I've been thinking about how in Australia's remote indigenous communities, the Solomons and Bougainville (and probably many other places throughout the world), the focus has been on the older generation, on 'leaders'. Yet these places are plagued by violence, where the primary protagonists are young men - young men who have been dispossessed of their cultural, social and economic inheritence. Young men who for various reasons have been dispossessed of the land which traditionally governed every aspect of the social, political, spiritual and political order. They've not only been shut out of their inheritance, but they're told that to be worthwhile, they need an education in the formal education system, and a job in the formal economy. Given that they can't have either of those things, why are we surprised when they get caught up in the excitement and temporary sense of empowerment that physical violence provides?
I know of one community development agency in Australia that's running a "leadership program" that doesn't target those kids that are usually defined as "leaders" - it's not the academic and social over-achievers that are invited to participate. Instead they're inviting the kids who are, in some respects, the very opposite of that.
I think our well-intended attempts at community development, whether it's here or overseas, often miss the mark because we unwittingly reproduce existing power structures. In Australia, when I go through the list of people speaking at "leadership forums" or lists of the people identified as "young leaders", they are still overwhelmingly dominated by people from white, private school, upper middle-class, tertiary educated backgrounds. Similarly, many agencies engaged in community development work abroad work with those who already have economic, political, and social clout. Yet in doing this, we reinforce the status quo, we reinforce the existing distribution of social, economic and political privilege, furthering the marginalisation of those who are most vulnerable.
Should we in fact be offering 'leadership' programs to those that are regarded as 'leaders' in the traditional sense, or should we be seeking to build the 'leadership' skills of those who are most marginalised?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Thats a really good point!
Do you think that NGOs do more harm than good by creating this idea in the minds of marginalised communities that solutions only come from outside?
I certainly think that sometimes (often?) NGOs are participants in creating the idea that solutions come only from the outside. However I think that the marginalised are also participants in the creation of this idea - to suggest otherwise is to assume that they are wholly vulnerable, complete victims and don't have their own resources, capacities, resiliences...
Do I think that NGOs do more harm than good? I hope not. I've definitely seen work that is completely ineffective, but it didn't appear to be "harmful".
Hi Rebecca, you don't know me, My name is Heather and i've been connected to Marcus Curnow at Urban Seed in Footscray and i came across your blog. I absolutely love what you wrote about youth leadership and couldn't help but post a comment.
I have recently started working for the Salvation Army in the Asia-Pacific and it is to do exactly what you say "youth capacity development". I am right with you when you say Indigenous youth have the capacity to respond to these issues, irrespective of whether they have a formal education or not. I think the problem is we see leadership capacity in the eyes of our own cultural understanding where its about having qualifications, becoming an expert at something. But if we shift our understanding, to see leadership in the context of relationships with others in the community it becomes much more about thier capacity to care and journey with people because I believe through care and hope, communities can change and move forward working together. And that is true leadership.
Thanks for 'stopping by' Heather!
One of the things that distressed me most in the Solomons was the extent to which young people's self-esteem is tied to their formal education - and because most of them can't have much formal education, they don't have much self-esteem. The last time I was there, I ran a couple of workshops on education with a bunch of young people - I have a BA/LLB, no training in education or community development whatsoever, so it was instinctive more than anything else. The thing I focused on was talking about what 'education' might include, and encouraging these young people (many of whom were in their early 20s, and parents themselves) to think about how it occurs in village meetings, on the soccer field etc. The response was amazing - sad as it is, it seemed to be the first time anyone had pointed this out to these young people.
I think we need to start thinking about leadership and education differently in our own society, too - as I pointed out, so often those identified as 'young leaders' are young men from private school backgrounds, who are very articulate, and look good on a camera. I see it all the time! But what if we started to go into the housing commission flats, and look for the young people that are doing amazing, ad hoc community-building stuff just below the radar? Maybe young leaders aren't those that are most eloquent, but those that are at the centre of organising the games of footy or soccer just down the road...
You are exactly right, its amazing what repercussions that our focus on education and development can have on the youth's belief in themselves.
We've been doing a lot of stuff with the tsunami and I was in Sri Lanka last year for a Youth focused workshop and we spent time looking at ways they could respond. And there was an overwhelming belief that unless you had material aid, they couldn't do anything. So we did a few community visits during the workshop, and went in saying, we have nothing to give, but want to hear your story, and very naturally explored concerns and hopes for the future with the community, drawing on thier strenths. The young guys were very nervous about it, but as usual, the community responded really positively saying 'many ngos come and ask what we need, and give us stuff, but you are the first to just come and talk and be with us' And it was awesome to see how liberated the youth felt that they could actually do something for thier communtities. And many of those youth have now formed groups and are doing home visits on a regular basis. Over time, it is the context of those relationships that the youth will begin to understand their place as leaders in the community.
You are exactly right about hunting out the 'under the radar' leaders both overseas and here in Australia. They are the most important ones if you ask me!! One of the best parts of my job is discovering those guys. And the amazing thing is discovering how naturally they do it.
Wow - your time in Sri Lanka sounds amazing. I'd love to hear more about it!
It's amazing how often the significance of story-telling gets overlooked. I wrote my honours thesis on a flood disaster in Australia - there had been some formal counselling etc available, but country people (esp. men) weren't too keen to access it...yet they'd spend hours telling stories to a university researcher!
Post a Comment