Role of Universities on International Development - Glasgow Center for International Development
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This is the presentation made by Dr.Deepa Pullanikkatil at the panel discussion in University of Glasgow at the launch of Glasgow Center for International Development in Nov 2017.
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Role of Universities on International Development - Glasgow Center for International Development
- 1. Role of Universities in International Development Panel Discussion at University of Glasgow Launch of Glasgow Center for International Development 15 Nov 2017 Deepa Pullanikkatil (PhD) Co-Founder – ABUNDANCE (Malawi) Post Doctoral Research Fellow – Rhodes University (South Africa)
- 4. As most of you know, Malawi is a country rich in natural resources… but it is also a country where MANY live in poverty. Development projects come and go, communities that were being helped were “numbers” or “statistics” and progress was measured through those numbers. But often the individual stories of the people who were being helped got lost somewhere..…what happened to them AFTER the project ended…. How did their lives transform? Or did it slip back to what it was before the project? These were questions in my mind….
- 5. Malawians are one of the most hardworking people I have met …. They deserved to have an abundant life…. But, I felt, development work in Malawi needed to have a focus at a micro level for the long term…to make lasting and deep impact…to know each individual, know their stories, what drives them, what their dreams are and together with them design long term strategies to help THEM help themselves. This was the thinking behind starting Abundance.
- 6. Mbando Village Abundance’s FOCUS is Mbando village, with 95 households and our interventions are guided by the community. These are some images from Mbando village, where we work. That’s our little office with Moses Phulusa the Community Coordinator from Mbando village. When we started, we had little resources, but a lot of heart, and a lot of love.
- 7. Most of the youth at the village have NOT completed primary school and are left out of the formal education system- They wanted vocational training… and we found an organization that provided them with a six months practical skill based training and now Maria and Raymond, the first two youth trained through Abundance are on their way to become entrepreneurs… Here we did a training on reusable sanitary pads- the girls said that this reduces absenteeism at school, provides them dignity and they are no longer fearful or ashamed when they go out during menstruation.
- 8. The Mothers group did not ask for money but asked for a bicycle, which they use to transport sick children to the clinic which is 3km away…. We are launching a library this weekend at the village and have plans to set up an IT center. We continue with this individual focused approach….
- 9. Role of Universities in International Development Focus on the individual Today, we are discussing the role of universities in International Development. Often we think development is about programming and policies, but before you have programming and policies, you have ideas, and the ideas come from individuals. And those individuals are the ones that universities are producing as graduates and who may end up working in international development. So, that’s the perspective I want to bring to this panel discussion. Can universities focus on “Individuals”. ….
- 10. Question accepted wisdom Let me start with Davide Schalenghe, a Masters student from the UK. He was a journalist and human rights activist and has travelled widely, but he did learn something new when he came to Malawi. Davide came to Malawi two months ago and Abundance helped him to meet with some of the members of Mbando village. His research, with the title “So much money, so little progress” looked at aid and vulnerable communities. He came to Malawi prepared with knowledge and standard definitions of Poverty, IMF and World Bank which defines poverty in monetary terms- less than $2 a day…..but when he asked the communities what their definition of poverty was, these were some of the responses he got.
- 11. What is Poverty? “Poverty is the lack of love” … “When a child is born and it has no one to love it”… “If you have been divorced by a man and you don’t have anywhere to go” … ” When you have been raised in a violent home where your parents do not care about you. You just walk around searching for ways to meet your basic needs”…..
- 12. • Poverty has so many definitions… but often talking about LOVE, BELONGINGNESS and DIGNITY is taboo in many academic disciplines…. What can’t be measured in monetary terms or otherwise… doesn’t exist………in many ways the trip was an eye opener for Davide…… he began to question “accepted wisdom”, “standard definitions”…… he developed empathy for the people he met, and he could put himself in their shoes….. and he left Malawi a transformed man……. • Wouldn’t it be wonderful if many students get opportunity to go out there and get transformative experiences? • Wouldn’t it be wonderful if students question accepted wisdom and realize that there are many truths out there?
- 13. Development work – what works and what doesn’t Another role I feel Universities need to take on is that of exposing the truth of what works and does not work in developmental work. There are many programmes and projects that have worked well, and helped communities and many of them were informed by research from Universities. But there are some which could have benefitted from more consultation with communities and are flawed because local knowledge was not included in the design of the project. Here is an example from northern Malawi, where a technology was pushed to a community. Woodlots were successfully developed here and communities derive poles and firewood from them. However, when they tried to introduce beekeeping, it failed due to two reasons. The technology provided was not in alignment with the cultural and belief systems of the community. They told us that when they looked at the modern box beehives, it resembled coffins for them.
