Reinventing International Aid Through Listening

Time to Listen is one of the most systematic attempts to document the views of those on the ground over a number of years. Rather shockingly, as Duncan Green has pointed out, it is the first such study conducted since the World Bank released “Voices of the Poor” at the turn of the millennium. It would be worth reading if for no other reason than to hear these perspectives. But the book also offers, and models, a way forward that merit consideration by the international aid community, particularly as the community embarks on shaping a new global development framework once the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015. 

 

In the book, many of the interviewees emphasized some well-worn criticisms of the aid industry. People spoke of the tendency for aid programs to lack a well-rounded understanding of the local environment. Old news perhaps, but the sense that outside assumptions often trump local context persists. Reliance on outside knowledge can deny the community’s role in development, leading to a perpetual loop of projects coming and going without ever establishing long-term transformation. This feeds into the communities, providing an incentive for local people to maintain dependency. As one local woman in Kenya commented, “Families are continuously depicting situations of poverty so that they can be given assistance.”

 

 

Based on these observations, the authors of the book make several recommendations, chief among which is a redefining of the aid model’s vision of success. At an InterAction launch event last week, one of the book’s co-authors, Dayna Brown, spoke of the need for aid agency projects to have an exit strategy (aid agencies commonly establish and maintain a long-term presence in the communities where they work). That means setting a clear framework for change that focuses on structures of power. Programs should be geared toward empowering the “social and human capital” within local civil society, Brown said. Basic structures of policy, advocacy and change need an internal driving force – local people at the apex of the community’s development – who are accountable to the population and representative of their society.

 

So how do we work toward this? Before anything else, we need to stop and listen, which applies to all types of assistance, including humanitarian and development. The book’s central idea – the notion of cumulative evidence – implies a way forward. Based on assessments of the cumulative impact of aid, more effective, sustainable, people-centered ways to deliver assistance are possible, though collecting cumulative evidence demands time, a constant renewing of attention and a willingness to question assumptions about social, political and cultural dynamics. These processes of monitoring and evaluation – ones that hold no prescribed ideals about concrete “progress” but allow people to shape the way forward – should be built into development programs and post-emergency relief situations. 

 

Given the need for simplicity, it seems odd that the current aid model is established around such complex, multidimensional layers. There are the suppliers, the donors, the evaluators, the distributors and the recipients. Add to this fiery mix the academics, businesses and governments, together with the pressures these groups encounter, and you get a rather heady cocktail. If not directly competing with each other, it is inevitable that interests will sometimes not overlap. Truly open and engaged dialogue that reflects the concerns and capacities of local populations is only possible when all these layers of the aid chain make it a priority.

 

 

That means creating a more nuanced presentation of aid and its benefits to donors and policymakers. When the MDGs were established in 2000, the agenda was dominated by results. The idea behind the targets was to create simple, measurable outcomes. Huge strides have since been made in achieving some of these ambitious goals. Now the contours of the conversation are changing. Focus on processes – the how that drives the what (and the why that drives the how) – is reflected in the emphasis on civil society in the as yet tentative steps toward a post-MDG world.

 

Last week, the UN’s High-level Panel produced a communiqué setting out its initial outlook for the post-2015 agenda. As evidenced in this document, the narrative is shifting to highlight sustainable management of natural resources, ensuring good governance structures and inclusive partnerships with all actors. Participation must therefore empower the agents of change – women, youth, small-holder farmers, innovators – through a more transparent set of political and economic institutions. Achieving this will require a broader, messier process of consultation.

 

As the book states, long-form perspectives "are not the typical substance of conversations between aid providers and recipients." In both media-speak and the daily work of aid groups, need has become the North Star that guides everything else. Need informs perception, rallies collective action, legitimizes public policy and directs resources. Numbers are useful in helping us make sense of reality, particularly in humanitarian situations, where we need to determine precisely the hows, whats and whens. Aid is necessary, particularly in this age of austerity and budget cuts, and the book is at pains to state how people are absolutely thankful for the valiant work carried out in the field. What we require then is to build on solidarity with a refined approach to delivering, measuring and talking about aid. Time to Listen is a useful new tool in highlighting the ways forward to put people back at the forefront of aid and development.

 

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Ellis Tsang is a recent graduate of the University of Sheffield, where he completed a Masters in Global Journalism. He currently supports InterAction’s communications team as an intern.