This year the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the income of the average UK household had fallen 1.6% since 2008. Coupled with a slow and fraught global economic recovery, this has led to public disquiet about poverty overseas and a fall in long-term charitable giving. So, we thought it would be interesting to have a look at different charities approached Christmas to appeal to the public.
A recent poll conducted by ComRes, a leading market research agency, found that 69% of the British public say most of the stories they hear regarding Africa are largely negative. However, 63% of them would feel more likely to donate to a charity if they are provided with positive news on the effects of aid in the region.
Over the years, many charity campaigns have featured some notoriously dismal images depicting weary eyed, severely undernourished children who are often close to death. This represents a very real reality for some communities across famine stricken parts of Africa. But, as we’ve blogged about before, long-term exposure to these images runs leaving people desensitised and disillusioned.
Someone who has been giving regularly over many years may begin to ask, ‘What has my money achieved if I am met by these same recurring images year after year?’ Appeals which aim to induce guilt, and draw one-off pity donations do little for creating a culture of long-term donors who are confident their money can secure and sustain development and change.
Save the Children’s Born to Shine campaign made its appearance early this year. It has proved a welcoming and refreshing contrast to some past visual campaigns used charities. The campaign’s televised advert is an endearing tribute to the vast, unlocked potential sitting dormant within every child living in extreme poverty. Save the Children prove there is more to highlight than just their living standards. This approach makes for a far more palatable appeal, while the concluding caption, ‘8 million children under five die needlessly every year’ still highlights the reality of challenges ahead.
Save The Children’s Christmas Wishlist webpage has been well crafted for simple and easy gift giving. On offer for purchase are anything from midwife birthing kits, to chickens and water buffalo. Similarly, ActionAid’s wide ranging Christmas gifts section also proves simple and effective. Gifts that change lives immediately greets you with warm, bright faces - which works well during the festive season. From toys for Rwanda, to funding a programme planting 400 trees in Vietnam, a range of gifts from the sentimental to practical are available for giving. Short clips showing Your Money in Action accompany many of the alternative gifts featured, allowing the donor to engage with personal stories from communities eager to show how their funds are being used.
This was a common feature used by charities in their alternative giving sections. More than half of respondents for the 2010 DFID ‘public attitudes towards development’ survey, felt corruption in developing countries defeated the purpose of donating. These charities are recognizing a new type of donor, who requires a greater level of information on how and where their donations are being spent.
Oxfam’s 50% off sale on all second hand clothing and ethical fashion gifts shows the charity adapting at a time when post-Christmas prices are slashed all along the high-street, and consumers are on the hunt for the right bargain. Christian Aid’s Christmas appeal is another that has caught our attention. 2011’s Christmas campaign centred on awareness building using an inspiring story of 129 children who, in 2008, were successfully reunited with their families after they were separated when rebels attacked their villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Resources available for download ranged from church sermon notes, to children’s activity sheets based on the story for Sunday school session.
The Big Christmas sing – one voice against poverty is a unique annual event in which communities across the country can hold their very own singing event to raise money for their projects. Christian Aid have often recruited X factor finalists to launch the events. This serves to keep charitable fundraising current, contemporary and enjoyable. It also has the effect of widening appeal and increasing youth involvement.
Emphasising progress and positivity can have long-term benefits of changing attitudes and donating habits of the public. Continued use of the kind of campaigns led by a purely negative tone, may be damaging by feeding into public perceptions of developing countries – where foreign aid is achieving little. This is particularly unjust when we know of the success vaccination programmes have had in reducing child mortality rates over the past decade. Polio, a disease once rife and endemic in large parts of Asia and Africa, is now close to being eradicated. While we don’t wish to whitewash over the many challenges still facing the developing world, we hope charity appeals can do more to report on the progress that has already been made.
January 12th 2010 saw the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere devastated by natural disaster. In the two years that have passed since this horrific day, people from all corners of the world went to Haiti to aid in the disaster relief and recovery efforts. Each person has a story to tell and their own experience from their time there. This is the story of Kelly Smith, a young English woman.
