Various modes of transport throughout south western Uganda, white water rafting grade 5 rapids, boda bodas across a busy city with all my belongings stuffed in my Kelty, and walking up and down streets that appear to be loaded with NGOs and larger organizations only to be blocked off by gates and hidden compounds. This is how the past twelve days have gone for me. Well that and having my frustrations lead me to a pub watching the World Cup games or back at the backpackers to meet up with friends and forget about the possible failures of my internship. Throughout all of what could be chalked up as failures over the week, I have learned a lot about how the “grassroots” idea and holistic approaches to problems goes wrong. In the U.S. if you want to get a small organization recognized and attempt for funding you send out emails for appointments, you typically get responses, you walk into a building with a pretty recognizable address, and you meet with someone. Granted I don’t speak Lugandan and I don’t really know anyone personally working for a large NGO, I do have access to the internet and a mobile phone with me at all times. I have money to take transport around the city to find the street that the organization should be on. I have some basic knowledge of writing business and project plans to present, and the access to print everything out and buy folders to make it look somewhat presentable. So what I am wondering is how we were unable to get any responses to emails, not set up a single appointment, and rarely could find the listed organizations – much less get access through the gates. After starting out with ambitions of getting funding, possibly an idea of how to apply for a microloan, or even fundraising sponsors – it basically came down to getting someone to look at our proposals and at the very most tell us how we can polish them and take it to the next step.
In African time and with the little resources to work with, it really does just come down to the little successes…
Luckily we did talk to someone, a GSPIA alum, on the last day. Finally able to present all the work I have actually done so far, over cold Fantas, we finally got one foot on the ground. Not quite taking steps yet, but that foot is at least in the right direction. It is with these little successes and working with the contacts that are actually had, hopefully slow progress can be made. However, the whole process left me really thinking about how this whole microfinance, “small steps” approach actually works. True, I have read great things about the microcredit. Mohammad Yumus’s “Banker to the Poor” left me feeling more optimistic than the past nine months of my GSPIA career. But then this whole experience seemed to eliminate that type of faith in such an institution from my mind. How do these grassroot organizations, especially ones based in rural areas with little access to such NGO offices, have access to the funds needed to promote their causes? What is the process in which aid workers elect a group worthy to receive a (usually larger than necessary) grant to get their projects off the ground?
What bothers me even more is how I see such an organization as Bright Kids Uganda with a woman who has given up so much and is so dedicated to providing the best life possible for these children struggle with how she will provide the next term of school fees – and then hear about corrupt orphanages who bring in children with parents to lure in clueless sponsors, and gets large amounts of money doing so. How does this all work? How do these groups of women living out in rural villages go about getting these microloans for setting up small shops in front of their door steps? Especially when two capable graduate students set out for five days on the streets of Kampala to end up with little results.
It is all a learning process and I am currently behind the learning curve. I am only hoping that about the time I am getting ready to leave, in African time, things will start to materialize for the organization. That the topics in the development world one can actually be optimistic about still stand a chance for worthy causes.
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