CIDA and CSR

I don't know enough about this topic to comment adequately. But I know that CIDA's new corporate social responsibility strategy - funding corporations' CSR programs - is controversial, particularly when CIDA is cutting funding to NGOs.

CBC's The Current does a much better job at looking at the debate. Today's program devotes a half hour to this topic. You can listen to it on their Past Episodes page.  

On Voluntourism

The CBC radio program Q had Daniella Papi on today talking about Voluntourism and the way she is trying to change the industry. Arguing that young privileged people need to see the world to become better people - "they need to get angry and change the world". But they should do this after they learn and when they leave. Her company does voluntourism with the aim to educate about development and address a lot of the ills that voluntourism presents.

I'm not sold on the gap year program, and she lost me on voting for orphanages - but if voluntourism is going to happen anyways she may be heading down a good path.

Orphanage Idol in Nigeria

I think my jaw dropped when I watched a commercial for Melody Star. It's a televised singing competition for orphans. There's a cash prize for the winner, and other prizes for the runners up. The sponsors come across quite earnest, but it's extremely exploitative. As in many countries, homes for disadvantaged and abandoned children are for the most part privately run in Nigeria. Even state supported homes don't really get that much support. So creative ways of fundraising help. However, publicly displaying - to the entirety of West Africa - the children as sad, poor victims and having them sing for their support may not the best way to do it.

I met up with my old supervisor/mentor/superwoman from my first gig out of college - the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice in Ghana [she now works for ISODEC. Great places - look them up.] We got on to the topic of the emergence of corporate social responsibility in Ghana and it's impact on Accra's orphanages. Here too, company's are realising that they should give back to communities - and are also realising that it gets them great press. But there is limited needs assessments or community consultation as to how their help could be best used. So we end up with a case of classic SWEDOW. Companies donate food, clothing and toys to orphanages without much concern for whether they need those items, and then in return receive a performance of song and/or dance for their cameras. She said that over weekends, the orphanages can be so booked up with donations that the children end up working all day. Yet the orphanages are wary of shunning the support - it is charity and also draws attention to the issue of neglected children in Ghana. A number of orphanages are actually more like foster homes, hosting children that do have surviving parents or relatives, but are unable/unwilling to care for them.

There are other ways to promote your company's compassionate side without exploiting your beneficiaries - obviously. Donors, such as CIDA, are becoming slightly more interested in CSR and supporting companies develop their programs in a responsible fashion. Perhaps a new avenue for West African CSOs could start with CSR programs with a child protection lens?

Remembering the victims of the December 6th shooting at L'École Polytechnique

Today is the anniversary of the shootings at Montreal's l'École Polytechnique. In 1989, Marc Lépine entered the school and opened fire on the women in an engineering class. He was reported to have separated the women from the men - with survivors recalling him stating that he hated feminists. He killed 14 female students.

Since 1991, the day has been designated - in Canada - a national day of remembrance. It helped build another important campaign - The White Ribbon Campaign - bringing men together with women to fight gender based violence. During the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence we remember the victims and survivors of the shooting.

In Ottawa there is a memorial at Minto Park at 18h00.

Promised 16 Days Blog. There might even be two.

The other day my place of employment had the pleasure and the honour of hosting Barbara Bailey. Barbara, was until recently, the head of the Gender and Development Studies department at the University of the West Indies at MONA, and she is the CEDAW representative for Jamaica. She has just completed a long study on gender and education, commissioned initially to find out why boys were dropping out of secondary school. She managed to refocus the study so that it looked at the socioeconomic factors that affect both boys and girls and how that contributed to them leaving or staying in school.

Her description of the study – yet to be published – highlighted an important concept: The Currency of Certification. The presentation displayed the fact that, in addition to pay disparity, and a thick glass ceiling, women also need more schooling than men to reach the same professional level.* Boys are still learning that they do not require high levels of education in order to work. Moreover, highly educated women are still being pushed out of the job market despite their certifications. Therefore despite the focus on women’s education as a means to greater gender equality, it does not help much without a push on the economic side to create jobs for women – but also men.

During the 16 Days of Activism we look specifically at gender violence. The focus of Dr. Bailey’s study showed that the economy on a whole contributed to boys leaving school early. There has been a reduction in the West Indies in areas of employment gendered as male, with growth in areas traditionally gendered as female – such tourism and call centres. There has not been a rebranding of these industries as something everyone can do - therefore, women are now having greater access to jobs/money. This change in gender parity has resulted in men reasserting themselves through macho activities such gun running and drug dealing – where they can earn a lot of cash. This has also attributed to a rise in violence on the streets but also in the homes.

The study reminds us that gender violence and gender equality cannot be fixed through simple targeting, but requires systemic and holistic changes to pretty much everything we do. Not an easy task.

*In her presentation, Dr. Bailey pointed to a UN study that showed that women need on average 6 years more education than men to reach the same job level. I cannot find the report, but will cite it once I do.

Young Professionals in Human Rights

I'm guest blogging at YPHR about choosing a field posting or a HQ post. YPHR is a great resource for those living in the UK, providing a chance to network and learn about careers in the broader human rights sphere.

What's there to do for fun in a refugee camp?

May not be the first thing you'd ask when you get there. But for children and youth in refugee/displacement camps (or in locations affected by conflict or natural disaster) the opportunity to let loose is an important part of retaining some of the "normal" in their lives, and thus caring for their psycho-social well being.



