I think we are going about international development in the wrong way. We, in the U.S., tend to think that money, services and products are what is needed. Look at how much we spend on mosquito netting and malaria help in Africa.
Which, while this is great, does help people and gives is the warm fuzzies, this aid does not actually help different countries advance economically. Same with Peace Corps. Having been in Peace Corps, during my training and field work, all I could think of was the skills my father and people in my hometown had that were needed.
These were real, physical skills, the knowledge required to build roads, repair corn mills, build wells, improve hand tools. Basically the jobs, skills and abilities that Mike Rowe supports with his foundation. The skills that make me proud of my family.
It was these skills that we had to be trained on as volunteers to help improve the lives of rural Zambians. We had 40 some college educated people but not even half were comfortable with shovels or basic geometry to help create square corners and level dikes. Yet we were expected to train others on how to do these things to build fish ponds!
I think I managed to gain some respect from the Zambians I worked with since I was not part of that group. I was one of those who could use a shovel and, more importantly, could harvest corn as well as any of them since sweet corn gathering is a pretty common past time for those from Illinois. Especially with a grandpa with a farm. Yet, I lack the skills to build a decent home a leak resistant roof or create a better cement mixture and mixer: the tools that could materially improve lives and lead to skills which can be exchanged for money.
All of this to say, what would our development work look like? How effective would it really be if we had spent the last 20 years not just protecting people from diseases and helping the countries stay just above water. Instead what would the world look like if we started sending the people who built our economy at the very bottom over and teaching those skills. Not just the business skills not just micro loans to goat farmers or other things which are nice but real industry. I think we’d see a lot more improvement and would actually have been helping all of these countries we are trying to help.
Fleeting Thoughts of a Bad Student 