When I teach a class, I know that a new subject will take me 4 hours of work for each hour of class. You have to read the text, prepare class discussions, learning exercises, assignments. You have to grade and return the assignments. Well, I just learned that doing an "encuentro" - a meeting - takes about an hour for every hour of the meeting!
I have spent virtually all of the last 2 days with the team preparing for the Rotarian encounter next week - and this has nothing to do with the logistics. That is all done by someone else in some other place! This is just what we want to accomplish, and why, and how. We actually started the topics a few weeks ago, so it takes just a tad longer than one hour for every hour.
I like the product so far - I am anxious to see how it all works out in practice. There will be about 30 people running around here for the biggest day of this - that should be interesting! The very next day after this one, there will be over 200 people here for the annual gathering of all of the communities!
The logistics are another small nightmare. I have been exposed to just a bit of that. Some of the participants are coming from Minnesota, some from Masaya, some from towns near Somitillo - 4 hours north - some from Teustepe, some from the new communities, etc. Just the process of inviting people is pretty amazing when it is done primarily by face to face meetings and follow up contacts. Expecially in the new communities. They do not have a real community yet, with an established meeting - it is all done by walking around, sitting and talking with people and inviting them, one by one!
Then there is getting agreement from participants on where to meet, where to stay, what to eat and when - and then all of the buses and trucks, etc, to get them all there on time - more or less - it is just amazing. One small example, there is going to be a crowd of 30 or so in a small town south of here - near the new communities. Where do we eat? What do we eat? What can we eat! We northerners are a little sensitive to the water, etc. When I am walking around in the community with Luis, he only lets me take something where he knows they are using purified water. For the others, he tells them that this poor chele can't have anything because of his health. And he's right! But I have not had a single problem on this trip as yet.
With the travelogue, we are going to Esteli this weekend for a retreat with two of the communities. Should be interesting. AKF is leading the retreat, and they have spent a few hours working on that as well. I am curious to see the schedule, because a few people have asked me to talk to people in town. I'll have to see where we are situated and what the schedule is like.
Well, the novelty has certainly worn off. I could go home tomorrow. I am hearing Spanish much better - my brain doesn't freeze up quite as much. But the other night, coming back from Teustepe, the driver and one of the passengers talked for an hour or so and I could not catch more than a few words. I figured out they were talking about motorcycles, and that was it. I am sure I know all the words they are using. They just do not pronounce them the way I am used to hearing them - it's a regional thing, I guess. I don't know how to work up to it either!
I'm not speaking it much better - I am still thinking in English (or Italian) and fishing for words. Instead of just saying something, I am still translating. And I think my accent has gone to heck. They keep catching me using the Z sound, and actually pronouncing a V sound. Bad form. I help one of the guards here at night night with his English assignment. He has a heck of a time getting the V sound out. It's worse that an English speaker trying to learn to trill the R. You say "little ladder" a few times - that's where the tongue should be. What do I do with his V?
OK - I'm going to quit for now and look for something to eat here! Take care.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Travelogue - Dulce Nombre de Jesus and El Ojoche
Back to the travelogue. I had the opportunity to travel with the team to the far Northern part of Nicaragua to visit these two towns: Dulce Nombre de Jesus and El Ojoche. Since many of you may not have had the opportunity to spend a night in a small town in Nicaragua, this may give you a feel for it.
Roads in Nicaragua
I figure every day I learn something new is a day well spent. Well, this one was a good one. To see where these places are, go to Leon, and keep on going to Somitillo, and hang a right for another 45 minutes or so. The border with Honduras is a few miles further north. It took 4 and one half hours to drive from Managua, so the trips are always overnight. The good thing is that the road to Leon is almost brand new, and one can drive along without worrying about potholes. The Spanish for pothole is "pothole". Actually it is "hoyo" hole, or "bache" bump, rut, etc. Neither of which I can ever remember - but the paper this week used the word "pothole". After Leon, there are some potholes, so there is considerable weaving and swerving about. The gravel road out of Somotillo is actually quite nice. The communities up there persuaded the local government to repair it. It only has a few spots where you need to go a bit more slowly.
The road to some of the other communities is unbelievably bad. I posted a video to YouTube on the one to El Corozo - you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh9n5Qxq6a4&feature=feedu. It's about 15 kilometers of bumping and jostling along at 5 mph. The curious thing is that as you are going along on this wretched track, all of a sudden, there's a paved section. I'm thinking - yes - they fixed the road. But it only lasts for 100 feet or so, and back to the ruts. Then another paved section, and so on. Turns out, that section of the road was so bad that no one could get through, so they paved it with the standard paving blocks! Bit by bit, I guess.
I am pretty sure that they could save millions of dollars in gasoline here if they really fixed all the roads. Even anywhere in Managua, people are always swerving, or stopping, or crawling along because of the holes in the road. Woodbury even times its traffic lights just to save gas and air pollution.
El Ojoche
We drove over to El Ojoche to hold a brief meeting with the women's pottery group. There were two amazing things about this little town: 1 - there was NO LITTER. None, none whatsoever. You would have thought someone swept the central square and every piece of road, and the yards. I couldn't believe it. Every developing country I have been in, and some areas of developed ones, have lots of litter - plastic bags, trash, etc. It always bothers me, but I figure it takes a certain level of development before you start to worry about trash like that, or turn it into an industry! Our "fearless leader" explained that they had a couple of deaths in the community, and all of a sudden all those words about health and cleaning things up hit home. The disease was Leptosprisosos, spread by the urine of animals like rats, which humans come in contact with through an open wound. I had an ear of corn there, and I could not find a place to put the cob. Our host suggested I feed it to her pig - who obligingly took care of it! Wayne - this is NOT sweet corn, but it tasted pretty good - bit chewy by your standards.
The other thing was that there was a crew of men and boys working on the road! They were putting in rocks and covering them with dirt to take care of a rough downhill section. That's the first time I've seen anyone working on their own road! You pass crews every once in a while - but to have the neighbors pitch in and fix it, that was new. Elena says that this community is really well put together. They do not accompany the community any more - they have reduced the group to just the women's pottery group. That group has raised funds and constructed their own kiln, and seem to be doing pretty well.
What came to me during this visit is that our "project", if you will, is actually about building up the community, helping them establish relationships, build a network, and work together to accomplish whatever they want. If that turns out to be a road or a school or something tangible - that is clearly secondary. That they become a community capable of doing that is the whole goal!
Dulce Nombre de Jesús
I stayed overnight in this community, primarily because they have a well, and most homes have an outhouse. An outhouse I can handle. No outhouse - I am not quite sure what one does. I sat and talked with my host mother and the two children. She made me dinner, and they left me alone with it! That is the culture - they do not eat together - I have never seen it, except on special occasions. I persuaded the 11 year old daughter to visit with me a bit, and the three year old thought my iPod was interesting. I showed them a picture of the other 3 year old in my life - Annalynn. They agreed that I had the most beautiful grandchildren in the whole world! But I had to take their pictures as well. I'll put them here when I get my pictures on the PC.
Dinner was a delightful warm hard boiled egg, some rice and beans. I think the chickens running around there had something to do with it. I had the same dish for breakfast, except the rice and beans were put together to make gallo pinto - the national dish, I swear.
They showed me to the latrine, and my bed. I got the oldest daughter's room - and I thanked her profusely. They also gave me a small fan - it helps with the heat and the mosquitoes! I greatly appreciated that. Of course, there was actually no outlet in my room to charge my iPod, but that's not a big deal. The fan ran in from the other room, and it was just fine.
Housing
I had commented on the house earlier to my host, and she assured me that her husband had constructed it about 6 years ago. It is very solid - masonry, etc. The windows are small - easier to be secured, etc. The roof is mostly tin - there are a few tiles up there. The tiles are much better in the heat. The tin tends to radiate the heat of the sun inside, while the red tiles absorb it a bit. Of course, the floor is a dirt floor - which takes a bit for me to get used to.
Housing all over the developing world is frequently a work in progress. There is no real way to put money aside, other than through informal mechanisms. There are no banks in most towns, and it costs a significant amount to get an account, which comes with withdrawal fees. Most people build their own houses, and they do it brick by brick, board by board, as they have funds available. There is a new one going up right next to where I stayed, which looks a bit unusual. It is cement blocks, it has huge windows and the roof supports are metal framing! I've never seen one with metal frames. The guy welding the metal together had climbed up and tapped two wires directly into the overhead feed and he was using that juice for arc welding!
Beds
Beds here are interesting. Here at the center I have a mattress and a box spring. When I got up in the middle of the night to use the outhouse, I saw that the man of the house was sleeping on a kind of cot in the living room. His daughter was probably in with mom. I have slept on those in the past - in the living room. That is where I would put a guest like me. The cot has a thin piece of canvas or plastic stretched over a wooden frame - no mattress. And, on investigation, my bed was the same construction - a woven piece of material stretched from end to end, with a blanket on top. It's a bit stiff, but it works.
The Well
Now comes the embarrassing part. When I got up in the morning, everyone else was already out and about. I brought my towel out and asked where I should wash. The young lady took me three doors down to the well! It's a rope well, and there was a kind of pond structure with a stopper in it, and a 4 sided bit of fabric where you stand to wash with some privacy! She showed me how to pull the stopper out, so I had a bit of running water - but then the thing ran out - meaning I would have to go back out, run the pump to fill up the reservoir, and go back inside, etc. I was trying to figure out how I could shave and wash the rest of me in that arrangement, finding a place to mount my mirror, put my soup, rest my glasses and my shorts, etc. Normally there is a container of some kind that you actually use to wash, so you don't contaminate the source of the water with soap, etc. None was in evidence. And I couldn't figure out even how to get the stopper back in the pipe in my discreet enclosure. I quickly decided this was just not going to work! So I am sitting back here in Managua, unshaven, and stinky - with the exception of the bit of water I splashed on my head and face! Next time, I'll have to be better trained!!
Spear Fishing
As I was eating my breakfast, the young man of the house - 14 or 15 I would guess, was assembling a spear fishing weapon! This was carved out of wood, with a bit of the shape of a gun. The end was round with a hole in it, and there was a place to mount two tightly wound pieces of elastic hose. The whole thing was maybe 12 inches long. He fussed with this thing for over an hour. He had a long piece of metal as the spear, with a string tied to it. He had an old piece of plastic in the rear to hold the spear straight. He had filed or cut notches in the spear so that a trigger mechanism would hold it. And the twin pieces of elastic were connected to a metal gadget that slipped into another slot carved into the spear. After many failed attempts, and new refinements, he had it working. Then he proceeded to put additional elastic stuff around a swimming visor so he could go into the water and see the fish!
By the time he was done, he must have used 8 different tools - a hammer, knife, pliers, file, scissors, etc. In my world, a bit of epoxy would have solved a lot of his problems. More likely, I would have found one on the Internet somewhere!
He said he was going down to the river this morning to get some fish. I wonder what the local game warden thinks about that?! I hope he was successful! When I have been swimming in a lake, it is pretty rare that you actually see a fish!
Well Project
Here is a bit on the "project" which installed the well which I was having problems with:
Well project: http://blueplanetnetwork.org/projects/nicaragua05.
This is clearly appropriate technology, but I am not sure who owns it and maintains it. I note that they have had some maintenance problems. But I am thankful these folks came by and put this thing in. One that is drilled, with a pump would be nice next time!!
Meeting
We spent virtually the entire morning in a community gathering. This group and an urban one are doing a joint retreat next week, up in Esteli - one of my favorite towns. They had to work on the details of that. And this community has had some dissension recently. Some of the community funds were loaned out, without consulting the entire community. There is always tension around funds, and this was a particularly egregious thing to do. They are working on how to resolve that, without destroying the community. Funds in general are a tough subject in this culture, and any kind of direct "confrontation" is almost impossible. One of the team members described a process that his group uses. The rules are that you first have to complement the person positively on something they do well, and then you can state your perception of something that is bugging you. It's not an accusation - it is YOUR perception, your feeling about it. That's a kind of simple minded Covey thing. First you build up a bit of a positive bank account, putting some trust in the relationship. And then you describe your feelings, not the other person's failure or issue, but how it strikes you. Pretty good for a 1 minute 7 Habits Exercise.
Conclusion
OH - this community did not get any corn this year. The rains were so frequent that the corn never got a chance to fertilize - they have virtually nothing in their crop. They are currently harvesting sesame - but the rain has continued. They need it to be dry, or the sesame will literally rot. We have had 3 days of unusual rain - AFTER the rainy season is supposed to be over.
There is also some kind of virus killing off their hens! If it isn't one thing, it's another. When things are this close to the bone, it doesn't take much to upset the whole program.
OK, Jude - how did I do? Does that work? Until next time!
Roads in Nicaragua
I figure every day I learn something new is a day well spent. Well, this one was a good one. To see where these places are, go to Leon, and keep on going to Somitillo, and hang a right for another 45 minutes or so. The border with Honduras is a few miles further north. It took 4 and one half hours to drive from Managua, so the trips are always overnight. The good thing is that the road to Leon is almost brand new, and one can drive along without worrying about potholes. The Spanish for pothole is "pothole". Actually it is "hoyo" hole, or "bache" bump, rut, etc. Neither of which I can ever remember - but the paper this week used the word "pothole". After Leon, there are some potholes, so there is considerable weaving and swerving about. The gravel road out of Somotillo is actually quite nice. The communities up there persuaded the local government to repair it. It only has a few spots where you need to go a bit more slowly.
The road to some of the other communities is unbelievably bad. I posted a video to YouTube on the one to El Corozo - you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh9n5Qxq6a4&feature=feedu. It's about 15 kilometers of bumping and jostling along at 5 mph. The curious thing is that as you are going along on this wretched track, all of a sudden, there's a paved section. I'm thinking - yes - they fixed the road. But it only lasts for 100 feet or so, and back to the ruts. Then another paved section, and so on. Turns out, that section of the road was so bad that no one could get through, so they paved it with the standard paving blocks! Bit by bit, I guess.
I am pretty sure that they could save millions of dollars in gasoline here if they really fixed all the roads. Even anywhere in Managua, people are always swerving, or stopping, or crawling along because of the holes in the road. Woodbury even times its traffic lights just to save gas and air pollution.
