Success stories

If you are not in the mood for cynicism, read no further. But if, like me, you share not only exasperation about the failure of the Congo to pull itself from poverty, warfare, corruption and chaos, but also a sense of helplessness, read on.

What is one to do with a country where the General leading a campaign to defeat an armed rebellion chooses to sell arms to the enemy? What is one to do with a country that is so dependent on international aid that it has basically surrendered all responsibility for its own services?

This thought was triggered by a realisation that international donors are so desperate to claim results that they clutch at the tiniest response from the recipients of their aid as “a success”.

We have a nice example. As part of the gender sensitive principles of our donor, we thought it would be a good idea to help a group of women in the public service to become advocates for equality and non-discrimination. This in a country where women members of parliament are a rarity, and those in high public office can be counted on one hand. So it’s pretty obvious there’s work to be done.

The initiative went down well: a group of women from five provinces decided there’s definitely need for something of this sort. After a three day workshop, broken at regular intervals for refreshments, they adopted hopeful resolutions and elected a committee to draft a constitution and finalise the planning of the first year’s activities.

Hold your breath – this is a big one: the committee met more than once WITHOUT asking us to pay for their transport or refreshments. Now that is what we call SUCCESS. Not what they did, but the fact that they didn’t ask us for money.

Like all good donors, ours looks over its shoulder at the electorate back home. There is a big PR job to be done to demonstrate that the millions being spent are making a difference, and anything that can be called a success must be written up and made available to the general public.

So, without any ado we get down to writing a one page summary of how this remarkable event occurred and without any shame classify it as a SUCCESS STORY, one of a regular stream of similar flimsy claims. The donor loves it.

Looking at the whole situation from the point of view of the Congo and its peoples, one cannot help asking whether their heavy reliance on donor funding is not a product of the well-intentioned efforts of the international aid community. For example, we fall over ourselves to support the health and education systems, to the extent that if anything is wrong with them we feel that it is our fault, and more money must be spent to rectify it. Naturally enough, the Congolese soon pick this up and if they encounter any social or economic problem their first thought is to ask themselves which donor they can ask to fix it.

A Congolese friend recently was asking herself the same question. Is this international aid creating a nation of helpless beggars, a client state that has neither the will nor the means to stand on its own feet? Is aid, in fact, truly helping? Did the United States get aid to develop?

The Congo is widely recognised as having massive wealth in terms of its minerals, forests and agricultural potential; not to mention its potential to supply electricity to the whole of Africa if a planned hydro-electric power station goes ahead. So why can’t it, like the USA of old, use those resources to stand on its own feet and develop itself without depending on other people for its development?

Good question.