Who loves TEDtalks? We ALL
love TEDtalks!
Here is the TEDx talk I’d
like to reflect upon…
Though
there are no mind-blowing innovations in this talk, its simple, yet profound
reminders stood out to me. This speaker is David Damberger, who worked with
Engineers Without Borders for four years as the director of Southern African
programs, where he consulted governments and nongovernmental organizations on
“agriculture, sanitation and development.” He talks about how ten years ago,
EWB’s mission was wrapped around how it’s unacceptable that 5 million do not
have access to water and that they need to work on projects that matter and can
fix this. In order to do this, him and his friends knew that that it was
important to first understand the problems that exist, so they decided to “live
like local Africans.” They stayed in the villages, learning the local language
and taking public transportation. Even with good intentions, however, we must
be wary…
During
his talk, he tells the audience about the conditions in Malawi and how over the
past five years, millions have gained access to freshwater. As his powerpoint
displays a picture of an ecstatic boy collecting water, he says, “This picture
is a lie.
He
details that though 80% now have “access” to freshwater sources, a report on
these taps uncovered the reality that 81 of the 113 in the area are not
functional, springing leaks and needing repairs. The thing is, though
infrastructure was built, there was not much thought put into how these taps
would be maintained. There was a focus on hardware and not software. Though
people in the community had skills to repair them, they had no access to
affordable spare parts. When he asked a local about another similar tap he
noticed 30 feet away, the villager said, “that’s the American gravity system.”
There, Damberger realized that a project that failed 10 years ago by a
different American group, was recently rebuilt by EWB 10 years later, also
failing from the same problems.
He
then reflects on power systems and why this might’ve happened. With a simple
diagram, he shows how in public sector,
constituents, whom decisions affect, have power to make change and in the
private sector, customers, whom decisions affect, have power to make change; In
the development sector, however, donors have the power to control decisions
that will affect beneficiaries. With this reality, he says we should invest in
private and public sectors, which already have infrastructure to hold people
accountable. He encourages investing in businesses and government in Africa. In
these sectors, if customers aren’t served, and if sectors do not innovate and
change and adapt to their needs, customers will not continue to support.
Another
thing he suggests is fixing the development sector system, by making it more accountable,
creative and transparent. He says that beneficiaries need to have the option of
rating their projects, moving donors closer to beneficiaries (as only 20% of
African staff are based in Africa).
The
most important takeaway I got was that people must be open to admitting failure so that then, people in the future
will not make the same mistakes. He shares a story of his work in India, where
he led and implemented a rainwater harvesting project. When he came home to
Canada, people were inspired by him and praised him for his work. However, a
year later, he found out that not a single one was operating and then, he felt
like an imposter, so ashamed and disappointed in himself.
The
admirable thing is that he turned this situation around into something
positive. Because of his effort, Engineer Without Borders is now more focused
on the “softer” side of things, where staff members are working towards letting
others know the successes and failures that are happening. In the last three
years, a “Failure Report” has been published which reveals these
disappointments. Of course, donors initially did not feel good that their
contributions were not put to use, but once they started reading, they came to
understand the power of sharing these things. He talked about how there are
websites like admittingfailure.com out there, existing to share these things.
Now
I’m thinking, how does the International Rescue Committee discuss successes and
failures? On their website and pamphlets, I see time and time again, pie charts
of their successes in each department and how a majority of money is going directly
to the refugees they serve. What I gather from this is that IRC takes a lot of pride
in putting their clients first and making that know to donors. However, I am
wondering if there are actually problems that run deep that are hard to admit
it that the common citizen will never know. As I think about criticisms of the
US Refugee Assistance Program, I see how many highlight the lack of an adequate
information sharing system. This is important, because refugees who go through
secondary migration after arrival are lost track of and then ineligible for
certain government benefits. On the other hand, I see how it is hard to
actually go out and be vulnerable in sharing failures in a world where funding
is given based on quantitative data that proves success. Data on success allows
donors to know that they are supporting a worthy cause. If an organization
admits their faults, will it decrease the financial support they will receive?
Perhaps our whole system that provides funding to organizations needs to
restructure in ways that enforce better foundations. Foundations that are thoroughly
informed on the work that has been done in past and required regular
assessments are necessary to break the continual failures that organizations
face. We, as people who are passionate to be catalysts for change, need to think
about these things first, before we get out and take action!
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