Episode 13: Letters from our Listeners

In the final episode our our S3, host Safa shares some brief reflections and reads out letters sent in by some of our listeners!

Transcript

Safa: Welcome back to the Rethinking Development Podcast. My name is Safa and I'm your host. Thank you for tuning in to the final episode of our third season. As always, it's been a pleasure to speak with and learn from diverse guests, both practitioners as well as activists and academics, who each in their own different way is contributing to rethinking development or international cooperation and social justice.

The issues we've spoken about over the past episodes have been wide ranging. From indigenous future making, to the micro and macro ways in which hierarchies play out in organizations, to rethinking humanitarianism, to addressing the root causes of migration, to disability rights and holding governments to account, to the political economy of development, feminist philanthropy, accountability, faith-based charity work and more!

We've heard again and again about the importance of questioning models that may no longer serve us, supporting and learning from those who have long been creating alternative models, addressing root causes rather than symptoms, recognizing and acting on the urgency of crisis in a coordinated but agile way, addressing the questions of lack of political will versus political organizing social movements, bottom up collective action and more.

These conversations will continue in our upcoming season four, with the same commitment to pass the mic and hear from voices that may not normally be present in your social media feeds or webinars.

Conversations about rethinking development and humanitarianism have become more mainstream in recent months. More and more organizations and platforms are choosing to spotlight and take action on the urgent need to critically rethink about how the power dynamics, systems, tools, processes, and ideas that we use on a daily basis in the sector, and that we've become accustomed to over the decades , and that we sometimes take for granted, can be and should be redesigned, reformed, rejected, replaced, or abolished in some cases.

Within all these conversations, it's helpful to always ask ourselves: whose voice is missing? Who are we not hearing from yet?

Because the answer to questions of how can I or my organization change, in what ways, or what are the alternatives that I can look too for inspiration can be found in many, many places. For decades, countless individuals and communities living in crisis, communities, fighting violence, discrimination, dispossession oppression, indigenous black, and communities of color around the world - of different classes, ages, abilities, and socioeconomic contexts, have all been leaders in fighting for and envisioning more equitable, just, fair living conditions and community dynamics.

Countless have already done the work of imagining and creating alternative models of development, of accountability, of justice, and of living in harmonious relationship with people and the planet.

One thing that some of these alternative models often challenge or address is the way that we set up somewhat arbitrary borders between different issues - such as different sectorial issues, different disciplines, different geographical regions and markings. The dynamics and relationships between the micro and the macro, the local and the global, the personal and the political are important to explore. Many leaders, young and old alike, continue to lead, develop and evolve their own organizational models, projects, actions, social movements, and relationships.

Throughout season three, I've invited you to join the rethinking development conversation in a number of ways. One way you've done this is by sending us a “letter to your younger development self”, sharing what you wish you had known when you had first started working in the sector.

Now the time has come to read some of those out loud, but before I begin, I encourage you to picture your younger self and think about the energy and the understanding you had at that age, when you were first starting out in this sector. Take yourself back and maybe ask yourself:

What were you most passionate about at that stage? What were you driven by? What were you afraid of? What were you ignorant about? What were you unsure of?

For some of our listeners, this may only require going back one or two years ago, but for others it may require thinking back three or four decades ago. No matter where you are, please try to listen to the letters with an open heart and nonjudgmental mind.

Before I read the letters, I'd like to give a big thank you to our anonymous contributors and reiterate that we thank you so much, we celebrate you and we're so happy and humbled that you tune into our podcast and are part of the rethinking development community.

Letter One

Dear G

The road ahead of you is a long one. This sector is fiercely competitive and you will often feel overlooked. You will often feel like your contributions and voice is at best a token and at worst disregarded, but despite this, you must push through and fight on.

Learn all the skills you can learn. You deserve to be here. And those skills you've picked up along the way are valid and will serve you.

You will often feel conflicted. Are you complicit in holding up structures you're trying to dismantle?

Stay curious. Read widely. Network up, down and across. Everyone has something that you can learn from, and there's something that you can teach.

Take the job, even if it's an area of development that you don't know much about. The skills you learn there will serve you well for the next role.

Finally, get a mentor. And if she's a black woman even better. You'll need support in the sector.

Best,

Older G

Letter Two

What would I tell my younger development self? I would say: be sure this is really what you're passionate about and are committed to doing for a long time. There'll be moments where it will be very tough and you and your family will have to make difficult decisions and sacrifices.

Be sure you have the support and understanding of a strong network of family, friends, colleagues, and mentors to share the good times as well as the hard times.

Be ready to stand up against individuals who might be abusing the system, although it might not always be easy to do so.

Remain critical without being cynical.

Wherever you are posted, respect and learn about the rich history, culture and literature, and try to meet and get to know its social activists and social movements, engaging them as partners, wherever possible. You might also find that you make friends for life in that process.

Be humble vis-a-vis the communities you'll be serving and the partners you'll be working with. Be a good, trusted, supportive colleague for your team and respect them all equally, no matter where they are in the hierarchy of the organization. Be a constant learner, ready to regularly acquire new skills, update your know-how and make sure you're able to contribute the kind of high quality technical, professional, and personal skills, which the communities, partners and colleagues concerned all deserve.

Make sure you have the ability to balance your professional and personal life and take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Have a life outside of your job. Remember that there is life outside of your organization. And one day you'll leave and begin a new chapter.

Letter Three

Dear younger self,

Have patience. You are at the bottom of a mountain.

When you climb a mountain, the time it takes to the top is your walking speed multiplied by the length of the path - if you're lucky that is. Life is unpredictable, similar to how the weather can be on a mountain, especially the closer you are to the top.

