I'm Blaming it on the UN!

It’s a crazy world out there friends, and I think its time I tell you about one really crazy way that money is wasted in Zambia (and I think other developing countries). The money, which comes from government and non-government organizations trying to be helpful, is wasted through the workshops they sponsor. Productivity is lost too. I know this might seem like a strange statement coming from someone who is volunteering for a non-profit and also organizing workshops, but I’ll explain below.

I think the original intentions of an organization are good –
1. The organization gets funding to address a specific problem, such as HIV-AIDS.
2. They plan a workshop in a particular town to make presentations and discuss the problem with involved and influential locals (such as chiefs, mayors, and health care administrators).
3. They want to make sure that it doesn’t cost people (who may not have much money) to attend the workshop, so they provide the locals with transport money, food, accommodation, and a “sitting fee” for their time spent.
4. They want to make sure that the people who come from their organization also don’t have to pay out of pocket for their personal expenses, so they provide transportation and a daily subsistence allowance (DSA) to cover costs.

It doesn’t sound too bad, really, and it is important to make sure that people who need to go to workshops are able to attend them. However, there are a couple of significant downsides that have developed from policies like the ones above:

First, there is the problem of overspending. I have had two flat mates who have worked on UN projects and organized, facilitated and attended various workshops. They have always been provided with DSA and it has always been way more than the expenses they accrued at a workshop. One flat mate habitually refused half of his DSA for workshops (despite the trouble this caused) and was still able to be comfortably accommodated in the towns he was traveling to. The other flat mate once accepted the full DSA for a five day journey and came back with enough cash remaining to pay all his living expenses in Lusaka for the next month. He also reports the encouragement he has received from UN drivers to travel with them, so that the drivers could also collect DSA. In addition, these UN agencies often choose to hold their workshops at very fancy resorts, thus requiring an increase in DSA to allow the participants to cover their costs, but then disregarding the fact that the participants received discounted room rates.

Second, there is the extremely high standard that these big NGO’s have set for smaller organizations that also organize workshops and meetings. It has now become a cultural standard that when people go to a meeting they are provided for generously. They expect allowances for transportation and lunch that are much higher than often needed, and they sometimes demand sitting fees. Someone I know who runs a game ranch in a rural area has been helping a local community by expanding and improving school facilities, and has often met with a local chief and his assistants to plan these projects. Recently, however, the chief started demanding a sitting fee equivalent to $50 be paid to every meeting participant. My friend realized that he was being asked to pay for the privilege of meeting with the people he was trying to help, and so refused to meet again and now handles all correspondence by letter.

Third, there is the problem that workshops have become so profitable for some participants that they choose to attend many more workshops than are actually beneficial for them or their programs. I have met community organizers whose projects aren’t doing much because they are spending a week or more out of every month away attending workshops. Then there are the head teachers at the government schools I work with. They are often invited (or required to attend) to workshops on topics such as planning, budgeting, participating in specific NGO projects, and helping vulnerable children. These aren’t necessarily bad topics, but the frequency with which they are called away from their schools is amazing. Even though this keeps them from attending to business at their school, they aren’t likely to refuse, because these workshops tend to come with lovely accommodations and sitting allowances. Effectively they are getting paid to stay away from the work they are already paid to do, and this has become culturally normal.

Changing this culture is hard work, and I don’t know how effective the current efforts are. I know that some organizations are now refusing to pay sitting fees for workshops participants, but instead just make sure that actual expenses (such as accommodation and travel) are met. I heard one rumor, however, that the response that some head teachers have to this is to pay their own sitting fees out of their own meager school budgets. Other organizers attempt to arrange that workshops be held at more modest hotels, but participants will often complain (and sometimes refuse to attend) if their surroundings aren’t lavish enough.

In defense of some salaried folks who participate in this wasteful practice of workshops, those salaries are low so why not allow them to earn a little extra cash and stay in some nice accommodations for a change? This is a good point, but why not cut back on the workshops and encourage donors instead to subsidize the salaries of government and community servants. These subsidies could even be tied to performance standards of some kind that actually encourage people to remain at their stations and help their programs/organizations improve. The workshops that still occur can also be targeted towards the training needs to help people meet the performance standards. I imagine that I am going to be accused of being radical or idealist for this idea, but there it is. Comments are welcome!

P.S. For the two teacher computer trainings I have organized, we have not provided any sitting fees and have even required the schools to pay a bit for their teachers to be trained. I guess the educational incentives (new computer skills and a certificate to prove it) have been enough to encourage participation. Yay!