Dear Wanazuoni,
In the wake of a belated realization among some of our development workers about how NGOs have taken away CITIZEN agency, there has been a renewed interest in the attached critique. Recently I received an email asking me how far some of us who are involved with NGOs have engaged with this critique after the author of that email was shocked upon reading the critique. Now I am not sure if we have shared this critique here before but I was impressed by a Kenyan activist who emailed it to me yesterday and inspired me to send (if not resend) it to you. Indeed we need to rethink the role(s) of NGOs given that we have a CITIZENRY that can ashamedly say ‘I can’t do this or that, I am waiting to be empowered’ while back in the days CITIZENS mobilized themselves without necessarily depending on any DONOR money to do their thing – remember those COMMUNITY works and other iniatives. Yes, I am talking in general terms but that generality applies to a lot of specific places and people. Lets bring back CITIZEN AGENCY!
P.S. Hardcopies of the critique are available at HAKIARDHI so contact Mwanazuoni Bernard Baha – HAKIARDHI <bahabp2003@yahoo.com>
Regards,
Chambi
