17 April 4:10 PM at University of Toronto, Bahen Centre, Room 1190
(co-Presenters: Marilyn McKim, Urgent Action Coordinator, Amnesty International and Josh Hehner, Co-Founder, Para El Mundo
Q: How you became involved in the field of International Development?
[IH] I don't recall where I drew this interest from, but since I was young I wanted to go and do something out there. I wasn't really sure what “there” was, I had studied geography to learn more about “there” and then began my quest to find how I could get there. I guess I thought that to go there I needed somebody to accept me into a program. So in 2nd year of my undergrad I found a pamphlet (this was in the early days of the internet when NGOs didn't have web sites) and I called the organization on it called Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO). I talked to a battle hardened NGO worker there and she asked if I had overseas experience or any particular skills to offer. I paused and said, “no I don't think that I do”. She ended the call with a stern instruction, “well you should go and get some.” And so I put that idea on the shelf for a few years while I sought a skill.
About 4 years later I was in Australia, working and hanging out. I found an article online about a “cool” organization called geekcorps (well I thought it was cool because I am a geek). They had set-up an office in some place called Ghana and you could go there and volunteer for 6 months at a time, helping local organizations with IT. Finally, I now had a skill that I could flog. I signed-up. I waited and waited. Finally about two years later I got a call. I had pretty much forgotten about geekcorps by then. The lady on the phone said “we are putting this proposal together and wondered if you would help” – it was a project related to wireless technologies that I knew pretty well, so I said yes. Nine months later at the end of November I got another call out of the blue. Again I had forgotten about geekcorps. “We won the project, can you go next week?” Uh, “Bali, you mean in the Pacific?” they replied, “no Mali, in West Africa.” -- strangely I did not accept the offer to go somewhere that I had no idea about on no notice at all -- I did offer to volunteer there 2 months later, however and I did. That short volunteer mission to Mali turned into a 2 year job when the project manager that they had hired didn't work out.
Q: At least one experience, either a success or a failure, that you have learnt from and are willing to share?
[IH] Perhaps one of the most successful projects that I have been a part of, was not a project at all, but rather a consequence of our work in Mali. While getting some noble work done I built a team of people who I have forged a long term partnership with. They worked for me there while I was the director of our project and office. I recall one of my guys saying to me, “you are our patron (or boss like in the mafia) now” ... “you will always be our boss” -- at the time I didn't appreciate the depth of that responsibility, but I do now. I am now like their Uncle. They bestowed this honour on me and I know that they now think of me like a close uncle. When they need me they call. They ask for money and I send it. When I don't they don't understand. I also push them to do things that they may not want to and scold them if they do something stupid. I now think like a uncle and worry about not being able to help them. This is my burden now, but also it is a great privilege. Where are we now? My guy Moussa with plenty of prompting, started his own business while I was still there, he is doing fine. My #2 Maimouna now has a great job at the African development bank with another one of my techies. My guards are partly employed now, but hardly better off. They can read a bit now and their French improved. My driver he is out of work. I worry about them. Cheick is doing web development with an NGO. Ludo still works at geekcorps and Sagara is now the IT manager at the university. Ibrahim too works with an NGO. And, Amagono will soon finish his degree in radio journalism. They are the greatest success of my time in Africa, I think. I was able to play an important role in their lives and I am grateful to have that privilege. We are in each other's debt.
Q: Your thoughts on the developing trends in the field of International Development?
[IH] I will talk about two things: what I think you should know and what you want to know.
First, in my opinion you should read at least these books if you are interested in this field:
1. Prahalad – The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid
2. De Soto – The Mystery of Capital
3. Sachs – The End of Poverty
4. Easterly – The White Man's Burden
5. Collier – The Bottom Billion
6. Stiglitz – Globalization and its Discontents
7. you should also listen to the CBC Massey lectures by Steven Lewis on AIDs
Second, now how to get work in this field. This is the classic chicken and the egg problem. You need experience to get the job and you need the job to get experience. Fortunately there are many groups that are there to give you the egg, if you give them your time. Here in Canada we have CUSO, NetCorps, CIDA, IDRC...
type “volunteer international development” and the first link is to CIDA – they have a great page about how to get this experience. Go, be brave spend some time over there. What you will learn will be invaluable so don't worry about not making money it will pay off in time, whether you work in development or not.
Q: Where you see the greatest impacts happening?
[IH] In my opinion the greatest impacts are made when people make long term concerted efforts. Groups like PaM who commit to people for the long haul. These are the stories we don't hear as much about because their work is slow and incremental and is hard to fit into a sound bite or a quick clip.
Q: What advice you would give someone who is just beginning their career in the field now?
[IH] I will share what a wise old man in a dusty rural town in South Western Mali told me, “you come here thinking that you can teach Africa, but in the end it is Africa that teaches you” he was quite right. Do not forget that you have much to learn and that one of the best things that you will do for Africa is to educate your family and friends about it and to take care of your adopted family who you will meet there when you come home.
