid of that 'right'. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">I think its time for the right to keep and bear arms to go.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">I am no legal scholar but the Constitution (<a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html" target="_blank">click here for the Constitution</a>) is a flexible document. And the second amendment was meant to protect the people in a free state and while in need of a militia. The link of the second part of the statement to the first part often falls by the way side because the first part outlines in many ways why the second part is necessary. And now it seems that the people of the United States need protection from the second amendment. The right to bear arms is a CIVIL right not a HUMAN right. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">I have nothing against hunting. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">But no one is invading our borders and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17.981481552124023px;">there is (almost) no risk of a coup. The people pay taxes to be protected by a police force, and military forces within and without our borders. Im not a legal scholar but Ive read said 2nd amendment and without disparaging anyone it takes a good dose of paranoia for anyone to think a semi-automatic or such is the intent of the law. And though I be not a legal scholar i know that there are more than 20 amendments (flexible doc that Constitution), and I'm pretty sure we can repeal amendments and best of all we can add new ones. </span><br />
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Yes. I know the <a href="http://home.nra.org/#/nraorg" target="_blank">NRA</a> think the 2nd one was written on a tablet and brought from Mt. Rushmore, but it was handwritten on paper like the rest. Now NRA go tell the parents of those 20 children that were shot to death today in Newtown, CT that guns dont kill people.</div>
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And that argument that guns dont kill people is especially poignant on a day when a Chinese man entered a school and stabbed 19 children and none died. I'm sure if she had gone in with a handgun at least one would have died. </div>
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Yes.<a href="http://home.nra.org/#/nraorg" target="_blank"> NRA</a>: GUNS KILL PEOPLE. </div>
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The data supporting gun control is clear but I dont want this post to be about data when the only data that matters is the 20 children and 8 adults dead (as of writing and as reported by the New York Times). </div>
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I want this post to begin a conversation in common sense and to be about finding solutions to a very vexing and painful social problem. Gun proponents like to point out that people with brain disorders are the ones killing people but mass murder is not going to happen with ones bare hands and a knife is much less efficient or effective. Even a handgun without automatic and semi-automatic capacity does much less damage. Getting treatment for people living with brain disorders is one very small piece of the puzzle because sane men also kill their intimate partners - exes as well- by gun and sometimes then commit suicide. The mental health argument does not apply here.</div>
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And the call for more security means a call for more guns in places where people can get harmed in the chaos of a shoot out. </div>
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Yesterday, Michigan passed a law allowing guns in spaces where children are cared for. </div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">It seems that if safety is our concern, we can get childcare providers to learn martial arts just as much as we can make sure they can shoot straight and keep the guns safe from children.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">Responses to this shooting include more gun-free zones, more gun detectors in schools etc etc. Basically we respond to gun laws but gun laws dont respond to us.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">The HUMAN rights to health, safety and life trump the CIVIL rights to keep and bear arms. People before things. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">We got rid of the right to have slaves. We can get rid of the right to carry guns.</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 17.98000144958496px;">That said, there are many ways to retain the second amendment but have more restrictive gun laws. It need not be an either/or decision but 'reason' should prevail.</span><br />
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policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-12972737922945651222012-10-31T18:56:00.001-07:002015-03-29T16:51:07.159-07:00Beyond MDGs 2015: The search for new objectives, new goals and new measures.<br />
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Recently on the Humanosphere blog there was a call for
comment on a paper, titled<a href="http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/wp-content/uploads/dp-politics-post-2015-mdgs-29102012-en.pdf" target="_blank"> ‘How can a post-2015 agreement drive real change’</a>,
written by Duncan Green, Stephen Hale and Matthew Lockwood of <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/" target="_blank">Oxfam. </a>So I took
