For some years now I’ve been writing about international development and supremacy culture as a product of colonialism, capitalism and geopolitics. In response, I’ve heard from many other people who’ve watched much of the international NGO (INGO) world morph into an industry in all the ugly senses of that word - an assembly line mentality that sees people as replaceable widgets, data and resources as things to be extracted, and projects as product lines which generate revenue and market share.
“There are just a lot of uncomfortable truths many of us need to face,” as a former colleague wrote to me recently, “really looking inward as to why we are doing what we are doing and what approach we are taking to it...There are many people that would not like their little Global North/traveling with airline Gold Status lifestyle to stop, you know?”
That may sound like over-generalisation, but she and others like her represent the unused fuel that could make transformation happen in the international development sector, people who are focused, thoughtful, innovative, effective and efficient. They know that their work has a moral basis, and that it’s supposed to make a meaningful difference to people on the wrong side of the inequality equation.