El Ojoche
We drove over to El Ojoche to hold a brief meeting with the women's pottery group. There were two amazing things about this little town: 1 - there was NO LITTER. None, none whatsoever. You would have thought someone swept the central square and every piece of road, and the yards. I couldn't believe it. Every developing country I have been in, and some areas of developed ones, have lots of litter - plastic bags, trash, etc. It always bothers me, but I figure it takes a certain level of development before you start to worry about trash like that, or turn it into an industry! Our "fearless leader" explained that they had a couple of deaths in the community, and all of a sudden all those words about health and cleaning things up hit home. The disease was Leptosprisosos, spread by the urine of animals like rats, which humans come in contact with through an open wound. I had an ear of corn there, and I could not find a place to put the cob. Our host suggested I feed it to her pig - who obligingly took care of it! Wayne - this is NOT sweet corn, but it tasted pretty good - bit chewy by your standards.
The other thing was that there was a crew of men and boys working on the road! They were putting in rocks and covering them with dirt to take care of a rough downhill section. That's the first time I've seen anyone working on their own road! You pass crews every once in a while - but to have the neighbors pitch in and fix it, that was new. Elena says that this community is really well put together. They do not accompany the community any more - they have reduced the group to just the women's pottery group. That group has raised funds and constructed their own kiln, and seem to be doing pretty well.
What came to me during this visit is that our "project", if you will, is actually about building up the community, helping them establish relationships, build a network, and work together to accomplish whatever they want. If that turns out to be a road or a school or something tangible - that is clearly secondary. That they become a community capable of doing that is the whole goal!
Dulce Nombre de Jesús
I stayed overnight in this community, primarily because they have a well, and most homes have an outhouse. An outhouse I can handle. No outhouse - I am not quite sure what one does. I sat and talked with my host mother and the two children. She made me dinner, and they left me alone with it! That is the culture - they do not eat together - I have never seen it, except on special occasions. I persuaded the 11 year old daughter to visit with me a bit, and the three year old thought my iPod was interesting. I showed them a picture of the other 3 year old in my life - Annalynn. They agreed that I had the most beautiful grandchildren in the whole world! But I had to take their pictures as well. I'll put them here when I get my pictures on the PC.
Dinner was a delightful warm hard boiled egg, some rice and beans. I think the chickens running around there had something to do with it. I had the same dish for breakfast, except the rice and beans were put together to make gallo pinto - the national dish, I swear.
They showed me to the latrine, and my bed. I got the oldest daughter's room - and I thanked her profusely. They also gave me a small fan - it helps with the heat and the mosquitoes! I greatly appreciated that. Of course, there was actually no outlet in my room to charge my iPod, but that's not a big deal. The fan ran in from the other room, and it was just fine.
Housing
I had commented on the house earlier to my host, and she assured me that her husband had constructed it about 6 years ago. It is very solid - masonry, etc. The windows are small - easier to be secured, etc. The roof is mostly tin - there are a few tiles up there. The tiles are much better in the heat. The tin tends to radiate the heat of the sun inside, while the red tiles absorb it a bit. Of course, the floor is a dirt floor - which takes a bit for me to get used to.
Housing all over the developing world is frequently a work in progress. There is no real way to put money aside, other than through informal mechanisms. There are no banks in most towns, and it costs a significant amount to get an account, which comes with withdrawal fees. Most people build their own houses, and they do it brick by brick, board by board, as they have funds available. There is a new one going up right next to where I stayed, which looks a bit unusual. It is cement blocks, it has huge windows and the roof supports are metal framing! I've never seen one with metal frames. The guy welding the metal together had climbed up and tapped two wires directly into the overhead feed and he was using that juice for arc welding!
Beds
Beds here are interesting. Here at the center I have a mattress and a box spring. When I got up in the middle of the night to use the outhouse, I saw that the man of the house was sleeping on a kind of cot in the living room. His daughter was probably in with mom. I have slept on those in the past - in the living room. That is where I would put a guest like me. The cot has a thin piece of canvas or plastic stretched over a wooden frame - no mattress. And, on investigation, my bed was the same construction - a woven piece of material stretched from end to end, with a blanket on top. It's a bit stiff, but it works.
The Well
Now comes the embarrassing part. When I got up in the morning, everyone else was already out and about. I brought my towel out and asked where I should wash. The young lady took me three doors down to the well! It's a rope well, and there was a kind of pond structure with a stopper in it, and a 4 sided bit of fabric where you stand to wash with some privacy! She showed me how to pull the stopper out, so I had a bit of running water - but then the thing ran out - meaning I would have to go back out, run the pump to fill up the reservoir, and go back inside, etc. I was trying to figure out how I could shave and wash the rest of me in that arrangement, finding a place to mount my mirror, put my soup, rest my glasses and my shorts, etc. Normally there is a container of some kind that you actually use to wash, so you don't contaminate the source of the water with soap, etc. None was in evidence. And I couldn't figure out even how to get the stopper back in the pipe in my discreet enclosure. I quickly decided this was just not going to work! So I am sitting back here in Managua, unshaven, and stinky - with the exception of the bit of water I splashed on my head and face! Next time, I'll have to be better trained!!
Spear Fishing
As I was eating my breakfast, the young man of the house - 14 or 15 I would guess, was assembling a spear fishing weapon! This was carved out of wood, with a bit of the shape of a gun. The end was round with a hole in it, and there was a place to mount two tightly wound pieces of elastic hose. The whole thing was maybe 12 inches long. He fussed with this thing for over an hour. He had a long piece of metal as the spear, with a string tied to it. He had an old piece of plastic in the rear to hold the spear straight. He had filed or cut notches in the spear so that a trigger mechanism would hold it. And the twin pieces of elastic were connected to a metal gadget that slipped into another slot carved into the spear. After many failed attempts, and new refinements, he had it working. Then he proceeded to put additional elastic stuff around a swimming visor so he could go into the water and see the fish!
By the time he was done, he must have used 8 different tools - a hammer, knife, pliers, file, scissors, etc. In my world, a bit of epoxy would have solved a lot of his problems. More likely, I would have found one on the Internet somewhere!
He said he was going down to the river this morning to get some fish. I wonder what the local game warden thinks about that?! I hope he was successful! When I have been swimming in a lake, it is pretty rare that you actually see a fish!
Well Project
Here is a bit on the "project" which installed the well which I was having problems with:
Well project: http://blueplanetnetwork.org/projects/nicaragua05.
This is clearly appropriate technology, but I am not sure who owns it and maintains it. I note that they have had some maintenance problems. But I am thankful these folks came by and put this thing in. One that is drilled, with a pump would be nice next time!!
Meeting
We spent virtually the entire morning in a community gathering. This group and an urban one are doing a joint retreat next week, up in Esteli - one of my favorite towns. They had to work on the details of that. And this community has had some dissension recently. Some of the community funds were loaned out, without consulting the entire community. There is always tension around funds, and this was a particularly egregious thing to do. They are working on how to resolve that, without destroying the community. Funds in general are a tough subject in this culture, and any kind of direct "confrontation" is almost impossible. One of the team members described a process that his group uses. The rules are that you first have to complement the person positively on something they do well, and then you can state your perception of something that is bugging you. It's not an accusation - it is YOUR perception, your feeling about it. That's a kind of simple minded Covey thing. First you build up a bit of a positive bank account, putting some trust in the relationship. And then you describe your feelings, not the other person's failure or issue, but how it strikes you. Pretty good for a 1 minute 7 Habits Exercise.
Conclusion
OH - this community did not get any corn this year. The rains were so frequent that the corn never got a chance to fertilize - they have virtually nothing in their crop. They are currently harvesting sesame - but the rain has continued. They need it to be dry, or the sesame will literally rot. We have had 3 days of unusual rain - AFTER the rainy season is supposed to be over.
There is also some kind of virus killing off their hens! If it isn't one thing, it's another. When things are this close to the bone, it doesn't take much to upset the whole program.
OK, Jude - how did I do? Does that work? Until next time!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Bean Production - Popular Education
Judy says, "Enough with the development stuff - get back to the stories and travelogue!" Well, maybe next time, Love.
Bean Production
I saw a piece in today's paper - El Nuevo Diario - that peaked my interest. If you want to read it in the original, it is here: Bean Production Nicaragua. (If your Spanish isn't that good, Google will translate it for you, or I can send you a Word document with both versions.) This caught my attention because the new communities we are working with are basically agricultural. On our last visit, we spent quite a bit of time walking through some bean and coffee fields with the owners of these plots. I am not sure how they determine where theirs starts and another stops, but it does seem to work. AKF has a lot of ideas about how to help farmers, and we have, in the past, visited two "farm schools" that use organic, sustainable technologies to assist farmers.
This article also describes a coordinated effort between a whole bunch of different funding and education and technical resources. I am sitting here in the middle of things, and it is very clear to me that there are lots of people here working on lots of things in very effective ways. There is great energy and hope in all of this. So I thought I would explore this one a bit to see what we can learn.
Participants
Here are the major players in this bean harvest improvement:
Who Did the Hard Work?
But how on earth did this actually come to be? Who engaged the farmers, and got them working together and interested in this kind of thing? Who found the funding, got the trainers there, coordinated the technical assistance, the business vision, etc.?
Here is another TechnoServe project with coffee and cocoa production: TechnoServe cocoa in Nicaragua. I like the way these things work - but how do they ever get off the ground? They seem to already have a cooperating group of farmers - a collective or cooperative of some kind. But that very work is the genius of this whole thing. Coops are relatively recent here - and the whole idea of cooperatively owning things is a very scary proposition for this culture. Trust with communal funds is one of those cultural factors that typically impedes development. There are other good examples of coops here that are doing very well. How did they actually get started? I really need to see a study of that process.
Maybe some of my readers (all 4 of you!) can point me to more details on how this works. At the moment, I have to assume that they all began in some way with the process that AKF is using for these communities. First you establish a relationship of trust, get to know the leaders, help them identify their problems, help them organize to solve them. There is a whole body of literature on this to which I am not privy. Ah, more reading. It's really about building up social capital - see Robert Putnam - Bowling Alone. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/putnam.htm.
Here are a couple of other resources I intend to pursue:
An "Ideal" Sustainable? Project
In looking for more "community development" sources, I found this one that looks like an "ideal" project that our Rotarians would just love to be part of. It is a video of a "sustainable project" in Nicaragua:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y0AvDmLCH0. Expand the text on the bottom to read a bit more about it.
Doesn't that just make you want to get down there and join in? There is a bit more here on the history of this: http://www.soltranslators.com/lacd.html.
It looks like a wonderful undertaking, but, and I almost hesitate to say this - this is NOT a sustainable development. This clinic they built depends heavily on North American aid and resources and likely will be that way forever. It will do really good work, and help a lot of people - but the people are not doing it themselves. It is saving babies - and it feels good, looks good, etc. But it's not keeping them from being tossed in the river. It is very hard to swim upstream! Everything in us wants to just get in there and help.
The sewing coops the article cites may be an exception - but, long term, textile manufacturing is not a great idea. There is a huge factory right here in Ciudad Sandino that has been sitting idle for years because the company that built it, with an IMF loan, found it was cheaper to move textile manufacturing to China! Everything I read says that textile manufacturing will soon be so automated that it can be done anywhere - independent of the labor costs. Then what? My guess is you make it near where you want to sell it. It is usually chaper to ship the raw materials than the finished product.
Lots of thunder and lightening here. Another "unusual" November rainstorm. It's actually called "global wierding" for the weather patterns.
Bean Production
I saw a piece in today's paper - El Nuevo Diario - that peaked my interest. If you want to read it in the original, it is here: Bean Production Nicaragua. (If your Spanish isn't that good, Google will translate it for you, or I can send you a Word document with both versions.) This caught my attention because the new communities we are working with are basically agricultural. On our last visit, we spent quite a bit of time walking through some bean and coffee fields with the owners of these plots. I am not sure how they determine where theirs starts and another stops, but it does seem to work. AKF has a lot of ideas about how to help farmers, and we have, in the past, visited two "farm schools" that use organic, sustainable technologies to assist farmers.
This article also describes a coordinated effort between a whole bunch of different funding and education and technical resources. I am sitting here in the middle of things, and it is very clear to me that there are lots of people here working on lots of things in very effective ways. There is great energy and hope in all of this. So I thought I would explore this one a bit to see what we can learn.
Participants
Here are the major players in this bean harvest improvement:
- CRS - seems to have had the lead role, since it says that AID was working under their coordination. They appear to be all over the place. A very good friend of mine worked in their headquarters for many years as their strategic planning resource.
- US AID - seems to have provided the funding and some oversight. US tax dollars at work - creatively. This one was a modest investment of $30,000, and it increased the local farm production of beans 100% - not bad. I guess I should not be surprised that this entity appears so frequently - the author of Culture Matters ran this enterprise for 15 years - he seems to have given it a good long term focus.
- TehcnoServe - an organization focused on economic development through business methods. They have a web site, and a small collection of success stories in Nicaragua. See: http://www.technoserve.org/. They seem to be the glue, and the facilitators of this whole thing.
- Escuelas de Campo de Agricultores, ECA - no website that I can find, and I am not sure if it is an organization or a methodology. But there are lots of publications out there that cite this group or method with success stories. The methodology is a way of teaching farmers how to use local technology to increase yields. They seem to do it in a very communitarian manner. The school is the field, there is no teacher, but rather a facilitator, the goal is to achieve consensus in the community about how to proceed, etc. They use words like: "This philosophy is carried out according to the following principles: utility, reality, ownership, equity, respectful solidarity, and environmental sustainability." Works for me!
- The Farmers. In this case, 38 farmers worked with the school on their farming methods. Now, with the help of TechnoServe, they are going to build a processing plant, and sell their services on how to do this to the other 200 farmers in town. This certainly sounds like sustainable development.
Who Did the Hard Work?
But how on earth did this actually come to be? Who engaged the farmers, and got them working together and interested in this kind of thing? Who found the funding, got the trainers there, coordinated the technical assistance, the business vision, etc.?
