Approaching International Development with Local Solutions
International development efforts sometimes come under fire for steamrolling over local communities, pushing an outsider's agenda in ways that don't truly solve the problems of the people living with them over the long-term. Mireille Cronin Mather, Executive Director of the Foundation for Sustainable Development, will discuss the highly-localized approach her organization takes in our upcoming Invest in Local Solutions, End Global Problems Issues in Depth call this Thursday, Aug. 16. Today, she gives our readers a sneak peek, getting real about what it takes to make a sustainable impact on communities around the world.
Net Impact: What makes FSD's focus on local investment so much more effective than other approaches?
Mireille: We don't bring in our own ideas of what should be worked on; we let the communities tell us. If communities aren't excited about the objectives of the work, they won't take ownership of it in the long run. We focus on local leadership and organizational development to ensure that the skills, knowledge and capacities remain in the community and don't leave with outside consultants. We prioritize using local assets first, before bringing in outside resources. We have found this the most effective approach for long-term, sustainable change in communities we support.
There's a fine line between supporting a community and controlling it. How do you know when enough is enough?
FSD's mission is to support local organizations and communities in leading their own path to development. We are very happy when a community or partner organization no longer needs FSD's support - that is our ultimate goal! In every decision we make, whether a policy decision in our home office in San Francisco or a local activity in one of our ten sites, we always ask How is this supporting our community-based paradigm? Our approach is the hardest way to do development. The easiest way is to look at the apparent needs of a community, say access to water, and then focus on that. The harder way is to ask the community what its priorities are - it may be income generation first, and then water - and to provide support for those priorities. It's challenging to do this in practice because our own values can get in the way as an outsider to the community. That's why all of our site directors are international development professionals from the community locations - they have a much better perspective and knowledge of the local culture and values sets and know when to back off when the local capacity has been built and communities are driving their own development.
Can you share an example of how a community organization has changed as a result of better capacity-building efforts?
Our core expertise is training our community partners in sustainable project design and management. A terrific example of this is a partner in Masaka, Uganda called COTFONE. This organization supports children affected by HIV/AIDS (many lost their parents to the disease), to help them grow into healthy, productive, and valued members of their communities. This organization was started by a young man who lost his parents to AIDS himself, and wanted to provide comprehensive services to children beyond just an orphanage. FSD provided support to expand his technical knowledge to manage and grow an organization and develop programs. COTFONE now works with over 5,000 community members today through nutritional, educational, health, and micro-enterprise programs.
What about when the outcome wasn't what you expected?
In international community development, there are myriad factors that can affect an outcome - droughts, floods, family deaths that take key staff away from programs, global markets, and multinational corporations affecting local economies are some that come to mind. With one project, we supported the development of a model biodigestor that used processing manure as an alternative means of fuel to address deforestation and indoor fire hazards. After investing in materials and training, we found that the biodigestors were not replicated to the extent planned, and those that were created fell into disuse despite the initial enthusiasm for the project. However, the community became interested in using manure for another means - to use in composting, and creating a small women's microenterprise to sell the natural fertilizer. That business is taking off now, so we are happy about this unexpected outcome.
Your career has taken you all over the world for all kinds of reasons. How have these experiences shaped you personally? Where have you seen your own perceptions and approaches changed?
I have been very fortunate to have worked in countries all over the world. My first field experiences were in Senegal and Nigeria, and I quickly learned what I was lacking in my American context: namely a strong sense of local community, resourcefulness and a habit of conservation. My initial work was on government-funded projects that had a wealth of resources and expert consultants, but the projects were significantly affected by political agendas and usually not applied in a sustainable manner. When I became familiar with more participatory approaches, I saw how development goals can align with local values and use the resourcefulness that communities have been practicing for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Also, through my direct experiences working in over a dozen countries, I have been able to define what it means to be an outsider working in development and where I can be of most use without imposing my own value set or agenda. I can't imagine doing anything else but development work, but I have been able to see what the most appropriate role is for me in the communities I am trying to serve.
For those of us who don't work in international development, are there lessons from your experiences that we can utilize to make an impact in our own community? How can we apply these when trying to build capacity and increase the efficacy of our own collaboration efforts?
Asset-based community development and other participatory approaches were first designed for use in communities in the United States. So for any community program, building local leadership and knowledge, and identifying existing resources first is an excellent way to ensure programs and initiatives are community-owned and will be sustainable. They are also great tools to ensure you are checking your assumptions before launching a program, no matter how knowledgeable you think you are about a community or collaborative effort. Often those organizing collaborations have a lot of social power whether they know it or not, especially if they are bringing in funding - people naturally don't want to say 'no' to any assistance - so it is absolutely essential to check that you are not bringing in your own priorities but rather to listen to and reveal what is most important to a community, and focus on those issues. You'll know you are on the right track if a community is excited about a program. These are basic ideas that can be applied at any scale, from locally to globally.
Join Mireille this Thursday, Aug. 16 for Invest in Local Solutions, End Global Problems.
All Issues in Depth calls are free to Supporting and Lifetime members. This interview has been edited for length.