up the challenge to read the paper and I am offering up this feedback.</div>
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<b>Defining Poverty</b><br />
First, its time to stop with the global strategies, initiatives,
imperatives, goals, objectives etc. Poverty, though common across the goals in
its experience of inadequate resources for daily living, is by its complexity
and locale-specific nature, not amenable to ‘global targets’. Any global target
means that variations across locales disappear and the outcomes seems somewhat
meaningless. Furthermore, and most importantly, the people setting these
targets are usually not the ones who have to meet them, nor are they the ones
who will be among the counted when these targets get evaluated.</div>
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<b>Authoring Poverty</b><br />
Second, it would be beyond wonderful if more of these papers
get written by people in countries where these targets will be implemented and
by in-country people who will have to implement the programs through which these targets
will be met. Included in these papers should be the voices of the poor people
whose lives these policies are supposed to change.</div>
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<b>Aid and the Environment</b><br />
Third, there is a significant cost to the environment (the
focus of <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml" target="_blank">MDG</a> #7) created by the aid industry. As well-meaning,
well-educated and sometimes well-prepared development workers, finance
ministers, UN staff etc etc zip around the world, they consume millions of
plastic bottles of water in places where plastic is not recycled and leave an ever-growing carbon footprint in their wake. Given the
state of technology, there should be less need for travel of the rich and more
space for the voices of the poor. Until this happens, the business of aid will
be increasingly one of self-perpetuating indulgence and less about helping poor people. </div>
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<b>Rich-Poor Country Relationships</b><br />
As the authors note, there is little evidence of the kind of
rich-poor country strategies like technology transfer, trade, finance etc that
could really make an impact on global poverty. Instead, it is the gift of cash,
stuff and people that poor countries get. Furthermore, the ‘customization’ of
the MDGs by many of the countries reinforce the need for local governments to set their own goals and
not follow some guideline set and monitored by people far away: the so-called 'international community'.</div>
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<b>The Politics of Poverty</b><br />
The politics of poverty and aid (the latter needs to be
tossed into the garbage pile of post-colonial, neo-liberal, capitalist failures),
and the geopolitics that influence the relationships between rich and poor
countries are more significant than any aid strategy. The <a href="http://www.usaid.gov/" target="_blank">USAID</a> is explicit
that their aid strategy must be in sync with their security strategy. And their
security strategy seems to include supporting leaders who rape and pillage the
national treasuries of their countries – money that could build the kind of
infrastructure that aid wont build but is so integral to the alleviation of
poverty. Of course, once these criminals deposit such funds in their offshore accounts,
aid fills the gap; and often by avoiding the government sector all together as ‘civil
society’ is the Cinderella of the aid game.</div>
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<b>The Business of Aid</b><br />
The business of aid seems to be an end in itself: meetings,
conferences, conventions, consultations, site visits, photo ops with donations,
writing of papers, and on and on. It has also proved to be great fodder for
bestsellers. In many countries aid is its own sub-economy: hotels, maids, drivers, consultants, and speakers at the endless meetings where the same
people say the same things – driving the hospitality and service industries of
many nations, with trends in where meetings get located based on making successful
transitions within the aid space. (Scared of Lagos but longing for Addis). </div>
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<b>Self-perpetuating Aid</b><br />
The authors propose ‘the best way for the international
community to encourage pro-poor change’. I would suggest that the time has come
to leave people alone, except to help in case of emergency. And the goal should
be to work oneself out of a job. Noone will deny the romantic ideas attached to
going around the world ‘helping people’ that perhaps began in the adventures of the Scottish medical missionary Dr. David Livingstone ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume") and continue through the passionate followers of Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners in Health. But I am reminded of how the system of apartheid
fell: People around the world in their own countries pushing long and hard for change in solidarity with efforts on the ground in-country led by local leaders. (Noone was flying into South Africa for AIDS meetings serviced by prostitutes, instead political activists were running out). Perhaps the aid industry could study the anti-apartheid movement as a model for how to stay home and effect change far away.</div>
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<b>Poverty Assumptions</b><br />
The assumption that poor people in foreign lands NEED our