Here is another TechnoServe project with coffee and cocoa production: TechnoServe cocoa in Nicaragua. I like the way these things work - but how do they ever get off the ground? They seem to already have a cooperating group of farmers - a collective or cooperative of some kind. But that very work is the genius of this whole thing. Coops are relatively recent here - and the whole idea of cooperatively owning things is a very scary proposition for this culture. Trust with communal funds is one of those cultural factors that typically impedes development. There are other good examples of coops here that are doing very well. How did they actually get started? I really need to see a study of that process.
Maybe some of my readers (all 4 of you!) can point me to more details on how this works. At the moment, I have to assume that they all began in some way with the process that AKF is using for these communities. First you establish a relationship of trust, get to know the leaders, help them identify their problems, help them organize to solve them. There is a whole body of literature on this to which I am not privy. Ah, more reading. It's really about building up social capital - see Robert Putnam - Bowling Alone. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/putnam.htm.
Here are a couple of other resources I intend to pursue:
- Popular Education and Social Change in Latin America by Liam Kane - looks like one I will be reading.
- Development in Practice, a journal on the topic. Development in Practice. It looks like it provides free access to faculty - I should qualify.
- http://www.infed.org/community/b-comdv.htm - A nice overview of the topic, with an extensive bibliography, but it seems to be mostly focused on North America and Europe.
- http://www.infed.org/community/b-compar.htm This one talks a bit about Saul Alinsky - an old friend in this literature. Many other sources cited here, such as this one:
- Burkey, S. (1993) People First. A guide to self-reliant, participatory rural development, London: Zed Books. 243 + xix pages. Just what the sub-title says - a compilation of practice wisdom plus some framing. Chapters on understanding poverty; development; self-reliant participatory development; agents of change; the training and support of change agents; getting started; working with people; external relationships; savings, credits and inputs; objectives and principles.
An "Ideal" Sustainable? Project
In looking for more "community development" sources, I found this one that looks like an "ideal" project that our Rotarians would just love to be part of. It is a video of a "sustainable project" in Nicaragua:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y0AvDmLCH0. Expand the text on the bottom to read a bit more about it.
Doesn't that just make you want to get down there and join in? There is a bit more here on the history of this: http://www.soltranslators.com/lacd.html.
It looks like a wonderful undertaking, but, and I almost hesitate to say this - this is NOT a sustainable development. This clinic they built depends heavily on North American aid and resources and likely will be that way forever. It will do really good work, and help a lot of people - but the people are not doing it themselves. It is saving babies - and it feels good, looks good, etc. But it's not keeping them from being tossed in the river. It is very hard to swim upstream! Everything in us wants to just get in there and help.
The sewing coops the article cites may be an exception - but, long term, textile manufacturing is not a great idea. There is a huge factory right here in Ciudad Sandino that has been sitting idle for years because the company that built it, with an IMF loan, found it was cheaper to move textile manufacturing to China! Everything I read says that textile manufacturing will soon be so automated that it can be done anywhere - independent of the labor costs. Then what? My guess is you make it near where you want to sell it. It is usually chaper to ship the raw materials than the finished product.
Lots of thunder and lightening here. Another "unusual" November rainstorm. It's actually called "global wierding" for the weather patterns.
"Projects" and Sustainable Development and Community Building
Introduction
If you have been following along here at all, you realize that I went to Nicaragua trying to help a Rotary "initiative". They call it an "initiative" to distinguish it from a "project". And you say, "Who cares what you call it. They are just trying to help out."
Well, yes, but in a very different fashion from the normal "development project". But we have a small problem here. The vision of this in the heads of the participants, on both sides of the coin, is probably ultimately a PROJECT. Both my Rotarian friends, as well as the communities here, want to know when the REAL WORK starts. When do WE or YOU build something, deliver something, make something? And the only answer we can give right now - I dunno - maybe never.
NO PROJECTS
IMHO, I do not think that any flavor of "project" is our goal here. What we are about is building capable communities that are self sustaining, and are able to undertake projects, if they so choose. If there are projects, they are theirs, they own them, they complete them, they fund them, they find the resources to make them work - and they say, at the end, "we did it ourselves". We want to help, but not take the ownership away from them. With that result, we have truly sustainable development - empowered, capable human beings who are full partners in this enterprise we call life.
Why can't they do that without any help? I am sure they would eventually come to that, but it might take a long time. Their history, their climate, the influence of centuries of other ways of thinking, has disabled them, removed some of their sense of power and ability. They have the ability - they just don't see it at the moment. That's another way of saying, "their culture does not support development well". See my prior notes on culture.
Or, they have a "cultural disability". A new phrase! Jude always tells me that I should not say bad things about a people's culture. I always reply, I am just criticizing little parts of it. If I say "differently abled" or "cultural disability" - does that work better? I marvel at the culture of Rome. They conquered the known world, built roads, aqueducts, etc. But their concept of mathematics really sucks! Who would choose that over Arabic numerals? I also like the British concept of government much more than the Roman one. And I like the Enlightenment much more than Feudal society. Who can argue with that? And the dominant U.S. culture is that we are in charge of the world - for good or ill. We can fix anything - even an entire country.
Sustainable Development
Rotary started down this path looking to emulate the UN project to end poverty through "sustainable development" - from Jeffrey Sach's book, The End of Poverty. He is on to something. The wealthier countries have literally poured billions of dollars into developing economies to help them move forward, with very little to show for it. What's the problem? Sachs is of the mind that it is primarily a resource shortage that locks people into a cycle of poverty. He is persuaded that once you help them above the edge of that scarcity cycle, they can develop on their own. Rotary started off in Nicaragua looking for a way to take part in truly "sustainable development".
The UN projects have many millions of dollars behind them, and a 5 year time frame. The first trials are nearing their completion. I would say the UN results so far are pretty mixed. The efforts to date look a lot like projects to me, but they do have sustainable parts to them. There are some decent commentaries on the WWW. The Wikipedia entry on this is pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_development.
Look especially at the portions that talk abut "sustainability" and "capacity building". For criticisms, see: Criticism Basis and Criticism Results.
I am persuaded that there is a better way - that is to build communities, not buildings, not cooperatives. The goal is to empower the people, build their capacity to run their own lives It is a lot harder to accomplish, but the results are much more permanent and long lasting. And, the people know that the product is theirs.
Concrete Examples
Instead of trying to describe the differences between "projects" and "sustainable development" or "community building initiatives" abstractly, this article presents a list of examples of the two types of undertakings. I am telling stories. People love stories - it is what we did for thousands of years around camp fires.
Bean Production in Nicaragua
This is from the newspaper of mid November, El Nuevo Diario. If you want to read it in the original, it is here: Bean Production Nicaragua. ( If your Spanish isn't that good, Google will translate it for you, or I can send you a Word document with both versions in it.)
This article describes a coordinated effort between a group of different funding and education and technical resources to increase agricultural production. The results were:
There are some holes in this narrative - just how did this get started? Who engaged the farmers, and got them working together and interested in this kind of thing? Who found the funding, got the trainers there, coordinated the technical assistance, the business vision, etc.?
Is this sustainable? What happens when these agencies go elsewhere?
Cocoa Production Cooperative
This is another TechnoServe project with coffee and cocoa production: TechnoServe cocoa in Nicaragua. This one seems to already have a cooperating group of farmers in place - a collective or cooperative of some kind. But that very work is the genius of this whole thing. It does not describe how they actually got started, but what do you think? Is this sustainable? One of the interesting things here is that these farmers were part of the "contras" during the civil war.
Here is a video describing the work of Technoserve: TehnoServe on YouTube. They listen first, help explore opportunities, etc. They are clearly leaving things behind that will thrive. It may not be perfect, but I like it. What do you think?
Medical Clinic in Nicaragua
Here is a video describing the construction and staffing of a medical clinic in Nicaragua.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y0AvDmLCH0.
The background and history of this is here: http://www.soltranslators.com/lacd.html. They include a long list of accomplishments:
This appears to be a fine result, lots of fine results.. We have a fine, permanent building, a medical clinic which is clearly needed here. It is staffed by volunteer medical professionals from the North, who bring or send supplies on a regular basis. We have new roofs, water, sewing machines, etc. There appears to be a mechanism for continuing contributions from outside to sustain all of this.
Is it sustainable? Is there any word on how the community participated in this, or what they think about it, or their part in it? Does the community think this is the result of their efforts in any way? What is your guess as to the answer to those things?
Could it have been done in a different manner? What would that result look like? My ultimate test - what happens when the givers get tired, and the organizers move on to something else. How much of this will continue to operate? Who thinks they own the result?
El Ojoche, Chinendega, Nicaragua
There is a lot of litter in the developing world. I've seen it in Nicaragua and in Africa. Heck, there is a lot of litter in Rome! They sweep the streets every day because they have to! When you first arrive in El Ojoche, the first thing you notice is that there is NO LITTER. There is not a scrap of paper, not a piece of trash, not a plastic bag anywhere. And this is not the result of any commercial recycling - this is the result of an empowered community. This community has been accompanied by the AKF organization for over 10 years. They started as a church sister parish relationship, and now the formal accompaniment is down to a women's ceramic cooperative. The rest of the town decided they don't need help any more!
The clean streets program started when two members of the community contracted a strange illness and died. It was leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread through animal urine that contaminates the water supply. The AKF team had been training them on health and wellness issues, and the community one day decided that the trash had to go - and it went. A clean town has other incidental effects. There is something called the "clean windows syndrome". Or the "broken windows syndrome". If you keep the environment looking good, people tend to respond to that. They do the same things in their yards, and in their homes. They take more pride in what they own, and in who they are. The mayor of New York understood that when he set out to eliminate litter in New York City, and to clean up the subways. Others get the message - people here care about this place, and we don't want you messing it up either.
When I first arrived in the community, there was a team of men and boys repairing the road. They were digging in it, positioning rocks for a solid foundation, and bringing in wheelbarrows of dirt and fill. They plan to extend the usable road all the way through town. Some of the roads in Nicaragua are really in bad shape - but I have yet to see a crew of neighbors working on it! That also comes from an empowered community.
The women's ceramic cooperative in this town recently raised money to construct their own kiln. They sell goods through Esperanza in Accion, out of Managua. That group helped them raise the quality of their goods, and taught them how to value the effort they put into their products. See this piece on this group, complete with pictures of their work: Women's Pottery Coop.
This community also administers a small loan program, with AKF as the banking agent. It has been very successful, and they charge 1.5% annual interest on the loans. It is much less than any other source of funds, and it will help ensure that the fund will continue.
There is also a water project in town, funded by the Rotary club of Leon, and the Albina Rotary club, in cooperation with Nuevas Esperanzas and Food for the Hungry. It started with a single storage tank, and has expanded to large tanks to hold rainwater for use during the dry season. They have a local water committee which is responsible for the water system and are very involved in just how this system was installed and is operated. You can read more about it here: http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/ElOjochespring.html, and here: http://www.matchinggrants.org/pdf/info1414.pdf. Interesting - this last site is a Rotary effort to publicize their matching grants program: http://www.matchinggrants.org/.
So, ten years to get a clean environment, a road repair project, a small loan program managed by the community, a potter's kiln for goods sent to market, and a water storage system - not too bad. Is it sustainable? What do you think? If AKF and the other contributors were to go away tomorrow, what would happen to this community? Who thinks they own these results? Are there more things they can do - I would hope so. I expect that this is only the beginning.
Nueva Esperanza Projects
The El Ojoche water storage is a Nueva Esperanza project. And they have many others on their web site that look very interesting. http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/index.html This one is a roadworks project undertaken by the communities involved: http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/Roadworks.html. There is not enough background on these to really understand how they are accomplishing this - but it appears to be a community based effort for the most part. It would be amazing to introduce the people of El Corozo to the people from San Jacinto and El Ojochal del Listón. El Corozo sorely needs a better road.
Sustainable?
Teustepe Worm Fertilizer Project
Teustepe is a little unusual in that the community there is really a small community within a larger urban setting. This group of individuals and families has had a sister relationship with a church from Minnesota for over 25 years. The relationship started with projects. The Northerners sent down funds to buy a herd of cows to provide mik for the children. They sent funds to put a roof on the baseball stadium. You know of course, that baseball is the national sport! They collected used typewriters and sent them down so they could start a commercial school to teach people to type - that was before computers!
The Northerners visited them, and they came to visit up North. Over the years, this relationship moved from projects to accompaniment. Now the two communities are family to each other, and they support each other. AKF became a partner and facilitator in all of this about 15 years ago. They provide community based education to the community - about leadership, organization, women's rights, etc. They also facilitate the community's discussions and decisions A few years ago, AKF pushed his relationship to set off on a new course. From that point on, Teustepe is expected to contribute to each gathering, to each delegation, to each enterprise. They pay some portion of the cost, they provide some portion of the food, etc. They are responsible partners in this enterprise.
The town has always had a water problem. Some of the leaders of this group became participants in a town wide effort to persuade the mayor and the legislature that they should have a new water facility. Thanks to their hard work, it became a reality. It is currently suffering some problems, but they are working on that.
They also set about a year long project to create a dream - what do they really need and want to do. They decided that they need a community center. They have been meeting for years in the old church, but access to it is not guaranteed, and it does not really have any facilities - kitchen or otherwise. Just deciding to develop a center brought a lot of other decisions to the fore - such as forming a legal entity which could own land and construct a building. That whole discussion has caused them to grow and mature. They also started their own fund raising to raise funds for the building. They are slowly gathering funds from their own members.
A year or so ago, one of the Northerners, a Rotarian, pitched the idea of a worm fertilizer project to the community that would be funded by Rotary. He also contacted a local government agency, AMUB, which is funded by the area municipalities to foster development. AMUB put together a plan, which basically had these features:
Sustainable? We should see some organizc farming enhancement, some additional wealth created, and we have a community who understands that this is THEIR program, done their way. I honestly thought this would never get to this point, but it did!
Teustepe Small Loan Program
This same community has a small loan program, with a 93% repayment rate - a phenomenal success in this type of finance. Most of these programs have to charge from 25% to 100% interest to just cover their losses. Why does this one succeed? Here are the characteristics:
This works because this is a responsible community, and they have created the mechanism and the structure to enable this program to succeed. They own this financing agency that they have created.
Sustainable?
El Carmen Matiguas Water Project
See this reference: El Carmen Matiguas Water Project. This outfit does this kind of project all the time. This one provided a water system from mountain streams to a town of 612 people. Their only prior water source before this were some extremely polluted streams.
