Understanding poverty

By Evelyn Gathuru

 

World Vision seeks to understand and address the root causes of poverty and injustice but like most things in life, this sounds easier than it actually is. The causes of poverty are incredibly complex and involve historical injustices, current oppressive systems and sheer greed. However, the complexity and challenge of understanding and addressing poverty is no excuse for shoddy development work. It is not enough to claim ignorance and good intentions. Too often, Africans have been the recipients of poor development efforts. As a result, we have become either dependent on hand-outs, which encourage paternalism and further disempower us. Or we become sceptical and even –to be frank- cynical towards the intentions of those who want to ‘help’ us, as most of these efforts end up doing more harm than good. 

Muthoni Wanyeki, the Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, said it best in her commentary about the role of the civil society and private sector in promoting development in Kenya: "The question is not then the old conundrum about giving a man (sic) a fish versus teaching him to fish. It is about first assuming that s/he knows how to fish and addressing what’s preventing her or him from both being able to fish in the first place and from benefitting from having done so in the second place." 

May is partnership month within World Vision and staff all over the world came together to reflect on their commitment to our call to ‘work with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation’. Our call is a pretty tall order, but an important one. What attracted me to World Vision in the first place is our unwavering dedication to good development work. We work with the communities and not for the communities. This means recognising the poor as active participants and leaders of their own development and not merely passive recipients of development efforts. It means addressing the interwoven intricacies that perpetuate poverty and oppression. In practise, this means reflecting on past experiences, learning from mistakes and ensuring they are not repeated, while always keeping in mind that our aim is to empower people, restore hope, self-esteem and dignity. During this month’s reflection session, one statement really hit home for me: "If development does not restore people’s sense of self-worth, little will be accomplished." I absolutely love that this is the way we are thinking as an organisation.