Paternalism

One ethical issue I have been struggling with for a long time is paternalism. This word may not be the best description of the following thoughts (ramblings), but it was the first that came to mind. Specifically, how to avoid the perception that the outsider, in this case a development practitioner, knows better than the people in the community where he or she works? This is especially a challenge for those of us coming from foreign countries, but for development practitioners working in their native country it is also an issue because they will still be working in communities where they are the outsider.

                To show up in a community and pretend like you know everything is ridiculous. There are numerous historical, cultural, and technical issues that you do not know about. A major part of studying development practice is learning to understand your own limitations. But despite your best efforts to create an inclusive program that works with the community and includes local leaders, the perception that “the outsider knows best” or that “the outsider, who just showed up, thinks he knows better than us, who have lived here forever” can persist. Many developing countries and regions have seen development practitioners and experts come and go for decades, telling the people, “if you just do X, Y and Z, your community will be ‘developed.’” It is a difficult trap to escape. Either the community listens only to the practitioner’s advice and local problem-solving is sacrificed or the practitioner becomes resented by the community as an intruder.

                On the one hand, I feel a strong ethical sense to be involved in development. On the other hand, who am I to tell an old rice farmer how to transplant his crop? (a fellow PCV’s father, while visiting Madagascar, once likened it to a Japanese practitioner showing up in Nebraska and telling a farmer how to grow corn). I like to think that I have skills to offer communities where I have worked and will work. But I am also fully aware that my role is to encourage local participation and assist the community in discovering its own solutions. If I allow the outsider-as-expert mentality to take hold, I am doing damage where I want to be providing assistance.

                This mentality was especially prevalent in Madagascar. The Malagasy often defer to authority of any sort, but especially to foreigners. They looked at me as an American and knew I had the right answers. My attempts to create community-inspired solutions often met with confusion, as everyone was just waiting for me to tell them what to do. The best thing I could do was try to convince people that they could solve their own problems, and my role was a facilitator in helping them accomplish this. But it is easier said than done.

                In a sense, this is the major ethical issue of international development to me (indeed, I think the entire idea of foreign countries providing assistance to developing countries runs the danger of falling into this perception). I do not have an answer of course (once again I am trying to underplay the “development practitioner knows best” angle). It is merely something that troubles me when I stop to think about it, or when I am interacting with fellow practitioners, or when I was in Madagascar. I would love to hear some others’ thoughts on this, and appreciate any feedback.

Unrelated postscript: My apologies for the limited posting lately. Grad school has been intense, but also my thoughts have been shared in classroom settings and in an online collaborative forum, which has left me less inclined to write here. But I will make a concerted effort to produce content here as well… stay tuned.