Realism vs. Idealism in a cooperation and development context: a never-ending dilemma

Working in a cooperation and development context is for everybody, experienced and non-experienced staff, an amazing but yet complicated challenge. And if this is true when working in poor resources countries, it is definitely even more challenging when working in a "tremendously rich" country like DR Congo. 

DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon

This paradox more than on exogenous (aka. external) causes lies mainly on the "bad will" of its politicians and authorities.

In fact, these administrators instead of working to reduce the inequalities gap among their citizens, prefer keeping the current social and economic "status quo" as it is certainly the most profitable for themselves.

Perhaps, it is highly rhetorical to say that but nonetheless it allows us to go directly to the core issue of the causes that prevent countries like DR Congo to develop as they should and do deserve: widespread corruption.

Before arriving in DR Congo, I was convinced as many "mundele" at their first experience in Africa that the "white colonizers" were the main responsible of all or a great part of the miseries present in the African continent. 

But once on the field, I could realise that this far from the truth, at least as it concerns the current economic and political situation nowadays. Corruption is indeed the main responsible to which point the finger at. And corruption is not an exclusive feature of the "mundele race", unfortunately.

Now, the dilemma is the following: working in a potentially rich country and devoting huge resources (both human and financial) from the international community, proves to be a frustrating experience due to the misallocation of the country’s wealth by the local politicians, getting the feeling of “giving away fish rather than teaching them how to fish”.

UN peace-keeper in Eastern Congo

The same dilemma can be illustrated with the “Drop the Debt” initiative.

Indeed, what is the sense of dropping the debt of countries like DR Congo if this will lead to even more corruption and no financial accountability at all, towards the international community and their citizens?.

This reminds me of a friend of mine’s say: “Help someone when they are in trouble and they will remember you when they are in trouble again”.

Is this really the very purpose of our stay in this country? Granting unlimited withdrawal right from the international community bank account? Ownership must go hand in hand with accountability and on the basis of the accountability provided by the beneficiary country, it will depends the conditionality of the assistance provided to the latter.

Therefore, when working in a development and cooperation context, we might be caught in “Catch 22” situation, where the ideal of helping the population of given country collides with a reality where a true development is not truly wanted or allowed.

This situation can be resumed as it follows: “We cannot really help those who requested our help, because if we really managed to help them, there would be no one else to help, then we would be obliged to leave and this would not be convenient for those who were benefiting from our presence in their country”

Obviously, the ultimate victims of this dilemma are always the common people. This is probably the sole reason why many people like me working in this context, accept to embrace such a dilemma.

 Because after all, “it takes a fool to remain sane in a world covered up in shame”

Photo group with the newly-trained experts on negotiation techniques, mediation and conflict transformation 
Matadi 08-12 May 2012

Happy Liberation Day !!

VIVA L'ITALIA, VIVA LA REPUBBLICA !!

Lux Fiat...Aqua non datur !!

Breaking news: Electricity got back to the town of Matadi, yesterday evening in between 18pm and 21pm, in all districts. However, there is still no water. The UN will supply the population through water tanks to be sent to several areas of the city. In the meantime, very sad news arrived this morning: the total amount of dead people, during this crisis, amounts now to 6 people, drowned into the Congo river while busy getting water for their families. It is absolutely nonsense to die like this nowadays. I am outraged and yet powerless in front of such events. Especially, because your aim is completely the opposite:helping those people; but still you cannot do anything and I have many doubts that the management of the water and electricic companies will answer to that. Very doubtful about it.

Let's wait for water, now. Stay tuned !!.

Pietro

Who needs water and electricity?

All those who move to a developing country know perfectly that there is a very high probability to experience power blackout and lack of running water, for short periods. Therefore no suprise that this is happening to me as well. The worrying thing is that it is lasting since 2 days now and the problem seems to be more serious than expected.

The source of the problem is the famous Inga Dams (I and II), a huge enginnering work built under Mobutu in the 70s and currently producing only 20% of its true potential due to lack of spare parts and poor maintenance. These dams are very close to Matadi but from here all the Bas-Congo and Kinshasa regions are supplied. Rumors go in every directions: among those who believe today the problem is going to be solved and others who speak about a week long blackout.

The problem has not been reported yet but some of my colleagues said that this has to do with some old components that need to be replaced and that will take a while before to reach Matadi.

The Inga dams according to the experts could produce 39 GW of electricity.

