After Kony 2012: Three ways NGOs can work with Africans as equals (op-ed)
After Kony 2012: Three ways NGOs can work with Africans as equals (op-ed)
- March 23, 2012
- Op-ed by Cecelia Lynch, political science professor and international studies director, as featured in the Christian Science Monitor March 23, 2012
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From the CS Monitor:
It’s hard know whether to be dismayed by all the attention given to the Kony 2012 campaign and YouTube video, or pleased that some of the issues that I and others have worked on for years are finally coming to light. Humanitarianism in Africa gets oversimplified in myriad ways, in the process making Africans themselves one-dimensional and raising up the white (most frequently, although not always) Westerner as savior. For real progress, Americans need to be committed to a deeper understanding of the causes of poverty both in the US and abroad. Donors and NGOs need an approach that acknowledges the humanity and agency of everyone. And they need creative ways to break through conventional wisdom about “development” to promote justice and equality. In the wake of Kony 2012, here are three points of advice for how nongovernmental organizations, and the donors who push them, can work with African citizens as equals.
For more, please visit http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/0323/After-Kony-2012-Th....
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