The Margins

It struck me that an iconic anti-capitalist book first published in 1973 could share a theme with financial planning advice from 2009. I am reading EF Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful” and he makes an interesting observation about the fact that in western society we are so detached from the infrastructure and resources that enable our lifestyle that we easily forget how much we rely upon such basics clean water and sanitation. This seemed to be echoed in a quote from an article about peak oil in a Finance newsletter (July 2009 Issue): “Our modern, developed societies tend to be removed, by their present degree of affluence, from the environment as the basis for our existence. Food comes from the supermarket; clean water comes from the faucet. But the closer people live to the margin of existence, the more they realize the vital importance of fertile soil, and safe drinking water.” (Walter Youngquist).

For me it is the photo above that illustrates this point so succinctly. Despite all the goodwill in providing a road for the local community we maintain the western approach of simply shifting the problem sufficiently so that we can ignore it. It is only that I see this pile of rubbish (from the window of our project base) every day that I am reminded of the direct impact I have on the environment. It is no different to the impact I have living in a modern city. The difference is the that having established infrastructure like reticulated water supply and a sophisticated garbage collection system makes it easier for me to detach myself from the problem. Am hoping three months of looking at this mess will stick with me for a while (and in the meantime I will try to find out what we can do with it).

That Road

So a few more details about the project. It is called the Tugala Oyo Village Access Development Project that for us (ACTED) means a 13km “Telford” Road. The attached photo gives an idea as to how the road is built. Essentially once trenches are dug for drainage stones are placed and then covered with gravel and compacted. It is by no means at the forefront of technology but is it makes use of local materials (stone, gravel, sand) and local labour through Cash-For-Work contracts (an effective way to distribute funds to the area). Whilst we normally associate cars with roads the second photo identifies one of these intended purposes (the kids are working on a completed section of road). It is designed mainly for pedestrians and motorbikes with allowance for the occasional light 4WD. It’s true benefit will be to maintain access during heavy rain (I can personally attest to the fact that even walking after not much rain is difficult in many places along the existing road). About 6km of the total 13km are complete (but we are 12 months into a 16 month program) so things will be tight . . . especially with the wet season starting around mid-September.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It seemed pretty obvious to me from day one here that there is a lack of good planning on this project (see attached photo of the program for this week). Work is done as it presents itself and as long as the team is doing as much as they can it doesn’t seem to matter how much progress is made towards the end goal (or away from it as it feels some days). My nature and experience says otherwise (that we must be able to plan things logically) and I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to come up with a way to do this (mainly in the form of a spreadsheet accounting for estimates, actual progress and work remaining). It is killing me that I can’t find a way but for every “rule” that one can establish there is a reason it won’t work (community disputes, lack of data, rain etc). When I get frustrated with a problem like this I generally try to go back to basics. Working things up from first principles often makes the picture clearer. We will see.

Expectations – Who really cares? 8/07/09
It is an underlying theme of development or humanitarian work that one should not commence work with a new community with preconceived ideas about what needs to be done. To arrive with an agenda and impose this on a community is (and many are afraid to say it) very much an imperial approach. When development is done well, a community’s real needs are identified through a thorough assessment process and projects are selected or prioritized accordingly. With this in mind (as well as an awareness of the fact that the road was nearing completion so execution rather than assessment would be required) I tried to have as few as possible but my main expectation was that the local people would have some desire to work towards a better life. I have been taken aback by what I can only describe as apathy of the Nationals working on the project but particularly the locals who will be benefitting from it. Simple things like lack of maintenance of the drainage already completed by the locals and an apparent unwillingness amongst the project staff to provide complete information are surprising. I hope my perception can change in the coming months.

Yellow Brick Road

It is awesome (if occasionally frustrating) to be subjecting the senses to a serious download again. For the next three months I'm on an island called Nias off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The island was hit by the Tsunami in late 2004 and then a large earthquake in 2005. Since then, thanks mainly to NGO's some big steps have been made towards rectifying the damage and initiating sustainable development for the people of Nias. Through EWB UK (www.ewb-uk.org) I am volunteering for an NGO called ACTED (www.acted.org) and will be working on a road (see the photo) in a place called Moro'o (where government investment has apparently been minimal at best). This blog is a chance to tell a few of the stories and begin to answer the question that its title poses . . .