Downside of NGO’s [Wednesday 5 August]

We had our donor representative visit today which shed some more light on the apathy that surprised me on arrival (am used to it now but it is no less disappointing). Having worked in this area of Nias for some time and elsewhere in Indonesia post-Tsunami projects he has had plenty of experience with local communities. We are having difficulty getting the two villages where the road is complete to do some maintenance work on a voluntary basis. The logic being that the road is a “gift” from Caritas (the donor) and the communities should receive this gratefully by assisting with its maintenance. The reality is more like pulling teeth. My assumption was that they are lazy and ungrateful. Jean-Cyril (the Donor Rep) challenged this assumption by suggesting that in developing countries where NGO’s operate a culture of receiving develops. It is almost a survival instinct for these people to get as much as they can from the donor with as little effort for themselves as they don’t know when the next project may come along. Whilst this is hard to avoid it does beg the question are we really helping these people? In doing so it appears we are encouraging them to not help themselves, something that will no doubt be to their own detriment in the long-term.