Decolonising the international development sector requires a disruption (part 1): A focus on the past can mask the colonial present
By Dr Amjad Mohamed Saleem
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); Leadership Council of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI)
This blog post is the third one in a series that captures some of the learning that took place during the roundtables that we organised at the Annual Conference of the Development Studies Association in the summer of 2021 and 2022. The roundtables brought together researchers, practitioners and theologians from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America who work at the intersection of decolonisation, development and faith. Our work also builds on the Fair and Equitable Initiative of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities.
Colonial legacies shape the development and humanitarian sector
Over the past few years, there has been a renewed discussion within the international development and humanitarian sector around decolonisation. This is a valid endeavour given the lingering remnants of colonialism visible in the unequal power relations that underpin aid flows. The humanitarian system has been shaped by Western and Christian values, ignoring other value systems and worldviews, while at the same time often seeking to change the social, political and economic structures of countries in the Global South with little input from affected communities. It is easy to forget that the global aid industry is the grandchild of the colonial Christian missionaries.
The localisation agenda, becoming more prominent through the 2016 Grand Bargain Commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit, has pushed for more agency from local actors, to become primary implementers and decision makers. However, there has been little open discussion of transformative changes to the power system or acknowledgement of the colonial histories of aid, development and peacebuilding that impact the modern-day approach to projects and engagement with local actors. Much has centred around reforming the process to bring local partners into the existing framework without interrogating whether the system itself needs a significant rehaul. In fact, there is little bold discussion around disrupting the system or getting rid of the system.
Most recently, the coronavirus pandemic has played a key role in exposing the fallacies of the current system and the unsustainability of the aid relationship. While the international system has been left weak in its inability to respond due to the lockdowns, local communities, including local faith actors, have been on the forefront of response often without sufficient support and protective equipment. The Covid-19 lockdowns have exposed the deep systemic problem of asymmetric power that comes from a belief that the brown and black subjects are not ready to take control of their destiny. Now is the time to think about disrupting the system.
Part of the disruption that is required is a need to reframe the narrative on decolonisation and to look at what it really means.
Despite this need to think critically about colonial pasts and the implications of this for the international development and humanitarian system, part of the disruption that is required is a need to reframe the narrative on decolonisation and to look at what it really means: who is calling for it, what are they trying to decolonise, and why? Currently the danger is that, for many of us, discussions about decolonisation have become a distraction. It is a catchy term that has been co-opted to discuss a range of issues and concerns, such as diversity and inclusion, social justice and the social good, that are related yet not the same.
Who is shaping the decolonisation agenda?
Arguments on decolonisation are often made from Western academic perspectives, whilst in places like, say, South Africa or Pakistan many people are not so much talking about decolonisation but rather about the need for the realisation of dignity, agency and power. For many of us from former colonised states, we have somehow moved beyond our histories of colonialism in the sense that we deal with our own lived experience of oppression, injustice and corruption brought about by the greed of our own political and feudal elite. Our present haunts us more than our past in many ways, and though there is a connection with the colonial legacy, there is a need to crucially address power imbalances today in our own settings. Thus, in talking about ‘decolonisation’ is there a risk that the humanitarian/development space is once again being colonised, as agency is taken away from those in the global south, who have more pressing problems in many ways, and are often not participating in shaping the discourse?
In talking about ‘decolonisation’ is there a risk that the humanitarian/development space is once again being colonised?
A focus on the past can mask the colonial present
Others are suspicious that the fascination with decolonisation in the Western world is becoming a way of avoiding answering the very real questions about its role in geopolitical, military and economic alliances that result in illegal occupation, genocide and widespread environmental destruction, such as via the oil industry, yet make them seem as if they are invested in change. Reframing the narrative on decolonisation has to be authentic and cannot ignore the current, neocolonial injustices that are taking place in the world today. The silence around addressing current forms of colonialism that cause oppression and injustice, including the occupation or eviction of people from their lands, means that the wider decolonization discourse becomes hollow. It is disingenuous to talk about decolonising the past injustices, if there is silence on the current injustices. If we are looking to make amends for the past, let us also look to the present to see where there are modern forms of colonialism and injustice taking place and how to address those.
A decolonial approach to the international development and humanitarian sector needs to call out the past and the present.
Thus, a decolonial approach to the international development and humanitarian sector needs to call out the past and the present, as well as recognising that not all issues can be solved by addressing colonial practices. There is a need for people from the global south to have agency at the table to challenge past and present colonial structures. However, while colonialism may have set the scene for injustice and inequity, it is not always directly related to the current state of corruption, poor governance, economic and social collapse that many countries are suffering from. Recognising this has to be one of the first steps of addressing injustice and oppression, be they rooted in colonial legacies or not.