Another bad AID idea for Africa

I was alerted yesterday morning by Linda Raftree alias @meowtree on Twitter to the existence of a project to send 1 million tee-shirts to Africa. Run by a certain Jason Sadler, you can find out all about it here

Jason asks each t-shirt donor to enclose a minimum of $1 to contribute to shipping costs. The garments will then be sent to Africa’s t-shirtless and grateful poor. Jason is using social media to promote the message, including Mashable the high-profile social media platform, I assume because of the 2.6 million viewers following the site. You can imagine my fury when I went on to see the project being promoted on numerous sites as a means to helping Africans. As usual, I like to check the excellent Aid Watcher blog to see if people are talking about the project. Sure enough, they are, and I am clearly not alone in my frustration and anger, which only increased as I read the coverage of the project. I wanted to stay rational and calm, but I just could not help myself!

Having already emailed his colleague and got nowhere, I googled Jason, found his telephone number and called him in the USA. I wanted to find out what was going on in his head and get an answer from him. When I managed to speak with him, the conversation was heated. He could feel my anger. Why was I angry? Well, first of all, his idea is conceited, amateurish and idiotic. It will not help Africans. It is just another form of aid that is inefficient and unsustainable and will end up doing more harm than good. Those who know Africa well will agree with me that once the t-shirts arrive, they will end up in a warehouse – provided someone from the government authorises it of course. The possibility that the kids the shirts are intended for will never get them is therefore very real. And even if some are distributed, Jason will not be able to track who is getting them. But most of all, supplying a million old t-shirts, apart from being incredibly inefficient in terms of cost, does not address any of Africa’s many pressing problems. Lack of t-shirts is simply not an issue! All those who donated their $1 and t-shirts might feel good about themselves, but they will have achieved nothing!

Jason admits that he does not know Africa. Sadly, he has never been to Africa, like many Americans I meet. They think they can magically impose their ’solutions’ for Africans from America. Maybe Jason means well. Maybe he wants to help. But his idea is bad, the timing is bad and the project is insulting to Africans and Africa as a whole.

This is not an isolated event. Ideas come from America all the time. People with little knowledge and no direct experience of African decide they want to ‘help’ the continent. But these projects are more often than not damaging for Africa. This pattern needs to stop now and we need to recognise that some NGOs have failed and are still failing Africa!

I was born in Africa. I understand poverty and what is good for my continent and how we can reach out to the poorest of the poor. I visit Africa almost monthly and the dignity and pride of the poor are plain to see. They are not crying out for used t-shirts! How would Americans feel if we reverse the project and ask Africans to collect their old t-shirts and send them to the USA? Would Jason wear one? I think not. So please, treat people the way you yourself would want to be treated!

I and others are urging Jason to see the error in his idea and change strategy. He appears ready to listen .There are millions of ways to help people in Africa. Those who want to help just need to speak to the right people!

You can find excellent coverage of this story here:

Aid Watcher
Dear Jason
Blood and Milk

I am on twitter if you want to reach me @mjamme

Reality Check on Dead Aid

I honestly think that we need to balance what is Aid and not Aid in Africa.
I have been following Dambisa Moyo debates on Dead Aid recently and just need to comment on certain of her ideas. Her recent debate with Jacqueline Novogratz made me think that she hasn’t got the Full picture of what is really going on in Africa, or simply she is not expressing them very well. The Image of Africa will not change by making Aid dead. Africa needs investment, partners and alliances. Africa needs Re-Branding.

Innovation cannot take place in Africa if people are not feed, watered or educated. Also the governments can only create innovative solutions if their people are Educated and got the resources. Some people in Africa need “Bednet” for Free, right now. Yes there is room for innovation, global partnership as Jacqueline said and I don’t see how a very poor and fragile man in the rural Tanzania, Ghana, or Kenya will not welcome a BedNet tomorrow morning, by the time Dambisa Moyo’s ideas on Dead Aid is implemented, that poor man has died. We need to balance what we are saying here as the reality is here; otherwise it will be on the detriment of millions of people living in the real Africa I know of. People with no money to live on in the rural Senegal right now will welcome anything in order to survive.

Whist I understand and concur with Dambisa Moyo that we need to look into how aid is distributed in Africa as a whole, how policies needs reviewing, how government needs to be accountable, how certain types of aid need to stop we cannot rule out Aid totally. This problem is a governance issue as Obama said recently in Ghana. Charities like Acumen, the Hunger Project, and the Gates Foundation are doing extraordinary well. They are not pumping money into African villages neither to governments; they are working with the local villages to help them become self-reliant. I spend lots of time in the Rural Africa where their work is tremendously appreciated and remarkable. These organisations are doing what the local governments are not doing. If they stopped the Aid Dambisa Moyo is talking about those people will suffer terribly. Aid is not 100% a total failure in Africa, especially in the rural village, the real failure is lack of clear policies, accountability, good governance, credibility and transparency. Aid to Africa has helps million of people in the last 30 years. Now, The real solution is Education. The Funds that are going into certain development programs such as Agriculture, R&D, New Tech, Infrastructure etc… need to have the emphasis Education and training on the people first. Yes Africa is not charitable and Education and Training are the right tools. Education and Training needs to be replaced by Donation and Aid. Aid Agencies needs to reset the terms and conditions with their local partners and have a control or monitoring system locally. They need to set up short-term project. They need the right resources on site. They must not be afraid in expressing their feeling honestly to their local partners. The right partners will understand that clarity and transparency is needed.

Africans are born Entrepreneurs, they are self-resilient, they fight for their lives every second, the ones with the right tools succeed and become self-sufficient.
If Acumen focuses its energy on social entrepreneurship meaning giving the right tools, it will be an excellent vehicle for a sustainable change to Africa.
For the last 4 years I have been reinventing the world of social entrepreneurship and dreams, and it does work. I am honoured to see what Jacqueline is doing, as I truly believe that she understand the real problems millions of voiceless African people are facing today. The Gate Foundation is doing very well too on their Agriculture programs. Truly remarkable stuff.

Mariéme

The Emotional entrepreneur

The journey to becoming an emotional entrepreneur starts with accepting responsibility for yourself and your role in society. It is essential that you decide to believe in the value of who you are and what you have to offer. Once you make this decision the emotional centres of your brain release an emotional energy that motivates you to give as if what you are doing is the most important thing in the world.

The world needs people like this- individuals who can articulate a shared idea of why they exist. Who they are and where they are going. There remains a continual need for the world that needs self reliant, self actualize and independent people at its core. Men and women with solid levels of self reliance and self belief are emotional independent, with means they can formulate and clarify vision and values and leverage the talent of others to achieve their full potential.

The Emotional Entrepreneurs are people that spend their times in helping others and making this world a better place. They exercise emotional management rather than micro- management. In a fast paced and pressured working world, people call out for individuals who are independent and can stand above the chaos and provide a coherent story their entrepreneurial lives.

A typical entrepreneur gets into entrepreneurship because he wants to start a Business or Venture. In the last couples of years I have seen the rise of certain type of entrepreneur. They are not looking to be wealthy, their egos are at level zero, and they are just interested in helping others to develop by transferring their skills.

They strive to contribute, collaborates, share, and learn. I found them supportive, giving and really open to new ideas. They are not imposing their ideas anymore, they are sociable and friendly. They use the social media platforms to make themselves heard. Emotional Entrepreneurs are invariably those who have developed the ability to respond constructively to crises and challenges for the benefits of the inexperienced.

Who they really are is forged by their actions. Watch out, they are rising!

Happy reading!