There are a lot of fantastic programs that promote play for children and youth. One of my favourites is Right to Play, an organisation that started in Canada running sports programs in conflict affected areas. They have moved now to training physed teachers as well, so the concept of play pervades that curriculum, in addition to running sports programs for kids. They rely heavily on dedicated volunteers to carry out the projects, and occasionally get a few olympians along the way to give their time.

There are other fantastic initiatives that I have seen that have been wildly successful in popularity amongst kids. I have seen great work done by circus schools in the West Bank. One of my favourites is Capoeira programs which kids, both boys and girls, seem to take to like a fish to water. Oragnisations such as Capoera Arabe and Bidna Capoeira have been running programs for Palestinian and Iraqi refugee children and youth. The program teaches children to dance capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian dance style, as well as the songs and instrumental accompaniments. The basic moves mimic martial arts, but there is no contact. The dance is about creativity, and designed by oneself, giving the dancer the opportunity to choose what they do next - it's not dictated by choreography. It may seem trivial, but an outlet to vent frustration through dance driven by ones own creativity gives an important elemental of control to that kid when many other things seem out of their hands. What is more, the program to my knowledge has attracted both girls and boys (but I am unsure about young women).

Youth often get left behind in aid - particularly in fragile areas. When they are focused on, it's out of fear that young men left idle may turn into a source of instability (scary scary youth bulge). There are very few well documented initiatives of programs aimed at young women - often left out of the youth sphere. Culturally they may not even be considered youth at all, with the passage from childhood to woman hood marked by menstruation, or early marriage/pregnancy. More creative solutions are needed to address this. And more youth-led initiatives should be developed.

PS: Guardian has a new site on international development. It says it has "the best ideas on the biggest challenges". That may be a bold, premature statement. However. At least it exists.

Microfinance Superstar: Little Luxuries of HQ life

One of the great things I’ve found about staying on the HQ side of things is that my day to day experiences may not be “as exciting” (read: I’m in Ottawa) but I do have the fortune to attend fantastic events.

The International Development Research Centre is 40 years old this year and are holding a year-long anniversary celebration. While most people face a mountain full of “Over the Hill mugs” and surprise parties at their 40th, IDRC is running a lecture series. Yesterday I got to see Mohammed Yunis, of Grameen Bank or Nobel Prize fame.

He is an incredibly engaging speaker that inspires many to work for social change. His views on the banking industry are spot on and he has incredible vision for the world of business and industry. I was however left questioning a few things.
A few questions from the audience were left unanswered. The first being: Was there any backlash from some elements of the community against the bank? Yunis talked at length about Loan Sharking, and how that activity drew him to develop an alternative method of loans for the poor. However once loans could be obtained from a safe, less invasive source, what happened to the loan sharks? I have not managed to find any information on this but I’d be interested to find out whether this happened – and if so how was it mediated. Secondly, the money was put primarily in the hands of women who had never had the opportunity to control finances before. This is incredibly empowering, but must have been equally disempowering for men. What was done to address any backlash in the community regarding this? Nowadays if an organisation employs gender mainstreaming into its programming, women’s empowerment projects such as microfinance would include an element of engagement with men, so that threat is reduced. However, was this done initially?

The second question was regarding the role of Cooperatives in microfinance. The answer was essentially – yeah I guess there is a role there – which is not incorrect. I was disappointed in this because so much time was spent explaining many elements of the bank and of Yunis’ Social Business model, but an opportunity to highlight what I can see is an important tool to further empower and develop communities was not highlighted as well. So much of the presentation was about teaching, and I felt an opportunity was lost.

Major questions, such as how does Microfinance and Social Business account for economies of scale. Essentially, how do you make sure you are not flooding the market with tailors rather than building industry? Moreover, how does your goal of “cutting out the middle man” (he uses the example of Shea butter and L’Oreal) affect price inflation in a state? Finally, Yunis has, what seems like an interesting take on welfare systems in western states. It comes across as if he believes that they are a system to be abused and that they can be replaced with social business and microcredit. If this is the case I would be interested in hearing what his views are on safety nets for those who are in between jobs, or those with mental illness.

The lecture was still fantastic and microfinance has still revolutionised economic recovery programming. Definitely worth a viewing. All of the lectures in the series are recorded and can be found here.

aaaannnnddd we're back!

SO after several months of jumping off the blogosphere I am back.

After some intense months in the wonderful country of Iraq, I decided that it was time for a much needed break from everything Aid related. I didn't even read the news... aside from Celebrity Gossip (a habit I thought would die as my stress levels decreased... But apparently this is one addiction that is incredibly hard to ditch, even when you are able to stomach real news once again).

I'm now moving back into the working world, this time on the HQ/Think Tanky side of things for the next little bit in my home and native land. I'm excited because it is an opportunity to begin specialising in areas of interest. I'm also interested in seeing how long I stave off itchy feet before I want to move. My money's on winter - I haven't lived through an north-eastern North American winter in about 4 years. From what I recall, there's nothing better than two feet of snow and -40C to make you want to run to the DRC. But we'll see.

I will be blogging at least for the next little while, once again about my favourite topic... conflict. Youth and conflict, gender and conflict, conflict and conflict.

Glad to be back.

Inukshuks in Northern Iraq

There are a lot of rocks up here. As well as building materials. Erbil itself is essentially one giant consrtuction site. It may be considered the perfect place to bring in a great Canadian tradition of Inukshuk markings?

Although the rocks aren't ideal - smaller and rounder rather than the bigger, flatter shield cast offs - it is still a great way to pass time in villages.




Not sure what the locals will think of this.

Just because I'm abroad does not mean I can't be be enraged by national politics

So my prime minister thinks women are a fringe left wing group... grrrrr