TakingITGlobal - Panorama - NGOs and development

Published on: Mar 22, 2007

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=11749

Over the last two decades, there have been a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa working with the poor people in the name of alleviating poverty. The have done quite a lot of good, especially in the northern part of the country, where they assist people in drought-stricken areas through a strategy the development agents call disaster response and management. Yet these communities are becoming increasingly poor. This brings into question of what might be the problem.
I realise that the development agents are increasingly making the disaster-prone areas more and more dependent. The locals, in spite of the dramatic changes in climate, have known how to adapt themselves to the situation and live effectively. If the external agents will not take their time to learn from these communities in order to adopt their way and build on it, they can bring all kinds of methodologies of managing the disasters, but as long as the policies don't begin with the people, the improvement cannot last.
Another issue is that, development agents assume the uneducated are unable to be development partners of their own. For that reason, the locals are sidelined in projects meant to help them. They remain passive and conditioned only to receive. That is why after the development agents leave, many of the projects collapse. Participation, capacity building and empowerment of the locals to determine what their priorities are in development, identifying the means within their reach to attain these goals, and training in simple skills of planning, implementing and evaluating their projects will be necessary in Kenya if NGOs want to achieve long lasting impact in their endeavors.

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by Dennis Nyakundi Onguti
Published on: Mar 22, 2007
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=11749


Over the last two decades, there have been a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Africa working with the poor people in the name of alleviating poverty. The have done quite a lot of good, especially in the northern part of the country, where they assist people in drought-stricken areas through a strategy the development agents call disaster response and management. Yet these communities are becoming increasingly poor. This brings into question of what might be the problem. I realise that the development agents are increasingly making the disaster-prone areas more and more dependent. The locals, in spite of the dramatic changes in climate, have known how to adapt themselves to the situation and live effectively. If the external agents will not take their time to learn from these communities in order to adopt their way and build on it, they can bring all kinds of methodologies of managing the disasters, but as long as the policies don't begin with the people, the improvement cannot last. Another issue is that, development agents assume the uneducated are unable to be development partners of their own. For that reason, the locals are sidelined in projects meant to help them. They remain passive and conditioned only to receive. That is why after the development agents leave, many of the projects collapse. Participation, capacity building and empowerment of the locals to determine what their priorities are in development, identifying the means within their reach to attain these goals, and training in simple skills of planning, implementing and evaluating their projects will be necessary in Kenya if NGOs want to achieve long lasting impact in their endeavors. « return.