So be prepared for setbacks, be prepared for re-routes. Be prepared in fact, to not ever make it to the top of the mountain. For every step you take to get to your goal is far more important than the goal itself.

For you see, we haven't yet talked about what's in the backpack that you're carrying. It's the next generation and the next generation after that and so on. You better believe that there will come a time when the next generation will be able to start walking up that mountain right there alongside you. At first, you have to take it slow and teach them a few tricks of the trade, but eventually, before you know it, they'll have surprised you and they'll be the ones leading the hike to the top.

As you might have picked up by now, the work of making this world a better place is a sisyphus task. It will never end. Not in your lifetime, not in the next and simply not for the foreseeable future. There will always be the next challenge to face. I mean, even if we do ever find peace and abundance for all living things on earth, in a harmonious, holistic and synergistic fashion, then we have the great challenge of our sun exploding on us in a few billion years.

Without a doubt, hopefully the world will be working together by then to figure out a way for us to live in another solar system, or at least be humble enough to accept when it's time for our species’ grand finale.

In either scenario, we live in the present and it can seem unnerving, frustrating or even darn right upsetting at times, the slow pace of things.

Just know these four phrases: work hard, but don't overwork. Prioritize, build upon and lean into your relationships. They're what make life worth living. Give from the overflow. It will all work out in the end. Trust the process.

And most important of all, do not try to find the solution. It doesn't exist. We need multiple solutions from multiple perspectives for multiple and ever mutating and changing concerns. Just focus on a few at a time and over the course of your life, if you're lucky, you'll get a chance to tackle a good long list of them. In this way, focus on contributing where you can, when you can and leave the rest to everyone else itching to make a difference as well.

You're not in this alone, remember. You might spend a lot of time alone at any moment. However, there are tens of people within immediate reach, all eager to help you if you simply make the ask or simply have a conversation. Ultimately, we're all struggling to find our way. We end up reinventing ourselves throughout the process, as things evolve and change around us.

Let this reinvention be the first of many, as you begin to reimagine yourself, not as a single thing, but a system of your environment, adaptable, able to learn and to do anything and ready to try hard in collaboration with others. The rest takes care of itself. After all in the length of your lifetime, as you keep on hiking that gorgeous mountain of life alongside the rest of humanity, all you can ever contribute is your little grain of sand. Together, however, we can be an ocean of change.

Sincerely,

Wiser, older self

Letter Four

Dear younger self,

There will be many situations in which you will somehow feel out of place. At university, in seminars, when looking for a job, in application rounds, on committees at conferences, at official events and in team meetings.

You'll have the impression that the real issues of power, inequality and discrimination are not discussed. You will experience that colonial and racist structures are not questioned enough in development cooperation. You will experience how most of the people at the table are aware of grievances and problems, but are still not willing to bring about real change and name those responsible.

You will constantly ask yourself how you can adapt and whether your expectations are simply too high. Later, you will look for ways to avoid these structures.

You will think: I just have to find the right people, the right organization, the right job, then everything will be all right. Then I'll be able to work effectively. I'll work on an equal basis with my partners. Then we'll be a diverse team and we will really foster change and drive global justice. But the truth is that one cannot run away from the contradictions of this work and the dilemma of values versus actual practice and structures.

Also, the solution is not to find this one better place, but to fight for all places to start changing.

You will find that many people feel as you do, many are disappointed, frustrated, angry, and disillusioned. They ask themselves what they actually achieve, whether their work brings more bad than good, or whether this sector will finally change and implement the values it represents itself as holding.

The only way out is change. It is about deep structural changes and hard negotiations and being rejected again and again, about being silenced and about continuing anyway. It's about not in embittering. It's about standing up for the values of the sector. Even if others tell you that we have to be pragmatic or practical now. It's about taking risks for you and for others. And for all those who come after you.

This is the way, wherever you are.

Letter Five

I wish I had known that this sector will never value nonwhite experiences as much as white expertise. That as my younger self, if I really wanted to help my people escape poverty and insecurity, that development would be the last place I could do so.

I wish I had read more of the history behind the sector and known that my value as an African is just to perpetuate Western ideas of progress and knowledge. That being close to who you work with is considered a liability and not an asset.

I wish I had known that development is by definition on other people's terms.

Letter Six

If I could tell myself something before pursuing a career in this sector it would be that doing good is nothing but straightforward and easy. It’s complicated. It requires knowledge, lived experiences and practiced empathy.

Sometimes the best decision is probably to take a step back and take no action.

I should also have learned to doubt everything that I was taught in the sector, even to doubt the sector itself. Do we truly need the sector in the first place? Are we solving problems or just perpetuating others’ suffering by participating in a system that is flawed and adjust?

Have we truly made brave decisions?

I also wish someone had told me that no one can be someone's saviour. And taught me that the most important quality to nurture if I want to work in the space is actually humility.

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Thank you again to our anonymous letter writers and thank you to our audience for tuning in. If the sentiments in these letters have resonated with you or provoked you in some way, please do share your thoughts with us. We'd love to hear from you and as always, it's really important to us to always consider whose voice have we not heard from yet?

If you enjoy our content, please take a second to subscribe to our podcast on your preferred podcast player, leave us a rating or review, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on social media and donate either on our Patreon page or through PayPal to support our work. We'll be back soon for our fourth season, but in the meantime, do stay in touch and keep adding your thoughts to the rethinking development conversation.

I look forward to sharing many more important conversations with you in our fourth season. Until then take care.