A major part of the project is the capacity building in the community before any work is started. There has to be a community organization, which is committed to doing the work, and maintaining the system. The municipality has to support the project. The labor contribution of the community amounted to $25,000 or so of the total $100,000 cost. Other funding sources were used, and the city also made a small contribution. Annual maintenance costs are estimated at $800, which the community has committed to do.
The Word document on the page is in Spanish, but it describes the organization of the community, and the fact that they became a legal entity that is responsible for this project and its continued maintenance. The responsible agency here - PWX - seems to understand how to do this. If we have a water project at any point, they would be a good contact.
Sustainable?
Cristo Rey - New Life Nicaragua
This work is by a mission family from the US who first came to Nicaragua to help the people living in the dump of Managua. And they do amazing things. On their home page there is a 10 minute video about their work There is an orphanage, feeding program, housing program, etc.
http://www.newlifenicaragua.org/
There are three other videos on their work here.
http://vimeo.com/newlifenicaragua
Watch the first one about the orphanage and the re-nutrition center. Talk about saving babies in the stream! These people have clearly done it.
If you have watched these videos, you will understand why I do not want to say anything bad about this work. These kids would likely not survive, and would certainly not grow to be healthy, capable adults. The new homes are replacing pieces of wood and plastic - which is a fairly common home in somany me parts of Managua. It is hard to watch this and not want to help.
There is very little information on how they do this, other than these videos. Based on the films, like the one where they are doing a census in Tipitapa, it looks like an external effort, funded by donations from the US, which gives food and homes to poor Nicaraguans. They are running a farm, and they use the food for the children. They have a medical clinic, staffed by a US doctor. They talk about using the facility to train local people in the technology.
There is also a blog, which has some additional information: http://www.newlifenicaragua.org/blog/tag/adoption. They feed 175 kids a day, and have built 43 homes. Kids that are not adopted are in foster care - mostly with US missionary families. They host medical missions which provide the care in the clinic. They have had some personal health problems etc. It is worth reading the blog to get a bit of perspective on how this all works.
Is it sustainable? What happens when the funding stops? Clearly there are some long term benefits - some capable, healthy people will grow to be mature adults. Those adults, however, may be laboring under the impression that all that is good and rich comes from the North, and not from themselves. That's the only negative comment I can manage.
Water Wells
Water wells are a classic type of project. Let's face it, getting water is one of the basic essentials of life. And isntalling a well should be a nobrainer. Once it is in, it works and provides water, right? Well, what about parts and repairs? Even if the parts are available, the knowledge to repair it is essential; and even if that is present, there is the small matter of the cost. In my few trips to Africa, there are many abandoned water works all over the place. It is very hard for a really poor community to maintain a water well. The truly sustainable approach also makes sure that repair and replacement is in place. See this reference for more details on that.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/to-maintain-water-pumps-it-takes-more-than-a-village/
Conclusion
This is way too long already. But do you notice any common thread? Are the sustainable efforts any less beneficial? Do they take longer? Is there some way the other ones could be transformed into sustainable ones at this point? Why might that be difficult? And . . . just how are you going to help here?
It is snowing as I write this - good old Minnesota. It is good to be home!
If you have been following along here at all, you realize that I went to Nicaragua trying to help a Rotary "initiative". They call it an "initiative" to distinguish it from a "project". And you say, "Who cares what you call it. They are just trying to help out."
Well, yes, but in a very different fashion from the normal "development project". But we have a small problem here. The vision of this in the heads of the participants, on both sides of the coin, is probably ultimately a PROJECT. Both my Rotarian friends, as well as the communities here, want to know when the REAL WORK starts. When do WE or YOU build something, deliver something, make something? And the only answer we can give right now - I dunno - maybe never.
NO PROJECTS
IMHO, I do not think that any flavor of "project" is our goal here. What we are about is building capable communities that are self sustaining, and are able to undertake projects, if they so choose. If there are projects, they are theirs, they own them, they complete them, they fund them, they find the resources to make them work - and they say, at the end, "we did it ourselves". We want to help, but not take the ownership away from them. With that result, we have truly sustainable development - empowered, capable human beings who are full partners in this enterprise we call life.
Why can't they do that without any help? I am sure they would eventually come to that, but it might take a long time. Their history, their climate, the influence of centuries of other ways of thinking, has disabled them, removed some of their sense of power and ability. They have the ability - they just don't see it at the moment. That's another way of saying, "their culture does not support development well". See my prior notes on culture.
Or, they have a "cultural disability". A new phrase! Jude always tells me that I should not say bad things about a people's culture. I always reply, I am just criticizing little parts of it. If I say "differently abled" or "cultural disability" - does that work better? I marvel at the culture of Rome. They conquered the known world, built roads, aqueducts, etc. But their concept of mathematics really sucks! Who would choose that over Arabic numerals? I also like the British concept of government much more than the Roman one. And I like the Enlightenment much more than Feudal society. Who can argue with that? And the dominant U.S. culture is that we are in charge of the world - for good or ill. We can fix anything - even an entire country.
Sustainable Development
Rotary started down this path looking to emulate the UN project to end poverty through "sustainable development" - from Jeffrey Sach's book, The End of Poverty. He is on to something. The wealthier countries have literally poured billions of dollars into developing economies to help them move forward, with very little to show for it. What's the problem? Sachs is of the mind that it is primarily a resource shortage that locks people into a cycle of poverty. He is persuaded that once you help them above the edge of that scarcity cycle, they can develop on their own. Rotary started off in Nicaragua looking for a way to take part in truly "sustainable development".
The UN projects have many millions of dollars behind them, and a 5 year time frame. The first trials are nearing their completion. I would say the UN results so far are pretty mixed. The efforts to date look a lot like projects to me, but they do have sustainable parts to them. There are some decent commentaries on the WWW. The Wikipedia entry on this is pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_development.
Look especially at the portions that talk abut "sustainability" and "capacity building". For criticisms, see: Criticism Basis and Criticism Results.
I am persuaded that there is a better way - that is to build communities, not buildings, not cooperatives. The goal is to empower the people, build their capacity to run their own lives It is a lot harder to accomplish, but the results are much more permanent and long lasting. And, the people know that the product is theirs.
Concrete Examples
Instead of trying to describe the differences between "projects" and "sustainable development" or "community building initiatives" abstractly, this article presents a list of examples of the two types of undertakings. I am telling stories. People love stories - it is what we did for thousands of years around camp fires.
Bean Production in Nicaragua
This is from the newspaper of mid November, El Nuevo Diario. If you want to read it in the original, it is here: Bean Production Nicaragua. ( If your Spanish isn't that good, Google will translate it for you, or I can send you a Word document with both versions in it.)
This article describes a coordinated effort between a group of different funding and education and technical resources to increase agricultural production. The results were:
- 100% increased bean production for a small group of farmers.
- The start of an enterprise to assist another 200 farmers in this area to do the same thing.
- CRS - seems to have had the lead role, since it says that AID was working under their coordination.
- US AID - AID provided the funding and some sense of oversight.
- TehcnoServe - an organization focused on economic development through business methods. They have a web site, and a small collection of success stories in Nicaragua. See: http://www.technoserve.org/. They seem to be the glue, and the facilitators of this whole thing.
- Escuelas de Campo de Agricultores, ECA. There are lots of publications on the web that cite this group or method and their stories. The methodology is a way of teaching farmers how to use local technology to increase yields. They seem to do it in a very communitarian manner. The school is the field, there is no teacher but rather a facilitator, the goal is to achieve consensus in the community about how to proceed, etc. They use words like: "This philosophy is carried out according to the following principles: utility, reality, ownership, equity, respectful solidarity, and environmental sustainability."
- The Farmers. In this case, 38 farmers worked with the school on their production, and with the help of TechnoServe, they plan to build a processing plant, and sell their services on how to do this to the other 200 farmers in town.
There are some holes in this narrative - just how did this get started? Who engaged the farmers, and got them working together and interested in this kind of thing? Who found the funding, got the trainers there, coordinated the technical assistance, the business vision, etc.?
Is this sustainable? What happens when these agencies go elsewhere?
Cocoa Production Cooperative
This is another TechnoServe project with coffee and cocoa production: TechnoServe cocoa in Nicaragua. This one seems to already have a cooperating group of farmers in place - a collective or cooperative of some kind. But that very work is the genius of this whole thing. It does not describe how they actually got started, but what do you think? Is this sustainable? One of the interesting things here is that these farmers were part of the "contras" during the civil war.
Here is a video describing the work of Technoserve: TehnoServe on YouTube. They listen first, help explore opportunities, etc. They are clearly leaving things behind that will thrive. It may not be perfect, but I like it. What do you think?
Medical Clinic in Nicaragua
Here is a video describing the construction and staffing of a medical clinic in Nicaragua.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Y0AvDmLCH0.
The background and history of this is here: http://www.soltranslators.com/lacd.html. They include a long list of accomplishments:
- Water tank for clean drinking water in Potrilleros
- Computer classes for teachers
- Refurbished computers to schools
- Swing set for school
- Electricity for school
- Books/encyclopedias
- Medical visits & dental visits
- Roofs on homes in Calishuate
- School supplies for students and teachers
- Medical clinic built in Calishuate
- Medical equipment to 2 hospitals and three clinics
- Sewing/embroidery machines and supplies to begin co-op
- Nursing school for Nicaraguan coordinator
- Iron bars around windows and locks on doors for school security
Goals
- To supply tin roofs to families with inadequate shelter
- To assist the committee in Latin America with their most pressing needs whether it be building medical clinics and cultural centers, supplying school supplies and books, teacher training, fertilizer for crops, sports equipment, computers and software, or assistance in developing sewing co-ops or pottery/art groups.
Programs
- Sewing co-ops in Calishuate and Potrilleros Nicaragua
- Cultural groups (teaching art and dance)
- Mentoring program
- Sports clubs in various towns
- Scholarships for students interested in community development
- Team trips to build unity and learn from each other
This appears to be a fine result, lots of fine results.. We have a fine, permanent building, a medical clinic which is clearly needed here. It is staffed by volunteer medical professionals from the North, who bring or send supplies on a regular basis. We have new roofs, water, sewing machines, etc. There appears to be a mechanism for continuing contributions from outside to sustain all of this.
Is it sustainable? Is there any word on how the community participated in this, or what they think about it, or their part in it? Does the community think this is the result of their efforts in any way? What is your guess as to the answer to those things?
Could it have been done in a different manner? What would that result look like? My ultimate test - what happens when the givers get tired, and the organizers move on to something else. How much of this will continue to operate? Who thinks they own the result?
El Ojoche, Chinendega, Nicaragua
There is a lot of litter in the developing world. I've seen it in Nicaragua and in Africa. Heck, there is a lot of litter in Rome! They sweep the streets every day because they have to! When you first arrive in El Ojoche, the first thing you notice is that there is NO LITTER. There is not a scrap of paper, not a piece of trash, not a plastic bag anywhere. And this is not the result of any commercial recycling - this is the result of an empowered community. This community has been accompanied by the AKF organization for over 10 years. They started as a church sister parish relationship, and now the formal accompaniment is down to a women's ceramic cooperative. The rest of the town decided they don't need help any more!
The clean streets program started when two members of the community contracted a strange illness and died. It was leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread through animal urine that contaminates the water supply. The AKF team had been training them on health and wellness issues, and the community one day decided that the trash had to go - and it went. A clean town has other incidental effects. There is something called the "clean windows syndrome". Or the "broken windows syndrome". If you keep the environment looking good, people tend to respond to that. They do the same things in their yards, and in their homes. They take more pride in what they own, and in who they are. The mayor of New York understood that when he set out to eliminate litter in New York City, and to clean up the subways. Others get the message - people here care about this place, and we don't want you messing it up either.
When I first arrived in the community, there was a team of men and boys repairing the road. They were digging in it, positioning rocks for a solid foundation, and bringing in wheelbarrows of dirt and fill. They plan to extend the usable road all the way through town. Some of the roads in Nicaragua are really in bad shape - but I have yet to see a crew of neighbors working on it! That also comes from an empowered community.
The women's ceramic cooperative in this town recently raised money to construct their own kiln. They sell goods through Esperanza in Accion, out of Managua. That group helped them raise the quality of their goods, and taught them how to value the effort they put into their products. See this piece on this group, complete with pictures of their work: Women's Pottery Coop.
This community also administers a small loan program, with AKF as the banking agent. It has been very successful, and they charge 1.5% annual interest on the loans. It is much less than any other source of funds, and it will help ensure that the fund will continue.
There is also a water project in town, funded by the Rotary club of Leon, and the Albina Rotary club, in cooperation with Nuevas Esperanzas and Food for the Hungry. It started with a single storage tank, and has expanded to large tanks to hold rainwater for use during the dry season. They have a local water committee which is responsible for the water system and are very involved in just how this system was installed and is operated. You can read more about it here: http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/ElOjochespring.html, and here: http://www.matchinggrants.org/pdf/info1414.pdf. Interesting - this last site is a Rotary effort to publicize their matching grants program: http://www.matchinggrants.org/.
So, ten years to get a clean environment, a road repair project, a small loan program managed by the community, a potter's kiln for goods sent to market, and a water storage system - not too bad. Is it sustainable? What do you think? If AKF and the other contributors were to go away tomorrow, what would happen to this community? Who thinks they own these results? Are there more things they can do - I would hope so. I expect that this is only the beginning.
Nueva Esperanza Projects
The El Ojoche water storage is a Nueva Esperanza project. And they have many others on their web site that look very interesting. http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/index.html This one is a roadworks project undertaken by the communities involved: http://www.nuevasesperanzas.org/Roadworks.html. There is not enough background on these to really understand how they are accomplishing this - but it appears to be a community based effort for the most part. It would be amazing to introduce the people of El Corozo to the people from San Jacinto and El Ojochal del Listón. El Corozo sorely needs a better road.
Sustainable?
Teustepe Worm Fertilizer Project
Teustepe is a little unusual in that the community there is really a small community within a larger urban setting. This group of individuals and families has had a sister relationship with a church from Minnesota for over 25 years. The relationship started with projects. The Northerners sent down funds to buy a herd of cows to provide mik for the children. They sent funds to put a roof on the baseball stadium. You know of course, that baseball is the national sport! They collected used typewriters and sent them down so they could start a commercial school to teach people to type - that was before computers!
