 |
| Photo COURTESY: Ekai Nabenyo |
There is no doubt that humans have been successful in modifying their surroundings to meet the needs of a rapidly changing population and socio-economic demands. It is now widely acknowledged that to be ahead of others, investment in education is a must. That equipping our populations with knowledge (more importantly life skills) is an indispensable asset.
To continue to live and operate safely, humanity must embrace resilience thinking. Resilience thinking is about generating and sharing increased - (and people-oriented) - knowledge of how we can strengthen the capacity to deal with the stresses caused by changing times, educational/technological inequalities, geographical hardships and historical grievances against perceived government's unresponsiveness and neglect.
Resilience thinking is about foresight and preempting these stresses and "arming" communities with the necessary tools to secure their future. It is about social re-engineering, that is, making society a leader and designer of its destiny in its totality.
A shift in thinking will create fruitful opportunities - especially for the marginalized - to continue to develop and thrive for generations to come. However, it must be underlined that this shift is inseparable from us. There must be a starting point. We are collectively called upon to designate this point of departure.
Now, let's move straight to the point. I have a big trouble stomaching the big-man-ism and self praise spewed by our NGO friends concerning their interventions in community empowerment, in general and sectoral development, in particular.
Many a times we have seen NGO top-honchos and government functionaries brandishing big data on their respective imprints in community development and future plans of advancing the same.
Severally, they have listed the number of initiatives (schools, boreholes, dispensaries, community centers etc) they birthed and nurtured to completion.
I personally acknowledge the work done by these entities. However, I have some beef against the philosophical underpinnings in their understanding of "development". There seems to be an unwritten rule that gifting means development.
It is no criminal dishing out goodies to communities. I admit some interventions demand that we dish out goodies to people to respond to a biting need and/or overcome temporal (time) constraints.
What provokes further questioning is the over-dependence on this one-sided response as the only mode of "empowering" communities.
I will confine myself to Turkana County to demonstrate how this one-sided-mentality has enslaved (no pun intended) my people and reduced them to aid-scavengers.
After fifty years of government and NGO presence in Turkana, eighty-five percent of folks over there have no education. For every ten people in Loima constituency, for instance, nine of them are classified as illiterate!
Mark you; this tiny clique of schooled chaps has created an internal marginalization. This in local lingo, refers to the near-divinely control this tiny segment of "enlightened" sons and daughters of the land has over my people.
Now you understand why it is still a daunting task changing things and reaching those at the periphery of socio-econo-political spheres.
One of the main ways in which people shape their future is through the use of their wealth - material or otherwise. As explained above, this wealth assumes its role when there is a demonstrated will to power and extract the best from it.
The hundreds of moneyed NGOs competing for space in Turkana is a clear reason to show that there are many corners to straighten (ostensibly to benefit local communities) or there are many opportunities to "eat" from (to benefit those who pull NGO-strings).
If this is the case should we rest assured that marginalization will be conquered and vanquished any sooner? Methinks no.
Should we maintain our silence in the face of this institutionalized cornering of the people in the name of empowerment and development? A big NO!
Don't we have a different, efficient and tested approach to empower the masses and eventually push them up the socio-economic ladder? Oh YES!
I am for education. I am for life skills. I am not for donating fish to the people. I am for teaching them how to fish for themselves.
You see, we can do this together.
First, map out all the concerned areas. Pinpoint sectoral inadequacies and their corresponding remedies. Propose solutions. Move to the ground and materialize those proposals.
No more lengthy conferences. No need to ship whole communities to posh hotels to learn "development" and "empowerment". No more big-hollow-data. No more use of big incomprehensible lingo while communicating with communities that have hardly stepped in a classroom.
It is about action. People-led action. Time to do this is now. Is the Turkana County Government ready to tackle this?
The only way, in my view, to reaching the marginalized is by investing in education and life skills. Do this now!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your thoughts? thanks for dropping them here...