help is the assumption we
must challenge as the international community (whoever that is) start thinking
of new ‘targets’. Instead of giving poor people what our theoretical
frameworks, randomized controlled studies, and consultation with Ivy-educated energetic
young experts ( that tend to populate consultant firms) say they
need, perhaps we could set up frameworks for them to tell us what they need
from us (I'm thinking YouTube, Skype, Google). We may choose whether or not to give it to them, but at least they would
have had their say.</div>
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<b>The Study of Poverty</b><br />
As for the authors' ‘we need
more research’ conclusions. I beg to differ. The key being “the substantial
investment of money and brainpower in both the MDGs and the global debate over
what should replace them" (p.17). That they state the existing research has provided so
few answers is a sign that perhaps more research is not what we need. Nor is the need to spend all this time, energy, money and carbon creating new agenda items to write about and discuss in far-flung meetings in fancy spaces for the next x numbers of years. Yes, some countries may find that their tourism infrastructure may suffer the lack of peripatetic aid professionals but I am sure they will find other economic engines to replace them.</div>
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<b>Eliminating Poverty</b><br />
The abject poverty
targeted by the MDGs was created, and is maintained, by well-understood systems of power and
wealth that reside in the countries that give aid. These are systems that few in the ‘international community’ are willing to
change; including many in the aid business who would have no more travel to exotic locations for cool meetings with really interesting and smart people. (Have they heard of Skype?). Until they are ready to do that, they should leave the victims of their
policies alone. I think they've done enough. Big goals for years ending in 0 or 5 may make us feel better before they even hit the ground, but that alone should make them suspect.<br />
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For an updated critique of the SDGs see <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647286-proposed-sustainable-development-goals-would-be-worse-useless-169-commandments" target="_blank">'The 169 Commandments', The Economist, March 28, 2015</a>.</div>
policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-59026788517389540522012-10-27T19:43:00.003-07:002013-02-20T21:16:05.550-08:00Good intentions, exploitation and studying 'the poor'I am an academic and thus I am required to do research and to write. As someone who studied sociology, social welfare, public health, international health, and economics I am plenty equipped to study poverty and the lives of poor people. And in my areas of study, these are the people of whom we ask questions, whether here or abroad.Were I to do a search of any library database using poverty as a keyword, I will get hundreds of hits for journal articles published in the past month alone. But I have decided that I will no longer study 'poverty' or 'the poor' because I find it exploitative in its convenience, somewhat useless in its findings and creates a conundrum in its recommendations: how to change poverty by changing the poor.<br />
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We study how the poor shop, what they eat, what they drink, how fat they are, how (un)educated they are, how much health care they (don't) get, how they parent, and how a wide range of social, political and economic factors interact to influence their patterns of behavior.<br />
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Given that the poor have been studied for more than a hundred years and are not responsible for their poverty, and that poverty is a result of social and economic policies and systems, the objective of studying the poor or poverty seems unproductive. For example, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Booth_(philanthropist)" target="_blank">Charles Booth</a>'s study of the poor in East London in the late 19th Century has findings similar to recent studies of the poor of East London. Finding that poverty did not change should not be surprising if the system that creates vast swaths of poverty: capitalism and social/political neglect, have not changed. That we are fascinated by the increases in inequality after creating systems that create such inequality makes us seem out of touch with the 'real world' outside of the towers of ivory.<br />
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Through our 'engagement' with the poor and with poverty, academics have implicitly and explicitly made poverty, and especially the poor, the object of our inquiry and therefore the focus of our interventions. There is something inherently 'perverse' or 'interesting' or 'puzzling' about the behaviors of the poor that inspires intellectuals of all stripes to spend lots of time writing grants, seeking out 'controlled and randomized' samples (or more likely samples of convenience), and doing complicated qualitative and quantitative analyses using sophisticated software to find out wherein lies the problem of poverty and how we can change the behaviors of the poor to make them less poor or more 'functional' within their poverty.<br />