The Northerners visited them, and they came to visit up North. Over the years, this relationship moved from projects to accompaniment. Now the two communities are family to each other, and they support each other. AKF became a partner and facilitator in all of this about 15 years ago. They provide community based education to the community - about leadership, organization, women's rights, etc. They also facilitate the community's discussions and decisions A few years ago, AKF pushed his relationship to set off on a new course. From that point on, Teustepe is expected to contribute to each gathering, to each delegation, to each enterprise. They pay some portion of the cost, they provide some portion of the food, etc. They are responsible partners in this enterprise.
The town has always had a water problem. Some of the leaders of this group became participants in a town wide effort to persuade the mayor and the legislature that they should have a new water facility. Thanks to their hard work, it became a reality. It is currently suffering some problems, but they are working on that.
They also set about a year long project to create a dream - what do they really need and want to do. They decided that they need a community center. They have been meeting for years in the old church, but access to it is not guaranteed, and it does not really have any facilities - kitchen or otherwise. Just deciding to develop a center brought a lot of other decisions to the fore - such as forming a legal entity which could own land and construct a building. That whole discussion has caused them to grow and mature. They also started their own fund raising to raise funds for the building. They are slowly gathering funds from their own members.
A year or so ago, one of the Northerners, a Rotarian, pitched the idea of a worm fertilizer project to the community that would be funded by Rotary. He also contacted a local government agency, AMUB, which is funded by the area municipalities to foster development. AMUB put together a plan, which basically had these features:
- Construction of a new building to produce fertilizer from waste products with worms.
- Staffing of this facility with volunteer workers from the community.
- Sale of the product of this facility, with some portion of the proceeds to go to the community.
- Management and oversight of the whole thing by AMUB for a fee.
- A backyard worm fertilizer program in the yard of any community member who wants to take part.
- Training in this type of production by the AKF Farm School.
- Use of recycled materials to construct the facilities.
- The sale of the fertilizer by the families that produce it, with a small portion going to the Community Fund.
- No involvement by the local government entity.
Sustainable? We should see some organizc farming enhancement, some additional wealth created, and we have a community who understands that this is THEIR program, done their way. I honestly thought this would never get to this point, but it did!
Teustepe Small Loan Program
This same community has a small loan program, with a 93% repayment rate - a phenomenal success in this type of finance. Most of these programs have to charge from 25% to 100% interest to just cover their losses. Why does this one succeed? Here are the characteristics:
- You must be a participating member of the community to apply for a loan.
- Membership requires a 9 month novitiate program.
- Membership requires attendance at 70% of the regular meetings of the community - they meet several times each month.
- An underwriting committee review all of the loan applications.
- They create a recommended list for the review of the entire community.
- The community reviews the list in a meeting, and the committee adjusts the loans according to the input of the larger community.
- The list is represented to the community, and forwarded to the "bank".
- The loans are given out in November at a meeting of the community.
- Each loan recipient signs a loan agreement, specifying the terms of the loan.
- Each recipient gets a payment schedule or receipt.
- Payments are collected and tallied at each monthly meeting, and a receipt is signed by the underwriting board.
- The payments are delivered to the "bank".
- There is no interest charged, but there are penalties if payments are late.
This works because this is a responsible community, and they have created the mechanism and the structure to enable this program to succeed. They own this financing agency that they have created.
Sustainable?
El Carmen Matiguas Water Project
See this reference: El Carmen Matiguas Water Project. This outfit does this kind of project all the time. This one provided a water system from mountain streams to a town of 612 people. Their only prior water source before this were some extremely polluted streams.
A major part of the project is the capacity building in the community before any work is started. There has to be a community organization, which is committed to doing the work, and maintaining the system. The municipality has to support the project. The labor contribution of the community amounted to $25,000 or so of the total $100,000 cost. Other funding sources were used, and the city also made a small contribution. Annual maintenance costs are estimated at $800, which the community has committed to do.
The Word document on the page is in Spanish, but it describes the organization of the community, and the fact that they became a legal entity that is responsible for this project and its continued maintenance. The responsible agency here - PWX - seems to understand how to do this. If we have a water project at any point, they would be a good contact.
Sustainable?
Cristo Rey - New Life Nicaragua
This work is by a mission family from the US who first came to Nicaragua to help the people living in the dump of Managua. And they do amazing things. On their home page there is a 10 minute video about their work There is an orphanage, feeding program, housing program, etc.
http://www.newlifenicaragua.org/
There are three other videos on their work here.
http://vimeo.com/newlifenicaragua
Watch the first one about the orphanage and the re-nutrition center. Talk about saving babies in the stream! These people have clearly done it.
If you have watched these videos, you will understand why I do not want to say anything bad about this work. These kids would likely not survive, and would certainly not grow to be healthy, capable adults. The new homes are replacing pieces of wood and plastic - which is a fairly common home in somany me parts of Managua. It is hard to watch this and not want to help.
There is very little information on how they do this, other than these videos. Based on the films, like the one where they are doing a census in Tipitapa, it looks like an external effort, funded by donations from the US, which gives food and homes to poor Nicaraguans. They are running a farm, and they use the food for the children. They have a medical clinic, staffed by a US doctor. They talk about using the facility to train local people in the technology.
There is also a blog, which has some additional information: http://www.newlifenicaragua.org/blog/tag/adoption. They feed 175 kids a day, and have built 43 homes. Kids that are not adopted are in foster care - mostly with US missionary families. They host medical missions which provide the care in the clinic. They have had some personal health problems etc. It is worth reading the blog to get a bit of perspective on how this all works.
Is it sustainable? What happens when the funding stops? Clearly there are some long term benefits - some capable, healthy people will grow to be mature adults. Those adults, however, may be laboring under the impression that all that is good and rich comes from the North, and not from themselves. That's the only negative comment I can manage.
Water Wells
Water wells are a classic type of project. Let's face it, getting water is one of the basic essentials of life. And isntalling a well should be a nobrainer. Once it is in, it works and provides water, right? Well, what about parts and repairs? Even if the parts are available, the knowledge to repair it is essential; and even if that is present, there is the small matter of the cost. In my few trips to Africa, there are many abandoned water works all over the place. It is very hard for a really poor community to maintain a water well. The truly sustainable approach also makes sure that repair and replacement is in place. See this reference for more details on that.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/to-maintain-water-pumps-it-takes-more-than-a-village/
Conclusion
This is way too long already. But do you notice any common thread? Are the sustainable efforts any less beneficial? Do they take longer? Is there some way the other ones could be transformed into sustainable ones at this point? Why might that be difficult? And . . . just how are you going to help here?
It is snowing as I write this - good old Minnesota. It is good to be home!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Poor Economics - a book review and a few thoughts
It's Sunday, and I am here all alone at the AKF Center. Elena was here a bit this morning to talk with David at Rotary about the upcoming Rotary delegation, and visit to the communities. I got my laundry done, and warmed up some left overs for lunch. Dinner? I'll have to think about that later! But I have some time to read.
Poor Economics
I just finished reading Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. When I started on this book I was not wonderfully impressed, because they seem to have missed the whole "culture and development" idea. But it turns out to be a great book - well worth the time. It is a collection of research studies and experiments, with respect to how poor people make economic decisions. Much of the work comes from parts of India, but they have many other countries in their survey field. It appears that economics is moving from the theoretical to the scientific in this important arena. If nothing else, it is an amazing collection of stories of people who are struggling against great odds to provide a life for their family and a future for their children.
Culture is Important - but There Are Other Ways
The authors do not seem to be aware of the studies which relate cultural differences to development, but that does not seem to be a problem with their ideas and recommendations. They base their work on field studies of poor people who are making economic decisions in a variety of experiments. Any cultural differences are clearly present in the results. I think that having a more express understanding of the implicit impact of the culture of the place being studied, would have helped them to understand the reasons for the behavior observed - but it clearly would not change the behavior observed.
As it turns out, poor people are making the best decisions they can, with the information they have, and the options open to them. They do tend to do things a bit more short term, and are prone to a bit less risk taking - but that makes perfect sense in their environment. Some of the decisions which they find to be difficult are difficult for everyone, but are somewhat managed for those of us who live in wealthier circumstances. I, for example, never had to worry about creating an ingenious way to save for my retirement. Between Social Security and the tax breaks provided my employer for a retirement plan and 401K, that decision was relatively painless. I also have very little difficulty getting a bank account, or a line of credit - but I have more than enough assets to ensure that the bank is taking virtually no risk in these events. For the poor, it is another matter entirely.
I am also not an entrepreneur - the risks involved in that scare me. Most of the poor are entrepreneurs, running their own businesses, simply because that is the only option open to them.
Micro Lending - Finance
The book is full of solid information about how poor people make economic decisions, and why some things work and others fail. For example, after an exhaustive evaluation of financing and micro-lending options, they conclude that micro-lending does in fact help, but it is no silver bullet - it is not THE solution to poverty. But it should be one of the tools because it does help improve the lives of the poor. The authors describe some of the many creative ways that micro-lending associations have invented to make the loan process work better in the economics of poverty.
Just Do It
But the biggest insight for me does relate to the culture thing. I am persuaded that the fundamental, underlying culture of a people is the root cause of their inability to use their own talents and energy to create wealth. Their view of the world, their view of wealth does not support the behavior and decisions that are required for economic development. The authors of the book point to a solution to that problem. We all recognize that changing a culture, a world view, requires a considerable effort, over a long period of time. But there is another alternative - we can adapt the economic systems we have created to better fit the world view of the people with the need. Economics is not a universal law handed down by nature - we have created the beast, and we can adapt it to changing needs. The book recommends using an experimental approach to find a technique that works in the given circumstances.
One example in the book is the problem of agricultural production and the use of fertilizer. Farmers who use fertilizer gain much higher yields, such that it is worth the added expense. They can be taught how to use the fertilizer, they can be shown the economic benefits - but it is still difficult for them to put aside the money required to purchase the fertilizer until it is time to plant again and use the fertilizer. They may try to save the money, but other priorities appear, and the money rarely makes it to the next planting season. You can find this on page 207 of the paper back edition - which I have as a Google Book.
The simple solution was the creation of a voucher system. When the grain is brought for sale, the farmers are offered a voucher which guarantees them the delivery of the fertilizer whenever they want it. That simple process increased the use of fertilizer significantly. People are still faced with unexpected expenses, but they somehow survive, and the fertilizer is available when needed. They can do the same thing for the seed, and other essential parts of the cycle.
So, for my simple minded solution, while it helps to understand how a world view operates, there is little point in spending a lot of time and energy trying to change it, when a simple process can achieve the desired result within that world view. The hard part of this is the effort required to study the details and do the experiments to determine what works and what does not. But it appears to be an effective technique.
The bottom line recommendations are simple:
Larger Factors at Work
Sometimes when I am in the midst of all of this, I feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. For example, here in Nicaragua, there are so many factors working against the poor and against development, that it sometimes seems hopeless. How to reform the democratic system, eliminate corruption and favoritism, clean up the trash, fix the roads, improve the education, etc., etc. Nicaragua ranks 127th out of 187 countries studied by Transparency International with respect to corruption.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/oct/26/corruption-index-2010-transparency-international
The authors make the case that you do not need to completely change the system all at once. If you work within it and take advantage of every opportunity to move it forward, a great deal of progress can be made - which will eventually amount to a great deal of change.
For example, when elections of public figures were put in place in Chinese villages, those elected tended to be more concerned for the issues of the people, even though the party slate was presented by the authorities. In another example, schools in Uganda were receiving less than 30% of the financial aid that was sent to them. A study by a team of economists discovered this, it was published in the paper, and school administrators began demanding their money. The middle level administrators had been pocketing it, until that was no longer seen as an acceptable outcome. Raising the information level, and the sense of civic awareness can help.
In another example, local meetings of the populace to make decisions with regard to funds sent their way are normally dominated by the elite in the community. They make it their business to learn the details, and they show up at the meetings. The simple strategy of sending a mailing inviting everyone to the meeting tends to diffuse the power of the elite and broaden the base of support for the decisions made. I don't know what you do in a community where letters are more problematic than not - but I note that virtually everyone here has a cell phone with text capability. A simple text message setting out the time and place and agenda would likely have a similar effect.
Other Positive Steps
There are other bits of wisdom in the book that do relate to this Nicaraguan "initiative". People with little hope have little energy for making change. When people are given a little bit of hope and some positive reassurance that they can make a change, they tend to respond more positively (p. 217). What we are about with these two small communities is exactly that - raise their sense of empowerment, and ask them to step up to the challenges they are facing with some help to get started, some training and information to open up the options available to them.
Experimental Validation
Warning - what follows is pretty extraneous to this discussion. You can stop now and not lose anything.
As I was finishing this up, I wanted to see if any others had connected the work of Culture Matters and Poor Economics - and there are a few interesting things out there.
Another Book?
Until next time, I need another one in the genre - anyone have a recommendation?
Poor Economics
I just finished reading Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. When I started on this book I was not wonderfully impressed, because they seem to have missed the whole "culture and development" idea. But it turns out to be a great book - well worth the time. It is a collection of research studies and experiments, with respect to how poor people make economic decisions. Much of the work comes from parts of India, but they have many other countries in their survey field. It appears that economics is moving from the theoretical to the scientific in this important arena. If nothing else, it is an amazing collection of stories of people who are struggling against great odds to provide a life for their family and a future for their children.
Culture is Important - but There Are Other Ways
The authors do not seem to be aware of the studies which relate cultural differences to development, but that does not seem to be a problem with their ideas and recommendations. They base their work on field studies of poor people who are making economic decisions in a variety of experiments. Any cultural differences are clearly present in the results. I think that having a more express understanding of the implicit impact of the culture of the place being studied, would have helped them to understand the reasons for the behavior observed - but it clearly would not change the behavior observed.
As it turns out, poor people are making the best decisions they can, with the information they have, and the options open to them. They do tend to do things a bit more short term, and are prone to a bit less risk taking - but that makes perfect sense in their environment. Some of the decisions which they find to be difficult are difficult for everyone, but are somewhat managed for those of us who live in wealthier circumstances. I, for example, never had to worry about creating an ingenious way to save for my retirement. Between Social Security and the tax breaks provided my employer for a retirement plan and 401K, that decision was relatively painless. I also have very little difficulty getting a bank account, or a line of credit - but I have more than enough assets to ensure that the bank is taking virtually no risk in these events. For the poor, it is another matter entirely.
