Skills for Social Change Across Cultures

Nancy Bacon

Bahia Street

Anita Verna Crofts

Global Health

Cross-cultural communication

• Power• Reflexivity• Trust

Power Reflexivity Trust

Poverty exists within a context

CultureSocial system

Political systemEconomic system

HistoryGeography

Power

Cultural

EconomicSocial

Political

Individual

Local culture and contextInstitution’s culture

and context

Your culture and contextInstitution’s culture and

context

Development

YouLocal

Counterpart

Reflexivity

Development Spectrum

Transactional Transformational

Basic needs

Short term

Immediate impact

Beyond basic needs

Long term

Gradual impact

Minimal societal change Fundamental societal change

Local culture

Local capacity

Local power

Transactional Transformational

Changing a culture in the long term requires the full and equal participation of those within that culture

Trust

Time +

Knowledge+

Shared Leadership

“There is no Western solution or blueprint that will solve African problems, and, unless both Africans and the West realize that, all efforts to address them will continue to fail.

All societies, no matter how poor, have resources. The trick is to recognize them and harness them effectively… Africa has the potential to ‘take off,’ but it will only do so if it listens to its own beats and its own logic.”

- Manuel de Araujo, President of the Mozambican Association (2004)

Logic model

PROBLEM SOLUTION MISSION

Resources Activities Outputs Outcomes Indicators

•CARE: Our mission is to serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world.

•USAID: U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world.

Development framework:Traditional

Mission

External support

Internal capacity

Who creates the mission?

Whose culture is dominant in determining internal capacity?

Whose culture is dominant in building external support?

Whose culture is expected to change when change is needed?

Whose culture sets indicators for success?

Mark Moore

Development Frameworks: For equality

Mission

InternalExternal

InternalExternal

Mission

Shared governance across “worlds”

“Developing world”-centered governance

The goal of a local non-profit is to

build community to solve a problem,

not solve the problem

Principles for Collaborative International Development

• Do no harm• Support public institutions and transparent

decision-making• Invest locally• Serve local agendas and priorities• Foster equitable relations

Developed by Margaret Willson (Bahia Street) and Aaron Katz (UW School of Public Health)

Critical questions• What is my culture? My institution’s culture?• What is the culture and reality(ies) of the

people with whom I am working?• What impact do I have on my surroundings?• Who holds the power? Who does not?• Whose culture is implied to be superior?• Who trusts whom and why?• What is my (our) intended outcome?• Will things be different 10 years from now?