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In the global arena, economists are leaving the theoretical equations of the classroom to test their ideas in the real world (see the books <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=JOMDsm5Gn9kC&dq=more+than+good+intentions&source=gbs_navlinks_s" target="_blank">More Than Good Intentions</a>, <a href="http://pooreconomics.com/" target="_blank">Poor Economics</a> etc). Using localized research projects, these economists from <a href="http://www.econ.yale.edu/" target="_blank">Yale </a>and <a href="http://www.povertyactionlab.org/" target="_blank">The Poverty Action Lab at MIT</a><a href="http://www.povertyactionlab.org/" target="_blank"> </a>seek to find 'the answers to poverty' by comparing how samples of poor people respond to different 'aid' scenarios. I will not deny the fascinating results of these studies, but the power dynamics of the 'lab rat' experiences that poor people must endure at our expense in the production of knowledge, leaves me queasy; despite all the very careful ethical standards that are in place.<br />
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Our extensive studies of the poor goes against the justice principle of the 1978 Belmont report that defined ethical standards for protection of 'subjects' in research. Academics put undue burden of research on the poor because the benefit to the poor is hard to justify the more we study them and the longer they remain 'poor' as mobility upwards slows down and the top 1% get increasingly wealthy. Perhaps we should study the rich in order to benefit the poor. We know a lot about the poor but it is hard to say how much 'new' information we gain about poverty/the poor with each new study, or how much poverty alleviation has happened as a result of the waves upon waves of various methodologies and strategies we have employed in the study of individuals who are poor.<br />
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The problem is not poor people. The problem is poverty. And there is no way to 'find answers to poverty' by studying poor people as they are not the creators of their demise. However, as people with power, we have chosen them as the 'object' of our research (though 'partners' is a more trendy notion - and lofty goal - I hesitate to tarnish the meaning of the word by using it in this context). We do this because it is challenging to find a sample of the top 1% to study in the same way that we study the bottom 1%. How fascinating it would be to find out about how the wealthy give to charity, pay their workers more, consume less, vote in a particular way, their savings patterns, their inheritance patterns, their parenting, consumption of pharmaceuticals and recreational drugs, their romantic relationships, their residential patterns etc. etc. However, the wealth and power of the rich insulates them from being subjected to the querying minds of academe. <a href="http://iserp.columbia.edu/content/center-wealth-and-inequality" target="_blank">The Center for Wealth and Inequality</a> at Columbia University was created several years ago in a groundbreaking move to study wealth and inequality and yet it still identifies poverty as the first item in its list of research interests.<br />
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Among my colleagues around the globe, I would be hard pressed to find anyone who finds new research on poverty groundbreaking in any way. This particular blog post was inspired by an online discussion on the Spirit of 1848 listserv of the American Public Health Association - a left wing community of public health professionals from around the world interested in the issues of inequality and its impact on health. Recently, the conversation was exploring the issues raised in an article titled, 'Low income linked to poorer health in both US and England, despite different health systems', which was published in the American Journal of Public Health in late September. An article that created a resounding 'duh!' online.<br />
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I think it is time to leave poor people alone; to use our power to protect them from our insatiable curiousity about their lives through actively fighting with them for social policies that raise their standard of living and education and gives them more access to resources and power. Replicability may be a founding principle of science but after a point we move to redundancy. If we still feel the need to ask questions of the poor, perhaps we can let them guide the way. This means we give up our 'intellectual superiority' and become servants to the poor, asking the questions to which they want answers. This may mean less articles for me to review for lofty (and not so lofty) journals but it may mean that more of what we write gets read by more people, and more of what we read educates us in a meaningful way that makes social change possible.<br />
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Picture from Grandmother's March 2012, sponsored by St Francis Health Services of Njeru, Uganda, </div>
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policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-35992213397672091312012-08-13T11:11:00.002-07:002014-11-01T16:50:51.063-07:00Global Hunger, Capitalism and the Aid Business<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Food and Festivities</b><br />
