Indian development: What is going on?

Being one of the most important figures both living and dead in international development and economics circles, Amartya Sen has again teamed up with Jean Drèze to release a book on the status of "India's defective development". In an interview with Guardian Global Development, Dr. Sen emphasizes his use of comparison to other countries as a wake-up call to the apathetic middle and upper classes in India.  The relevance of the release couldn't be more apt in light of a tragedy in an Indian school which resulted in the deaths of 22 children because of a tainted free meal, followed by local protest of burning police vehicles and tearing the school kitchen down. With the largest slums in the planet within and around all of its cities, and rural poverty levels equivalent to the poorest countries in the world, it's hard to believe that India is one of the largest emerging markets in the world, with an ever-increasing GDP per capita. Growth without equality continues to be one of the most pressing issues the world is facing in the 21st century, and countries in the North and South need to acknowledge the importance of spreading wealth evenly. Regardless of where you live or how your countries' overall economic standing is, wealth redistribution needs to occur at some level or other not only as a means of increasing healthcare, educational and economic standards, but as a tool for stemming corruption and increasing citizen involvement in local and national affairs.

Think about it this way: how do you expect someone in Canada to participate in society in the slightest ways if they have to work two part-time jobs to cover living expenses alone? It's the same inequality faced by the rural poor known as being "time-poor"; needing to spend hours getting water, or walking to school, or to a market... it is an inequality that is inherited unless state actors take part in ending the cycle. In India the state has not been nearly as active as its powerful neighbor to the North in changing the circumstances of its' poorest population, and by not adequately providing for the future India may just be setting itself up for problems that will be much more difficult to solve in 20 years then they can be today.

#SWEDOW and Voluntourists

SWEDOW, or, "Stuff We Don't Want" is often written about in the development community referring to well-meaning people sending useless, often demeaning things to developing countries under the guise of development. The worst examples include sending used bras to Malaysia "give a lift to women", old shoes to Africa or "little dresses for Africa". I don't want to get into why this model is wrong, it is skillfully written about by whydev.org, Weh Yeoh, and Tom Murphy on several occasions. If there was a discourse built around SWEDOW, I would argue that voluntourism and related activities would fall under its' broader umbrella, and that what is considered to be 'voluntourism' is, indeed something that is not wanted and can often be useless, harmful, and degrading.
       

It is a task too large to tackle, but I will try to generalize here what the main issues are, and why voluntourism is most definitely SWEDOW.

1. It undermines long-term, structural development efforts in the same way that TOMS shoes and others provide economically unviable, quick fix models for structural issues.
2. It may be hard to believe, but untrained, privileged children and young adults are not qualified for construction work, social work or even to play football. This Huff Post article tells the story of a rich white girl going to build a library in Tanzania which resulted in their shoddy workmanship needing to be entirely re-finished by locals every night after they went to sleep. 
3. It has been proven time and time again in development discourse that the minimum time required to be working in a single area is six months, which is even too short. Kids going to work for 2 weeks (or less) or desperately short of this goal.
4. This type of SWEDOW further perpetuates ideas of people in developing countries as being lazy, unknowledgeable and dependent on outsiders.

These issues barely scratch the surface of everything that is wrong with voluntourism, and related activities. We can start by shutting down "great" programs like ME to WE which are to development what inactive pools of water are to fighting malaria.

International Development Job Postings (UK +International)

UK-Based Organizations

    *Contact @pembletonc for any suggested organizations focused on international development based in the United Kingdom*

Aga Khan Development Network: https://krb-xjobs.brassring.com/TGWebHost/searchopenings.aspx?SID=^kocE0bzI4EkgUKP7ixq/ELLCc_slp_rhc_stjL4z2fJw7B9JAMCG8re1vh52ATIXBf6hnb9y

Action on Poverty: http://www.aptenterprise.org.uk/about-apt/overseas-partners.html

IDL Group (w/ offices in Vietnam):  http://www.theidlgroup.com/work-with-us/staff-vacancies.html

Progressio: http://www.progressio.org.uk/jobs

Gates Foundation (London): http://careers.gatesfoundation.org/search/?q=&location=London

REDR: http://www.redr.org.uk/en/jobs/current_staff_vacancies.cfm

Practical Action: http://practicalaction.org/jobs

Find Your Feet: http://www.find-your-feet.org/who-we-are/work-with-us

SOS Sahel: http://www.sahel.org.uk/jobs.html

LTS International: http://www.ltsi.co.uk/work-for-us/vacancies

Water Aid: http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get-involved/jobs-and-volunteering

World Land Trust: http://www.worldlandtrust.org/about/vacancies

Overseas Development Institute (ODI): http://jobs.odi.org.uk/Search.aspx

Bond: http://www.bond.org.uk/jobs/work-for-bond & http://www.bond.org.uk/jobs.php

Action Contre Faim (Action Against Hunger): http://www.acfin-hr.net/jobs/positions.php?hq=18

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED): http://www.iied.org/jobs

Centre for Global Development (CGD): http://international.cgdev.org/page/job-opportunities-0

University of East Anglia Professional Training: http://www.uea.ac.uk/international-development/dev-co/professional-training

International Association for Community Development (IACD): http://www.iacdglobal.org/Join-us/membership-benefits

Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI): http://sj.tbe.taleo.net/CH13/ats/careers/jobSearch.jsp?org=DAINC&cws=1&rid=173

iMedia Associates: http://www.imediaassociates.org/contact/

KPMG International Development Sector (IDAS): http://www.idasafrica.com/

International Development Partnerships (IDP) http://www.idp-uk.org/AboutUs/ContactUs.htm

Computer Aid International: http://www.computeraid.org/jobs-and-volunteering.asp

Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (CESI): http://www.cesi.org.uk/contact

Article19 (Human Rights): http://www.article19.org/pages/en/jobs.html?lang=en

Centre for Local Economic Strategy (CLES) http://www.cles.org.uk/join-us/

Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) http://www.ieep.eu/work-with-us/

Search Engines:

Oxford: http://oxfordhr.co.uk/vacancies/

UNjobs (London) http://unjobs.org/duty_stations/lon

The Guardian, Int’l Development Jobs: http://jobs.theguardian.com/international-development/?guni=Data:crumb%20nav:Position3:Jobs

Charity Work Search Site: http://www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/intl+development

Relief Web: http://reliefweb.int/jobs

DevNet: http://www.devnetjobs.org/

Tetra Tech ARD: https://careers.tetratechintdev.com/ARDCareers/App/InternationalPostingDetail.aspx?PostingId=807 

Management Systems International: http://www-msiworldwide-com.careerliaison.com/careers/ 

Coffey International: http://ca.coffey.com/international-development/careers