I am not an expert but apparently this is a lot of electricity; more than the double of what produced by the biggest  hydraulic power plant in the world, the chinese plant of Hubei on the Yangtse' river.

Once more, this an additional proof of the state of the country, huge potentialities "en puissance", extreme difficulties and problems in reality.

While I hope that the problem will be quickly solved, I will light some candles tonight, these are environmentally-friendly and they create a very cosy atmosphere. Ideals for a friday night...

Wish you a blackout-free weekend,

Enjoy,

Pietro

Chaos in this world

People were created to be loved and things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos, it is because things are being loved and people are being used (Jonathan Moldú)

Class is not water but water saves lives

I am over the moon...my boss just told me that following our inspection last weekend, the request of obtaining emergency water supplies for the cities of Boma and Muanda hit by an outbreak of cholera, have been authorised.

5.000 bottles of water will be supplied to the Central Hospital of Muanda and distributed in the most critical infected areas.

The current cholera outbreak in the Bas-Congo province has provoked already 5 confirmed dead and over 100 contaminated people.

Colleagues from UNICEF and WHO will be supervising the water distribution process.

Cholera outbreaks even if not frequent in this part of the Congo, remain nevertheless endemic and difficult to eradicate once for all.

The current dry season with very limited rainfalls in last month has clearly worsened the situation.

Matadi on the rocks

As my blog brings its name, I cannot avoid to present the city that is hosting me: Matadi.

The port of Matadi

Matadi is a chief sea port, the biggest in Congo DR and is also widely to be known as "la ville de pierre", for the fact that all the city is literally carved in stone and actually Matadi in the local Kikongo dialect means, hard to believe, stone.


 

The port constitutes the driving force of the city, roughly 90% of the goods entering in the Congo DR, access the country via Matadi. That also explains why one of the very few decent roads of the country, is the one connecting Matadi to Kinshasa, the capital city. There is also a railway line but it is of minor importance: most of the goods are transported by road.



View of the River Congo from my house



Before coming to Matadi, I thought the town was not bigger than 250.000 inhabitants (according to Wikipedia sources). However, once on the spot, I could notice that the city is, for sure, over 700.000 people, probably even close to a million if we consider the suburbs. The UN base is uphill, in the Kikonda neighbourhood that enjoys of a wonderful view over the "Pont Marechal" - a suspension bridge, built by the Japanese that allows Kinshasa to be linked via Matadi to the other smaller harbours, Boma, Banana and Muanda.

From Rue Stanley to Stanley Livingstone

Hi everybody,



Portrait of Mr. H. Morton Stanley

 I start today this new blog, exactly one month after my entry into Congolese soil.

A new adventure that I would have never been able to foresee some months ago but that nevertheless I have embraced it with enthusiasm but also with pragmatism.

Yes, because, in order to work in a country like Congo DR (and there are not many of those countries, truth to be told), you need to be enthusiastic but also very pragmatic.

Stanley's Baobab

To sum up in few lines, Congo is like paradise in hell, the country is rich of every natural resource you might even think about (gold, iron, coltan, copper, uranium, diamonds ...you name it, you have it !!

However, the country became hell with a very small elite benefiting of that richness and the greatest part of the population living below the poverty line.

This is the most difficult part to accept: how can it be possible, in a country where fishes die of old age in the river Congo that people are starving and children are living undernourished, in a muddy hut located probably on an underground gold site?.

This happens for several reasons. For instance, imagine the richest and unexploited country in the world, one of the weakest government ever, absence of a well-trained and well-equipped army to defend your borders, huge surface extension (comparable to 1/4 of the US territory), no significant infrastructures and quite a number of "hungry" neighboring countries trespassing in your territory to help themselves with every kind of resources they need.

Stanley's journey from Zanzibar to Muanda

Well, that country, Ladies and Gentlemen, is Congo DR.

Said that, I mentioned the word "pragmatism" because you need a lot of it, considered the very scarce resources the UN has, in order to fund institution building and capacity building initiatives.

In practice, when you realise that you need to do "peacekeeping" and "conflict resolution" with almost no money, at all; there is where you start losing your enthusiasm and start acting pragmatic.

That means: you do what you can and you stop having that “I want to save the world” kind of ideas.

Idealism in this country does not help and it represents only your projection on how you would like this country to be.

Pragmatism is the only way to address real concerns from real people.

Definitely, these are my starting thoughts. Hope to keep them in the future.

Pietro