Canadians can better influence international development by simply using the means that they already have, said young activists during a panel held at Carleton University last week.
Penny Collenette, the Ottawa Centre federal Liberal candidate, hosted the fourth edition of a "Community Conversation." The event featured three activists as well as London North Centre MP Glen Pearson, sharing their experiences on reducing poverty in Africa.
(From left) MP Glen Pearson, Jenna Hoyt, Shamin Mohamed Jr. and Nick Moyer participated in the fourth edition of a
“We can change the world individually. It’s about us learning to contribute to the system,” said Nic Moyer, who worked with the Canadian Network of NGOs (CANGO) in Ethiopia. “Our own government is aware that CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) doesn’t really make much difference. In fact the international development in Africa hasn’t really worked.
“Things are worse than they were 40 years ago. CIDA or the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is a poor substitute for the number of choices we can make individually.”
Jenna Hoyt emphasized that volunteering is not the only way to make contribution. “[Things] could be done both at home and abroad . . . We need to put pressure on consumerism to make sure the trade is fair. Because we can drink the coffee every morning, thanks to some people out there, who worked all day long and still can’t afford to feed their kids.”
Hoyt established the Little Voice Foundation when she realized she wasn’t able to make much difference not knowing the African realities.
She believes in supporting the local people who have ideas to make changes – she sees her part as providing the resources for them to act.
For her, it is not the money that drives development projects but instead the people themselves.
Nineteen-year-old Shamin Mohamed Jr., the founder and president of Children’s AIDS Health Program (LetsStopAIDS) began his campaign in his hometown of Toronto when he was 15.
To Mohamed, AIDS is not just an African problem but an international issue since every two hours a Canadian is infected by HIV.
“As Canadians we think we can go to these countries and tell them what to do to change things. But people don’t like to be lectured.”
Glen Pearson, who has been working with NGOs in Sudan since 1998, emphasized that although individual activists do a lot of good, the government still needs to act.
“Everything we (did) in Sudan was done illegally and so was the work of the local NGOs at the time,” Pearson said. “Some of them were set up because those who were responsible were not dealing with poverty well.”
Since Pearson was elected in 2006 he has been calling for the government to get actively involved the crisis in Darfur.