- 14. Communities as “Knowledge holders” rather than “knowledge recipients” The protective gear for extracting honey was a costume with a mask such as those worn by the “Gule Wakulu” which is a secret society where men wear costumes and masks representing the world of spirits and the dead… So, the community wasn’t thrilled to wear the protective gear…..The project would have succeeded perhaps if they had tried to bring the traditional clay pot hives and explored use of herbs which when applied on the body could repel bees…these appropriate technology solutions would be possible when we look at communities NOT as knowledge recipients, but rather knowledge holders themselves….
- 15. On the flip side, there are SO many bright ideas that have worked well, for example Mary’s meals – which you are all familiar with is transforming education – enrollment of students has increased just because of this, not to mention improvements in children’s health, Another example that you may not be so familiar with is KMDC (Knowledge and Multi Skills Development Center) –started by a friend of ours, Misheck Munthali who wanted to help youth left out of formal education system to still have a shot at a good life…. KMDC gives vocational training to adults who have not completed primary school – it is at KMDC where the two youth Maria and Raymond was trained… and the training is provided by community members at a very low fees. How can universities make sure there are MANY such “bright ideas” ? ….All ideas emanate from individuals, someone who thinks out of the box, that’s where Universities can come in…to focus on the individual so that he/she thinks out of the box.
- 16. Othering • view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. • dismiss the “other” as being in some way less human, and less worthy of respect and dignity, than we are. The last point I want to bring here is something that has gained attention lately and something that we are all unconsciously or consciously doing, the media is doing systemically…. “Othering” , Othering Is viewing or treating (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. And dismiss the “other” as being in some way less human, and less worthy of respect and dignity, than we are. In International development we tend to use phrases such as “Poor people degrade land” … that’s also a form of “othering”
- 17. Othering • I was guilty of this myself, during my PhD studies… my study was on a river catchment in Zomba, Malawi, looking at ecosystem services and land use change….i found that in the catchment 89% of forests had gone in the 30 year period when I studied land use change… deforestation was attributed to the poor who cut down trees for fuel wood and timber… but when I looked deeper, and tried to put myself in their shoes, I could understand why they did what they did…. But this was not something I learnt from my University……it was through engaging with the community for a longer period… and through some of the work and reflection I did when I worked for an NGO in Malawi…. • Being conscious of us “othering” is the start point… I don’t have ideas HOW exactly to remove this… but as Universities I believe we must all become conscious of this…. Are we “othering” people from different departments? People of different disciplines? ….. some of this will change when we start doing “interdisciplinary work”….. working in interdisciplinary groups like the Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) ..….. GCID has been doing interdisciplinary work…. • Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all graduates from Universities realize that there is no “us” and “them”, there is just “us”?
- 18. How can we make the world a better place? To conclude, Ultimately, International Development is about the world and how we can make it better and fairer for everybody, how to reduce poverty and promote peace - and for that, we need to focus on individuals, and each individual student, researcher, lecturer ….. Facilitate their transformation…. Encourage them to engage with the Global South…. Question accepted wisdom…. Seek the many truths out there…… look at the whole world as our family…. They will then be able to influence change in their work…..as academics….. as development practitioners…..as policy makers……and collectively, International Development will happen beautifully….. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- It is a great pleasure and honor to speak here today, at this panel discussion. Firstly, let me give you a quick overview about our little non-profit organization ABUNDANCE, which is based in Malawi. I had lived in Malawi for five years and when I had to move to Swaziland in 2015 following my husband’s job, I realized that I had fallen in love with Malawi and its warm hearted people. I felt, I HAD to come back and do something for Malawi.
- It is a great pleasure and honor to speak here today, at this panel discussion. Firstly, let me give you a quick overview about our little non-profit organization ABUNDANCE, which is based in Malawi. I had lived in Malawi for five years and when I had to move to Swaziland in 2015 following my husband’s job, I realized that I had fallen in love with Malawi and its warm hearted people. I felt, I HAD to come back and do something for Malawi.
