Aid, development and localisation: After 25 years, issues remain
Just as bilateral and multilateral aid agencies include issues of gender equity and environmental impact in evaluation of grants to the NGO sector, so should they include questions such as: “How will the implementation of this project contribute to the improvement of local human capital in this sector?” and “What procedures and policies do you have in place to support localisation of staffing and transfer of skills to the local population?” help to demonstrate that the development profession is open to reform and is not the “gravy train of state-subsidised tourism” so often assumed by members of the public.
Next generation
Finally, writing as a scholar of development who has been in and out of Cambodia for nearly 20 years, it is long past time for many NGOs to begin a serious process of professionalisation “expat social nepotism” in their hiring practices.
When I discuss my role as research director at Future Forum, an independent NGO with a mission to train the next generation of Cambodian policy analysts and development experts, I often joke: “If I am still in this role in five or 10 years and have not been replaced by a Cambodian, I will have failed.”
Notably, Future Forum was established and is led by a CambodianAmerican refugee and Khmer Rouge survivor who returned to Cambodia to develop this institution and support the development of the Kingdom.
By way of conclusion, every foreigner working in development in the Kingdom needs to ask themselves one question at the end of the workday: “What have I done to increase the skill set of our local staff and support the localisation of our organisation?”
We should have been asking that question, daily, for the past 25 years.
Today there is no longer any excuse not to do so.