A third weapon of mass
construction is job creation. Why is
this needed? There are several benefits
from job creation, the main one being the dignity that is restored in the
people who have been given jobs or the abilities to make their own jobs. Entrepreneurship must lie at the heart of
economic development. If we aren’t
empowering locals to be entrepreneurs then we are ultimately wasting our
precious resources on the black hole known as aid. Some aid is needed of course, but when no one
is creating jobs or providing skills for the locals to create jobs, then
ultimately you’re just wasting your time and spinning your wheels.
Do you really think creating
dependency is a way out of poverty? If
not, then what is the way out of poverty and out of dependency? Well, the obvious answer is you have to help
create independence. Not independence
from one’s community but rather independence from outside help. In a word, independence from charitable
donations. Bob Lupton wrote a book that
I can’t wait to read called Toxic Charity that I’m sure deals with some
of these same ideas. Even from the title
alone you can start thinking along the ways we should be thinking. Is this charity toxic? What can be done to make it non-toxic?
The only way forward for an
economy to develop is through job creation.
The Chinese are trying to develop some parts of Africa, but is it true
development? Or are they merely exploiting
their resources for their own country?
Are they putting any locals to work?
Similarly, what about Western NGO’s in developing nations? Are they putting any locals to work? Are they empowering locals to start their own
businesses? If not, then we need to pull
their funding. The goal of any NGO
should ultimately be to put itself out of business in my opinion. As I laughed with my girlfriend earlier
today, I am certainly known for airing my opinions. What do most NGO’s exist for? To help a poor community or country,
right? Why wouldn’t the goal be to put
themselves out of work ultimately then?
At the very least they should look to become self-sustaining.
The other night I started doing
some research on entrepreneurship schools in Haiti because that’s ultimately
what I want to do someday. There was one
that I found that was legitimately educating Haitian youth to start their own
businesses. I’ve emailed the head and am
hoping to be able to go down and visit sometime to see the school in
progress. There’s also a woman
entrepreneur who I’ve friended on Facebook recently. The reason for that friendship is
two-fold. One to try and stop some
well-meaning friends from doing a shoe drive for Haiti and two to try and help
this entrepreneur out however little way I can to help put soles on the feet of
as many Haitians as possible.
2 comments:
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Entrepreneur India
I don't know what it's like in other parts of Africa, but the Chinese in Liberia have been here since Ellen Johnson Sirleaf took office, 2005 I think, so about 8 years, and their doing a lot of construction projects around the country, mainly roads. They share the compound with SP, and do employ a ton of locals. I think the Chinese rotate in and out to manage the projects, but do hire a lot of Liberians to do the manual labor. I guarantee their intentions aren't altruistic, they're here because there's something in it for them too, but they came in just after the war and helped to boost the economy and provided jobs. Now whether they're fair wages, ?? With NGOs like SP, there are something like over 300 jobs provided to locals, so the vast majority of our staff are Liberians. But they're not helping Liberians create original jobs that are sustainable in country- the jobs would obviously collapse if SP pulled out. So, in essence, your right, job creation should happen based on what a community says its needs are, and it should happen at the local level (maybe with the help of well-intentioned NGOs) but be able to be sustained at the local level. Sorry for the long-winded reply hon, all that to say, thought-provoking posts lately!
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