- I shared this vision with my friends and family. I found overwhelming support and two friends Cyril from Qatar and Thangam from Dubai flew all the way to Malawi (it was their first trip to Africa) and Abundance began. We experienced many delightful coincidences or what one could call “serendipity” and Ruth Mumba a young Geologist whom we met through facebook joined us and is now the Director of Abundance in Malawi. Stewart Paul, Clifford Mkanthama, Meghraj all from Malawi joined Abundance as they also believed in this focused approach. We have strategic advisors in UK, Canada and Spain. We have a community coordinator, whom I’ve known for 7 years, working with us ….all of these people work on a voluntary basis...
- As most of you know, Malawi is a country rich in natural resources… but it is also a country where MANY live in poverty. Development projects come and go, communities that were being helped were “numbers” or “statistics” and progress was measured through those numbers. But often the individual stories of the people who were being helped got lost somewhere..…what happened to them AFTER the project ended…. How did their lives transform? Or did it slip back to what it was before the project? These were questions in my mind…. Malawians are one of the most hardworking people I have met …. They deserved to have an abundant life…. But, I felt, development work in Malawi needed to have a focus at a micro level for the long term…to make lasting and deep impact…to know each individual, know their stories, what drives them, what their dreams are and together with them design long term strategies to help THEM help themselves. This was the thinking behind starting Abundance.
- As most of you know, Malawi is a country rich in natural resources… but it is also a country where MANY live in poverty. Development projects come and go, communities that were being helped were “numbers” or “statistics” and progress was measured through those numbers. But often the individual stories of the people who were being helped got lost somewhere..…what happened to them AFTER the project ended…. How did their lives transform? Or did it slip back to what it was before the project? These were questions in my mind…. Malawians are one of the most hardworking people I have met …. They deserved to have an abundant life…. But, I felt, development work in Malawi needed to have a focus at a micro level for the long term…to make lasting and deep impact…to know each individual, know their stories, what drives them, what their dreams are and together with them design long term strategies to help THEM help themselves. This was the thinking behind starting Abundance.
- And our FOCUS is Mbando village, with 95 households and our interventions are guided by the community. These are some images from Mbando village, where we work. That’s our little office with Moses Phulusa the Community Coordinator from Mbando village. We had little resources, but a lot of heart.
- Here we did a training on reusable sanitary pads- the girls said that this reduces absenteeism at school, provides them dignity and they are no longer fearful or ashamed when they go out during menstruation. Most of the youth at the village have NOT completed primary school and are left out of the formal education system- They wanted vocational training… and we found an organization that provided them with a six months practical skill based training and now Maria and Raymond, the first two youth trained through Abundance are on their way to become entrepreneurs…
- The Mothers group did not ask for money but asked for a bicycle, which they use to transport sick children to the clinic which is 3km away…. We are launching a library this weekend at the village and have plans to set up an IT center. We continue with this individual focused approach….
- Focus on the individual Today, we are discussing the role of universities in International Development. Often we think development is about programming and policies, but before you have programming and policies, you have ideas, and the ideas come from individuals. And those individuals are the ones that universities are producing as graduates and who may end up working in international development. So, that’s the perspective I want to bring to this panel discussion. Can universities focus on “Individuals”. ….
- Question accepted wisdom Let me start with Davide Schalenghe, a Masters student from the UK. He was a journalist and human rights activist and has travelled widely, but he did learn something new when he came to Malawi. Davide came to Malawi two months ago and Abundance helped him to meet with some of the members of Mbando village. His research with the title “So much money, so little progress” looked at aid and vulnerable communities. He came to Malawi prepared with knowledge and standard definitions of Poverty, IMF and World Bank defines poverty in monetary terms, less than $2 a day…..but when he asked the communities what their definition of poverty was, these were some of the responses he got.
- Another role I feel Universities need to take on is that of exposing the truth of what works and does not work in developmental work. There are many programmes and projects that have worked well, and helped communities and many of them were informed by research from Universities. But there are some which could have benefitted from more consultation with communities and are flawed because local knowledge was not included in the design of the project. Here is an example from northern Malawi, where a technology was pushed to a community. Woodlots were successfully developed here and communities derive poles and firewood from them. However, when they tried to introduce beekeeping, it failed due to two reasons. The technology provided was not in alignment with the cultural and belief systems of the community. They told us that when they looked at the modern box beehives, it resembled coffins for them. The protective gear for extracting honey was a costume with a mask such as those worn by the “Gule Wakulu” which is a secret society where men wear costumes and masks representing the world of spirits and the dead… So, the community wasn’t thrilled to wear the protective gear…..The project would have succeeded perhaps if they had tried to bring the traditional clay pot hives and explored use of herbs which when applied on the body could repel bees…these appropriate technology solutions would be possible when we look at communities NOT as knowledge recipients, but rather knowledge holders themselves….