I am also not an entrepreneur - the risks involved in that scare me. Most of the poor are entrepreneurs, running their own businesses, simply because that is the only option open to them.
Micro Lending - Finance
The book is full of solid information about how poor people make economic decisions, and why some things work and others fail. For example, after an exhaustive evaluation of financing and micro-lending options, they conclude that micro-lending does in fact help, but it is no silver bullet - it is not THE solution to poverty. But it should be one of the tools because it does help improve the lives of the poor. The authors describe some of the many creative ways that micro-lending associations have invented to make the loan process work better in the economics of poverty.
Just Do It
But the biggest insight for me does relate to the culture thing. I am persuaded that the fundamental, underlying culture of a people is the root cause of their inability to use their own talents and energy to create wealth. Their view of the world, their view of wealth does not support the behavior and decisions that are required for economic development. The authors of the book point to a solution to that problem. We all recognize that changing a culture, a world view, requires a considerable effort, over a long period of time. But there is another alternative - we can adapt the economic systems we have created to better fit the world view of the people with the need. Economics is not a universal law handed down by nature - we have created the beast, and we can adapt it to changing needs. The book recommends using an experimental approach to find a technique that works in the given circumstances.
One example in the book is the problem of agricultural production and the use of fertilizer. Farmers who use fertilizer gain much higher yields, such that it is worth the added expense. They can be taught how to use the fertilizer, they can be shown the economic benefits - but it is still difficult for them to put aside the money required to purchase the fertilizer until it is time to plant again and use the fertilizer. They may try to save the money, but other priorities appear, and the money rarely makes it to the next planting season. You can find this on page 207 of the paper back edition - which I have as a Google Book.
The simple solution was the creation of a voucher system. When the grain is brought for sale, the farmers are offered a voucher which guarantees them the delivery of the fertilizer whenever they want it. That simple process increased the use of fertilizer significantly. People are still faced with unexpected expenses, but they somehow survive, and the fertilizer is available when needed. They can do the same thing for the seed, and other essential parts of the cycle.
So, for my simple minded solution, while it helps to understand how a world view operates, there is little point in spending a lot of time and energy trying to change it, when a simple process can achieve the desired result within that world view. The hard part of this is the effort required to study the details and do the experiments to determine what works and what does not. But it appears to be an effective technique.
The bottom line recommendations are simple:
- attend to the details,
- understand how people make decisions and
- be willing to experiment.
Larger Factors at Work
Sometimes when I am in the midst of all of this, I feel overwhelmed by the scale of the problem. For example, here in Nicaragua, there are so many factors working against the poor and against development, that it sometimes seems hopeless. How to reform the democratic system, eliminate corruption and favoritism, clean up the trash, fix the roads, improve the education, etc., etc. Nicaragua ranks 127th out of 187 countries studied by Transparency International with respect to corruption.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/oct/26/corruption-index-2010-transparency-international
The authors make the case that you do not need to completely change the system all at once. If you work within it and take advantage of every opportunity to move it forward, a great deal of progress can be made - which will eventually amount to a great deal of change.
For example, when elections of public figures were put in place in Chinese villages, those elected tended to be more concerned for the issues of the people, even though the party slate was presented by the authorities. In another example, schools in Uganda were receiving less than 30% of the financial aid that was sent to them. A study by a team of economists discovered this, it was published in the paper, and school administrators began demanding their money. The middle level administrators had been pocketing it, until that was no longer seen as an acceptable outcome. Raising the information level, and the sense of civic awareness can help.
In another example, local meetings of the populace to make decisions with regard to funds sent their way are normally dominated by the elite in the community. They make it their business to learn the details, and they show up at the meetings. The simple strategy of sending a mailing inviting everyone to the meeting tends to diffuse the power of the elite and broaden the base of support for the decisions made. I don't know what you do in a community where letters are more problematic than not - but I note that virtually everyone here has a cell phone with text capability. A simple text message setting out the time and place and agenda would likely have a similar effect.
Other Positive Steps
There are other bits of wisdom in the book that do relate to this Nicaraguan "initiative". People with little hope have little energy for making change. When people are given a little bit of hope and some positive reassurance that they can make a change, they tend to respond more positively (p. 217). What we are about with these two small communities is exactly that - raise their sense of empowerment, and ask them to step up to the challenges they are facing with some help to get started, some training and information to open up the options available to them.
Experimental Validation
Warning - what follows is pretty extraneous to this discussion. You can stop now and not lose anything.
As I was finishing this up, I wanted to see if any others had connected the work of Culture Matters and Poor Economics - and there are a few interesting things out there.
- A gaming experiment in Peru and in Los Angeles seems to indicate that economic decision making is influenced by the cultural differences. See: Study on Peru and LA Bargaining Game. The authors conclude that humans everywhere do NOT use the same kind of economic reasoning. One of the more amazing things from this paper is that this type of experimental economics study has been replicated in many parts of the industrialized world with very similar results. Those results tended to make researches believe that all humans have an innate sense of fairness. The game has high stakes - $160 - and the goal is to make an offer that the other side will accept. If the offer is accepted, then both parties get to keep the money. If the offer is declined, then neither side gets any funds. In industrialized countries the offers tend to be around 40 to 45%, more or less. For the Peruvian tribe, the offers were distinctly lower - 15 to 26%! In industrialized societies, offers below 20% are rare, and they are always rejected. In the case of the tribe from Peru, they are low and are accepted. Interviews with the tribe members indicated that they would accept ANY offer of money, always. Participants from industrialized countries had a higher sense of "fairness" so that they would refuse shares that were considered unfair.
- Here is a paper from 2007 that argues just the opposite - culture has NO impact on economics.
Walton - Culture Matters. IMHO the author does not grasp the concept of "culture" as world view, but rather sees it as a collection of relationships. He is thinking primarily of caste differences in India - not about mental view of how things work.
Another Book?
Until next time, I need another one in the genre - anyone have a recommendation?
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The New Communities
INTRODUCTION
Well, I have been to both new communities which AKF is working with, and I have some thoughts on this whole process. In retrospect, as I told Elena, I am kind of amazed that I did not quite understand what was going on here until I was actually in the middle of it. I've been to the meetings, and read all the documents - but I didn't get a real feel for it and how it works until just this week. Maybe you just have to walk through it, but I am going to try to share it here. Slides and a video would probably work better. Here are some of the kids:
I have been reluctant to take any pictures of the houses - although people have been very willing to have me take photos of themselves. I didn't want to offend them in any way. But here's one.
NOT A PROJECT
The Rotary Fast For Hope Presentation makes this point - many times. This is NOT about projects. And we had a good example of it today. We were visiting with one of the community families, and the man of the house was talking about some of the others that have come into town to help them out. Note - AKF has not said anything about helping them out. More on that later. But he described this gringo couple that appeared one day, and spent time in the town. They had some connection with some church in town, and they wanted to help. They were worried about childhood nutrition, so they decided to start a feeding program for children. They also wanted to start a preschool program connected with that. These are clearly "projects". They had money, and they were going to raise other money to sustain these things. They bought a bunch of food, they set up to serve meals to the kids - and kids showed up. And there is a clear need here - there is no question about that. When young kids do not get proper nutrition, their brains do not develop fully, and they suffer many more health problems later in life. I am almost always the tallest person in the room here - and I have shrunk to about 5'10".
But, the way they prepared the food was not wonderful as far as the kids were concerned. And the parents voiced some concerns about how the school was working. Net, bottom line, after some indeterminate period (my Spanish is not that good yet), the food was spoiled, the couple felt unappreciated and left, and the whole thing stopped. The guy said, that's your typical project. Somehow, he said, our community does not measure up so that the help continues.
I have several other, similar stories which I have encountered. Some are heart rendering. Their is one project that is feeding people and building homes for people here that just did a really nice fund raising video. The work they are doing is adminrable. People are fed, houses are constructed - but it all depends on a sustained outside contribution. When that stops - as it must eventually stop - the people will have a few more homes, but that is about the extent of the permanent change.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The problem is, of course, that the whole thing creates a dependency on outside help, not only to get started, but to continue in operation. What the Rotary Initiative is about is sustainable development. The root idea is that people are capable of helping themselves. They may need some initial help, some education, some ideas, but they have the potential to improve their own lot in life. When and if the outside help does stop, they are better off, and they will continue to improve their community.
HOW DOES ONE DO THIS?
OK, now, think about this a minute. How does one do sustainable development, without creating an entire dependency relationship. AKF has been working at this for years, and I think they have a way to do it. But I didn't see all of the pieces until this week. Here are the major tasks that I think one would undertake, somewhat in order.
Well, I have been to both new communities which AKF is working with, and I have some thoughts on this whole process. In retrospect, as I told Elena, I am kind of amazed that I did not quite understand what was going on here until I was actually in the middle of it. I've been to the meetings, and read all the documents - but I didn't get a real feel for it and how it works until just this week. Maybe you just have to walk through it, but I am going to try to share it here. Slides and a video would probably work better. Here are some of the kids:
 |
| Kids and Staff - Good grins all |
NOT A PROJECT
The Rotary Fast For Hope Presentation makes this point - many times. This is NOT about projects. And we had a good example of it today. We were visiting with one of the community families, and the man of the house was talking about some of the others that have come into town to help them out. Note - AKF has not said anything about helping them out. More on that later. But he described this gringo couple that appeared one day, and spent time in the town. They had some connection with some church in town, and they wanted to help. They were worried about childhood nutrition, so they decided to start a feeding program for children. They also wanted to start a preschool program connected with that. These are clearly "projects". They had money, and they were going to raise other money to sustain these things. They bought a bunch of food, they set up to serve meals to the kids - and kids showed up. And there is a clear need here - there is no question about that. When young kids do not get proper nutrition, their brains do not develop fully, and they suffer many more health problems later in life. I am almost always the tallest person in the room here - and I have shrunk to about 5'10".
But, the way they prepared the food was not wonderful as far as the kids were concerned. And the parents voiced some concerns about how the school was working. Net, bottom line, after some indeterminate period (my Spanish is not that good yet), the food was spoiled, the couple felt unappreciated and left, and the whole thing stopped. The guy said, that's your typical project. Somehow, he said, our community does not measure up so that the help continues.
I have several other, similar stories which I have encountered. Some are heart rendering. Their is one project that is feeding people and building homes for people here that just did a really nice fund raising video. The work they are doing is adminrable. People are fed, houses are constructed - but it all depends on a sustained outside contribution. When that stops - as it must eventually stop - the people will have a few more homes, but that is about the extent of the permanent change.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The problem is, of course, that the whole thing creates a dependency on outside help, not only to get started, but to continue in operation. What the Rotary Initiative is about is sustainable development. The root idea is that people are capable of helping themselves. They may need some initial help, some education, some ideas, but they have the potential to improve their own lot in life. When and if the outside help does stop, they are better off, and they will continue to improve their community.
HOW DOES ONE DO THIS?
OK, now, think about this a minute. How does one do sustainable development, without creating an entire dependency relationship. AKF has been working at this for years, and I think they have a way to do it. But I didn't see all of the pieces until this week. Here are the major tasks that I think one would undertake, somewhat in order.
- You identify a community that has some basic community sense, so that your first efforts do not take forever to get off the ground.
- You visit with the people in the community - using a wide variety of techniques.
- You build up the trust relationship between the team and the community.
- You identify the potential leaders in the community.
- You get to know and talk with as many families as possible.
- You identify all of the family relationships.
- You suggest ways that the families in the community might get to know each other better, create relationships and fellowship that would benefit all of them.
- You talk with the people frequently - several times a week - asking them how things are going, how is their health, their crops, the weather, their families. You keep your ears and eyes open to what kinds of things they are worried about.
- You play games with the kids in the street.
- You help people plant, or harvest, or fix their homes.
- You talk about your school, and how you accompany other communities.
- You describe other types of work you have done for other communities.
- You suggest that families meet with other families in informal settings, which you help to facilitate, so that they get to know each other.
- You gather people together in informal meetings and celebrations.
- You ask the community if they want to participate in the work of the farm school.
- You invite them to meet with representatives of other communities you are working with.
- You provide community building education.
- You visit with them other communities that are in the process of building their dreams, of improving their communities. You give them ideas as to what they can accomplish.
- You help them determine what their community needs - what their dream would be.
- You help them identify strengths and weaknesses in their community toward creating that dream - what resources do they have, what resources can they obtain elsewhere.
- You help them understand that they have the power in themselves to achieve their dream.
- You introduce them to some outside resources that could help with that dream - legal groups, farm schools, people with the skills they might need to accomplish their dream.
Conclusion
That's as far as I've gotten. I trust it helps a bit. We are building a community, improving their relationships, their social capital, and empowering them to do things. Not a project. Comments?
Monday, November 7, 2011
Morning in Managua - And Development - just a bit
Good morning all. It is another beautiful day her in Managua. I am sitting on the porch with my second cup of tea. I had a couple of eggs and a bagel. The no see ums are somewhat at bay - between the breeze and my DEET!
Why You Do Not Want A Palm Tree in your yard
A coconut just fell off a tree here with a huge thud. That would be interesting if you were walking around under there. A palm branch fell the other morning - it wouldn't hurt as much, but it's a huge thing as well. The oranges that fall would not do as much damage! The maintenance guy was trying to knock some down yesterday with a long pole. He missed this one.
Election Results
With only partial results, Ortega seems to have won handily - 63% and the nearest contender 29%. That was on only 15% of the vote, so the opposition is not giving in just yet. As I read the paper, there were some allegations of irregularities, but nothing major: someone could not get approved to vote, the polls closed early, and some of the secured boxes took a different route through the stadium. The observers were not all happy with the access provided, etc.
But the streets seem to be calm. Another peaceful Latin election - we just had one in Argentina and Guatemala. I hope it's a trend. It's like the one between Bush and Gore. After the fact, it would appear that Gore actually won that - but we did not bring down the country over it. Maybe we should have, given the ultimate outcome. Naw - my insides want peaceful continuity above all else. Once we lose that, it's damned hard to get it back. It's like lying - one lie and your credibility is dead.
