Save the Children #FirstWorldProblems

After leaving our discussion spurred on by the readings on visual documentation I become interested if there has been any shifts in the documentation of Ethiopia and poverty, as well as whether it has coincided with any actual economic or policy changes within the country. Growing up in southern California, many people were less than knowledgable about Ethiopia in any capacity, with the exception of the Feed the Children commercials that launched at the onset of the drought and famine of 1983-1985. I believe a majority of our class is not old enough to remember this actual timeframe in history, however many of the commercials launched in response to this natural disaster were heavily in rotation for a number of years after an extent of the disaster had been contained and in still play to this day to some extent.

Just for background development, in the case some people did not run into such commercials growing up I decided to try to search one of the archaic commercials. Personally, I still remember the extremely underweight children almost too frail to move being paraded on late night television all too well, as well as their distended bellies that are still the bud of many jokes once people do find out I am from there.

 I stumbled across across a few videos reminiscent of the many videos I had seen. All of the following videos in my opinion manipulate images to a great degree. In fact, one of the images that was included in one of the videos was the Kevin Carter's iconic images from his trip to Northern Sudan depicting the vulture preying over a famine stricken Sudanese toddler from the village of Ayod, Sudan.

In efforts to capture the perfect image whether it is for the purpose to represent the raw moment or to serve as call to action for the viewing public there is to an extent a degree of staging that occurs, which ultimately also equates manipulating the subject. In this instance the subject is the marginalized, the have-nots, the hungry, the sickly, and youth this leads to the question whether this equates to exploitation. When this images are captured we need to also weight out what we are able to live with in terms of at what cost does the image warrant the exploitation. Is the after affect or the desired call to attention worth it?

Another interesting aspect of the videos posted below is the lack of a call to action. We mentioned this in class earlier. The stirring up of all these emotions and sense of accomplishment felt by some for just engaging with the images and feeling like a better person for seeing the depths of poverty that exist. Yes, many of us need to be more grateful for what we have and it does become quiet simpler when you see the less fortunate shoved in your face on your big screen television. However, displaying such images whether they are staged, manipulated, and utter examples of exploitation are even WORSE to me when there is no option or suggestion to viewers to help fix the problem they are feeling sorry for and emotional over.  When we joke about things like #FirstWorldProblems I think we become cognizant of a problem, which is the goal, but are missing the latter half of the goal: the change we are hoping for.

Not too surprisingly, the images today asking for donations for Ethiopia are quite similar. The only representation of poverty that I felt was a stray away from these all too paralleling videos was a film shaped to feel like a documentary. The title, Zewdi The Street Kid, in my opinion does much more justice to the target group(marginalized street children in Ethiopia). http://vimeo.com/27882235

The Samaritans

To watch the trailer for the show:

http://aidforaid.org/

I recently stumbled upon this hilarious satire about NGOs. The comedy follows an Non-Governmental Organization in Kenya, Africa.  I think the new show is clever and draws attention to the issues that we discuss in GPP 115 and 105.

While watching the trailer, phrases/words that stood out were:

"saving Africa"

"make a difference"

" degree in international development"

"build capacity" 

Although some of these phrases are problematic, it is commonly seen in the world of volunteerism and development. 

I think the creation of this show reveal the attitude that some people many have about NGO and their work.  There is a growing number of people who have become indifferent to the commercials that ask for money to save a hungry child or send a girl to school. Furthermore, poverty alleviation work has become notoriously  linked to NGO. The NGO has become a household concept.

This show, The Samaritan, criticizes the assumptions that NGOs are always effective organizations to address the problem of global poverty. Similar to William Fisher's article, this show ask viewers to question the work of NGOs and not assume that NGOs are all wonderful organizations that can replace government. 

The show has manage to point out the common problems and flaws with NGOs in a funny and entertaining way. First, the director of the NGO in the show is a white male from London. He has a master degree in international development and his experience includes past internships with the NGO. The show depicts him a an incompetent man who is out of touch with the mission of developmental work.  Interestingly, all the employees and staff were people of color, displaying the different power dynamics that occurs in an NGO. It also brings attention to concept of the global north coming into the global south with the assumption of knowing what is best. 

Overall, I think this is a clever show that is funny because it is something many people can relate to and also has some truth to it.

Technological solutions in the world of aid

This semester I've felt the presence of technology and the drive to solve problems with technological solutions stronger than ever. We often use the phrase "There's an app for that!" as a joke, but to be really honest, it really does feel like that sometimes. Especially after taking my mobile health technology class this semester, I feel that the options are pretty much are limitless when trying to design an innovative solution with technology for underserved communities, both locally and globally. As a 20-something going to school in the Bay Area, with the hub of technological innovation in my backyard, I get extremely excited when I hear about the latest app or mobile health solution that rolls out. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when my group for our class project decided to work on a sexual health SMS text service for local youth. But when pitching our idea in class in a small group discussion, Professor Talwalker brought up the very important question of how participatory these innovations can be. 

Technology has permeated markets everywhere. From 2010 to 2011 alone, there was an increase in mobile-cellular subscriptions by 600 million users, with most of these in developing-country markets (http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-ICTOI-2012-SUM-PDF-E.pdf). And as of 2012, 85% of US adults were reported to own a cell phone (http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Mobile-Health/Key-Findings.aspx). And that's just looking at mobile phones. Internet, tablets and other forms of technology are also being utilized. And the development projects they are being incorporated in range from health, emergency and disaster relief, community organizing, education and so much more. 