Riding on the coattails of the<a href="http://www.london2012.com/" target="_blank"> London 2012 Olympics</a>, there was a Hunger Summit - another grand meeting of officials who fly in business and first class to be put up in 5 star hotels where they eat sumptuous meals right before they meet to discuss how they are going to feed the world's hungry. They even roped in gilded Mo Farah and other Olympic-related media darlings to get some press. Seriously?? They needed Mo Farah to do this for them to take the issue seriously?<br />
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Like the<a href="http://www.londonfamilyplanningsummit.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Family Planning Summit </a>which preceded the Olympics, there are grand promises made by the 'Western' countries about working together towards eliminating world hunger. Co-hosted by Cameron and Michel Temer (VP of Brazil - host of the next Olympics), it has had to fight for page space among the continued media blitz, tsunami and hurricane of Olympic-related press. Of course, this summit came out of the last G8 summit in May when <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/18/fact-sheet-g-8-action-food-security-and-nutrition" target="_blank">Obama made promises to African leaders on the i</a>ssue.<br />
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Everyone acting on good faith, with lots of data and charts ('infographics') and public health specialists buzzing about at media events that will go quiet about hunger come tomorrow morning. Because unless there is famine involved, most people do not think about hunger. Perhaps they could sell the soundtrack of last night's closing ceremony to raise money. Quicker than getting together another bunch of singers to do a Hunger Aid song.<br />
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<b>Boosting Agricultural Production</b><br />
There will be plans for boosting agricultural production (let's ignore <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0810/Alarms-sound-over-world-food-supply-as-drought-wilts-US-Corn-Belt" target="_blank">the drought in the USA</a> that is going to raise the roof on grain prices), increased financial commitments to research (let's ignore double dip recessions and 'interesting' food products), more efficient distribution (let's ignore noone wants to fund infrastructure) and I'm sure some new software program for phones or something that will be a 'key' factor in making this all work. And yes, the capitalist countries of the world are going to try and promote local production (which is the best plan) in a global environment where a handful of food producers control not only production but processing. And we also have to ignore the economic foundations of national economies that are often based in agricultural products that noone can eat for nutritional purposes; items such as coffee and tea, which are vital to economies but do little to feed populations.<br />
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<b>Subsistence Farming</b><br />
In the area of Jamaica where my parents live, smallholder farms get killed off by US imports because should we 'protect' our market, the USA would <a href="http://www.wto.org/" target="_blank">WTO</a> us back into being a repository for their market products that make their markets grow and puts us at an economic disadvantage in the balance of trade game. So I'm suspicious of how the USA will balance their need for exports (thou shalt not mess with the farm lobby if thou wants to be elected) with local need for food that doesn't require thousands of miles of infrastructure and does nothing but drain local coffers - both individually and nationally.<br />
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<b>Eradicating Global Hunger</b><br />
Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is a <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml" target="_blank">Millenium Development Goal </a>with very ambitious targets that seem to have come out of the mouth of a beauty pageant contestant. With the 2015 end date on the MDGs closing in and failure eminent the UN now has a target for 2025 (who picks these years?) and Cameron has a target for 2016 (related of course to the <a href="http://www.rio2016.org/en" target="_blank">next Olympiad</a>) that will fit into this larger UN target. Perhaps if countries could plan beyond election years, these long-term targets may actually be achieved because although my colleagues like to insist that they are just there to motivate, I think if any of these Olympic athletes kept failing to meet their targets, they would quit and find another vocation, but in public health, we just keep marching on. Simply means another report about what went wrong and how we can fix it when we set the next target.<br />
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<b>Eradicating Child Malnutrition in the UK</b><br />
A glimpse at the Twitter feed generated by the #globalhunger tag includes this post from <a href="http://www.dfid.gov.uk/" target="_blank">DFID (UK Aid)</a> which quotes Prime Minister Cameron as saying:"While we all enjoy #London2012 there's another world where children don't get enough to eat". His focus is on reducing child malnutrition rates in poor countries as he moves into being the head of the G8 (how many numbered G's are there?)<br />
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I am hoping Mr Cameron may include reducing child malnutrition in his own country as part of his goal. As a social worker in Redbridge back in 2010, I was shocked at how few resources there were to feed hungry people who for one reason or another did not qualify for benefits.<br />