This started as a reflection on a falling coconut - but ended up being an economic treatise. Sorry about that. If you are just in the travelogue mode, stop reading right about here!!
Development and the Economy and Rotary
There is a long "editorial" in the paper on development, and the education required to support development. The economy here is primarily agriculture, textile manufacturing and tourism. So what do we develop? I have been trying to think down the road a bit, to help Rotary get a better vision of the future for the two communities where they have undertaken this "initiative". It's hard to stay engaged when all you are doing is talking and building a trusting relationship. I need to see a picture of where this MIGHT end up - and I assume they do as well. What MIGHT these communities undertake to improve their lives?
The shape of the economy in general is an important part of that.
Economics Facts - Infrastructure
One of the Rotarians is putting together an economic picture for us. I would recommend that we invite a local economist to talk with the next delegation. My informal observation is that the infrastructure appears to be fairly well in place. Venezuela has been pouring in a lot of money for electricity - hydro and geothermal are good opportunities. Roads definitely need some help in the more rural areas. Water seems generally available. Education is decent, and improving. Property rights, the courts and contract enforcement are very problematic and corrupt - which will negatively affect any substantial foreign investment. The whole legal and financial infrastructure needs a lot of improvement, but that is a bit beyond our scope.
Most exports are to the US - 65%. Since CAFTA trade TO the US has grown by 70%. The overall trade balance is negative - $3.2 B exports, $4.7 B imports. That is not terrible - it just means that the currency will continue to devalue relative to the dollar. The US would have the same problem with China, if China were not propping up their currency by buying a trillion dollars worth of US bonds! $823 M comes each year from foreign remittances - workers in the US and elsewhere.
Textiles
Textiles are half of the exports to the US. But textiles are not as competitive since Ortega raised the minimum wage. Textile manufacturing is a "race to the bottom". It keeps moving after the cheapest labor. We won't solve that problem until the poorest place in Africa has a t-shirt factory and they demand higher wages! But, then, the US textile industry is busily automating clothing manufacturing to the point that they can compete with places like Nicaragua even now! See "The End of Work", by Rifkin. There is a local t-shirt coop here that is struggling right now - with a serious debt burden because of a failed acquisition of equipment from a US supplier. Given the long term future of textiles, I don't know that the coop will survive. Clearly, in the more rural areas, this is not an area of interest - unless it means growing cotton. I have no idea what that requires.
Transportation
As I have noted elsewhere, some of the roads are horrendous. The buses are problematic as well. They are generally crowded, no place for luggage, etc. I just learned the other day that there are no trains. The gentleman we were talking with said that one of the governments sold all of the equipment at one point. I wonder what happened to the right of way. That might be a tremendous boon - but the current government seems bent on building roads - which is fine. Probably not one of our initiatives.
Tourism
Tourism is a good idea - and there will be more as this part of the world becomes settled and accessible. There are beautiful spots that are accessible today- could be more in the future. I have friends visiting Granada as I write this. And $115 a day for an all inclusive resort on the beach is pretty attractive. But it is clear that a rural area is not likely the best place for a tourism initiative. (I keep finding myself saying WE are doing things - it's my North American view of life - but I am working on it.)
Agriculture
Agriculture has considerable potential, and it fits well with the rural communities - AND the role of AKF as a Farm School. It is 18% of the economy and 30% of the workforce. There is a substantial export of agriculture, mostly coffee, bananas, sugar and cotton. The farming is nearly 100% manual, labor intensive. There seems to be tremendous opportunity - I see lots of fields that are basically untouched as yet. And virtually all of the people in the "new" Rotary communities are agrarian.
There are substantial efforts here to promote organic farming, and more sustainable ways to increase production. There is a definite geographic advantage in those crops which cannot be produced in northern climates - coffee and fruit. So there, based on my simplistic, amateurish analysis of the situation, these farming families should be about increasing their production of exportable commodities - assuming they can get them to a market somewhere. It's clearly up to them, but this is one idea I would run past them. Nota Bene - this is not a push for machinery, not a coop, just better farming techniques. The training for that is readily available here.
I have yet to see a tractor on a farm - but I did see a Bobcat running around in a supply yard. Do you have any idea how much that little device revolutionized poultry and dairy farming? And it was invented in Minnesota!! http://www.rothsay.org/famouspeople.html. It has been compared to the cotton gin and the McCormick reaper for its impact on farming. I would love to run one down that road we traveled on the other day and fill in all the holes! What does one of those things cost? Wayne, my farmer friend - are you there?
Similar Efforts
To confirm this a bit, there was an Millennium Challenge Corporation 5 year grant of $175 M in 2006 which "sought to reduce poverty and spur economic growth by funding projects in the regions of Leon and Chinandega aimed at reducing transportation costs and improving access to markets for rural communities; increasing wages and profits from farming and related enterprises in the region; and attracting investment by strengthening property rights." This ended in 2009 because of allegations of widespread fraud in municipal elections. I don't know that there was any actual fraudulent use of the funds, but rather open government was one of the stipulations of the grant. At least one other group thinks this is a good tactic. See the reference cited below, and http://www.mcc.gov/pages/countries/overview/nicaragua.
For a much more detailed understanding of this project, how it worked and what it actually did, see: http://www.mcc.gov/pages/press/release/mcc-successfully-completes-projects-to-reduce-poverty-and-promote-economic-. There is another link there - and I have copies of the PDF files if anyone is interested and can't get them.
Most of the facts in here came from here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1850.htm. It's as good as any I have found and it is fairly current.
Conclusion
Well, amazing - a US Government initiative in Nicaragua that has a modicum of real success. And all that from a coconut falling!
I would almost pay someone for the opportunity to sit and read and write in a warm climate in November. Thank you, Rotary!
Why You Do Not Want A Palm Tree in your yard
A coconut just fell off a tree here with a huge thud. That would be interesting if you were walking around under there. A palm branch fell the other morning - it wouldn't hurt as much, but it's a huge thing as well. The oranges that fall would not do as much damage! The maintenance guy was trying to knock some down yesterday with a long pole. He missed this one.
Election Results
With only partial results, Ortega seems to have won handily - 63% and the nearest contender 29%. That was on only 15% of the vote, so the opposition is not giving in just yet. As I read the paper, there were some allegations of irregularities, but nothing major: someone could not get approved to vote, the polls closed early, and some of the secured boxes took a different route through the stadium. The observers were not all happy with the access provided, etc.
But the streets seem to be calm. Another peaceful Latin election - we just had one in Argentina and Guatemala. I hope it's a trend. It's like the one between Bush and Gore. After the fact, it would appear that Gore actually won that - but we did not bring down the country over it. Maybe we should have, given the ultimate outcome. Naw - my insides want peaceful continuity above all else. Once we lose that, it's damned hard to get it back. It's like lying - one lie and your credibility is dead.
This started as a reflection on a falling coconut - but ended up being an economic treatise. Sorry about that. If you are just in the travelogue mode, stop reading right about here!!
Development and the Economy and Rotary
There is a long "editorial" in the paper on development, and the education required to support development. The economy here is primarily agriculture, textile manufacturing and tourism. So what do we develop? I have been trying to think down the road a bit, to help Rotary get a better vision of the future for the two communities where they have undertaken this "initiative". It's hard to stay engaged when all you are doing is talking and building a trusting relationship. I need to see a picture of where this MIGHT end up - and I assume they do as well. What MIGHT these communities undertake to improve their lives?
The shape of the economy in general is an important part of that.
Economics Facts - Infrastructure
One of the Rotarians is putting together an economic picture for us. I would recommend that we invite a local economist to talk with the next delegation. My informal observation is that the infrastructure appears to be fairly well in place. Venezuela has been pouring in a lot of money for electricity - hydro and geothermal are good opportunities. Roads definitely need some help in the more rural areas. Water seems generally available. Education is decent, and improving. Property rights, the courts and contract enforcement are very problematic and corrupt - which will negatively affect any substantial foreign investment. The whole legal and financial infrastructure needs a lot of improvement, but that is a bit beyond our scope.
Most exports are to the US - 65%. Since CAFTA trade TO the US has grown by 70%. The overall trade balance is negative - $3.2 B exports, $4.7 B imports. That is not terrible - it just means that the currency will continue to devalue relative to the dollar. The US would have the same problem with China, if China were not propping up their currency by buying a trillion dollars worth of US bonds! $823 M comes each year from foreign remittances - workers in the US and elsewhere.
Textiles
Textiles are half of the exports to the US. But textiles are not as competitive since Ortega raised the minimum wage. Textile manufacturing is a "race to the bottom". It keeps moving after the cheapest labor. We won't solve that problem until the poorest place in Africa has a t-shirt factory and they demand higher wages! But, then, the US textile industry is busily automating clothing manufacturing to the point that they can compete with places like Nicaragua even now! See "The End of Work", by Rifkin. There is a local t-shirt coop here that is struggling right now - with a serious debt burden because of a failed acquisition of equipment from a US supplier. Given the long term future of textiles, I don't know that the coop will survive. Clearly, in the more rural areas, this is not an area of interest - unless it means growing cotton. I have no idea what that requires.
Transportation
As I have noted elsewhere, some of the roads are horrendous. The buses are problematic as well. They are generally crowded, no place for luggage, etc. I just learned the other day that there are no trains. The gentleman we were talking with said that one of the governments sold all of the equipment at one point. I wonder what happened to the right of way. That might be a tremendous boon - but the current government seems bent on building roads - which is fine. Probably not one of our initiatives.
Tourism
Tourism is a good idea - and there will be more as this part of the world becomes settled and accessible. There are beautiful spots that are accessible today- could be more in the future. I have friends visiting Granada as I write this. And $115 a day for an all inclusive resort on the beach is pretty attractive. But it is clear that a rural area is not likely the best place for a tourism initiative. (I keep finding myself saying WE are doing things - it's my North American view of life - but I am working on it.)
Agriculture
Agriculture has considerable potential, and it fits well with the rural communities - AND the role of AKF as a Farm School. It is 18% of the economy and 30% of the workforce. There is a substantial export of agriculture, mostly coffee, bananas, sugar and cotton. The farming is nearly 100% manual, labor intensive. There seems to be tremendous opportunity - I see lots of fields that are basically untouched as yet. And virtually all of the people in the "new" Rotary communities are agrarian.
There are substantial efforts here to promote organic farming, and more sustainable ways to increase production. There is a definite geographic advantage in those crops which cannot be produced in northern climates - coffee and fruit. So there, based on my simplistic, amateurish analysis of the situation, these farming families should be about increasing their production of exportable commodities - assuming they can get them to a market somewhere. It's clearly up to them, but this is one idea I would run past them. Nota Bene - this is not a push for machinery, not a coop, just better farming techniques. The training for that is readily available here.
I have yet to see a tractor on a farm - but I did see a Bobcat running around in a supply yard. Do you have any idea how much that little device revolutionized poultry and dairy farming? And it was invented in Minnesota!! http://www.rothsay.org/famouspeople.html. It has been compared to the cotton gin and the McCormick reaper for its impact on farming. I would love to run one down that road we traveled on the other day and fill in all the holes! What does one of those things cost? Wayne, my farmer friend - are you there?
Similar Efforts
To confirm this a bit, there was an Millennium Challenge Corporation 5 year grant of $175 M in 2006 which "sought to reduce poverty and spur economic growth by funding projects in the regions of Leon and Chinandega aimed at reducing transportation costs and improving access to markets for rural communities; increasing wages and profits from farming and related enterprises in the region; and attracting investment by strengthening property rights." This ended in 2009 because of allegations of widespread fraud in municipal elections. I don't know that there was any actual fraudulent use of the funds, but rather open government was one of the stipulations of the grant. At least one other group thinks this is a good tactic. See the reference cited below, and http://www.mcc.gov/pages/countries/overview/nicaragua.
For a much more detailed understanding of this project, how it worked and what it actually did, see: http://www.mcc.gov/pages/press/release/mcc-successfully-completes-projects-to-reduce-poverty-and-promote-economic-. There is another link there - and I have copies of the PDF files if anyone is interested and can't get them.
Most of the facts in here came from here: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1850.htm. It's as good as any I have found and it is fairly current.
Conclusion
Well, amazing - a US Government initiative in Nicaragua that has a modicum of real success. And all that from a coconut falling!
I would almost pay someone for the opportunity to sit and read and write in a warm climate in November. Thank you, Rotary!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Elections In Nicaragua - 2011
It’s Election Day here in Nicaragua. I thought I would share a bit of the background and goings on from a “travelogue” perspective – I trust that will work, ok Jude?
Situation Normal – Despair has set in.
I wake up early every morning here. About 5:30, the light starts appearing and the birds singing. I was busy yesterday, but today I have NOTHING to do. Elena had some errands to run so I tagged along. These ran from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. We went to the market, to the auto repair, to a bakery, to another REAL bakery with bagels and donuts, to the supermarket, to a 'buffet' for lunch (fried chicken), to a cheese place, to the FARM, to the hair salon, and back here to the Center. Along the way Elena quizzed me on the various sites, and I was trying to teach this Italian child some of her native tongue! It messes with my brain to do both Spanish and Italian. I hope the Italian hangs around in there! What IS the word for traffic light again? I had to look it up because it is the SAME WORD! No wonder I couldn’t find it in my brain. Semáforo – the pronunciation is the same, but it has an accent in Spanish to get there!
When I woke this morning, I was thinking about this whole adventure. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff – Economics, The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin, The Economics of Poverty, and stuff from the Economist and New York Times. I have other blog entries in progress on those ideas – but it gets depressing! And today is election day! The problems are so immense, and our understanding of them is miniscule – and the general public knows NADA! It appears hopeless at 5:00 in the morning. Now I am sitting here on the porch, trying to ward off the no-see-ums with a little breeze, to read and think, and have a cup of tea.
I asked Elena yesterday in the course of our adventures what she loves about this country. I said: “Is it the heat, the bugs, the poverty, the corruption, the politics, the rain, the litter – why exactly do you live here?” And she said, as I knew she would, “It’s the people”. They are frustrating at times, they are crooked at times, they are crazy at times – but they are also wonderful. And the children are well loved – you can see it in their eyes. And the country is beautiful for the most part. It is green, green, green. Of course that changes a bit in the “summer”, the dry season, which, hopefully, has just started. We have had enough rain, thank you, thank you very much.