If truth be told, before Haiti was struck by the devastating earthquake I had never heard of this beautiful Caribbean country. However with the ever-advancing technological world that we live in, when disaster strikes it is only a matter of minutes before the world can watch the terror unfold. We all remember watching these images, and I like many others felt a compelling need to help. But what is the best way to help?
‘Donors gave a huge £106m to help people recover from the disaster which affected three million people. About 1.5 million people lost their homes, 300 000 were injured and about 220 000 died.’
The weeks and months that followed saw Haiti become less of a fixture in our media, yet it was images like these that remained in my mind. In the summer of 2010 – six months after the quake - I was given the opportunity to go and work in one of the worst affected areas, Leogane, a seaside town that was at the epicentre of the earthquake.
As excited as I was for the challenge that lay ahead of me I was also extremely apprehensive. I couldn’t help but think what do I have to offer? I have no relevant skills, I cannot build, I am not particularly strong and I have no medical skills. All I did have was the determination and drive to help. But was this enough? Well, All Hands, the organisation I was going to work with certainly thought so.
I had been to developing countries before but never to a country that had so recently been crippled by disaster; my perception of what Haiti would be like was completely different to reality. I envisaged entire areas, villages and towns to have been flattened. It was very harrowing travelling through Port-au-Prince expecting to see the entire city wiped out when in fact many buildings survived with little or no damage then right next door would lie a pancaked building. I found this much more disturbing and upsetting than I could ever have imagined.
The primary focus of All Hands was the removal of rubble and debris which was commonly known amongst the volunteers as “rubbling”. Rubbling enabled families to use the cleared land to erect temporary shelter rather than living in “tent city” before rebuilding their home; these shelters are the overcrowded roadside communities we had all become accustomed to seeing on the 6 o’clock news. It was clear to me that rubbling was the number one priority in Leogane, especially with the impending hurricane season, but unfortunately it did not take priority among the 50+ NGO’s who were based in the seaside town. Instead, setting up orphanages and schools seemed to be the “help” of preference for many organisations. But is this what the Haitians wanted or needed to aid them in their recovery and did anybody even stop to ask?
My experience in Haiti was certainly an eye opener to the field of post disaster relief. I have always been aware of the lack of accountability for international NGO’s but in my naivety
I didn’t think this would be the case in disaster zones. This raises the question: is all aid good aid – and it’s one of the reasons I’ve become a supporter of the Global Poverty Project.
I saw some amazing aid in Haiti, but I also some bad aid. I saw NGO’s competing without listening to what locals wanted or needed, I saw groups giving out goods that had been donated that just didn’t seem like priorities.
Despite this, with the help of international aid Haiti is making some amazing progress. There are many projects that are really making a difference. Working with and not for local communities; helping them to rebuild their lives, become stronger and more resilient. With the upcoming anniversary of the quake all eyes will once again be on Haiti. I hope this landmark will be used in a positive light; an opportunity to move forward and reflect on the progress that has been made.
Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP speaks exclusively to Gary Nunn from the See Africa Differently team about myth-busting, business opportunities and the African country that will be aid independent by 2020. With permission we have republished the interview below, to read the original article click here.
Gary Nunn (GN): What would you identify as the most common myths and assumptions about Africa – and what’s the best way to challenge them?
Andrew Mitchell MP: Some of the most common – and damaging – myths and assumptions about Africa revolve around growth.
While there’s still crippling poverty in some parts of the continent, that’s not the complete picture. According to The Economist magazine, six of the world’s ten fastest growing countries over the past decade were African.
The UK is doing everything it can to show that Africa is open for business. We are clear in our development policy that aid is a means to an end but trade is what enables people to pull themselves out of poverty permanently.
As with all myths and incorrect assumptions the important thing is to produce evidence to the contrary, something both the UK Government and campaigns like See Africa Differently are hard at work doing. If we can show the UK public that areas ranging from business, trade and investment through to fashion, music and food are rapidly growing across the continent, led by strong and inspirational individuals then it will provide them with a far more accurate picture of the reality in many parts of Africa.
GN: Recent ComRes polling of 2,000 UK adults we commissioned found that less than a third (29%) of people agree that ‘Africa is an exciting business prospect’ and less than a quarter (22%) agree that ‘Africa is a future world economic player, comparable to emerging markets in Asia.’?But in a speech this year you described Africa as “a place of huge business opportunity.” Why isn’t this message getting through?
