Benefit of having a library at your fingertips (and a good one), Autesserre’s book came in yesterday. Now in my hungry possession. I’ve only managed to digest Chapter 1, but my first impression might dictate my thoughts on the rest of the book, or at least influence my reading.
The concept of organizational culture (or corporate culture) is inherent to any “industry” – whether it be aid or banking or being a professor. Each profession and its environment comes with rules – norms – that have been developed over a long period of time. Did we think aid or development was an exception to the rule?
@tmsruge’s first comment to me is that the aid industry is so worried about its own survival that it leaves no room for innovation. I’m not really sure that is the key issue. Unfortunately, I think humans do as humans do and we often end up with the same organizational product.
Finally, are people naive enough to think “do-gooders” get a free pass to not be seen as controlling and hierarchical as the next human? Anyways, it seems like a pretty smooth read so I would urge you to dig in and let me know what you think.
I don’t think the aid industry is very worried about its own survival. There is shit-tons of aid money sloshing around, and the major institutions that distribute it have been stable for many decades. There is no sense of existential threat, neither in an institutional, nor in a personal sense, given the high degree of job-security and tolerance for failure (compared to the private sector). While inflexible bureaucracy certainly plays a role, the real constraint on innovation seems to have more to do with human capital issues i.e. it’s much easier for UN staffer XY to just run a program like it’s always been run, than seek out new ideas, especially as it takes a lot of time and pre-testing to find the rare gem among an endless stream of bullcrap ideas that don’t really work on a large scale anyway. It’s not about fear, more about inertia, I would argue.
In any case, there’s quite a bit of innovation being pushed on the margins by the main agencies…like automatic inventories and operational data processing of remote water points via mobile phone in places like Mali (world bank), or digital mapping of slums supported by the EU and UNICEF etc.etc.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I would agree that stating that the aid industry is worried about its future a bit too dramatic and simplistic. I also think that inertia – caused by, as you say, the pressure of having to do so many tests to see if anything will work – is a reason innovation is slow. However, I think, in the context of this book, she is suggesting that institutional culture, and the individuals who make up the institution of peacekeeping, fail to look outside the box in their work place. I don’t think she is saying this is caused by inertia due to budgetary reasons or otherwise, but rather that the majority has not been taught to do so and continues to reinforce each others’ similar concept of peace (and the steps needed to get there, namely ‘elections’).