On our blog, we’ve written before about how we feel that within the CVE (countering violent extremism) sector, research and programming can – for a variety of reasons related to sensitivity and confidentiality – become problematically siloed. More and more though we’re also noticing a wider problem of siloing, which is that CVE work as a whole is often treated in isolation from the wider conflict, peacebuilding and governance field..
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What does being a champion for African agriculture mean? This is a key question for those of us heading to Africa’s premier annual forum for agriculture …
Here in the UK we are living in complex times. Last month we voted to leave the EU; it turns out if being in the EU was complicated, leaving is the definition of complexity.
In the hours following the vote there was profound shock, particularly amongst those of us that voted remain. Certainly I had never imagined this result, though neither perhaps had many that voted leave. The post-mortems are mounting and if no one saw it happening, everyone can now explain why it did. Duncan Green, on his ‘Poverty to Power’ Oxfam blog, offers a great summary of contributing factors and avoids any sort of simplistic explanation. For my own reflections (once past the shock and anger), I try looking through the lens of ‘complex adaptive systems’. These are systems that, as Wasafiri, we seek out to work in, and of course unsurprisingly, find that we also live in. One of the clues to understanding such systems is to look for power; where it moves, where it pools, where it stagnates: “Identifying types of power and where they are located is an essential factor in understanding complex social systems” (1)
Well, in the EU referendum many of us saw power in all the normal places; with the business leaders, with the economists, with the analysts of political and economic impact, with our political leaders. Yet BREXIT was voted for in large numbers by those that live outside of London, by working class voters, by older voters, and above all by people who have, politically and economically, been marginalised for a long time; and it turns out however marginalised individually, collectively they held a power that few truly appreciated, at least for this vote.
And now, from the press to the school playground when I pick up my kids, our conversations are dominated by the what ifs, the maybes and the impossible to knows. What we can know is that we are part of a complex adaptive system; one that right now we are trying to change. Like all complex adaptive systems the issues are emerging and changing; they are too complex for any one person or institution to fully understand; and no one body can control, determine or even ‘lead’, let alone predict, exactly what will happen.
So what might BREXIT mean for the UK’s international aid programme? On paper, the value of our aid budget has just dropped by about $1.4 billion(2). This is due to the drop in the value of the pound and the corresponding drop in the value of our aid budget. But in the coming months, as the pound (hopefully) strengthens, or (terrifyingly) drops further, this number will prove to be what it is – a projection. More significantly, though still off somewhere in a post UK Europe, is that the UK contributes about 2 billion Euros to the EU aid budget – though whether this money ‘disappears’ from international aid, or appears in a different form is, as yet, unknowable. Beyond the money there is also the issue of influence. We already see, in many of the countries in Africa where we work, that the UK government has no monopoly on political influence; we compete for space with other national governments, with the boom in Chinese trade and with regional agendas and bodies. As we leave the EU and cease to be part of that substantial infrastructure of delegations, funding and political access, we may have more freedom to ‘sing our own tune’ but we will be singing it on our own, and not as part of a choir of 27 states.
However, as much as many of us didn’t want or vote for BREXIT, and however much we believe it is wrong for our country, we now have it. We will leave the EU. And we need to work out how to do it well. Doing it well means that the process as well as the outcome matter; and that they are actually one and the same. It means working with the emergent nature of the issues; it means engaging across all the stakeholders – those in our country and beyond – however contradictory their views, needs and experiences; it means not pretending that any one person or institution can control, predict or, however brilliant they are, ‘save’ the process. It means recognising that we are living in a complex adaptive system and we had better not underestimate the consequences.
References
(1)
http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/Articles/Connecting-the-dots
(2)
p://www.humanosphere.org/opinion/2016/06/brexit-causes-value-of-u-k-foreign-aid-to-drop-by-1-4-billion/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-36618843
No time to watch all those interesting TED talks? Well we’ve watched (some) of them and here is our 1 minute summary of three of the most interesting and recent with something to say on change in Africa.