Andrew Mitchell MP: I think that it is understandable that people respond to what they see and hear about Africa. Most of what people in the UK see is through the news, and of course these are likely to be stories that focus on conflict or hunger.
But I think there’s a growing group of people – particularly business leaders – in the UK and across the world who are opening their eyes to the opportunities that come with investing in Africa.
On a recent visit to Sudan, one of my most memorable experiences was attending a meeting with a group of African, European and American entrepreneurs to discuss the business opportunities in South Sudan. I was impressed not only by the shared interest in strengthening trade and creating jobs in the world’s newest country but also by their sheer enthusiasm. It’s clear that a country full of hardworking entrepreneurs will not stay poor for long, and a place that provides good return on investment will not stay a secret for long.
Multinational companies have a huge part to play too. SAB Miller, one of the world’s largest drinks companies, has started working with small-holder farmers in South Sudan to use cassava in the production of beer. As well as this securing a healthy profit and accessing a whole new market, it has also provided employment, growth and consumer choice. Around 2,000 poor smallholding farmers are directly benefitting from SAB Miller’s decision to source ingredients locally.
I would say this is a shining example of how seizing business opportunities in Africa can benefit everyone from shareholders to smallholders.
GN: This year has seen terrible famine in the horn of Africa. It provoked the Kenyans for Kenya fund – the biggest fundraising effort of its kind – raising over £4 million through an innovative mobile phone donation system. What does this tell us about African countries working towards aid independence? Are there any other countries who will be aid independent in the near future?
Andrew Mitchell MP: You’re right to say that the famine has been terrible. The British Government has been at the forefront of the international response, feeding 2.4 million people across the Horn, providing clean water and sanitation for 1.2 million people and vaccinating almost 2 million people against polio and measles.
We all want to see a world where aid is no longer necessary. I closed a number of DFID offices last year in countries which no longer need our support and, in the case of China, are able to become donors themselves. We will walk the final mile with countries like India where our aid is making a huge impact in the three poorest states and is dwarfed by India’s own social protection schemes. But I recognise that some countries will need more help over a longer period to reduce their reliance on foreign aid.
In terms of African countries that will be able to ‘graduate’ away from aid programmes in the shorter term, I think Ghana is an excellent example. The facts speak for themselves. Sustained economic growth and political stability have helped to put the country on target to halve poverty by 2015. UK aid has helped reduce the number of people in poverty by 1.1 million from 1996 to 2005. By 2015 we’re committed to helping create 144,000 jobs created, of which 55,000 are for women, as well as supporting 118,000 more boys and girls to receive basic education. Ghana is proof that development works, and we are doing all we can to support Ghana in being independent of aid by 2020.
GN: It has recently been reported in the media that we’ll cut aid to homophobic countries, and countries with a poor record on violence against women. Is aid conditionality the best way to encourage progressiveness in Africa when some argue that internally-generated change through education (rather than externally-imposed conditionalities) is more effective in changing attitudes?
Andrew Mitchell MP: Let’s be absolutely clear, we expect governments receiving British aid to share our commitments to reduce poverty; respect human rights; improve public financial management; fight corruption; and promote good governance and transparency. These commitments are made clear to developing country governments when we are agree to support them.
We make no apologies for applying these criteria where British taxpayers’ money is concerned.
Where we choose not to deliver aid through Governments because they do not share our commitments to the respect of human rights, we will find other ways of ensuring that British aid gets through. This includes funding other groups, such as those representing civil society, to deliver vital help including food and healthcare to the poorest people.
You’re right to say that internally-generated change is crucial to changing public attitudes but where governments are failing to meet our partnership principles we are prepared to act.
GN: How do we shore up support for ongoing aid programmes when some detractors are calling for it to be cut?
Andrew Mitchell MP: As your readers will know, the Coalition Government is committed to reaching the UN target of spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on overseas development assistance from 2013. But as we do this it is important that the British public knows how their money is being spent and what it is achieving.
