Development Sangha - exchange with A (see original post below)

My friend “A” writes 6-7-10: My own view is that whatever the sound motivations of individuals, they will never compensate for the structural problems of official aid, notably:

a) The absence of evidence that development requires aid
b) The rewarding-failure incentives that aid creates
c) The unique non-accountability of aid-spend in donor countries
d) The over-riding commit-and-disburse incentives of the donor, matched by
e) The over-riding get-the-cash incentives of the recipient
f) The cover-up incentives shared by both donor and recipient over impact.

In short, there's a reason the aid industry is so poor - and it’s not to do with individual motivations....! (But then you'd expect me to say that kind of thing....)!

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Can't disagree my friend. But gosh! your email is so .............. encouraging!! ;-) Your "structural barrier" analysis is so essential it seems to me.

Now for me, as someone who has had this career, I need to find ongoing relevance and meaning in order to combat the fatigue that comes with being confronted by causes and results of the challenges you enumerate. (Isn't the damn thing a vicious or viscous circle?)

It would be a cop out perhaps for me to say that any of the 6 a) through f) issues are not part of my doing. Is "I am not responsible for that" something of a lie? I think it is really. If the problem is real (And I can see the truth of what you say), then I have to believe that because it has arisen due to human ignorance, that it can also be dispelled by some human wisdom. Yes - I accept that this is simply an article of faith.

So I jump into the middle of it!! Is it possible then on the one hand to include the 6 in the environment of "the truth of the way it is" and to then say: "OK. How can I work with that? What are the deeper values this work I do points to?" This is very strategic/ up-stream since it deals with over riding realities that encompass all the challenges and all the possible responses.

Highly contextual in some ways perhaps. But, being highly contextual, this approach (searching for a higher moral truth within which one can operate) is also practical. It demands that the individual tackle any of the a-f structural issues, trying to break them down into more manageable components. I salute the experience that allows you to articulate these 6 so succinctly! (of course there are a dozen PhDs in every one!) I believe there will be a way to investigate these 6 and make a contribution to shifting them aside / lessening their impact on the need for international expressions of generosity and sharing. ( I have issue a) in mind at this point.)

I am after happiness in my life and I have to find ways to make myself happy in my chosen field or find a field that is more commensurate with my inherited and acquired capabilities.

If I can aggregate the 6 challenges up into a personal contextual issue and find (with the support / council of wiser people than myself) the right thing to do, then I can move. If not I risk becoming moribund, depressed and self defeating.

Tie me done before I blow away! We need to get to the pub together!!