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<b>Eradicating Hunger in the USA</b><br />
As for the USA, with recent cuts in food stamps (a cash for food benefit program) and an expansion (and institutional entrenchment) of food banks, it hardly befits the government to think it can solve the hunger problems of poor, disorganized nations that are less agriculturally developed. California may feed the world but there are thousands of Californians that are what the US government calls 'food insecure' (i.e. not sure where there next meal is coming from).<br />
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<b>Hunger Summits & Careers</b><br />
I am exhausted by grand summits and meetings. Each one following the next with final reports begun to be written before meetings occur. Photo op upon photo op of smiling guys in suits shaking hands making commitments (like their marriage vows) that they know they cannot keep. And noone holding their feet to the fire because fiscal promises like electoral ones are best taken with a strong dose of cynicism.<br />
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Among the noise on Twitter was even a job posting for a Campaign Communications Coordinator to work on the food and hunger campaign that will be sponsored by UK NGOs. As I feared, another summit means the aid business gets a boost, everyone goes home feeling good, more miles in their affinity programs, another report to write and present at a meeting. And unless something miraculous happens, it goes back to being business as usual.<br />
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Because if the country sponsoring this meeting has the same nutrition problems with its poor kids that its had since the creation of sociology, I will await with unabated breath to see what becomes of yet another summit about some problem faced by rich countries that they want to solve in poor countries.<br />
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<b>Hunger and Income</b><br />
Perhaps we could just guarantee people an income and they could deal with their food and family planning issues on their own without some Peace Corps (nothing against them just an example) volunteer or Ivy-league trained NGO professional from 10,000 miles away telling them what to do.<br />
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It's worth a try, no?policyprovocateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14821162962079182515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79377958457200493.post-41088577225506501342012-07-11T11:01:00.000-07:002012-10-29T17:50:15.239-07:00Family Planning Summit and the Voice of Poor Women<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-NxHdZOpAXqvdnefQ802gLBqjIXTj1TvDIgvl1Qi3p26242_uFmmGLcPR1AQjP_Wv74PdIYJnUOgpt4x-sU3ooOfFYlLkTq2tAT8eMyGVplSUyZMkLehwDV_mgjFJSj-ENu9HnW03btw/s1600/london-family-planning-summit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-NxHdZOpAXqvdnefQ802gLBqjIXTj1TvDIgvl1Qi3p26242_uFmmGLcPR1AQjP_Wv74PdIYJnUOgpt4x-sU3ooOfFYlLkTq2tAT8eMyGVplSUyZMkLehwDV_mgjFJSj-ENu9HnW03btw/s320/london-family-planning-summit.gif" width="320" /></a>I decided to edit this piece to start with a video of Melinda Gates talking about her privilege to travel the world and meet women whose voices are not heard on the world stage and so she feels it is her obligation to speak on behalf of them. This gets at the heart of why I wrote this piece so I will let her speak in her own words before I speak mine in response:<br />
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<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jul/11/melinda-gates-catholic-contraceptives-video" target="_blank">Melinda Gates interview on her work as family planning advocate</a><br />
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I work in the development industry. Sometimes. I have worked in the family planning sector a long time. I have worked in safe motherhood a long time. And I have worked in AIDS. (That these are not integrated in the development sector is a topic for another post).<br />
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I came to development through childhood experiences with development workers whose ideas were formed in some office far, far away using the most recent data and information on my Jamaican community. They were talented, mulitlingual and well-intentioned. But something about the experience left an indelible mark on me that often has me questioning my own motives and behaviors as I work with women in different countries to make their lives better. I lived in a house where my uncle (who housed these workers) also spent many years with a huge canister on his back spraying anopheles mosquitoes to rid the Caribbean and Central America of malaria. Malaria left Jamaica. Perhaps we are all damaged for the effort (given the eco movements objection to spraying in Africa) but so far so good. When it rains now, my mom puts a speck of kerosene or oil on the standing water and that takes care of that. For some reason, that isn't good enough for Africa. But I digress. (That's another post).<br />
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I spend too much time (its part of my job) going to panels and lectures on issues related to the Southern poor (somehow Northern poor are not in need of 'development'). Despite the current theme that 'technology will save the world' and 'health is part of security' and 'we must empower people to do the work themselves', I find this all disingenuous no matter the speaker's intent. And good intentions abound in development.<br />
