Arrogance in a Foreign Land Just heard about an incident while I was away that again brought to my attention how easily an expat can fall into the trap of being arrogant. The irony is his agency is a large humanitarian agency that is, by the very nature of humanitarian work, is supposed to abide by the principle of Do No Harm. Anyway, more on this once I get email from colleagues and other people who attended today’s Protection Cluster meeting in Cotabato City. But first, I was once an expat too in foreign country, in that country’s own conflict affected region much like Mindanao. My experience there taught me the following lessons: 1) Do No Harm to the welfare of the locals, the intended beneficiary of my organization’s programs. This may seem easy at first but when you are in a foreign land, no background knowledge on the roots and dynamics of the conflict, coupled with your own personal ambition to rise in the ranks of your organization, as well as personal biases, this is not that easy after all. 2) The power and privileges and influence of being an expat official of a large multilateral agency with all its financial resources tends to get into ones head. The temptation to be overbearing and manipulative over locals must be avoided at all costs. 3) In communities affected by conflict between the government and those that seek to replace it, do not belittle the value of NGOs established by those living in these communities. The vast majority of Bangsamoro villages, expats can only dream about reaching them while locals walk in and out of these villages. Government agencies can go into them with escorts. NGOs, by the very nature of their work, don’t. 4) In many conflict affected areas both here and other countries, governance is weak or poor. This is precisely why there is a conflict in the first place. Sometimes this weak or poor governance is deliberate, other times it is due to institutional or mandate limitations or structural flaws. 5) But regardless of the reason, never undermine local NGOs precisely because they are the only institutions that can provide services that neither government agencies or INGOs can. 6) When my contract is over, the locals will stay behind. I will move on to my next contractual deployment in another country, perhaps get a raise in salary, while the locals continue to live amidst conflict. In other words, I as an expat should never substitute my interest, my ambitions, my personal preferences over those of the local stakeholders. 7) If I find any of the locals disagree with my personal ambitions and preferences, I should not pit one local stakeholder to undermine another local stakeholder. 8) I should not play politics with the lives and welfare of local stakeholders even if some of them allow me to do it. There are a lot more lessons I can share about my experience within and outside UN organizations. And these are the lessons that seems to be lost in a few of those who claim to come to our shores to help us. My brief work as an expat in a foreign land, as well as my engagements with UN organizations have been largely positive. But the fact that the principle of Do No Harm has become popular in the recent past is because there are obviously risks that locals need to be mindful of in engaging expats. Let me be clear that the work of their institutions are welcome if they stick to the core principles of impartiality, neutrality, and non-discrimination. But when their own personnel overlook the very principles their office is supposed to uphold, play politics, and succumb to the trappings of power and privilege, then we should have enough moral courage to point out what is wrong. After all, this is our homeland. Anyway, as for the incident earlier, we will share it with you soon as I get the email I have requested to illustrate or cite a specific example of expat arrogance. Sabi nga kung telenovela lang, abangan ang susunod na kabanata. Or kung komiks lang na Aliwan, "Itutuloy". Author: Atty. Zainudin Malang
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 00:28:30 +0000
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