Page 362 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

m̩ 'zuŋ u memories of NGO in Africa
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walk softly, go quietly and you will see...

Suddenly we are aware of several outboard motors. A genuine motorcade of motorised

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boats. It's the sound of m'zuŋ u who are about to give themselves the lifetime gift of being
able to tell their own story of just how much they personally helped Africa!
The project they are embarked upon has been well planned, except for the most

important thing. But more of that in a minute.
They have spent months preparing and now they are here to build a school building for a

village on the other side of the lake. They only have a limited time to do this. Hence the need

for outboard motors.
The materials are ready, and they just need to do the construction. It's definitely a worthy

m̩
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cause. The village is on the wrong side of the lake. They rarely get 'zuŋ u visitors. All the
'action' is on the opposite side of the lake and so they are very much a deprived community.
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m̩
The problem lies not in the worthiness. The problem is in the nature of the 'zuŋ u
involvement.
As one of the earliest of nations to industrialise, UK has had more than a fair share of

older cities, where old industries have vanished to turn once proud urban areas into large

deprived ghetto like deprived communities. In addition, various waves of refugees were
consciously settled in their own distinct part of cities like London.

As a consequence, the UK has gone through experience after experience of ploughing
literally billion of pounds into attempts to regenerate these areas.

(And I do mean billions of pounds. When I was involved, the lead civil servant for the programme at that time told
me he had authorisation / a budget for GBP 10 billion)

By the 1990s, there had been a sufficient number of failed programmes in the UK that
enough had been learned for us to understand that

 Development/ regeneration is not about buildings it’s about the people

 Just like the disused, abandoned ambulances above, by the 1990s UK could see a number of
its own disused / abandoned schemes that had focussed on 'buildings'
 it’s necessary to let the local people take charge of the development projects and to frame
each development as something which they can see as being another step in a much bigger
plan

 It's necessary to sustain your involvement over a long period