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Technology Will Solve the Problems of the World<br />
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There are some problems that technology can fix and others it can't. I can give you technology and you can choose not to use it because you don't want to, don't know how to, or it doesn't suit your needs. But behavior change (to get you to use this technology) is messy and funders want metrics and they want change in the 3-5 year funding cycle and methods must be new and sparkly. And 'technology' seems to be a code for 'new technology' because a lot of old technology works fine.<br />
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In family planning we have things like the female condom (which practically no woman in the developed world will use, and for good reason) being pushed on women who live where one can't find a tampon because putting hands or things inside one's vagina is taboo. (It also assumes that sex will be planned).<br />
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Perhaps if we can get the old technology to new women there would be no need to spend so many millions on developing new technology when the old ones are working so fine for so many women in the 'rich world' that their low birthrates are wreaking havoc on their present and future demography and economies.<br />
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Health as Security<br />
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The 'security' argument for health is so offensive to me that I simply wont address it.<br />
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Speaking On Their Own Behalf<br />
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If we are going to 'empower' the poor of the world, perhaps we can stop visiting them to collect their stories and then be their voice on the world stage. Can that community organizer in Malawi not learn more by visiting the UK or the USA or Germany than a team of aid workers or academics visiting her? Is it not she who needs the knowledge so why are we there?<br />
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When we have 'summits' such as <a href="http://www.uncsd2012.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rio+ 20</span></a> and the<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://www.londonfamilyplanningsummit.co.uk/" target="_blank">Family Planning Summit</a>,</span> where are the women whose lives we are talking about? Why aren't they on the stage and in the room? Telling the stories and asking the questions? Can't the technology we have Skype them in so they can speak for themselves instead of being an anecdote in a sea of data to 'bring it back to the ground level'? Or to remind us that its about people and not data. So where are the 'people'?<br />
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My job requires that I do research and as much as possible I have fought for the rights of the queried to have them be able to speak directly to the audience. I have used quotes and I recently tried using video. Of course, with 10 minute presentations, the people often get lost in the objectives, methods, findings and recommendations. Thus my often conflicted state as an adult who was a child on who development was done who is trying not to do development to anyone else.<br />
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If we really believe in empowering people then we must stop speaking (and doing!) on their behalf when they can speak (and do!) for themselves. I loved Ashley Judd's anecdote at the <a href="http://www2.lse.ac.uk/home.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">LSE</span></a> panel preceding the Family Planning Summit that demonstrated how the intersectionality of AIDS, lack of inheritance rights, sexual trafficking, and lack of contraception made the life of one woman and her children extremely difficult. But how much more powerful would that story have been if told in first person?<br />
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Melinda Gates, Family Planning and Poor Women<br />
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It is great that Melinda Gates of the<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx" target="_blank">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a> </span>has finally (after much effort) come around to the family planning story after hearing directly from women about their lives. And then she can retell those stories to the world. But why can't these women tell their own stories to the world (using Microsoft technology perhaps)? And why can't they enjoy the business class flight, 4-star hotel rooms, and chauffeured car rides as they flit about the world telling their stories? Or does that budget line always have to be on our side?<br />
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Maybe Melinda could have brought the Kenyan women she was talking to (below) to London. Just like Bloomberg sent in his donation by video so could everyone else. All that back patting is nice but really its the women in the picture below that its all about. And as I searched for images in Google using the keywords 'Family Planning Summit', I could find lots of pictures of dignitaries in London (and in poor countries) and poor women in Africa and Asia. Perhaps there were panels of the women below. I just couldn't find pictures of them.<br />
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