Emily's Worldview

I'm in the middle of finals so not much time to post. I wanted to point out a great article on Malawi in the Times this week. It nicely summarizes the contradictions in the "aid industry" in Africa. I think it's actually a little gentle--for example, CARE in Malawi gets to explain away its part in exacerbating poverty in Malawi by its limited geographic scope. As a matter of fact, CARE is currently working in 60 countries around the world. Perhaps they would be more effective if they were less concerned about lifting their own profile and sucking up as much donor money as possible, and more concerned about actually dealing with entrenched poverty in the countries they are in.

Many of the international NGOs are the same, of course. Which is a problem for someone who feels like she is being groomed to join just that kind of organization; who wants a job in Africa, but not at the expense of the destitute poor who live there.