Why Oxfam is failing Africa (2)
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Dear Colleagues,
A better question is seems to me is "Why is everyone failing Af-
rica?"
Over the past thirty plus years I have spent more time in crisis
spots than most and I have often watched Oxfam at work in diffi-
cult situations. In my view they earned a lot of legitimacy in
speaking about issues in relief and development.
I also support very much the idea that "good people" should try
to get into positions of political power and try to reform from
a position where change can be made, rather than merely standing
in the street holding placards and shouting.
My own goal is for Transparency and Accountability to be excel-
lent and everywhere. I want to be on the agenda in the board-
rooms of the corporate world rather than just making noise in
the parking lot.
But the question that is fundamental is not what are you doing,
but what are you achieving. The official relief and development
assistance (ORDA) arena is a perfect place for talking a lot and
doing nothing... there are no meaningful measurements of any-
thing... lots of macro-economic and aggregate country level num-
bers that really show total failure... and nothing that I would
characterise as being "management information" for development.
The Transparency and Accountability Network (Tr-Ac-Net) is
starting a big process to get progress at the community level
"on the record"... and relate progress to the resources used.
This has some similarities to analytical accounting in the cor-
porate world, and is designed to help measure what is achieved
in a meaningful way. Where I have worked with Oxfam (mainly in
refugee situations) they delivered a lot of measurable real
value in a timely way.
I do have some problem with Oxfam and their policy strategies...
they have identified a number of key issues that I agree with...
as for example the Coffee Crisis. I am not holding my breath
that they will make much progress with their present initiatives
given the huge profits of the incumbent coffee companies and
their tremendous control of the marketing and distribution
chain. I hope I am wrong, but I do know something about corpo-
rate ruthlessness.
Meanwhile, I am rooting for Oxfam. If Africa was as well repre-
sented by every political, governmental, professional and busi-
ness entity as it is by Oxfam, Africa would have a lot of its
problems already solved.
Peter Burgess
Tr-Ac-Net in New York
Tel: +1-212-772-6918
mailto:peterbnyc@gmail.com
The Transparency and Accountability Network
With Kris Dev in Chennai India
and others in South Asia, Africa and Latin America
http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com