Journal prompt: What responsibilities do you have as a participant in international development? Will these responsibilities change after your immersion experience? If so, how?

For class this week, I read Bill and Melinda Gates’s “3 Myths that Block Progress for The Poor” and Michael Hobbes’s “The Problem with International Development-And How We Plan to Fix It”. These two articles provided refreshing views on popular myths about international development, effectively rejecting widespread notions that development work is ineffectual and a waste of resources. Though Hobbes and Gates admit that this type of work is complex, both emphasize that there have been many success stories so far, and that international development projects can genuinely be of significant benefit to communities.

I found several of the arguments they made about the importance of changing these popular mindsets and perspectives to be very applicable to my upcoming summer project. One point that has deeply resonated with me was their argument against the myths that “the poor are doomed to stay poor” and “foreign aid is a waste”, which was that the concept that international development work is slow. Gates claims that on a global scale, countries are getting richer and health is improving, but “it’s hard to capture that on video” and that “there’s no press conference for children who did not die of malaria”. Almost always, only extreme poverty, debilitating disease, and horrible human rights crimes make it into the limelight. We almost never see the positive stories, the tales of success of good organizations’ initiatives in the media. This negative focus perpetuates a state of constant frustration and pessimistic stagnancy. We are led to believe that nothing is going right with current humanitarian aid. This is the wrong mindset to have. We must realize that…

“Development, no matter how it happens, is a slow process” – Hobbes.

To put this idea in the context of my upcoming service project, I realize that reconciling personal expectations for my project achievements with the actual realities of what little I can do over a short time span will be a difficult challenge for me. As a university student used to the fast-paced, enriching environment that Rice cultivates, I know I will naturally want to accomplish as many tangible achievements as possible over the summer. Instead of seeing seeing the larger picture of where my project fits in with my organization’s work, I predict that I will tend to only see my own small project’s limited accomplishments and failures. I will have a hard time accepting the fact that “development, no matter how it happens, is a slow process”.

In order to avoid this, I must essentially change my mindset and understand that my project’s immediate results and effects on communities might not be significant or seen at all. Putting my project into perspective is important. Lack of immediate results is not failure, and I should be motivated by and not discouraged by setbacks.

Now to get to the meat of this week’s question about what my responsibilities I will have as a participant in international development..

Knowing that my project will only be a small parter of a greater initiative spearheaded by my community partner, I need to ensure that my work be as sustainable as possible. To do this I must properly document my work and communicate with other workers at the health center to share my progress so that they may build upon what I create when I leave. I must not work in an isolated manner but rather always be in constant communication and collaboration with the in-country staff members who will be working on my project long after I fly home at the end of summer. I must always keep the long-term context of my project in mind and should not be set on short-term goals but rather always strive to work towards long-term progress.

My responsibilities after I return from Nicaragua also require that I maintain a similar outlook. My goal after coming back will to challenge the my peers’ stereotypes about Central American poverty, Nicaragua, international service and more. I hope to do so by sharing what I learn from my community and from my project with others as well as remembering to communicate this idea that international development is not a futile process but rather a complex and challenging one. Perhaps I can influence other students to participate in a similar international immersive experience so they can understand these important ideas to a greater depth. Ultimately, I hope to inspire and enlighten my peers to take action to learn more about the world and international problems rather than help perpetuate a pessimistic outlook and encourage them to stand idly by.