There have been a couple of stories recently, about aid organizations that have made me think. First of all, there was the tale of the Oxfam swimming pool. The organization has a guesthouse in Nairobi, for the use of staff and visitors, as many aid businesses have. This one has a swimming pool, and scared by possible bad publicity, the Oxfam chiefs ordered it to be closed, thus causing an outcry among their staff that guaranteed press coverage.

It doesn’t matter a damn if they have a pool or not, but some of the responses from staff were illuminating. Some spoke of needing a break from being ‘in the field’ – an NGO term for ‘real world’. Now, it’s easy to take pot shots, but many of the workers using the establishment are the lower paid ones and have a lot of responsibility and having a swim every now and then isn’t too much to ask.

But I’ve come across something more disturbing. While people may view NGOs as a bunch of loveable folk, struggling to mend the ills of the world, there is another aspect. Money. These outfits have two sluice gates to get the cash rolling in. The first is the enormous contracts with governments; the second is the appeals to the public.

This means that there often has been a highly undignified dash for cash whenever a disaster strikes, hoping to launch their appeals first, and these are highly emotive calls for an unlimited supply of the green stuff, indeed Medecins Sans Frontiers once shocked the other NGOs by halting their fundraising drive after the Japanese earthquake, on the grounds that they had raised enough for their needs. The Japanese Red Cross also said, “thanks, we’ve got enough now,” but the rest carried on calling for cash. Why? Those country director salaries do need topping up.

But there’s another aspect to NGOs that people just don’t like talking about. I’ve seen more real, serious, deep rooted racism in the offices of NGOs than anywhere else. Often unconsciously, there is, in their mindset a conviction that the white man is superior.

Save The Children have just launched a campaign, with TV spots and all the trimmings, called ‘No child born to die’ which suggests that they’re setting a rather ambitious target of immortality. Of course we all want good healthcare for everyone, wherever they are, but it’s how they do this that worries.

It’s the old trick of showing a suitably helpless and dying child with a voiceover assuring the viewer that only their donation can save the poor little creature. In other words, make people feel bad then make them feel good by giving you money.

There’s nothing about the reasons why children are without healthcare, nor is there any information on how the money is to be spent. It does nothing but perpetuate the discredited stereotype of a poor black person needing the help of the white man. If that’s not colonial enough, you can also sponsor a child. I suspect that if you enquired there would be a ‘Madonna option’ for the right sum.

This campaign has started with a huge puff piece in that home of integrity, The Sun newspaper, with photos of a B list celebrity wandering around a project looking suitably teary while mouthing platitudes. 

The poor deserve to be represented better than this and the public deserve more from those who are after the contents of their wallets.

ACarling@NEurope.eu