Why the world needs more Canada
Our history of international development assistance has resulted in marked improvements around the world
Khalil Z. Shariff is chief executive officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Canada.
Special to the Sun
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The statistics are well-known and don’t require repeating: The extent of poverty in the world is widespread and troubling. Half the world — nearly three billion people — lives on less than $2 a day.
What is less clear is how to address the dilemma.
The answer is complex, and demands efforts along many dimensions. One part of that answer, though, is rooted in Canada’s own history of supporting international development.
Twenty-five years ago, in the geographically isolated and economically marginalized regions of northern Pakistan, Canada — through funding from the Canadian International Development Agency and the Aga Khan Development Network — began an ambitious development effort. Built on the premise that beneficiaries, over time, must become the masters of the development process, the program brought together communities in local village organizations and helped them to define priorities and begin working towards achieving them.
Communities began to invest in small infrastructure to increase agricultural productivity and link their villages to markets. They started modest savings programs and lending activities to increase income for their families, made the education of the next generation — especially girls — a priority, and focused on improving maternal and child health care, housing and living conditions.
This development experiment revealed that community organizations and the vibrant civil society which they represented were a key to lasting improvements in quality of life.
When village organizations were patiently nurtured, incredible things started to happen: Incomes tripled, infant mortality dropped 25 per cent and literacy for women and men increased to unprecedented levels, outpacing human development indicators in other parts of the region.
These small village institutions created the capacity for self-development that ensured outside help was effective and its benefits were sustainable.
Over time, many Canadians and Canadian institutions contributed to this experiment, including our universities, which contributed to educating a generation of leaders in the area.
They, too, recognized that change is a long-term process — one that must begin from within communities, one that cannot be imposed or dictated by outsiders or experts.
This experience is not unique. With the Aga Khan Development Network and other partners, Canada has used these principles and values to work in many different contexts: From the semi-arid areas of coastal Kenya to the lush but isolated villages of northern Mozambique; from the harsh mountainous regions of Tajikistan to the remote valleys of Afghanistan, emerging from decades of conflict.
From improving rural livelihoods to building institutions that educate world-class leaders in areas such as nursing and teaching, to spurring the growth of a strong civil society and thriving private businesses, we have stayed true to these basic values and adopted a long-term horizon, and we have seen important and sustainable results.
We have seen examples of development that works, and more Canadians need to know about them.
In fact, it is clear that Canadians are going to be called upon to be more sophisticated in our understanding of the nature of global poverty and instability, and to demand intelligent international development from our leaders. In places like northern Afghanistan, our work with Canadians shows that success is possible if we bring our accumulated expertise to bear in support of the processes of reconstruction and development.
Bridges that Unite, a travelling exhibition sponsored by Aga Khan Foundation Canada that opens today at the Roundhouse in Vancouver, is an effort to strengthen exactly this kind of educated and engaged citizenry when it comes to Canada’s role in international development.
Visitors will encounter questions and images that are designed to challenge simplistic ideas of what development looks like, herald the accomplishments that Canadians can rightly be proud of, and inspire new visions of Canadian global leadership in the future.
They will also be invited to consider how a ring of chairs and a flipchart, which is the setting for social change in communities around the world, can replace our idea of development as hand-outs to the poor.
Above all, Bridges that Unite hopes to stimulate a conversation in this country about what Canadian global leadership will look like in the 21st century.
At its best, Canada has helped communities in the developing world lift themselves out of poverty, with their dignity and pride intact, and their pluralism strengthened. These contributions have helped Canada to be seen not only as a generous country, but as a thoughtful and humane global leader.
That’s a Canada that the world could certainly use more of.
Khalil Z. Shariff is chief executive officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Canada.
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