The Compassion Revolution

In the first part of the essay, we sketched the economical and political historic background of the current aid system. In the second part, we looked at things in the current NGO-based aid system that are not quite optimal. In the final part, I will start addressing solutions, based on my own experience. What does impactful, effective NGO work look like? We should focus on a paradigm of collaborative, community-based aid, rather than aid delivery. How to create good conditions for people? An impactful paradigm is grassroots and not top-down. Local people should be co-creators, who, with the support of aid agencies, move towards becoming more independent and self-sustaining. Aid oughtn't be ‘pushed’ on local people. The Listening Project talks about a ‘collaborative aid system’.(1) You could also call it a community-based approach, where you strengthen local communities by building strong ties with them and giving them the support that really need. You achieve this by taking your ...

In the second part of this three part essay on foreign aid, I am going into the functioning of modern day NGOs, and the structural issues they are facing. I grew up in the '90s, when NGOs were presented to me as progressive, independent, trustworthy actors that would solve the problems that governments were not able to solve. They almost had an aura of invincibility around them. Having worked in this field for seven years, my view of them totally changed.  The current paradigm can be described as an 'aid delivery' system. To overcome its shortcomings we have to move beyond good intentions and focus on  a long-term and bottom-up approach. Beyond good intentions Before I start, it is important to say it is not my goal to point the finger at anyone. I do not want to blame or scapegoat any particular organization or institution. Often aid work is done with the best intentions. Yet good intentions alone are not enough. As one author on the matter says, we have to go ‘beyond good...

I created a YouTube channel which will feature some of the talks I gave. So far it has recordings of my lectures on food security and an in-depth interview about the core values of Sadhana Forest. For my folk songs and protest songs, see the Soulful Sadhak channel .

How can we achieve food security in the 21st century? What are the environmental challenges of our current food system and what are the alternatives? Is the model of industrial agriculture outdated, and is it time for a paradigm shift towards agroecology? Who will feed the world? (Hand-out of a lecture given at Leuven University ). The coming food crisis  We are facing a global food crisis. For the first time in decades, the number of undernourished people in the world is rising (FAO et al., 2018 & 2020).[1] 1 After a century of decline, food prices are on the rise (UNEP, 2009). Almost 1 out of 10 people is hungry today (FAO et al., 2020).[2] 2 According to the WHO (2020) 45% of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition. More than 3 billion people might not be able to afford[3] 3 [3 healthy diets, leading not only to undernourishment, but also an epidemic of overweight and obesity (FAO et al., 2018 & 2020).[4] 4 This has been called the “d...

Across the globe, people are expressing dissent with our democratic institutions. Political extremes and more autocratic leadership are gaining favor. We live in a multi-polar, complex and rapidly changing world, which is put under pressure by inequality, climate change, migration and so on. I think people are feeling increasingly powerless. They feel their voices are not heard and their lives might not matter so much. I believe it is a need for security and order that leads them to political extremes, more autocratic leadership, nationalism and identity politics. These all promise simple solutions – sometimes just ignoring existing problems – and a way out of the political deadlock of the mainstream parties. How can we make sure every vote really counts? I do not think however this will solve the problem. In fact, it will probably make things worst. Political extremes promise ‘law and order’, but actually need chaos and confusion in order to thrive. They will hold their law and or...

Puigdemont, Trump, Wilders, Le Pen, Francken… Namen die weinigen de afgelopen maanden onberoerd lieten. In tijden van steeds verregaandere globalisering en migratie grijpen velen terug op de natiestaat als hun houvast. Toch denk ik dat nationalisme geen oplossing kan bieden voor de problemen waar de wereld vandaag voor staat, integendeel. Het is tijd om het voorbijgestreefde ideaal van de natiestaat achter ons te laten en volop te bouwen aan grensoverstijgend burgerschap. Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple (1830) Bekend romantisch schilderij dat de Franse revolutie verheerlijkt Even wat geschiedenis. De natiestaat is, aldus Wikipedia , een ‘staat die politieke eenheid verbindt met culturele eenheid.’ De natiestaat zoals we die vandaag kennen is een uitvinding van de 19 de eeuw en is de opvolger van de kleurrijke verzameling van Rijken, Koninkrijken en Keizerrijken die onze geschiedenis zo lang tekende. De natiestaat wordt gekenmerkt door een sterk gecentraliseerd...

Over nationalisme en het einde van de globalisering Brexit, Trump, Wilders, Le Pen, moslimbannen, islamofobie, ‘post-truth’, populisme, verrechtsing en verruwing, elk nieuwsbericht vandaag de dag lijkt wel één van deze termen te bevatten. De wereld lijkt in brand te staan. Wat is er aan de hand? Welke orde kunnen we vinden in deze schijnbare chaos? En wat kunnen we eraan doen? Internationale eenheid of particularisme, wat zal uiteindelijk voor het meeste veiligheid zorgen? Eén van de dingen die mij het meest opvalt achter al deze mogelijk zorgwekkende verschijnselen, is een sterke reactie tegen de globalisering. De afgelopen eeuw is de wereld enorm veel kleiner geworden. Dankzij vliegtuig en internet is de wereld – letterlijk – binnen handbereik. De geschiedenis gaat echter altijd in slingerbewegingen en de slinger lijkt nu de andere kant op te bewegen. Media en migratie stellen ons elke dag bloot aan de ‘grote boze wereld’. Hierdoor vindt er een Copernicaanse revoluti...