- Another role I feel Universities need to take on is that of exposing the truth of what works and does not work in developmental work. There are many programmes and projects that have worked well, and helped communities and many of them were informed by research from Universities. But there are some which could have benefitted from more consultation with communities and are flawed because local knowledge was not included in the design of the project. Here is an example from northern Malawi, where a technology was pushed to a community. Woodlots were successfully developed here and communities derive poles and firewood from them. However, when they tried to introduce beekeeping, it failed due to two reasons. The technology provided was not in alignment with the cultural and belief systems of the community. They told us that when they looked at the modern box beehives, it resembled coffins for them. The protective gear for extracting honey was a costume with a mask such as those worn by the “Gule Wakulu” which is a secret society where men wear costumes and masks representing the world of spirits and the dead… So, the community wasn’t thrilled to wear the protective gear…..The project would have succeeded perhaps if they had tried to bring the traditional clay pot hives and explored use of herbs which when applied on the body could repel bees…these appropriate technology solutions would be possible when we look at communities NOT as knowledge recipients, but rather knowledge holders themselves….
- On the flip side, there are SO many bright ideas that have worked well, for example Mary’s meals – which you are all familiar with is transforming education – enrollment of students has increased just because of this, not to mention improvements in children’s health, Another example that you may not be so familiar with is KMDC (Knowledge and Multi Skills Development Center) –started by a friend of ours, Misheck Munthali who wanted to help youth left out of formal education system to still have a shot at a good life…. KMDC gives vocational training to adults who have not completed primary school – it is at KMDC where the two youth Maria and Raymond was trained… and the training is provided by community members at a very low fees. How can universities make sure there are MANY such “bright ideas” ? ….All ideas emanate from individuals, someone who thinks out of the box, that’s where Universities can come in…to focus on the individual so that he/she thinks out of the box.
- The last point I want to bring here is something that has gained attention lately and something that we are all unconsciously or consciously doing, the media is doing systemically…. “Othering” , Othering Is viewing or treating (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. And dismiss the “other” as being in some way less human, and less worthy of respect and dignity, than we are. In International development we tend to use phrases such as “Poor people degrade land” … that’s also a form of “othering” I was guilty of this myself, during my PhD studies… my study was on a river catchment in Zomba, Malawi, looking at ecosystem services and land use change….i found that in the catchment 89% of forests had gone in the 30 year period when I studied land use change… deforestation was attributed to the poor who cut down trees for fuel wood and timber… but when I looked deeper, and tried to put myself in their shoes, I could understand why they did what they did…. But this was not something I learnt from my University……it was through engaging with the community for a longer period… and through some of the work and reflection I did when I worked for an NGO in Malawi…. Being conscious of us “othering” is the start point… I don’t have ideas HOW exactly to remove this… but as Universities I believe we must all become conscious of this…. Are we “othering” people from different departments? People of different disciplines? ….. some of this will change when we start doing “interdisciplinary work”….. working in interdisciplinary groups like the Sustainable Futures in Africa (SFA) ..….. GCID has been doing interdisciplinary work…. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all graduates from Universities realize that there is no “us” and “them”, there is just “us”?
- To conclude, Ultimately, International Development is about the world and how we can make it better and fairer for everybody, how to reduce poverty and promote peace - and for that, we need to focus on individuals, and each individual student, researcher, lecturer ….. Facilitate their transformation…. Encourage them to engage with the Global South…. Question accepted wisdom…. Seek the many truths out there…… look at the whole world as our family…. They will then be able to influence change in their work…..as academics….. as development practitioners…..as policy makers……and collectively, International Development will happen beautifully….. Thank you!
- It is a great pleasure and honor to speak here today, at this panel discussion. Firstly, let me give you a quick overview about our little non-profit organization ABUNDANCE, which is based in Malawi. I had lived in Malawi for five years and when I had to move to Swaziland in 2015 following my husband’s job, I realized that I had fallen in love with Malawi and its warm hearted people. I felt, I HAD to come back and do something for Malawi.
- It is a great pleasure and honor to speak here today, at this panel discussion. Firstly, let me give you a quick overview about our little non-profit organization ABUNDANCE, which is based in Malawi. I had lived in Malawi for five years and when I had to move to Swaziland in 2015 following my husband’s job, I realized that I had fallen in love with Malawi and its warm hearted people. I felt, I HAD to come back and do something for Malawi.