I know that those who participate in our development projects are grateful for our assistance. Yet ask yourselves:
* Which of the wonderful programming we have offered were designed to last, for communities to sustain by themselves given their low resources and time-poverty?
* Of our trillions of dollars of investments, who's able to feed themselves, are better off economically, have improved skil
ls that they can maintain themselves long after our projects end? Won’t projects designed by communities themselves maximize prospects for success (compared to those written by donors and non-profits in capitol cities because we are disconnected from actual needs)? In our rush to help quickly, how often do our international development staff draw on international staff and expertise more than national partners and communities? How will projects be sustained if we keep this model going? How well are we building the capacity of local non-profits to manage projects, of national evaluators to evaluate them? Aren't we so time-pressed to get projects won and done, that the longer-term time to support their self-development becomes a luxury? Valuing Voices of all Stakeholders – builds long-term capacity for 'development' to end
As development workers, we also need to advocate to donors to allocate resources differently, building on great work already done at Busan for country-led development. Communities need our help to build their capacity to co-design, implement and maintain projects themselves and we need to build in long-term learning feedback loops from communities to us, from us to our communities into current programming before, during and after our 2, 3, 5 year projects end. We need this for global well being based on local growth to really take off.
* You know this too. You are my relief and development worker peer who believes in good stewardship.
* You are the donors who want their money well spent. You are the person who cares about global welfare.
* You are the country-nationals themselves who want resources maximized in your country.
* You are the data expert who longs to support learning in their country by capturing and sharing what works best in development- or could work best if communities led.
* You are the youth that knows the youth of the world can lead it – once you have knowledge and the power to plan it in their hands, alongside their elders – and ours.
