STONE COLD HAVEN

There are fewer things in the world more cynical than a bunch of…let’s say, pin stripe suited men sitting in a board room (without any women present of course –,well, tell a lie, except for Mildred in the corner taking minutes or Deidra the tea lady who pops in once in a while to top up the biscuits and make sure the tea pot is fresh) discussing solutions about how to fight gender discrimination in the work place.

Or maybe, a conference about “The Kenya we want” that is fronted by the old school establishment of unsavoury, incompetent and outright dodgy characters who have had over 40 years to provide the Kenya folks needed in the first place but failed spectacularly. (Speaking of which – what was the point in holding a conference when the answer to the question of “What Kenyans want?” is succinctly captured in breathtaking precision in the Kenyan national anthem).

Anyway, it was interesting to note that once again, there was a “high profile” (this word is as abused as the word normal coz’ clearly, it’s a relative state of affairs) conference bringing together the good and the great who classify themselves as world experts on poverty alleviation and eradication.

If there’s one thing that I have a problem rationalizing, it’s the fact that there’s an actual discipline that is taught and theorized by elite folks out here in the west, that purports to know how to eliminate poverty for the world’s poorest folk. I suppose my view is somewhat compounded by the misguided self-righteousness of some folks in this poverty and aid industry who see it as their destiny and God given right to go out and save the people of the world. William Easterly couldn’t have put it any better in his classic book “The White man’s burden”.

The aid and development industry is a self fulfilling prophecy and in a ruthless and cynical way, its survival depends on the continued existence of poverty. There are folks in this industry who have mortgages, bills to pay, kids to go to school and you know, day to day obligations that need to be met. That really isn’t an incentive to run themselves out of a job presumably by eliminating poverty, is it?

So the British government in a desperate bid to show that they are actually taking the lead in global matters decide to hold a global conference to bring together the world’s top experts on global poverty. The “let’s bust poverty around the world” elite spent two days in the plush surroundings of 5 star lobbies and conference rooms in central London discussing short and medium term strategies to support the poorest countries in the world who will be worst affected by the global economic crisis.

Funny, it cost them over £527,000 to host the conference, which is a touch ironic considering the grand purpose of the big picture they’re constantly telling us about….”over x and y number of people in Africa live with less than a dollar a day….yada yada”. £527,000 could have paid for 127,000 anti-malaria nets and is actually more than Britain’s annual aid budget to Namibia.

There was a chance I could have actually taken this more seriously if they held it say in Ouagadougou or the far reaches of southern Asia where the realism of what they’re purporting to do could be the back drop of the discussions….but of course they’ll say, our conference in London was representative and had delegates from the poorest countries in the world. Of course, let’s wheel in the token poverty struck Chair of a so called partner NGO, put him or her in a suit bought somewhere in Shepherds Bush, fast track their visa application through the embassy and parade them to the British media and say – see, we have poor people with us. We even let them speak on stage.

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Tags: development and aid, poverty alleviation, World Economy

Posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Filed underFile under cynicism, Opinion and Perspective, Stone Cold Thoughts.
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