A few years ago, an international volunteer noticed that the village he worked in lacked a clean, convenient water source. Women were walking 1-2 km to retrieve dirty river water. After two years of hard work, the volunteer successfully built a local well. To his amazement, the women did not use the well, even after he repeatedly prodded them. Frustrated and exhausted, the volunteer began to investigate the mystery. He soon learned that the daily walk to the river was the only way the women of the village could leave their homes and commune with each other.
The story illuminates a common problem in international development. The recognition of culture and local belief systems is not typically included in the study and implementation of development projects. Beliefs, values, and worldviews common to Westerners can be extremely different from the ones in developing countries. While the volunteer successfully addressed a community need by his own standards, he missed half of the equation—the unseen, unspoken half that decides how the community feels about the project. It may seem absurd to investigate whether a well was actually wanted by the village. However, without community participation and an understanding of the cultural complexities at play, the well (and many other projects like it) fail to be sustainable.
The Gladys Foundation works to provide a solution by engaging in a more comprehensive approach to development—one that integrates pragmatic solutions with the qualitative interior needs of individuals and communities. These interior aspects (feelings, beliefs, values, and worldviews) are the source of empowerment and the ability to collectively and sustainably rise out of poverty.
The trauma of war, famine, marginalization, desertification, and economic oppression divides communities and reduces self worth. Delivering resources and implementing needs-based solutions does not automatically trigger a belief in individual and collective action. When plans and solutions come solely from outside intervention, results may look good temporarily, but they do little for the community’s belief in their ability to sustain change. In some cases, foreign intervention may actually further feelings of helplessness and disempowerment.
Sustainable solutions must understand the process of personal empowerment and social transformation in order for local ownership to take hold. Communities need to actively participate in the planning, execution, and maintenance of any development solutions that affect them. Since interior growth takes time and is difficult to achieve, any effective development intervention will integrate the perspectives it confronts and translate key messages in terms that can be understood and valued by the community. This allows the community to engage the work in ways that conform to local traditions and ways of thinking.
Sustainable development practiced by The Gladys Foundation involves cultivating relationships, building trust between stakeholders, and acknowledging local value systems in a community-centered approach. Our purpose is to find the barriers in ourselves and our community partners that prevent individual and collective empowerment. Only when these complex barriers are addressed can we implement development solutions in a collaborative and sustainable manner.
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