Taxpayers rightly expect to know where we are spending their money, how much is being committed to each project and the impact we expect it to have. My first act as International Development Secretary was to order a root-and-branch review of all our aid programmes to ensure we are working in the places our money can have the greatest impact. The outcomes of the review can be found on the department’s website www.dfid.gov.uk/aidreviews along with our country operational plans which set out the results we expect to achieve in each country between now and 2015. I have also set up an independent aid watchdog to scrutinise our aid spending and I made sure DFID was one of the first departments to publish regularly all spending over £500.
We must also be prepared to highlight where British aid is making a difference. This year we made a commitment to GAVI that will see British money vaccinate a child from one of five potentially fatal diseases every two seconds; our Productive Safety Net scheme has helped to feed 1.6 million Ethiopians and mitigate the effects they felt during the Horn of Africa crisis; and we are helping 9 million children from developing countries into primary school and 2 million into secondary schools by 2015. ??
GN: What 3 words sum up a modern, progressive Africa to you???
Andrew Mitchell MP: Open for business.
Find out more about DFID’s ‘Changing Lives’ communications campaign: reporting on how people are lifting themselves out of poverty for good.
This is a message not about me, but for anyone and everyone who contributes to foreign aid. It gives people in extreme poverty the smallest opportunity to live without fear of tomorrow for themselves, their family, their community or their country.
This is an email I received recently:
Hi d'Arcy,
I am feeling alright these days; all the pains have gone, I can breathe normally, I can walk, I can work … thanks to you brother! I am always able to wake up to the rising sun, I am always able to see my son smiling at me because of you … you reconstructed my life, added joy to it, and made it enjoyable for my family.
Once again thank you for going out of your way to reach for me when I am in need.
Huge love,
Des
I am in a position of privilege where I can directly contribute to the quality of life of another. But this is only one example amongst of all the people and organisations who facilitate access and opportunities to the worlds bravest but most needy.
If you have ever given to Plan, WaterAid, Malaria No More, Opportunity International or other similarly effective organisations then Des’ message is to you.
Don’t worry about organisations’ admin costs or advertising because without it you would never reach anyone! Take pride when your government commits $2 million to education programs in Indonesia or $50 million to polio eradication, it is done in your name to give the same chance as I have been able to do for Des.
The background to this message is that I have not given a cent to Des to date. Des was a work colleague of mine in Ethiopia and a year ago he contracted a heart condition and was within days of dying. In what he thought were his final remaining days he managed to send a message to myself and a follow volunteer through facebook. I then organised a few people who knew Des to contribute information, examination and money to see a fast and affordable recovery for him. The results speak straight from the heart and email!
My role was no different to the many effective aid agencies except that it wasn’t the sole job that I dedicated myself to. While I was able to offer a few hours of my time do this not everyone can offer their professional skills and time and not get paid and survive – no matter how compassionate their heart is.
I think one of the main messages from Des’ email for me is YOU make a huge difference when you give to effective aid agencies which support people like Des in the thousands on a daily basis.
It is such a beautiful world for all of us to share with our brothers like Des and many others. Don’t be afraid to give. Give, and give hard and take Des’ message with you as that’s what the worlds most disadvantaged would be saying to you if they had access to international communication like Des is fortunate to have.
This is a guest post by Julie Ulbricht, an Australian singer/songwriter who also writes about international policy, poverty and power struggles. To read the original article click here.
Do we see those who live in abject poverty as 'needy'? Or do we see them as having their human rights – access to food, shelter, education, etc – denied?
That is, is our collective solution to alleviate poverty merely a token charitable action? Or is it an acknowledgment of another's right to live free from extreme poverty?
Because the two perspectives result in two very different approaches. Consider the 80s, when Sting and Simon Le Bron cranked out the following lines from the Band Aid classic, Do They Know It's Christmas?
And it's a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom.
The choir then proceeds to educate us all on how:
There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow…
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
Wow. Nothing ever grows. Ever. Instantly, one has a sense that there is a lot of need throughout all of Africa. All of it. This statement, although a catchy emotional hook, is not indicative of the nuances of Africa at all. You only need to cast your eye to Ghana to witness monumental economic growth. Granted, there are places in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Horn, where growth is non-existent and going into deficit to the point of widespread famine. And even with the food crisis in the Horn (still happening by the way despite the media juggernaut rolling on), there are different issues within the region. This situation is largely to do with the fact that our global food system disadvantages small-scale farming.
