Sustainable Economic Development

Ernesto Sirolli, founder of the Sirolli Institute, recently gave a Tedx Talk refuting many common methods of providing aid to developing countries. While sustainable development, encompassing ideas such as design thinking and frugal engineering, has been gaining popularity in recent years, charitable donations remain the most common type of aid.

Sirolli emphasizes the importance of building personal relationships within the community to better understand cultural norms and expectations. In essence, he argues that the people with the need will have the best understanding both of the problem at hand and the potential solutions. In his talk, Sirolli makes the point that the person who has the idea for a solution does not need to possess the tools to implement said solution. This gap between first-hand experience and sophisticated knowledge is where collaboration can do the most good. Sending skilled workers to areas in need, not to implement solutions thought up by foreigners thousands of miles away, but to work side-by side with locals to develop unique innovations that can work in a given cultural context is where the most potential for truly sustainable development lies.

My experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine confirms Sirolli's argument. It took nearly a year of cultural integration and intensive Russian language lessons to establish an identity within the community. Until this level of mutual understanding and trust was reached, any project I attempted was either immediately rejected or failed soon after implementation. While this was frustrating, I realized that it was absurd to think that I, a recent college graduate with little practical experience, could come in and tell teachers with over 30 years of experience how to "better" do their jobs. Ultimately, our most successful endeavors came as a result of mutual compromise and cooperation. It is easy to find evidence that the most successful projects include capacity-building, not just donations, as a key component.

One example of this type of project is Eastern Rinok, an online Etsty marketplace where Ukrainian artisans can sell their homemade products both domestically and internationally. Before joining the marketplace, participants take part in trainings to learn how to market their products, as well as how to successfully run a small business. These trainings were initially done by Peace Corps Volunteers, but are now increasingly led by other Ukrainians in the community. As more Ukrainians are trained to both sell their products and to become leaders in program, the project can continue to expand and thrive long after the initial founders are gone. The ultimate goal of any aid organization is to no longer be needed in the community it serves, and this is one example where that goal is being met.

The main issue with Sirolli's vision of sustainable development is the difficulty of implementation. Significant time, labor, and fieldwork are needed to establish the types of on-the-ground partnerships Sirolli advocates. A one-time donation, while unlikely to adequately address the need, requires much less planning and labor capital. The question remains: how can we encourage governments and organizations to move toward sustainable development when it remains so much easier to just throw money at the problem?