Re: Handouts vs empowerment

[Louis Mwewa]

For a while now I have been thinking how many of us are convinced that changing people's lives is based on our conviction first. Most of us want to see change even when ourselves are not convinced to embrasse change. I work for an organisations called Lupwa Lwabumi Trust our approach in contributing to changing peoples lives in this time of HIV/AIDS has been through building their capacity for them to change their own lives. We believe that each individual as the potential to determine their own destiny given the chance and opportunity to do, this is all about helping individuals to see their own reality and relate to it within their own setting. We do this through building family circles of care and support, as an organisation we have witnessed great change in most of the people we work with who the majority of them are women and children. However, what bothers me is that many donors seem not to appreciate this approach. I say so because I have seen initiatives that are made to give handouts appear to receive support more. I need assistance to understand this situation is it all about competence or what it? The organisation has been receiving support from this very moderate small funding agency based in the USA despite the support being little it has assisted in making big difference. what do you colleagues out there have to say? 

Louis Mwewa      

[Jeffrey Zulu]

Louis, i agree with your experience, it looks like most of our donors are not helping us much by pushing organisations into hand outs(pure philanthropy which even my Grandpa practiced) as opposed to empowerment which service organisations are meant to undertake (unless of course its in reaction to a crisis like in Haiti). I wonder what we need to do in order to gain the support we need to make the impact we all seek but dont seem to agree on best way to achieve it. For example, mostr organisation are ready to support pupils in schools upto Grade 12 but very few ever venture into tertiary; most organisations support food supplementation but very few venture into helping the families grow their own food etc. It is appreciated that there are situation requiring such efforts to address immediate needs, however people live beyomnd the life of most our project interventions and hence cant relay on the hand outs alone. I am not yet able to finance any such efforts but i look forward to a day when our efforts will be directed towards empowerment that enables a person graduate out of the vulnerable or bad situation into a level of own self sustenance.
We are supporting OVC gardians and parents with conservation farming methods and enabling OVCs access education with a limited number of them being able to attend tertiary education (despite there being more graduating from High school) etc. Are ther any organisations willing to support such efforts and help ensure empowerment for some of our people?

[Louis Mwewa]

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the feedback

[Laurence Gilliot]

Hi Louis,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience. I share your view a 100% and I know most of our members do. You will find so many examples in our community about this change of 'lens' or mindset. For example, Usa who shares about the secret of Guyana, or Lloyd from Guyana who talks about SALT, or Joao from Mozambique who explained how he changed his view on people living with a handicap...

I would like to introduce you to John-Pierre from the Philippines. He is one of the most engaged people I know, working with street children. He resists the donor pressure but struggles a lot with it. Please listen to his beautiful sharing about how he links care and prevention and how 'Life is not a programme': http://aidscompetence.ning.com/video/keeping-in-touch-with-our

Thank you

Laurence

[Louis Mwewa]

Thanks Laurence I will link up with John -Pierre.

[Wilson Nyirenda]

I also work for a local organisation called Simalelo AIDS Peer Education Programme (SAPEP) based in Mazabuka. I share the feelings and thought from Louse. I wish to add that donors emphasize micromanagement in their partnerships with local organisations based in Zambia. There also seems to be too many middle business donors in between making these partnerships increasingly unrealistic for the local partners especially with regards to values befiting the local environment, supporting operational and administrative costs. I wish to move that if donors are to contribute more meaningfully to empowering local people they must resolve these issues.
Wilson Nyirenda