Before, it was all about the Western countries spreading their knowledge and experiences. But now we can have this SouthSouth talk which enables us to see each other.”
Wei Jiangang founder of Chinese NGO, Beijing Gender Health Education Institute, operating in Africa
as savior, we should know that both sides have useful lessons to learn,” he said. He is considering bringing Queer University to more African countries in the future.
Call for improvement
Li Yinuo is director for China offi ce at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation has established partnerships with China’s Ministry of Commerce to carry out pilot projects in Africa on public health and agricultural solutions.
She said a major obstacle is the lack of understanding of China’s development and aid model. “What China has done in Africa is quite diff erent from what is portrayed in the Western media, but there is few channels for the world to know about China’s development assistance in Africa,” she said.
Compared with most NGOs who spend lots of energy writing papers, Chinese are doing more practical things, according to Wang. “It’s their way of doing things,” Wang said. “But there are lessons we can learn from our Western counterparts. It’s undeniable they have more in- depth understanding of Africa and they have more experience.”
Wang is hoping that more Chinese NGOs can join them in spreading their charitable activities to Africa. “China, the world’s second- largest economy, should have the number of NGOs to match that status. We should shoulder more global responsibilities,” he said.
In his eye, this isn’t about “improving the country’s image,” but about doing the right things that Chinese culture also advocates.
At present, most of the money comes from Wang’s own pocket. In two years, he has spent millions of yuan. He told the Global Times that Chinese enterprises and government like to make donations to local people directly instead of donating to an NGO which can help supervise how the money is spent, a model he hopes to change.
Another problem with Chinese NGOs going to Africa is that in China there is a lack of special talents who have good command of local language and culture.
For Chinese followers, Wang suggests that they should get accustomed to African way of doing things, such as, the low speed of the government.