We are the ones we have been waiting for

The Global Native is a registered charity, no. 1135837. We are a company limited by guarantee,

Co. No.6806082

We don’t believe in fighting poverty in Africa.

We are passionate about Africa’s development.

So what's wrong with fighting poverty in Africa?

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

~Buckminster Fuller~

Focussing on ‘fighting poverty’ has portrayed Africa in a way we the Africans do not relate to - a continent dominated by poverty and disease. We see an

Africa rich in mineral wealth, agricultural potential, culture, social & political institutions, and an amazing physical environment. We do not want

to ‘fight poverty’ we want to develop Africa’s potential.

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Allo

w u

s to

exp

lain W e are not saying there is no poverty in Af-

rica. What we are saying is that attempts to fight poverty have naturalised an image of the poor as somehow lacking. This is not true: we have been given all things for life and Godliness. Poverty is not lack of things; it is erosion of a per-

son’s capacity to fulfil their needs.

Poverty as loss assumes the poor state is not the natural state of the person. Capacity was eroded along the way... ...this is how we think it happens

This is how we think it happens. In human nature value is directly proportional to cost – the more time, effort, money etc. I spend on something the more value I attach to it. More importantly, in labouring over things of value to me, I grow to value myself. Great achievements endow great value in the person. Conversely living on freebies and the charity of others leaves me feeling less valuable.

The present system of international development and aid incentivises the wrong behaviour – the less one does for him/herself the more he/she is ‘rewarded’. This creates the dependency syn-drome which in turn creates more poverty and requires more aid….

Both biblical giving to receive and the parable of the talents speaks directly against this.

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Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice.

Like slavery & apartheid, poverty is not natural, it is man-made & it can be

overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.

~Nelson Mandela~

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So,

wha

t are

we

sayi

ng... F ocusing on ‘poverty’ draws attention

only to what is lacking, and misses the

rich endowment of the African continent and

her people. It takes attention away from what

the poor have to give and focuses on the do-

nor. It takes attention away from developing

local resources and ideas, to importing for-

eign ones.

The focus must be on development and on the

systems that benefit the few, while condemn-

ing many to a life of poverty. The poor already

work very hard, they already know more about

their situation than most inteveners do. We

need to stop telling them what to do. And we

need to direct our fight to the injustice that

makes it impossible for them to live abundant

lives.

When all is said and done, the

issue is not of fighting poverty, it is

one of development. And the failures

of development are not issues of

charity, but issues of justice.

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Our View Of Development

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The sheer numbers of people involved in the fight against poverty is testament to both the scale of the problem, and the human compassion driving the response. This we believe is a good thing. However, this has resulted in a vast number of views of what poverty is, what development is, and how to help the poor. Things can get pretty confusing, and even with the best intentions one can be left wondering if we are re-

ally ‘making a difference’.

Having carefully considered the many views out there, we have thought hard about what development is. We believe development is a natural, intrinsic process. All hu-man beings have within themselves the desire to make things better, to improve their lot in life. If this instinct is not interfered with, people will tend towards their inherent talents - succeeding sometimes, failing at other times, and in the process gather-ing experience, knowledge and confidence. This naturally occurring fuel drives a person’s growth through the freedom to choose which lessons to pursue or discard. And herein lies the importance of agency, i.e. the ability of people to make independ-ent choices. This we believe is development – not the end result, but the process by

which human capacity grows.

However, in the desire to ‘make poverty history’ development has come to be viewed as ‘an intentional practice with a set goal’. What should be a natural process be-comes an actively managed initiative using ‘appropriate tools’ to achieve a ‘defined goal’. It is too tempting, in defining the goals and selecting the tools, to lose sight of

the primacy of agency. When this happens, much frustration and failure results.

Given this then, ours is a tentative approach. Our view of development is in fact that we do not have ‘a view on how to develop’. We have many questions, and we are on a journey together with those we seek to assist. Sometimes they teach us, and some-times we teach them. In the true spirit of Ubuntu, we believe ‘I am because we are’.

In its truest sense, freedom development cannot be bestowed, it must be achieved.

~Franklin D. Roosevelt~

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As Christians, we believe God is con-

cerned for the poor. While no man can

‘develop’ another, something beautiful

happens when the actions of man meet

the power of God. Transformation is a

creative work of God through his word

and his Spirit. Transformation is about a

transformed people who transform their

circumstances.

When the poor hear the good news, they become oaks of righteousness; they re-build the ancient ruins and restore plac-es long devastated.

The poor cannot get out poverty by re-

ceiving. Poverty is not lack of things, it is

loss of capacity, and to get out of pover-

ty the poor need to be faithful with what

they already have. It is in rebuilding lost

capacity that a person develops.

The present system of international aid

erodes people’s capacity to develop,

creating dependency, and effectively

impoverishing them. Unwise giving is one

of the biggest unacknowledged causes

of the poverty problem today.

Unwise giving is an unacknowledged part of the poverty

problem.

Our Beliefs

In 2003 Mthethwa was desperate – living in poverty, not greatly educated and not having much hope. A father to 2 children,

his daily struggle was simply keeping the family fed, sometimes through his own efforts, occasionally from free aid given by in-ternational organisations. He felt a failure, and what stung the most was ‘being fed by someone else like a chicken in a coop’ – it does bad things to a man’s sense of self-worth.

Then someone told him about Foundations for Farming, and he decided to attend the training they offered on conservation farming. The principles were easy enough to understand, but un-like everyone else he had been to, they were not offering any-thing at all other than the teaching – no free seeds or fertiliser. This was a surprise – most NGO’s offered something.

He enquired about this and was surprised to be told him he had everything he needed to turn his situation around. He had the

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In his own words...

desire to change his situation – this is worth more than anything they could give. He had time and energy. Being a rural farmer, he owned a small piece of land . The trainers then told him their own stories – they had themselves been in his position some time back. And how they had solved the seed issue was to approach the local pastor who made an announcement in church on their behalf. An older farmer leant them the seed to start, and they repaid it at harvest time

Thus armed he set off. The trainers assured him that they will walk the season with him – teaching, encouraging, sharing all

they knew. The most important thing they kept telling him was not doing the work, it was realising who he truly was. For years he had seen himself only as a poor man – with nothing to offer, with no inherent value in himself. They too had been in his situation – lost and despairing. But as they tilled the land in a God honouring way – God found them. And everything changed for them.

He had the desire to change his situation – this is worth more than anything they could give.

The work in the first year was not easy, but he stuck with it. His harvest that year was 25 bags – this was phenomenal! The most he had ever got when he used to farm before was a tenth of that. Everything changed for him in that first year – he sold the excess and pocketed some hard earned money. It felt good.

He went back to the teaching and started planning the next season – started planning! He had never really planned be-

fore. And the rest as they say is history – Mthethwa the man who once lived in poverty on land he owned is now the proud owner of a good house, a truck to deliver his produce and a self image that makes him one of the best conservation farming trainers around.

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What can you do?

Zimbabwe’s farmers are engaging in ‘our kind of develop-

ment’ Go to our website on www.theglobalnative.org and

follow the Walk The Season Campaign. Ask us how to get in

touch with the farmers and hear from them directly. Sign

up to our newsletter. Invite us to speak to your group about

our view of development. Engage with us, we‘d love to hear

from you.

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas,

then each of us will have two ideas.

~George Bernard Shaw~

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Some trust in chariots, some in horses, we will trust in the sovereign goodness of our

God.Psalm 20:7

c: +44 785 213 6034 t: +44 113 275 8720info@theglobalnative.org.uk

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Leeds, LS1 1BA, United Kingdom