No Tees Please: Why Africa aid campaigns #FAIL

Editors

G. KOFI ANNAN (

@gkoiannan)

RAQUEL WILSON (

@raquelwilson)

No Tees Please: Why Africa aid campaigns #FAIL

On April 27, 2010 the popular websiteMashable ran a post about a newcharitable campaign launched bya pair of US-based social mediamarketing professionals whose goalwas to get everyday consumers to“Help us send one million t-shirts to thepeople of Africa”.As the Mashable author wrote “

The 1MillionShirts project, launched this month, is asking for used (but decent)T-shirts to be sent in with a one dollar bill to help with container costs. The shirts will then be shipped to Africa to help clothe folks in need.

”The campaign team set out to usesocial media tools to spread the wordencouraging supporters to use the#1millionshirts tag in comments aboutthe campaign on Twitter.Within hours of the #1millionshirts taghad attracted the attention of Africandevelopment and aid workers onlineand a heated debate commencedonline with both sides using online and

ofine tools to further the discussion.

In 24 hours what started out as atypical American-lead Africa aidcharity campaign became a fullblown debate on the merits of suchefforts, and how campaigns such asthese negatively affect African com-munities and the aid industry.

Keeping with the socially networked,organic nature that has helped shapethis particular discussion, I havetapped the wisdom of the crowd toproduce this eBook outlining perspec-tives on why African aid campaignssuch as #1millionshirts fail in the eyesof those who are closest to Africa.You can also follow the ongoingdiscussion online by searching on Twit-ter for the terms #1millionshirts and#SWEDOW.

Read on to listen and learn...

ditor’s Note

G. Koi Annan

www.annansi.com/blog@GKoiAnnan

No Tees Please: Why Africa aid campaigns #FAIL

ntroduction

Outside intervention has alwaysbeen a treacherous affair – fromthe “discovery” of the Americas,to the colonial enterprise, from theongoing trade of forced humanlabor to continuing neocolonialinterferences with what would besovereign states. These historiesare not ones that are only recalledwhen musty textbooks are dustedoff, but shape the very identities ofpeople across the world, let alonetheir homes (or the concept of homeitself), their social relations, theireconomies and many other aspectsof their lives.

From one point of view, today, outsideintervention is often good intentioned.This perspective may belong tothose intervening and it may alsobelong to the benefactors, many ofwhom have been massaged into thebelief that anything foreign is better.Sometimes, these interventions aresuccessful. Sometimes, they aremerely successful, in the short-term.Sometimes, they may cause problemsdeeper than the ones there to beginwith.There is that oft-told story of the NGOsand the well. In some remote villagein the “developing” world, the womenwould travel a long distance on a dailybasis to collect water from the river.Observing this, the NGOs decided tobuild a well, smack bang in the middleof the village, to “help”. With the wellbuilt and NGOs no doubt beaming andawaiting praise and thanks, imaginethe surprise when they received thecomplete opposite. The women werenot thrilled. The women were in factupset.“How can that make sense,” the NGOswondered, “we’ve made their liveseasier.”Upon talking to the women (somethingthat surely should have gone on awhole lot earlier), the NGOs learnedthat the women actually enjoyedtheir daily travels to the river. It gavethem an opportunity to: be free ofthe homestead with its hierarchiesand restrictions; spend quality timetogether and; to foster sisterhood.With nowhere to go, they were now

conned to their compounds and the

roles imposed upon them by theirsociety.So, something as useful and seeminglyinnocuous as a well, can have such a

A T-shirt distorted my self-idea

Lulu Kitololo

www.lulukitololo.com@lulukitololo