Village X Org

Village X crowdfunds #development projects chosen and partially financed by villages in rural #Malawi. #democracy #direct #donation #data #nonprofit

[The Hill @thehill]

"Peace Corps's complicated relationship with the 'white savior' complex" (@TheHillOpinion) https://t.co/ryvUfuQqRh

[duncangreenlse.bsky.social @fp2p]

Thanks @aleyakassam @Laura_Ekumbo and @tweetmoraa for this pisstake of the NY Times ad for its East Africa bureau chief, which is rapidly acquiring iconic status https://t.co/zYZ1gJnX3m

[Jimmy Kainja 🇲🇼 @JKainja]

The lawlessness being witnessed in Malawi has been brewing over the years - it’s the attitude that if you’re “in power” your supporters can torture and brutalize the rest with impunity - this is now fully entrenched. It’s the making of a failed state where structures can’t hold.

[Ground Truth Solutions @GroundTruthSol]

59% of #Rohingya surveyed report that people in their community sell aid items to better meet their needs in cash, often selling staple foods they receive, such as rice and lentils, to buy fresh foods for a more varied diet. See our latest bulletins: https://t.co/ajemTKFIIW

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@romainmurphy hear you 100%! you are pro-local power. otherwise known as democracy.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@RepMarkWalker @PeaceCorps and @USAID didn't create the debt problem. Why should they suffer the cuts? Also, what those organizations do directly benefits Americans and American businesses more so than anyone else. Why cut things that are already America-first? This proposal is nonsensical.

[Justin Sandefur @JustinSandefur]

So by default I'm skeptical of simple technical or mechanical 'fixes' to education that try to bypass deep governance and accountability reforms. There's no equivalent to a vaccine in education. But then again...

[Linde @LindeBM]

Second defeated Malawi candidate wants presidential... ⁦@Fromagehomme⁩ https://t.co/l2EgMjAARH

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

Malawi president, at inauguration, pledges to root out corruption | Article [AMP] | Reuters https://t.co/wiDOez4qZ6

[Salvatore Morelli @MorelliSal]

"Reducing each country’s Gini index by 1 percent per year has a larger impact on global poverty than increasing each country’s annual growth 1 percentage point above the forecasts, suggesting an important role for inequality on the path to eliminating extreme poverty."

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@stuilawrie @BobNeufer @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 Refugee camps are tough because no one really wants to be there and they can be quite diverse in terms of affected populations. Probably doable to promote some sort of legitimate democratic self rule after a serious political economy analysis.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@stuilawrie @BobNeufer @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 There is a solution. In African context, and Malawi in particular, villages are the most democratic institutions. That’s not because local chiefs are inherently un-corrupt. Instead, their worst impulses are constrained by local community accountability. Hard to cheat neighbors.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@stuilawrie @BobNeufer @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 Not sure donors are even democratically accountable to their taxpayers. If Americans knew of the waste, fraud, abuse, and good intentions gone wrong that we’ve seen, they would be outraged. Barriers like distance, cultural dissonance, and lack of sunlight preserve the status quo.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@stuilawrie @BobNeufer @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 Couple of things. District/municipal govs often lack accountability and seem deaf to democratic signaling due to aid substituting for a lack of local taxation. Donor agencies and their NGO implementers could (but don’t) solve this problem by aligning aid with local preferences.

[The Chronicle of Philanthropy @Philanthropy]

"It’s important to build in mechanisms for long-term engagement with the people you want to support to lead change — and their constituents." https://t.co/1fdosmrjtU

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@BobNeufer @stuilawrie @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 The problem we see the most, in crisis and non-crisis situations, is that those wielding the money and therefore the power (iNGOs) often lack the ability to read the political dynamics of a place. They also lack awareness of their shortcomings. The result: democracy jettisoned.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@BobNeufer @stuilawrie @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 What’s missing here is a serious dialogue about power and how organizations big and small apply it in undemocratic ways to perpetuate bad governance and undermine local voices. “Local” NGOs can do as much harm as big iNGOs. Context matters.

[Village X Org @VillageXorg]

@BobNeufer @stuilawrie @TinaTinde @romainmurphy @SmrutiPatel11 @RezaKChyBD @A4EP2 The key is aligning assistance of any kind with the democratic preferences of the “assisted” and assessing performance based on satisfaction levels of the “assisted.” No more “we know best”! Yes, iNGOs cause harm. But empowering a “local” NGO lacking local legitimacy is also bad.