The good thing about all of this – there has to be a GOOD THING, right – is that almost none of these things I am reading have hit on the culture thing, the ‘way of thinking’ as part of the problem. They understand some of the mechanics, they are saving babies, and trying to push up stream, but they haven’t found this key idea yet. A few have seen it, and don’t agree with it – like Jeffrey Sachs. As my wife would say, we need more stories. By the way, Ned is collecting Masaai stories. I think that will be an invaluable resource some day. I have another blog started on that!
Elections
Back to the elections. This is from the local Sunday paper (I miss the comics!):
• 4,341,935 Registered voters – about 20% live outside the country, or are deceased.
• 3,500,000 Actual voters.
• 4,296 Polling places – that works out to 815 voters per location!
• 12,960 Poll helpers – about 3 per spot.
• 50%?? Expected turnout! .
Mechanics of the Election
All of the ballots are paper, and each voter MUST have a cedula – an identity card. There have been a lot of reports in the press about problems with this card. Any area that appears to be unfavorable to the government has had great difficulty getting cards. When you vote, your thumb is marked with indelible ink so you cannot vote a second time. All of the ballots are counted by hand, at the polling place. Then they are sealed up and transported under guard to the central coliseum here in Managua, where they are guarded by the police until matters are settled. The distribution of the ballots is also a police affair.
An oddity of the ballot is that all of the representatives for the National Assembly are also selected by the one vote for the party. The candidates are selected by the party and lined up under the presidential candidate, in a priority order. The seats are then distributed across the country based on the percentage of the vote the party gets, from the top down on the candidate list. Interesting approach. One would say that this is barely a democracy – more a party driven process. Of course, one could say the same for every democracy on the planet. In the US one can generally vote across party lines, but the public has little impact on selecting the candidates. There is a movement about to directly nominate the US president. If you have not heard of it, check it out: http://www.americanselect.org/. An interesting part of this approach is a nationwide poll to determine what the entire US public thinks about the key issues. Take the poll – it’s a real learning experience. I was in the majority when I took it, much to my utter amazement.
Voter Participation
In 1984, Ortega won with 50% of the vote, immediately after the revolution. I don’t know what the voter turnout was, or the other candidates, but it was the first real election after the 70 years of Somoza’s dictatorship. Voter participation has been falling since: 86% in 1990, 76% in 1996, 73% in 2001 and 67% in 2006. Ortega won the last election with 38% of the vote. To avoid a runoff election, Ortega needs 40% of the vote, or 35% and at least a 5 point lead over the nearest opponent. This law was changed from the percentage only rule just prior to the last election – which is why Ortega won that one. The latest polls have him winning this one with just over 40% of the vote. As the paper says, one way or another.
Divided Opposition
If the opposition were to get together, he would probably lose. The people I talk with are simply not voting. One protest group asked people to mark ALL of the candidates, to indicate they want “none of the above”. It is uncertain whether those ballots would even be counted. The issue is that people do not feel there really is any choice. Ortega controls the courts and the electoral commission. He had the Supreme Court declare unconstitutional the clause in the constitution that said the president could not hold two successive terms. He also had the Court declare invalid the conviction of his leading opponent, Alleman. This past president was convicted of stealing millions from the country. The next candidate is a media personality. The final 2 of the 5 have polled less than 1 percent of the vote to this point. If the opposition were not split by the formerly convicted felon, Ortega would likely not win. So your choice is an illegal candidate who is manipulating the courts, a convicted felon who promises to create a million jobs, or an 80 year old news guy who was exiled during Ortega’s very first term for opposing the government.
Electoral Silence
The law here bans ANY electoral activity from Thursday before the election. Isn't that a good idea! I would vote for a month of it, given that the US elections seem to last for 2 years. The day after the election is a National Holiday as well, with no alcohol served all weekend. They are trying to avoid problems. The police are prepared for considerable protests, given the state of affairs.
The National Archbishop celebrated Mass for the Ortegas just before the election, blessing them and praising their work on behalf of the poor. This Mass also ran all yesterday evening on the news channel. Another interesting approach. I suspect he will not get into any trouble with the authorities for that!
Ortega also supports a total ban on abortion – even therapeutic abortion where the mother’s life is at risk – a position he adopted just before the 2006 election. The clergy have been preaching about qualified candidates for months, emphasizing honesty, and support for the abortion ban.
Venezuelan Connection
Ortega has about $700 million a year coming into the country from his friend in Venezuela, who also appears to be headed toward “president for life”, assuming he lives a few more years. Ortega is also a rich man these days. Lots of convenient properties came his way and to his supporters and family during the last few years. The Venezuelan money comes via ALBA, which has no transparent reporting as to ownership and beneficiaries. But it is well known that faithful supporters are reaping the major benefits.
The local paper this morning reports “small disturbances” in parts of the country over the election. Apparently, the ballot is not sufficient. Some of the parties are trying to settle the matter with fists. It feels more like a sporting event than an election. There were caravans of supporters, banners, songs, etc. It is very much a win / lose competition. My team, right or wrong. It's about team membership, not decision making.
There are international observers here, but the two national papers predict that Ortega, the Sandinista Front, will win by a landslide – whatever it takes, legal or otherwise.
Power Corrupts
The scary thing is that democracy of this model - a strong leader - is the norm in most of the world. Once installed, people want that strong leader to stay. They HAVE to be the leader, to save the country, to move forward, to get rid of the problems, and the opposition. I was here when Chavez won his mandate. Everyone here was supportive and excited. And then the assembly gave him 18 months of unlimited power. I was thinking, that's a really dumb idea. But my friend, an educated MD, was of the opinion that this was quite normal - almost a necessity in order to bring about radical change. I think the whole Arab Spring is likely to end up in the same model. We are genetically tuned to love strong leaders. Our ancestors who liked the committee approach and weak leaders tended to not survive the wars!!
So you see why I am a bit disheartened. What would it take to change this? What would give rise to the kind of national empowerment that led to the revolution against Somoza? Well, we do what we can, one step at a time. Qui va piano, va lontano. (Italian) Another 50 to 100 years? What do you think?
Enough about that. The breeze is good, the bugs are just a bit annoying. Time for another cup of tea. Take care. Give everyone a hug for me!
Situation Normal – Despair has set in.
I wake up early every morning here. About 5:30, the light starts appearing and the birds singing. I was busy yesterday, but today I have NOTHING to do. Elena had some errands to run so I tagged along. These ran from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. We went to the market, to the auto repair, to a bakery, to another REAL bakery with bagels and donuts, to the supermarket, to a 'buffet' for lunch (fried chicken), to a cheese place, to the FARM, to the hair salon, and back here to the Center. Along the way Elena quizzed me on the various sites, and I was trying to teach this Italian child some of her native tongue! It messes with my brain to do both Spanish and Italian. I hope the Italian hangs around in there! What IS the word for traffic light again? I had to look it up because it is the SAME WORD! No wonder I couldn’t find it in my brain. Semáforo – the pronunciation is the same, but it has an accent in Spanish to get there!
When I woke this morning, I was thinking about this whole adventure. I’ve been reading a lot of stuff – Economics, The End of Work by Jeremy Rifkin, The Economics of Poverty, and stuff from the Economist and New York Times. I have other blog entries in progress on those ideas – but it gets depressing! And today is election day! The problems are so immense, and our understanding of them is miniscule – and the general public knows NADA! It appears hopeless at 5:00 in the morning. Now I am sitting here on the porch, trying to ward off the no-see-ums with a little breeze, to read and think, and have a cup of tea.
I asked Elena yesterday in the course of our adventures what she loves about this country. I said: “Is it the heat, the bugs, the poverty, the corruption, the politics, the rain, the litter – why exactly do you live here?” And she said, as I knew she would, “It’s the people”. They are frustrating at times, they are crooked at times, they are crazy at times – but they are also wonderful. And the children are well loved – you can see it in their eyes. And the country is beautiful for the most part. It is green, green, green. Of course that changes a bit in the “summer”, the dry season, which, hopefully, has just started. We have had enough rain, thank you, thank you very much.
The good thing about all of this – there has to be a GOOD THING, right – is that almost none of these things I am reading have hit on the culture thing, the ‘way of thinking’ as part of the problem. They understand some of the mechanics, they are saving babies, and trying to push up stream, but they haven’t found this key idea yet. A few have seen it, and don’t agree with it – like Jeffrey Sachs. As my wife would say, we need more stories. By the way, Ned is collecting Masaai stories. I think that will be an invaluable resource some day. I have another blog started on that!
Elections
Back to the elections. This is from the local Sunday paper (I miss the comics!):
• 4,341,935 Registered voters – about 20% live outside the country, or are deceased.
• 3,500,000 Actual voters.
• 4,296 Polling places – that works out to 815 voters per location!
• 12,960 Poll helpers – about 3 per spot.
• 50%?? Expected turnout! .
Mechanics of the Election
All of the ballots are paper, and each voter MUST have a cedula – an identity card. There have been a lot of reports in the press about problems with this card. Any area that appears to be unfavorable to the government has had great difficulty getting cards. When you vote, your thumb is marked with indelible ink so you cannot vote a second time. All of the ballots are counted by hand, at the polling place. Then they are sealed up and transported under guard to the central coliseum here in Managua, where they are guarded by the police until matters are settled. The distribution of the ballots is also a police affair.
An oddity of the ballot is that all of the representatives for the National Assembly are also selected by the one vote for the party. The candidates are selected by the party and lined up under the presidential candidate, in a priority order. The seats are then distributed across the country based on the percentage of the vote the party gets, from the top down on the candidate list. Interesting approach. One would say that this is barely a democracy – more a party driven process. Of course, one could say the same for every democracy on the planet. In the US one can generally vote across party lines, but the public has little impact on selecting the candidates. There is a movement about to directly nominate the US president. If you have not heard of it, check it out: http://www.americanselect.org/. An interesting part of this approach is a nationwide poll to determine what the entire US public thinks about the key issues. Take the poll – it’s a real learning experience. I was in the majority when I took it, much to my utter amazement.
Voter Participation
In 1984, Ortega won with 50% of the vote, immediately after the revolution. I don’t know what the voter turnout was, or the other candidates, but it was the first real election after the 70 years of Somoza’s dictatorship. Voter participation has been falling since: 86% in 1990, 76% in 1996, 73% in 2001 and 67% in 2006. Ortega won the last election with 38% of the vote. To avoid a runoff election, Ortega needs 40% of the vote, or 35% and at least a 5 point lead over the nearest opponent. This law was changed from the percentage only rule just prior to the last election – which is why Ortega won that one. The latest polls have him winning this one with just over 40% of the vote. As the paper says, one way or another.
Divided Opposition
If the opposition were to get together, he would probably lose. The people I talk with are simply not voting. One protest group asked people to mark ALL of the candidates, to indicate they want “none of the above”. It is uncertain whether those ballots would even be counted. The issue is that people do not feel there really is any choice. Ortega controls the courts and the electoral commission. He had the Supreme Court declare unconstitutional the clause in the constitution that said the president could not hold two successive terms. He also had the Court declare invalid the conviction of his leading opponent, Alleman. This past president was convicted of stealing millions from the country. The next candidate is a media personality. The final 2 of the 5 have polled less than 1 percent of the vote to this point. If the opposition were not split by the formerly convicted felon, Ortega would likely not win. So your choice is an illegal candidate who is manipulating the courts, a convicted felon who promises to create a million jobs, or an 80 year old news guy who was exiled during Ortega’s very first term for opposing the government.
Electoral Silence
The law here bans ANY electoral activity from Thursday before the election. Isn't that a good idea! I would vote for a month of it, given that the US elections seem to last for 2 years. The day after the election is a National Holiday as well, with no alcohol served all weekend. They are trying to avoid problems. The police are prepared for considerable protests, given the state of affairs.
The National Archbishop celebrated Mass for the Ortegas just before the election, blessing them and praising their work on behalf of the poor. This Mass also ran all yesterday evening on the news channel. Another interesting approach. I suspect he will not get into any trouble with the authorities for that!
Ortega also supports a total ban on abortion – even therapeutic abortion where the mother’s life is at risk – a position he adopted just before the 2006 election. The clergy have been preaching about qualified candidates for months, emphasizing honesty, and support for the abortion ban.
Venezuelan Connection
Ortega has about $700 million a year coming into the country from his friend in Venezuela, who also appears to be headed toward “president for life”, assuming he lives a few more years. Ortega is also a rich man these days. Lots of convenient properties came his way and to his supporters and family during the last few years. The Venezuelan money comes via ALBA, which has no transparent reporting as to ownership and beneficiaries. But it is well known that faithful supporters are reaping the major benefits.
The local paper this morning reports “small disturbances” in parts of the country over the election. Apparently, the ballot is not sufficient. Some of the parties are trying to settle the matter with fists. It feels more like a sporting event than an election. There were caravans of supporters, banners, songs, etc. It is very much a win / lose competition. My team, right or wrong. It's about team membership, not decision making.
There are international observers here, but the two national papers predict that Ortega, the Sandinista Front, will win by a landslide – whatever it takes, legal or otherwise.
Power Corrupts
The scary thing is that democracy of this model - a strong leader - is the norm in most of the world. Once installed, people want that strong leader to stay. They HAVE to be the leader, to save the country, to move forward, to get rid of the problems, and the opposition. I was here when Chavez won his mandate. Everyone here was supportive and excited. And then the assembly gave him 18 months of unlimited power. I was thinking, that's a really dumb idea. But my friend, an educated MD, was of the opinion that this was quite normal - almost a necessity in order to bring about radical change. I think the whole Arab Spring is likely to end up in the same model. We are genetically tuned to love strong leaders. Our ancestors who liked the committee approach and weak leaders tended to not survive the wars!!
So you see why I am a bit disheartened. What would it take to change this? What would give rise to the kind of national empowerment that led to the revolution against Somoza? Well, we do what we can, one step at a time. Qui va piano, va lontano. (Italian) Another 50 to 100 years? What do you think?
Enough about that. The breeze is good, the bugs are just a bit annoying. Time for another cup of tea. Take care. Give everyone a hug for me!
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