A Learning Experience Part 4

Development as a Social Experiment

As with many things in life, there is always more than one side to an issue: pros and cons, positives and negatives. All too often, development is cast in a light that focuses entirely too much on either the positive or the negative. That all development is good and the world can never improve without the “developed” world assisting the “underdeveloped” world; or as being a giant social experiment run amok, causing more harm than good and something that should be stopped immediately; that by allowing developing nations to help themselves, they’ll do a far more effective and practical job than the largest amounts of aid money and volunteers could ever hope to accomplish.

Honestly, my opinions run back and forth between these two extremes on a daily basis more or less depending on my mood. “Development” is the proverbial onion, once you start to tear back the layers, the underlying complexity and unexpected consequences can make your eyes water and your head spin, but in order to get to the core its an exercise that must be undertaken.

First Layer-The Handout Mentality

When I first arrived in Ban Tan Nguey I was surprised to learn I was not the first development worker to be taken there. In fact, German Agro Action, a German NGO had done some agriculture and infrastructure development five years previously. During that time they had installed a gravity fed water system (GFWS) that was now no longer functioning due to sediment build-up in the pipes, which blocks up the system and leads to leaks. Also, the GFW system had been built for the village in its previous location when the people had still been living on a hill 250 metres above the current town site. As a result the village had no source of water within the village boundaries.

During my first visits to the village, the residents cited this as a major priority along with a means for filtering water for personal consumption. This led to the clean water project described previously, and I was more than happy to do it. As the work was underway however, I was forced to ask myself what would happen after we installed the GFWS? In five years, would the sediment simply build up and the GWFS would be broken again? If so, who would fix it? Who would pay for the repairs? Was the project sustainable?

Although Ban Tan Nguey is certainly a poor village the residents do have sources of income stemming from agriculture exports and non-timber forest products. The benefits of these activities can be seen throughout the village. Many residents are currently building new homes; some even have TV’s, stereos, motorbikes, and cell phones. Electricity in the village is generated through solar panels and micro hydro that the villagers essentially rent for 10,000kip/month ($1.00/month) from the local energy company. As a result I was rather surprised by the responses I got from both my colleagues and the village residents when I brought up the issue of who would pay for the repairs. “We don’t have the funds? Can you find money for us?”

I couldn’t help but wonder how it could be that there was money for luxury items, but the villagers were seemingly unwilling to organize their own money around something so essential to their communal and individual health and well being. I probed further into the issue and received some interesting answers. The villagers simply replied that the Falang (foreigners) had given them the money last time; I had just finished supplying the moneythis time; so, it seemed reasonable to them that there would be money available again in the future.

My colleagues echoed these same sentiments. Why bother paying for something yourself when if you wait long enough someone will come along and give you the money for free? Can anyone honestly say they would do anything differently under these circumstances?

During my time in the village I have never ceased to be amazed at how ingenious and skilled the villagers are. I’ve watched them rig up all kinds of new forms of technology for their day-to-day labours without pausing to even think it over. Also, they are organized on many levels. Without any kind of meeting the entire village will come together and build a new toilet, lay the pipes for the GWFS through 2500m of dense jungle, organize land use, etc etc etc. Whatever needs to be done, they do it as a group, fast and effectively. I couldn’t understand why they seemed hesitant to do so with regard to maintaining their water system.

The whole situation reminded me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I once saw on TV. (A friend reminded me of the episode while I was visiting in Luang Nam Tha). The Enterprise (the main Star Trek space ship for you non-trekkie dorks) had come across an alien ship that was broken down and stranded in space.

The captain, Jean-Luc Picard, hails the ship and offers assistance. As it turns out the aliens are in need of a new part that the Enterprise just happens to be capable of “simulating” a new one. Jean-Luc orders it up and sends it over, pronto. Just as the Enterprise is about to leave, they get a distress message from the alien ship: they don’t know how to install it. Would the Enterprise be able to send someone over and install it for them? Jean-Luc, although somewhat annoyed, agrees and sends over his best engineer, Geordie (can’t remember how to spell his name).

