ESRC: Is overseas development oppressive? Have your say

If you thought overseas aid and charitable work were good for people in developing countries, prepare to be challenged. Two short films asking Africans what they think will be the focus of a day of public debate at Newcastle University, part of this year’s Economic and Social Research Council Festival of Social Science week. The event is an opportunity for members of the public to argue with academics and activists about the morality behind current efforts to ‘help’ the poor in developing countries. There will also be a film-making workshop.

The Great Debate: Developing World Challenges is one of a series of events organised by The Great Debate, a group based in Newcastle. “We want to get the public involved in grappling with the tough issues surrounding sustainable development,” says organiser Caspar Hewett. “The attitudes of people here can have real consequences for people living in the developing world and so we should have a say in these discussions.”

The event will take place on Saturday March 15th, at Newcastle University and is part of The Great Debate’s 10th Anniversary Celebrations. It is based around two half hour films, made in Ghana by the education charity WORLDwrite. The first part of the day will be spent with the film production crew, learning the tricks of broadcast-quality documentary making on a tight budget. Then there will be two debating sessions, one for each film.

The two films are called I’m a subsistence farmer.... get me out of here and Keeping Africa small. They carry a strong message: overseas development projects do not help poor people. They are not wanted, because they seek to retain people in poor farming communities with low aspirations, dissuading them from advancing economically and looking for a better life. The message is spoken by Africans, both poor and wealthy, who feel patronised and insulted by the development NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) that are now so prominent in Africa. As Ghanaian television journalist David Ampofo says, in one of the films: “It is a sad reflection of mankind that when there are rockets going to the moon, they are busy preparing a rope pump for people to fetch water.”

After each film, three speakers will briefly present their responses, followed by an hour of open discussion. “The debates will give members of the public a chance to have their opinions heard,” explains Hewett. “We hope to see a broad audience, from sixth formers through to retired people, and we’ll be filming the debates to broadcast on our website.”

Film director Ceri Dingle, and producer Viv Regan, will be on the debating panels. They’ll be joined by Barry Gills, Professor of Global Politics at Newcastle University, Kim Tan, Campaigns Officer for Oxfam, John Gowing, a Newcastle academic with ample experience of sustainable agriculture projects in Africa, and Bill Colwell, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Viv Regan says that NGOs have hijacked the notion of ‘development’ and turned it into something different. “Most of the major NGO campaigns are frankly nonsense,” she says, “and shouldn’t be called development. When you ask people what they want, anywhere in the world, they want the same as us. Freedom from toil, freedom to think and be creative, and to have choices in life. They don’t want a goat or a can of worms for Christmas.” Real development, she argues, is about industry, jobs and large infrastructure, things the Western world now believes are ugly. “When people see these films, development charities are outraged, environmentalists are worried, but most people can see the point,” says Regan.

Oxfam’s campaigns officer, Kim Tan disagrees. He argues that Oxfam and other NGOs empower people to overcome poverty with their own solutions, pointing out that Oxfam provides support, training and funding to enable people to earn a better and more secure living and enable communities to overcome obstacles to prosperity, such as discrimination, lack of education and health care. “Oxfam and many other major British NGOs have been crucial players in the fight to promote sustainable and equitable international development policies that help the poorest people in the world,” he says, adding “Oxfam works at local, national and global levels, providing life-saving aid during emergencies, empowering people to work their way out of poverty and make their voices heard and campaigning to tackle the underlying causes of poverty.”

Tan, who worked on Oxfam’s Tsunami response programme in 2005 continues, “Oxfam also helps people to organise themselves … All Oxfam’s programmes and campaigns are based on the needs and aspirations of the people and communities we work with, and are backed up by over 65 years of practical experience gained working in more than 70 countries. I have seen how people’s lives have been improved in places as far apart as the Peruvian Andes and Aceh in Indonesia.”

The Great Debate certainly promises to be lively.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Event organiser Caspar Hewett, of The Great Debate:
e-mail: C.J.M.Hewett@ncl.ac.uk Tel: 07790 470846.
Kim Tan, of Oxfam :
e-mail: ktan@oxfam.org.uk Tel: 07786 660407.
WORLDwrite can be contacted on 0208 985 5435
Ceri Dingle mobile: 07866 806918, e-mail: world.write@btconnect.com
Viv Regan mobile: 07939 449604, e-mail: vivregan@btconnect.com
ESRC Press Office:
Kelly Barnett on Tel: 01793 413032; e-mail: kelly.barnett@esrc.ac.uk
Danielle Moore on Tel: 01793 413122; e-mail: danielle.moore@esrc.ac.uk

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The Great Debate will be held in the Lindisfarne Room, Kings Road Centre, Newcastle University, from 9-4pm on Saturday March 15th 2008. Booking is essential. For more information, visit www.thegreatdebate.org.uk. To book, email thegreatdebate@yahoo.com or telephone Caspar Hewett on 07790 470846.

2. The Festival of Social Science week is run by the Economic and Social Research Council which runs from the 7th to the 16th March 2008, alongside National Science and Engineering Week. It celebrates some of the very best British social science research, as well as highlighting the ways in which social science makes a difference to everyday lives. Press releases detailing some of the varied events are available at www.esrcfestival.ac.uk

3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It supports independent, high quality research relevant to business, the public sector and voluntary organisations. The ESRC’s planned total expenditure in 2007 - 08 is £181 million. At any one time the ESRC supports over 4,000 researchers and postgraduate students in academic institutions and research policy institutes. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk


4. ESRC Society Today offers free access to a broad range of social science research and presents it in a way that makes it easy to navigate and saves users valuable time. As well as bringing together all ESRC-funded research and key online resources such as the Social Science Information Gateway and the UK Data Archive, non-ESRC resources are included, for example the Office for National Statistics. The portal provides access to early findings and research summaries, as well as full texts and original datasets through integrated search facilities. More at http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk