What Questions Should I be Asking?

This week we have a special guest post from Kimberley Drury. I was privileged to work with Kimberley on the Rok Kern project where she used her extensive development experience and study and lessons from her own faith journey to shape the missions streams’ biblical and development reflections. She has most recently been working with Faith to Action to continue to raise awareness of the harms of institutionalization. This post introduces us to some key development practices and provides a launching point for our series on the Principles of Healthy Development.

by Kimberley Drury

The humble reality of charity and development work is that it can be flawed, or work with flawed individuals or systems globally. Many of us can relate to supporting various causes over the years, only to find out what we were supporting wasn’t doing the good we hoped it would be.

This has left many compassionate hearts scarred and disillusioned, creating a kind of ‘support paralysis’, where we’ve stopped trusting organisations and feel ill-equipped to ask the right questions to understand the integrity of who we support.

Perhaps we’re worried about being misled by flashy marketing campaigns promising a heroic impact from our contributions, only to find out the receivers are exceedingly capable and not in need of rescue. Or perhaps we’ve heard about donations being used to line the pockets of others rather than those who were truly in need.

Having a background in International Development, I’ve learnt to recognise almost intuitively the strengths or weaknesses of various organisation’s approaches. Through some passionate conversations with people over the years, I have realised the frustration of others who don’t feel that same intuitive feeling and don’t know what to look out for when considering who they support.

I don’t believe you should need a degree to navigate who to support, but having access to resources and knowing some questions to ask can really help navigate and demystify the charity and development world.

Rather than provide an exhaustive resource, I want to present a few questions to ask which bring together ideas, from faith-based, justice-oriented and good development knowledge bases. These questions are useful starting questions for evaluating the healthiness of a program or initiative.

Indicators of a healthy partnership

What are the relationship dynamics?

Because aid and development programs are working with people, we need to consider healthy relationship dynamics at the centre of ALL the activities that are conducted. I believe most questions we consciously or unconsciously have about an organisation could be answered by considering relationship dynamics - both internally with staff and partnerships, also externally through peers and local communities.

Having a strong and healthy relationship foundation helps ensure a program the community wants and can bring transformation. Looking at the leadership and partnership style reveals a lot. Working collaboratively with communities towards a shared goal pursues principles of inclusion, equality, mutual respect, and improved cultural competencies. Accountability grows and power dynamics can be held in-check. Maintaining a culture of humility to listen and learn from one another, safeguards against many potential errors.

What goal / change is trying to be achieved, and why?

Compassionate response is a beautiful human attribute. But we need to consider carefully the perceived issues trying to be addressed, and how the issues have been identified, defined and what are the solutions presented. Because good intentions do not always equal positive change.

Knowledge and expertise is important for effective change. Inclusion of local voices and knowledge provides a clear and deeper context to partnership alongside others. Will this bring lasting change for individuals and the community, through dignifying partnerships? Who determined the goal for the project? How long did they consult with the community before establishing the project plan? How is the impact of the project being measured?

Sometimes working in complicated circumstances doesn't have simple solutions and it can be helpful to ask how the team is considering the complexity.

What’s the exit plan?

Truly transformative work should work themselves out of their program’s purpose. With that in mind, an exit plan should be at the forefront of charity and development planning. These programs exist because participants are not able to live life to its fullest. Naturally, once certain outcomes are realised, the need for the people to participate in the program should disappear. Without an exit plan, for either participants or a program, there should be follow up questions about dependency or effectiveness. Also consider how long your commitment is. Long-term solutions are a priority rather than quick-fixes - does your giving reflect that?

Who’s at the centre of the narrative?

Being mindful of our communications and messaging is important, it should always be empowering and dignifying to individuals as well as cultural contexts. Ultimately when the story is focused on the donor or organisation’s good deeds, we lose sight of who it should be about. Western culture champions the hero narrative, when this occurs the dignity and empowerment of individuals and communities is heavily compromised, with a message that people are in need of rescue with only an outsider who can save them.

What stories do our partnerships want to tell? After all, isn’t the purpose of a program about them?

How is the program being managed?

Effective programs require healthy cross-cultural collaboration. Seeing an organisation that employs local staff and utilises the strengths and resources already available in a community, is a great indicator. The job of an organisation shouldn’t be to come in and do it better than the locals. It’s about working together with the community’s strengths to overcome its challenges; using the skills, talents and resources they have, so they can live their lives to the fullest.

Training and expertise of staff assists in providing good management, so we can’t diminish the organisation's need to upskill staff. They are working in complicated and difficult circumstances which requires ongoing equipping.

While policies and procedures may seem like a distraction to getting the work done, they exist for important reasons. Ultimately, they safeguard both the organisation and it’s participants from harm. Administrative overheads do need to be balanced, but they exist to provide crucial reporting to ensure the organisation's activities are being accounted for and managed well. Without them, it would be hard to understand the effectiveness of the program, “is it really doing any good?”, or “how can we improve?”

Let’s Encourage Questions

I’ve learnt that asking some questions might be perceived as negative in Christian circles and can be a cultural taboo. We love to encourage and praise Christian initiative, but when things are called into question, it can get dismissed or we become defensive because the intentions are perceived to be good. While I recognise the need for checking the motivations of the heart in asking questions, recognising that aid and development initiatives work largely with vulnerable communities, we all need to be aware of safeguarding against potential harm.

As followers of Jesus we are also a part of the process of transformation, which means we are still learning and growing. Each one of us is in the process of being renewed and going from strength to strength, and we can only grow if we allow constructive conversations to occur. Constructive conversations should bring us into the fullness of God’s plan, and our programs should be robust enough to be open to genuine questions.

I recognise that my strongest relationships and most successful pursuits have come about because I ask questions; I know people better and can be more effective in my contribution. Asking questions reflects genuine interest and engagement in life around us, they are the building blocks for relationship and growth. My hope is that as we grow in our confidence about the causes we support, that there will be a renewed momentum for positive change in both our lives and the lives of others.

What are some other indicators of healthy partnerships?
What information would you like to learn about an organisation you’re interested in supporting?
Have you experienced ‘support paralysis’ in giving to causes? What has helped you overcome it?

What Questions Should I be Asking?