Aid or Development or just Action

Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (MS), (or Danish Association for International Co-operation) the organisation I now work for, has an ambition to become more global. Closer co-operation with Action Aid - starting with association and progressing to affiliation – is what the MS Board recommends. I spent some time browsing the websites of Action Aid Countries and MS, and they give a picture of two quite different organizations. Whereas the difference can be a strength when networking, it can be a real challenge for association and affiliation. So there will be some interesting times ahead.

The monthly New African wrote in 2005 about NGOs’ tainted history. “Charity was not only designed to help the poor, it also served to protect the rich” and that: ”development was framed in the vocabulary of charity, technical expertise, neutrality and deep paternalism albeit accompanied by the rhetoric of participatory development.”

Now is 2008 in the calendar and I wonder when would be the time for us to decide whether we work for Development or Aid.