For Africa it is all about jobs, leaders and building strong institutions. In countries with weak institution you need good leaders – who can build the strong institutions to protect the country from bad leaders. And Africa needs jobs, lots of jobs – by 2030 the continent will have a bigger workforce than China and that means a 924 million people. Ultimately these jobs need to come predominantly from the private sector and so you need entrepreneurs – and lots of them. Fred is hoping that the African Leadership Academy and the African Leadership Network will be a part of creating these leaders and entrepreneurs that the continent needs.
Who are the biggest senders of money to developing world countries? Migrants are. Remittance payments from international migrants amount to 413 Billion US Dollars per year, or three times as much as ALL the development aid money given by governments. This money tends to move in small amounts and go directly to poor people – it has a direct, measurable, positive impact on development indicators such as birth weight, school attendance and GDP. Yet there are significant barriers and costs to getting this money moving. Diip Ratha’s call for action is to make this money easier and cheaper to send – and he has a plan for donors, social entrprenures and businesses alike on just how to do that.
Not the hopeless but the hopeful continent – Charles Robertson argues (with some stats and some economist talk) that, as a continent, things in Africa are just getting better and better. From economic growth, to the quality of leadership, to reduced corruption, increased education levels and even reduced malaria, he paints a positive and optimistic picture of Africa and calls for the 21st Century to be the century of Africa. While his talk is sweeping and generalist – and his argument disguises huge variety and variation across the continent – it’s still a welcome and useful antidote to the stories of negativity that often dominate talk of Africa.
And if all that is a bit too serious, here is a satirical look at a particular African Stereotype. This one is much better to watch than to read about (and its only 3 mins long).
http://www.ted.com/watch/ads-worth-spreading/lets-save-africa
Download Change Perspectives – Wasafiri Insights 2014 For some practical tips and ingredients on how to deliver change.
In the last year Wasafiri consultants have worked across Africa delivering change in diverse settings and on diverse projects. Working with private, government and NGO clients and across the continent we have tried, succeeded, failed and learnt new lessons about how to deliver change in Africa. ‘Change Perspectives’ is our new short report that shares some of the practical insights we have gained.
How do you create a culture of innovation, be it in a business, an institution or a country? This was one of the big questions that came up at our recent Change Lab in Kigali – and something I have been pondering on. So here is a short ‘Food for Thought Playlist’ of interesting ideas and unusual people innovating in unconventional spaces.
We would love to hear your thoughts and any ‘food for thought’ examples you have.
Arunachalam Muruganantham – Saw a problem, imagined a solution, built a machine, failed (a lot), ignored some feedback, listened to other feedback, engineered a business model, ignored old ideas that didn’t work and has created a significant change in the health, education and economic prospects of rural women in India with health , education and economic impacts. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26260978
Charles Leadbeater- Suggests that ‘the question we ask will shape the answer we get.’ He looks to Kenya, India and Brazil and into some unconventional places for some innovative ideas in how to deliver education, not just in the developing worlds – but everywhere. So our top tip when searching for innovation is to look not to what’s working ‘now’ but to where change is happening ‘now’. Here is the link to his presentation:
Myriam Sidibe – hasn’t invented anything new, but she argues for a new way to use an old solution to solve a big, global problem – but to do this takes innovative thinking and innovative relationships. Take a look at her amazing presentation here:
Steve Chapman – If innovation is a lovely big cake then it needs some ingredients – here Steve adds in the creativity and imagination which on their own aren’t a great meal but altogether make rocket fuel. Read his blog post here:
http://canscorpionssmoke.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/cpr-for-the-imagination/
And finally – this is an old short favorite of mine. Innovation and a culture of innovation is not just about having ideas, it’s about people adopting and getting excited by one another’s ideas – so how do you create a culture where people will adopt, try and follow each others ideas? Take 4 minutes to look at this priceless way to start a movement.
