The Uncultured Project

When it comes to international aid and development, we are all biased. It doesn’t matter if you’re a donor reading pamphlets, a celebrity or YouTuber endorsing your favorite NGO, a journalist interviewing villagers, an academic outside of the ivory tower, an experienced aid professional talking about “good aid”, or even a free agent trying to be a bridge-maker.

There is nothing nefarious about this fact. We as human beings, while capable of untold capacities for empathy, will never have a complete verstehen and fully imagine the complexity of others. This is important because the arbiters of what is and is not “good aid” and what does and does not “harm the poor” must be the ones whom international aid is meant to serve.

This latest video, which among other things shows a project I did in collaboration with Save the Children, is my attempt to bring the poor one step closer to being able to speak for themselves. This is by no means the pinnacle of the kind of global voice I think the poorest of the poor should have. Rather, I see this as merely Step 4 out of a 5 Step Program.

This video also connects with a lot of things I’ve talked about on this blog – from mistrust of NGOs in Bangladesh, to raising overhead separately, to Islamic POVs on aid (which partly influences why many Bangladeshis talk about overhead), to the need for the poor to be more digitally and globally connected, to explaining the significance of the woman (near the end of the video) blessing the donors.

If you’re new to my work then I should point out this isn’t about raising as much money as possible. If you want to donate, I strongly suggest you consider donating to Save the Children instead of me. My goal has always been just to change the conversation on global poverty – that means less guilt, pushing for diversity, and letting the poor speak for themselves.

I’m very fortunate that most of the folks reading what I spew on Twitter know me well enough to put things in context. But recently, I got called out on a couple of tweets by an anonymous YouTube fan. I know it’s just one person, but I figured it’s worth a quick blog post.

At home, I’ve been having a lot of debates and discussions with family about what constitutes being successful. As anyone from a South Asian or Asian family like mine already knows, success in my culture is defined by how big your paycheck is.

True for South Asian families as well.

So while I can list a whole bunch of good things I’ve done and the recognition I’ve received for it, there will always be relatives that will not see me as a success. I’ve kind of learned to live with that reality. And, others in my culture encounter the same thing (see here, here, here, and here for a story from Masarat – creator of the largest TEDx event in the world).

Though there are times when I feel my relatives are right and this week is one of them.

Last year, I was invited to speak at VidCon. I had about ten days notice but was able to come up with a presentation that I am grateful was very well received. Since then I’ve been developing a story about how momentum from last year’s VidCon led to even bigger things in Bangladesh.

Unfortunately, I will not be there to tell that story at VidCon.

Sneak peak of the story I had hoped to tell in person at VidCon.

There is no YouTube drama, politics, or anything like that. Stuff happens and sponsorship to get me to VidCon didn’t come together. Sadly, in light of this, my conversations with my family have kind of looped back to the debate on how you define success.

Basically, even if some in my family concede you can be successful doing something on YouTube, they will point out charity work isn’t one of them. Making music, making jokes, microwaving things, and making explosions is success in this space according to them (a metric measured, among other things, through sponsorship to events like VidCon).

I am very proud of the many friends in the YouTube community that are musician, comedians, microwave specialists, and graphic effects pros. And I love how they’ve taken these talents and turned them into a success (both personally and financially). I also don’t think their success means others working in other areas can’t also be equally successful by the same metrics.

But, especially given the conversations I’m having and have had with family and relatives, I can’t help but feel a bit down. My tweets were just me sharing what’s going on in my life and weren’t intended to be a swipe against anyone. I’m glad all but one of you realized that

So, I recently stumbled on this article (h/t)…

Article from The Guardian

I agree with a lot that is said here. In fact, I’ve said similar stuff myself (and got grief for it). I’ve also seen amazing stuff that’s really changing the conversation away from “poverty porn”. But, it also got me thinking, what do Bangladeshis think of my work?

Here’s what I found in a five minute search:

For someone who normally has a lot to say about this topic – I find myself speechless.

I am proud to call myself a Nerdfighter since 2007.

I’m writing this now because I need advice and guidance from Nerdfighters as to what I should do next on an issue that I’ve been working on for the past two years now.

More info after the jump….

Continue reading ‘Nerdfighters: I need your advice.’

Mindaugas Voldemaras

Meet Mindaugas Voldemaras. Mindaugas is one of the many people who submitted a video as part of the 2011 Davos Debates. Of all the efforts by applicants to get votes, Mindaugas was one of the more successful.

Mindaugas, a blogger from Lithuania, campaigned around the slogan: “Vote for Lithuania in Davos!”. He was appealing to his most salient constituency: Lithuanians.

Appealing for support from your constituency is really the best way to mobilize support on an issue. It’s a group that can be diverse but has a shared identity, kinship, and a sense of collective benefit.

From a "campaign poster" made for Mindaugas

Appealing to a salient constituency also makes it easier to find others who can help mobilize others. Mindaugas was able to find support from prominent Lithuanian tweeters, bloggers, and even Lithuanian sports fans.

The only hurdle in Mindaugas’s mobilization efforts was that everyone in Lithuania, being in the same time zone, went to sleep at more or less the same time and could only vote for him during waking hours.

When Mindaugas saw my efforts to get votes, he assumed I too was appealing to my constituency. He assumed my constituency was Canada. And, like him, he assumed I’d be limited to when Canadians were awake.

This assumption is why, thanks to you, we were able to take the #1 spot.

Click the jump to learn why.

Continue reading ‘The Anatomy of a Transnational Davos Campaign’

The tl;dr version: World Vision is the first charity to genuinely engage with the YouTube community. We need to support this – but we also need to make it clear we have more to offer than just vlogs.

I’ve also said the same thing in more detail (and with examples) in this video:

During my time away from Bangladesh, I’ve been talking to a lot of charities. I’ve consulted with UNICEF, presented at Save the Children HQ, entered talks with the Red Cross, and have been giving input to World Vision.

World Vision is the first charity that’s heard me out and created a plan of action to engage the YouTube community. I was glad to have some input on this. And World Vision has done it in a way that experts like Beth Kanter would be proud: they are letting outsiders come in and aren’t worrying about perfection on the first try.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I’ve been advising charities to stop relying solely on Hollywood celebrities. Sending regular folks like Alex, Shawna, and Tom to Zambia have already generated over 300,000 views for World Vision on YouTube. See charities? I told you so.

The big challenge is the next step. My hope is that World Vision will use this success to do more ambitious things with the YouTube community. My fear is that, impressed by the amount of views they are getting, they won’t be challenged to try and engage this community in a deeper way.

If the support I’ve been getting is any indication, the YouTube community wants input on the charity work being on the ground. We want to see where the money goes, we want to see a project executed from start to finish, and we want to get to know the specific people our money has helped.

The technology to do this is here and it’s something I’ve been doing for a while now. But, after spending over 2 years to repair a school, what incentive does a charity have to do something like this again when I can only generate less than 40,000 views? Alex packing for his trip already got World Vision over 200,000 views.

This is an important moment for the YouTube community. We need to praise World Vision for engaging the YouTube community – but we also need to let them know we want more than just them replicating their celebrity-style visits with high profile YouTubers.

One way you can do this is let World Vision know. They are listening. On the World Vision Vloggers website, they have a place where you can leave a note (see the photo below for where the link is). Feel free to drop them a line. You can also tweet something using the #wvv hashtag and they will see it.

World Vision wants your feedback either through leaving a note (see link that I highlighted in the photo) or by tweeting #wvv as a hashtag.