What Can We Do? Thoughts from Within a Western Context

To go on a bit more about the values/partnership connection, I have always loved the idea of partnership. Especially the idea. Partnerships themselves can be another story, but I love the idea! Ever since I started in missions, it’s seemed odd to me that two organizations can be in the same space and not be connected. When I was 18 and my friend Anya and I started some English classes in Ukraine – and then found out about a group of short-term missionaries doing the same thing – I insisted that we connect with them. (This turned out well, because a short time later they decided to discontinue their ESL classes, and they knew they could ask Anya to take them over. Anya lives in the US now, but the English ministry is still going.) Later I found myself working for the PAOC, but still connected to Nehemiah Ukraine. I couldn’t understand why the two weren’t “partnering” – wasn’t it enough that I (the youngest and newest member of an established international organization) knew them both well? :)

Apparently this natural inclination to connect everyone and everything I know is a result of my “connectedness” strength (per Strengthsfinder 2.0). But just because I sense hidden connections doesn’t mean that I understand how to make the most of them. And there is a lot to learn about how organizations can (or whether they ought) to work together!

One of the questions on my heart – which I knew from the beginning would not be fully answered through this practicum experience, but which is still related – is “how can western institutions of higher education collaborate with those in developing countries in ways that are both sustainable and transformational to their regions?” My practicum was, to some extent, a baby step in that direction – a step toward taking the ICCD program itself further into the empowering vision and values it champions, seeking a vision of wholeness for the world, in collaboration with that world; valuing the voices of others, and their empowerment, toward that wholeness. And out of this springs a desire to share higher education with those who are less empowered, but whose cultures and voices are vital to that vision of wholeness. After all, knowledge is power. And knowledge that is affirmed and certified by others – such as a master’s degree – is a special type of power, because it opens the door for one’s voice to be taken seriously on a global scale. And that can empower cultures. I think specifically of how Bruce Olson’s work with the Motilone has resulted in educated Motilone lawyers who are empowered to address their people’s status with the national government.

I am a westerner. It’s taken me many years to come to grips with this. J Thinking about becoming Ukrainian didn’t really make me Ukrainian; marrying a man from Argentina hasn’t made me Argentine (although I try at times, and it’s highly entertaining). I have to love my country, city, and culture, because there is no escaping them – they’re part of me even if I travel. So if the question is “What can we do”, I must start there with the western context. I assume (perhaps my connectedness drives me to assume) that there is something we as westerners have to offer in many situations. We are relatively wealthy, we speak the world’s most empowering language fluently, and many of us are driven to make a difference. But I also know that this difference must come from within each culture and context. This begs the question – what can we do to encourage that? What can we as westerners do – and particularly, as higher educational institutions or universities – to promote empowerment of indigenous leaders overseas? Certainly we can look at curriculum, make it contextual, really get into the culture… But can we even take it a step farther and actually promote the empowerment of indigenous institutions of education? (Through my practicum, I learned of two universities that do this: Eastern University and Bakke Graduate University.) And if we begin to see other higher educational institutions as cultural resources to be valued and protected, how should that shape our own agendas when entering their “territory”, so to speak? Understanding that the balance of power is generally in favor of westerners – might we who seek to empower others have a kind of moral obligation to find effective, empowering, and sustainable ways to partner with the educational institutions that are already on the ground, in places where they do exist (and where there’s a risk of exploiting that power imbalance)? Certainly knowledge itself is empowering, so in that sense there is nothing wrong with just exporting a program and filling it the less-privileged. But then again, we who have studied intercultural dynamics can always give examples of times when an action that seemed obviously helpful was actually harmful… or simply was not as helpful as it could have been, had the contextualization process been more thorough. What if knowledge could be channeled through existing institutions that truly represent the culture? Can it be done without any loss to students in terms of degree validity?

The kind of education that is worth exporting or collaborating to create must also keep transformation as the end goal. So the question is not merely about finding sustainable and empowering ways to provide education in key underserved areas, but also about making sure that the education that is provided leads to societal transformation. With that in mind, a second question that occurred to me is “What kind of higher education can bring transformation?” Or to put it another way, “How can higher education best serve the needs of the developing world? What is currently being done in higher education, and with networks?”

These are pretty big questions and issues. In the proposal to set up an online cohort with two weeks onsite in Oxford, England, we did set out a plan to collaborate with another institution (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies), but we really had no need to address the issues of power that I’m bringing up here. England is a western country too!

That said, I trust that one way or another God will carry this vision forward until we’re at a place where we do need to consider the best way to interact or partner with existing institutions in developing nations. I would love to see ICCD eventually launch cohorts in other areas of the world – and to have students from those regions that most need healthy development. It’s only right to have a global dream for a program concerned with global issues.