When Geordie arrives and attempts to show the aliens how to install the broken part he is baffled by their hesitation. “Can’t you just do it for us?” they ask. “It would be so much easier and quicker if you did it. We can figure it out later.” Geordie, worried about being away from the Enterprise for too long, agreed and just installed the new part. Just as he was about to “beam” back to the Enterprise, the aliens had one more request. “Our navigational system is broken. Can you fix it for us?” Again when Geordie offered to show them how to fix it so they would know how to do it themselves in the future, the aliens hesitated and said, “We don’t want to hold you up, we know you have to get back to your ship, why don’t you just fix it and we’ll figure it out later.” Next thing you know the aliens had Geordie working on yet another project and had another way of convincing him to just go and ahead and do it for them.

Meanwhile back on the Enterprise Jean-Luc was wondering what had happened to his engineer and sent his first officer “Number One” over to find him. Before he could even get off the “Beaming Pad” (sorry I can’t remember all the proper terms for these things—I guess I’m not that good a trekkie) the aliens had Number One fixing something for them. Before long, half of the crew from the Enterprise were on board the alien ship fixing things. Throughout the entire ordeal, the aliens were finding ways to keep from learning how to fix and maintain their own ship. By the time Jean-Luc, very upset now from having lost so much time, goes over to the ship. We learn that this is how the aliens manage to travel through space and survive. They had evolved by getting others to fix everything for them.

The aliens were by no means unintelligent or unable. In fact they had other skills that were highly developed and superior to the humans from the Enterprise, they just had developed their own form of intelligence with regard to getting other races and species to fix things for them.

Standing in Ban Tan Nguey, I couldn’t help wondering if by providing the funds for the BioSand Water Filters and the GWFS if I had not played a part in creating a similar situation. This is a classic question of development: if we just keep giving people money are we helping them to be self-sufficient or are we creating a dependency? It’s rather cynical but I believe a fair and necessary question. Let’s make this very clear: I don’t think that the villagers are helpless or incapable of doing the work themselves; exactly the opposite, but I couldn’t help thinking of the above analogy whenever I receive blank looks from them and my office colleagues when I asked how they would like to plan for future maintenance. An exceptionally ironic point was made when my boss said, “You’ll just have to find us some more money. Could you stay for another three years?”

"Engage engines, Scotty, we’re outta here!"

I have seen this kind of situation in other villages as well. A new village I'm currently working in, Ban Bo, had a large project with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) about five years ago. They also built a gravity-fed system for drinking water and an irrigation system. Now the gravity-fed water system no longer works and the irrigation system, although still functional, is in need of repairs. The villagers have asked STEO and myself to assist them in getting them to work again.

Again, the villagers seem to possess ample knowledge to fix the problem themselves. When I asked why they hadn’t done it yet they claimed to not have the funds. This is not one of the poorest villages I’ve been to. There are many new homes, satellite dishes, cars, trucks, etc. When I asked why they didn’t organize and save the funds over the last five years, the Phorban (Village chief) could not have put it more succinctly, “We’ve been waiting for someone like you to come along and help us get money”.

The fact of the matter is that people in Lao have grown accustomed to the idea of Aid money continuously flowing into their communities. Who wouldn’t? And they have gotten fairly good at figuring out what each institution or NGO might be able to offer them and then working to get it. In my experience, this has created unsustainable and detrimental dependencies that must be addressed if “development” is ever going to help anyone.

STEO and I are attempting to address the problem for Ban Bo by working out contractual agreements with the village residents that if we do find funding then they must develop a community development fund whereby all affected residents make contributions (with consideration that some families will be able to contribute more than others)—perhaps a barter system where people can trade sweat equity in maintaining the system, while others contribute money. It’s an ongoing process and we have agreed no money or materials will be provided until a system has been developed that is practical and has the support of all the project participants. I don’t know if this will work any better, but I figure we have to try something.