My work centers on McDowell County, WV and it’s tough. Corruption is everywhere… …most aid workers feel that their “cause” is the most important cause of the day…money pours in, money pours out, but, for the most part, the living conditions aren’t improving….and the pictures! did I mention the pictures?? (yes, oddly enough, I’m still referring to domestic aid issues)

So here’s what I know of writing about the poor (and having actually been poor for a portion of my life, I should have at least a bit of insight): eh, not so much.

I’ve been distanced enough from the poverty to see that it’s wrong, yet close enough to it to want to make a difference. But, trust me on this, when you’re poor and your neighbors are poor and their neighbors are poor and basically the entire village, i mean, community is poor, you really don’t grasp that you’re poor. Well, until someone outside the village, i mean, Com-mun-i-ty, tells you how poor you are! So, all of these articles on how to help the poor, what the poor need, what the poor want, why don’t the poor want more, and, of course, where do all these poor people come from in the first place….well, they’re important! Let’s face it, we need rich, educated people to read them and gasp with shock and write checks to help the poor! And, it works! Okay, it doesn’t really work. But it sounds good and at least some of that money is making a difference…somewhere…

I really appreciate what Stephane wrote. It’s just seems surreal sometimes to step back and forth between the two worlds. Honestly, to whip out my crackberry in a backwoods hollow trying to grab enough signal to check e-mail can be mind-boggling!

….so much for #10!

Thanks for the quick response, and apologies if I was too abrupt. But just the statistic of 1.25€/day is a metric. Your point on attitudes of those who write about the poor is spot-on, but maybe I’m reading different stuff. As a knowledge and learning manager, I do agree whole-heartedly that Bank reports are generally poorly written (ouch!), and I challenge our institutional culture constantly. The fact that I still work at the Bank in spite of being a outspoken gadfly is testimony to the Bank’s tolerance. My biggest peeve is how boring Bankese writing and oversanitization makes really compelling work/findings.

Regarding praise vs. opprobrium, yes, there is more to criticize than compliment, but that’s part of our world in general – not just the Bank. I love what Stephane Ferey wrote about living with the poor, which reminds me of one of my favorite Lao Tzu quotes:

“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say “We have done this ourselves”.”

best regards and happy new year.

who said anything about metrics? The point of this exercise is that some who write about “the poor” and who work on helping “the poor” really need to change some attitudes: condescension, arrogance, hubris, superiority, etc.

I sympathize with your impatience about generic “Bank bashing”. “Bashing” should have a point and try to induce change. And praise is OK as an inducement to change also, unfortunately the things to bash still outnumber the things to praise.

best, Bill