This article, however is not so much about solutions to say, food production, but more so about the importance of our perspective of poverty.
Buying a goat or other such useful gift, changes our focus on who the beneficiary of the aid is. Think about the images bombarding us when it comes to appeals from agencies. The ambassador of a particular community within these destitute communities is nearly always a child. Why? Because it works. The reason many agencies use the child sponsorship model of fundraising is because it brings in cash. Granted, much needed cash for life-saving work. However, if donors and supporters purchase useful gifts, the ambassador changes in our minds from a child to an adult who will use that gift. Adults who know a thing or two about their community and where they live – their culture, their land.
Take the example of food production. As I have written before, women produce the majority of Africa's food, yet our global food system works against that long-standing practice. A needs-based approach to poverty is reactive and may result in say, transnational food corporations providing a short term solution to the demand for food by introducing new farming techniques. Conversely, a rights-based approach identifies that people within a community have the right to produce food in their own way. Many agencies champion this rights-based approach.
For example, take Elizabeth, a 15-year-old young woman from Zambia. She works for the realisation of child rights in her community, particularly focusing on resisting forced marriage. Child brides are common in her village in Zambia. Elizabeth partners with her family, her friends, her traditional leaders and Plan International to defy a practice that perpetuates poverty.
And Florence from Uganda who works with ActionAid, tells how she resisted her cultural practice of bride payment. She says,
'I have managed to challenge and defy culture. I married without payment, something for which I should be considered an outcast within my culture... I worked with cultural institutions and they were able to acknowledge the need to reform bride wealth. To revise cultural bride laws and reform it takes care of women's rights.'
My point here is that Elizabeth and Florence are incredibly capable. Not needy with big brown eyes and flies buzzing around their snotty noses. No, they are strong, with fiery eyes, and possess knowledge of their communities that I, for one, simply do not have. They have a right to resist damaging cultural norms such as gender-based violence and early marriage and can do so in a very effective way.
Useful gifts provide us with an exciting opportunity to change our perspective and consider who the change agent is, and who it should be. Recognising the power those who live in poverty have within themselves and an acknowledgment for the need for them to be active agents and participants of change, is much more sustainable than viewing them as simply recipients of our aid.
Useful gifts also provide us with an opportunity to not only think about aid at a micro level, but also to think about the overarching structures and systems that continue to disadvantage the poor and perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
Finally, consider making a donation to anti-poverty agencies and advocacy groups who are doing good work but may not have the money or resources to put into marketing their programs into cute packages for us. Otherwise, go crazy. Spend up on one of the many gifts, be it a goat, a cow, a duck, a football, a bucket hygiene kit, a birthing kit, a fishing boat, a handloom, cattle poo, a canoe, guitar lessons, a whistle, a water testing kit or perhaps invest in peace building ($10 to train someone in conflict resolution, negotiation skills and peace-building! Good value!).
The weeks and months that followed saw Haiti become less of a fixture in our media, yet it was images like these that remained in my mind. In the summer of 2010 – six months after the quake - I was given the opportunity to go and work in one of the worst affected areas, Leogane, a seaside town that was at the epicentre of the earthquake.
was commonly known amongst the volunteers as “rubbling”. Rubbling enabled families to use the cleared land to erect temporary shelter rather than living in “tent city” before rebuilding their home; these shelters are the overcrowded roadside communities we had all become accustomed to seeing on the 6 o’clock news. It was clear to me that rubbling was the number one priority in Leogane, especially with the impending hurricane season, but unfortunately it did not take priority among the 50+ NGO’s who were based in the seaside town. Instead, setting up orphanages and schools seemed to be the “help” of preference for many organisations. But is this what the Haitians wanted or needed to aid them in their recovery and did anybody even stop to ask?
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Gary Nunn (GN): What would you identify as the most common myths and assumptions about Africa – and what’s the best way to challenge them?
countries with a poor record on violence against women. Is aid conditionality the best way to encourage progressiveness in Africa when some argue that internally-generated change through education (rather than externally-imposed conditionalities) is more effective in changing attitudes?
This article, however is not so much about solutions to say, food production, but more so about the importance of our perspective of poverty.