It's not that difficult to see the pull of using technological solutions. Interventionists can quite literally put aid in the hands of beneficiary communities anywhere or connect people to resources or people that they otherwise would not have access to. Disaster struck areas can be 'crowd-mapped' (www.crowdmap.com) to map out areas in crisis where resources are needed or even available to make the relief efforts more efficient and coordinated. Health screenings can be automatically administered through IVR (interactive voice response) where women are called and asked questions through an automatic voice service and women respond back by pressing keys on their phone (http://instedd.org/baby-monitor/). Cool, right? 

But what about the drawbacks to information giving and resource connecting through these means? They can be extremely impersonal and there are accompanying issues of ownership, ethics and, of course, participation. Technology use hasn't permeated global markets enough for these solutions to be introduced and implemented at a grassroots level. They're made by coders and developers of privilege and power. They make assumptions about technology use, uptake and learning curves. They even can pose a risk to the people that use them (i.e. putting these products in the hands of poorer communities can put users' safety at risk; widening existing disparities). 

There are design methods nowadays that have been formalized and are very thorough. Human-centered design (HCD) and participatory design processes are popular strategies that help innovators come up with solutions by listening to and learning from the communities in need. HCD helps balance the need, as voiced by the beneficiary community, feasibility and viability. Participatory design actively involves stakeholders in the development process. (Basically, HCD: designing FOR users and participatory design: designing WITH users.) 

But is that enough? 

Thinking about this issue took me back to our discussion of the Munro and Butt piece on 'rendering technical' in which we talked about interventions being too practical and generalized, often ignoring the nuances of the beneficiary community. All development projects and interventions as we have been discussing have recommendations and guidelines to make them more participatory and culturally sensitive, because as we all know by now, this is a never-ending struggle. With time, technology use will be even more prevalent and these issues I have discussed could be a thing of the past. But for the time being, are there extra measures we can take to make these more participatory? 

SNAP cuts

            September 19^th, 2013 under pressure from the Tea Party, a mostly Republican voted pushed a bill through the house to eliminate loopholes, ensure work requirements, and put “us on a fiscally responsible path.” The program cost almost $80 billion last year, and is projected with the $40 billion cut to cost $700 billion in the next decade. Following the precedent set by PROWRA, adult beneficiaries would still be required to work or be in a job-training program, but also now there will exist a 3-month maximum and a requirement to pass drug tests for benefits. The bill also designates recipients of other social welfare assistance ineligible.

            In April 2013, 15.2% of Americans received SNAP (30% of which were working and 72% to households with children). Two weeks prior to the vote the Agriculture Department reported that in fact 17.6% households did not have enough to eat in 2012 due to lack of resources to provide food. Two days prior to the vote the Census Bureau reported that 46.5 million people live in Poverty in America (15%). These numbers beg further questioning to the claim that the program had “grown out of control.”

            Furthermore, none of these numbers take into account the many new trends, such as boomerang-kids and doubling-up on housing to share costs. Almost 4 million recipients will be cut from the rolls in two months, disproportionately youth. Although the economy may be improving, a strikingly high percentage of Americans live well under the poverty line. It is difficult to measure how much of an impact in-kind benefits as SNAP make on the quality of lives. Nonetheless, I feel that the social welfare network is called a safety net for the reason to catch individuals in moments as these- not only during a recession, but for the years following. While overall things may be looking up, things have not improved at all for most hard-working, yet underemployed American families.

            At The Suitcase Clinic, we don’t get many requests for assistance from families with youth, unless already placed in a shelter. Many parents are afraid of asking for help when suffering extreme poverty due to the fear CPS will take their children. I really wonder how we will be able to evaluate the tremendous impact of this drastic cut as it plays out this coming year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/politics/house-passes-bill-cutting-40-billion-from-food-stamps.html 

http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb13-165.html

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err155/report-summary.aspx#.UnM_zRaDd8s

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/opinion/another-insult-to-the-poor.html?hp&_r=0

Disaster Relief and Corruption in Mexico.

There was Storm Manuel that hit Mexico’s Pacific coast, near Acapulco last month. Sources say that “Many of those deaths occurred in Acapulco's home state… and the mud completely blocked the entrance to a main hillside tunnel that lead into the city as waist-deep flood waters at the city's international airport prevented roughly 40,000 visitors from leaving. At least 58 people remain missing days after Manuel slammed the region.”

Although there was not much news coverage about this storm, it was a grave disaster to the vulnerable communities in the Pacific coast of Mexico, whom relied primarily from government disaster relief.

I did not experience the implication of this storm directly, but a friends’ relative did, and I was able to get a local perspective about how governmental/international distribution of water, food, and other emergency supplies sometimes do not reach the people and become lost or handed over by corruption dealings. The relative of my friend lived in Guerrero, Acapulco, and her homes were one of the many homes that were shattered by the impact of the storm. She claimed that she along with the family of 5 was forced to live in set up camps along with other victim families. The next day, when local Mexican authority had claimed that governmental aid supplies, and necessary supplies would come by in a few hours in trucks to be distributed to the families who lost everything, the families waited for that promised assistance. However, as soon as they herd the arrival of trucks loaded with supplies, the trucks simply kept going straight into the road, and never stopped. The supplies and the trucks never came, and they still do not know where those donation went. This story depict the immense corruption behind local aid distribution, in this case specifically target for disaster relief. I wonder to what extent were national actors involved in this type of doing, whether it was corruption by secondary hand, or already top-down dealings. The question holds, who is to be held accountable? Because the victims see only the governmetn as the ineffective provider.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/19/us-storm-manuel-idUSBRE98H1BQ20130919