The Postcard Project:

Future Directions in International and Comparative Administration

The Original Six Postcards

Introduction
Postcards from
... Paris
... Seoul
... Bamako
... New York City
... Rio de Janeiro
... Washington, DC
References

Further Contributions

... Derick Brinkerhoff
... Marc Lindenberg
... Fred Riggs
... Ted Thomas
... Tjip Walker

Contribute a Postcard
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Turbulent 1990s and the Development Promise of the Next Decade

Until recently I served as the Senior Vice President of CARE, one of the largest international NGOs working in humanitarian relief and development.  We were literally buffeted by strong global political and economic forces  which dictated our priorities and shaped responses in humanitarian and development assistance during the last decade. This postcard characterizes the six forces which,  in my own view, most shaped the development context in which we worked. It also identifies four new opportunities we will have to exploit if we are to make any headway with global poverty alleviation during the next decade. 
 

Six Forces Which Shaped Humanitarian And Development Responses in the Last Decade

SOCIAL EXPLOSION, THE ACCELERATION OF INTRASTATE CONFLICT-- A DECADE OF GENOCIDE.  Much of this repositioning was accompanied by intense ethnic, religious, tribal  and other forms of intrastate conflict which at times exploded into genocide in places like Bosnia, and Rwanda. Some of the consequences  for those of us involved in relief and development organizations were unprecedented refugee flows, complex humanitarian emergencies,  and intense strains and subsequent reordering of the community, national and international institutions which normally respond to such  crises. 

GLOBAL ECONOMIC LIBERALISM AS AN UNOPPOSED IDEOLOGY.   With the collapse of the former Soviet Union came the wide spread emergence of global economic liberalism as  a virtually unopposed  ideology.  As a result a highly  articulated set of economic policies which  included trade liberalization, reduction of public expenditures, privatization, literally rippled across the globe.  More than 50 programs of structural adjustment with relatively similar policy packages found their way to the developing world. While people of various ideological persuasions continued to debate the consequences of these policies, the economic transitions in poor communities were sufficiently difficult that most NGOs and community based organizations were challenged to help develop responses. 

THE DOWNSIZING OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR.  Global economic problems in the 1980s helped spark strong efforts  reduce fiscal deficits in most countries. These efforts often  resulted in a sharp cutbacks in  public expenditures. The net effect in most countries was the radical restructuring of human services with a smaller role of entitlements and fewer direct public health, education, and social welfare services. In some developing countries communities were left entirely without national or state services. This downsizing was also accompanied in many countries by an ideology of government bashing, tax revolt, and distrust in public officials and public problem solving. Keeping public innovation alive and public servants motivated during this period has not been easy. In the absence of services many new community organizations were formed and new approaches to multi-sectoral partnership had to be developed 

STRONG GROWTH OF THE NON PROFIT SECTOR.  For a series of complex reasons the non profit sector around the world grew rapidly. In some cases it grew as a community response to fill service gaps left by public expenditure cuts. In other cases it grew in response to new public as well as private funds which allowed it to experiment with alternatives in human services. The full implications, role and potential of the non profit sector are not fully understood. . 

REENGINEERING THE PRIVATE SECTOR. The decade was also one of extensive reengineering of private sector organizations. Cost cutting, reorganization, and out sourcing  began to change the nature of the work place.  In more and more countries firms signaled the end to ideas of guaranteed lifetime employment  and the beginning of  a more flexible work place with higher levels of part time employment. Citizens have experienced these changes with fear and anxiety. The full implications are not understood. 

THE CYBER DECADE.  Along with the other large scale changes came sweeping changes in the ability to share information across the globe cheaply. The development of the internet, satellite telephones, and increasingly inexpensive personal computers made it possible for non profit organizations to work globally and for many to work from flexible non traditional job sites.  Although many of us struggled to harness these new technologies at best we made a beginning. 

Those of us who involved in humanitarian and development work in the 1990s spent a great deal of time simply reacting to the consequences of political collapse, intrastate conflict, major global economic restructuring, sectoral shifts, and new opportunities in information technology. We spent a great deal of our time simply trying to keep up with massive refugee flows and human deprivation. 
 

Four New  Development Currents For the Year 2000 

WORLD NGO  NETWORK  ATTACKS ON GLOBAL POVERTY.  The reduction of the public sector has been accompanied by a tremendous growth of the international NGO sector.  The reasons for this growth are complex. Some include the community response to fill vacuums left by declining public resources in human services, the trends toward democratization which made it possible for non profits to register legally, the resources provided by multilateral agencies, governments and private citizens to experiment with non profit solutions to social problems. The result is an increasing number of NGOs, growth of the sector, and the formation of global networks of partners and affiliates. The potential for pooling resources, international fund raising, global advocacy, as well as community partnerships for service delivery is profound.  The role, implications and management of the global NGO sector will be an important focus in the next decade. Networks may be able to do what single organizations and smaller clusters of organizations could not do in the past. 

REGIONAL AND LOCAL ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORK  RESPONSES TO SOCIAL AND HUMAN SERVICE DELIVERY.  At state and local levels we have seen profound shifts in public, private and non profit roles in human service delivery. As public resources have disappeared crises many  local and regional water and sanitation systems, education, health and other social services have collapsed.  Cost pressure as well as the perceived failure of public services to provide efficient high impact services has resulted in the need to put together networks and partnerships among communities which pay partial cost recovery, public entities which deliver some services,  private contractors, and NGOs. In this next decade we will have to study and experiment with  multisectoral network management of social services. It is unclear what kinds of partnerships work in what areas. But we will need to find out. 

COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. While the goal of much of the neo liberal economic policy of the 1990s is to bring about new growth, employment and economic dynamism the link between macro economic policies and the quick and direct benefit to poor communities around the world has not been all that clear. Economic transformations take time and in many cases they do not reach some communities at all. Instead of waiting for macro policy to make a difference in poor communities many NGOs are finding that it is increasing important to find community based solutions  to special community problems immediately. A new diagnostic approach to community and household livelihood security is being developed. In this approach joint community and outside assessment teams perform  rapid assessments of community status. Their goal is  to understand whether communities and families are in severe disequilibrium (i.e. disinvesting in assets, cutting back meals, etc.)  in equilibrium  (more or less with basic nutritional levels met, etc.) or beginning to develop sustainable livelihood strategies which allow for adequate nutrition, health, income, and investments in education. . Identifying specific critical gaps community by community and specific programs that committees can develop is an important way  of providing  safety nets, protecting livelihood, and ensuring  a more dynamic link to the broader transitions. 

THE PROMISE OF INEXPENSIVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. One of the secrets of success of any set of network relations is the ability to communicate information among organizations, communities and people.  The internet, e mail and cheap personal computing suddenly make it more possible  to link people and organizations. The potential for distance learning, information kiosks in rural areas, and rapid global advocacy efforts is not yet fully understood. Full attention to experimentation is a real priority. 
 

What Now?