[afro-nets] AFRO-NETS is about malaria (34)

[Jeff Buderer <jeff@onevillage.biz>]

AFRO-NETS is about malaria (34)
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Thanks Craig for the thoughtful response but I do believe that
the problem is more than about simply letting the people who un-
derstand mosquitoes (anemologists) be in charge. Anemologists
study bugs not people.

We need people running these projects that understand not only
the reality that sustains malaria from a scientific perspective,
the available solutions but also and I would say most impor-
tantly a strong understanding of the human conditions in the
particular regions where the programs operate.

We are not simply dealing with the issue of the organizational
dysfunctionality. That comes up with any large bureaucracy run-
ning a project. Rather the deeper problem is that we are living
in a reality defined and dominated in a highly technocratic sys-
tem driven primarily by arrogance and greed. The truth is that
in such a system, no one is truly in control and all of humanity
has become prisoner to our own uncritical worship of technologi-
cal progress - without considering the long-term implications of
the dramatic changes on our societies and every day lives
through rapid modernization and development. This is not to say
that modernism or modernization is bad or that we should back to
when there was no modernity but rather there are some aspects of
modern life that may need to be reconsidered such as for example
our reliance on fossil fuel and the automobile.

Agencies like the UN etc. can't get the job done because the
people in power don't want them too. Similarly, the real problem
is not malaria itself but rather the convoluted intentions and
motives of those who wield real power in the Development Indus-
try.

Your argument that they "burn money up" with surveys, "meetings,
and such nonsense and after a year or two of that the money is
gone and the people keep on dying," definitely has some truth to
it. According to many reports available that quote the amount
spent on development consulting to be nearly half of the total
amount spent on development (source: Action AID?). To me that
ridiculous figure is simply another indication that corrupt in-
deed takes many forms.

So do you see my point? It is not about seeing malaria as a
problem in itself because the reason why we are not winning the
fight against the disease goes much deeper than that. Therefore,
if we continue to see the problem as simply finding more effec-
tive ways to fight malaria we will in all likelihood fail.

The problem is not simply with government it is with top down
approaches in government, NGOs, academia and business - all as-
pects of society. The solution is in developing more integrated
ways of solving problems in a way that is truly and authenti-
cally considerate of the needs of the people we claim to serve
as professionals, government officials, aid workers, entrepre-
neurs etc. Government fails when it operates in denial of the
needs of the people it is supposed to serve and the same applies
to all other sectors mentioned.

Jeff Buderer
mailto:jeff@onevillage.biz