- Value people over projects, and effectiveness over good intentions. Hold in tension a humanitarian ethic of service and a professional ethic of competence. Good international development is competent service guided by good principles and done through good practice.
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Category Archives: service ethics
The Culturally-Sensitive Butt:
on language, food, humility, and humor. A Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Americans are waiting. “Entshuldigung, können Sie Deutsch sprechen?” he asks. The two Americans just stare at him. “Excusez-moi, parlez vous … Continue reading
Posted in Just for Fun, service ethics
Tagged cultural sensitivity, food, foreign, humor, language, travel
15 Comments
A Staying for Tea Story: India 2006
As the depth of my hypocrisy sunk in, I struggled to contain my emotions. “Tell her ‘yes, and I’ll be right back,’” I instructed my translator, as shame deepened the red of my sun-baked ears. Turning to my small entourage … Continue reading
Staying for Tea – Conclusion
We should not be paralyzed by the fear of committing errors, but we should be self-conscious and think critically about how we go about serving others. This is the final post of a 6-part series republishing the original Staying for Tea article from The Global … Continue reading
Posted in Faith Perspective, service ethics, Storytelling, Voluntourism
1 Comment
The Fifth Principle of Community-Based International Development
Since you don’t have the power to steer a community, don’t pretend you’re at the helm. Since people with self-respect resist arrogant generosity, make sure to operate at eye-level. Since, unlike us, God does have the power to transform a … Continue reading
Posted in Faith Perspective, service ethics
Tagged community-development, faith-and-development
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The Fourth Principle of Community-Based International Development
If we are the source of all the ideas and plans, if we fear that nothing will get done or improve without us, if we are the motor of initiative, if we are stressed-out that we might fail in our efforts, if we have trouble recognizing the names and faces and stories of those whom we serve, then it’s likely our filter needs replacing. Continue reading
A Moderate Elitist
There are some very active ongoing conversations around aid elitism at Tales From the Hood here and here, and at viewfromthecave here and here. It’s had some spillover with the conversation about poverty tourism here and here. The posts themselves have … Continue reading
Posted in service ethics, Volunteering
Tagged 1millionshirts, Aid, aid-bloggers, boycott, child-labor, do-no-harm, elitism, good-intentions, Hughes
10 Comments
The Third Principle of Community-Based International Development
Instead of mapping problems through needs to external solutions, you help the community identify its values and then map these through local resources to develop a vision and action plan. This is the third post of a 6-part series republishing the original Staying for … Continue reading
Posted in service ethics
Tagged agency, asset-based, empowerment, needs-based, program design, values-based
6 Comments
The Second Principle of Community-Based International Development
“The world is littered with community development projects gone wrong. More often than not the source of failure was an overemphasis on output and underemphasis on process.” This is the second post of a 6-part series republishing the original Staying … Continue reading
