Message-ID: <9605138347.AA834712634@hudsmtphq.hud.gov> Date: Thu, 13 Jun 1996 17:37:14 EST From: Michael Patterson <mailto:Michael_O._Patterson@HUD.GOV> Subject: Re: WHAT HAVE WE DONE! To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Michael. Sorry for the delay in getting back with you. I tried to post this to Devel-L and my mail was returned. Could you help me and try posting this to the group. Thank You.Richard
Riaz Khan said >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
one wants to do things without monetary reward. The NGO members have definitely gained knowledge through the project, but have we developed the NGO or have we destroyed the NGO is my question? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michael Patterson replyed >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Mixing volunteers with paid workers rarely works well. Paid CETA workers [Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, a Federal program] added to volunteers, in the 1970's, almost destroyed a number of volunteer organizations- the volunteers got extremely resentful. Probably an anthropologist could talk about the difference between gifting and paid reimbursement.The longer lasting volunteer organizations we see tend to have a strong spiritual component. I'd love to see a good write-up here on Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya Shramadana, which seems to have successfully overcome this sort of problem. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
In response to the request for info on the Sarvodaya Shramadana movement (SSM) in Sri Lanka and on how a spiritual component to community development efforts a) can help sustain it longer than others and b) help deal with conflicts bewteen the "gift" by volunteers and paid staff in the same organization.
My community organizing work in Logan Heights, a low-income neighborhood in San Diego, California, was influenced by the SSM. Until recently, I was the director of a community-based organization for nearly four years. I am also a resident there. We are truly the "South" within the "North."
"Sarvodaya began as an educational experience in the mid-1950's, when a group of high school teachers in Columbo decided to translate their convictions into action. They organized "shramadana" camps in which grooups of students from relatively affluent urban homes gave up their vacations to share their resources, especially their time, thoughts and efforts, and work in the countries most backward and out-caste villages, whether Sinhala, Tamil, or Muslim. They went wherever they were invited." (Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, founder: Ari for short.)
By 1967 there were 100 villages involved By 1974 there were 1,000 villages involved By 1983 there were 6,000 villages involved with two million persons involved. By 1990 there were 8,000 out of total of 23,000 villages involved with nearly four million persons involved.
During the late 1970's SSM obtained a boost in funding external to Sri Lanka when the Dutch became involved. This allowed them to expand dramatically their efforts.
During the 1980's, in the aftermath of the "ethnic riots" Sarvodaya built a truly national organization that would try to mitigate some of the negative consequences by activiley working for peace.
Quotes below are from Dr. Ariyaratne. The SSM has a two-fold approach. First, it "tries to re-establish a value system, technologies, and structures that would release processes leading to a more sustainable society. Second, the SSM addresses itself to problems that need more immediate attention."
To acheive the first goal, what is important for SSM is "the essense of religion, which is spirituality. What is the most practical way in which the spiritual 'being' of human personality could be awakened? Whether it be Buddhist or any other religious teaching, whatever prevents people from awakening their personalities and transforming themselves spiritually is of no use in our work."
"Sarvodayan workers try to awaken themselves spiritually and thus transcend sectarian religious differences, to become one with all. ...Several million Sarvodaya adherents in Sri Lanka have proved that they can transcend racial, religious, linguistic and ethnic barriers to accept a common state of ideals, principles, and constructive programs to build a new society as collectively envisioned by them.
"We who have been born Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, or any other faith can be very confortable in each others temple's, mosques, and churches, praying or meditating together to create a spiritual mass of consciousness which can overcome our greed, hatred, and illusions."
"The spiritual foundation of the SSM, its closeness to the day-to-day life of the people, its highly decntralized and village-based nature, its non-partisanship in party political struggles and its active involvement in bringing relief and rehabilitation to victims of natural or man-made calamities: these are some of the other factors that have contributed to its survivial and progress."
The spiritual foundation is part of what they call "laying the psychological infrastructure" within individuals so that they will be able to cooperate more fully in community-based efforts. There thus generates the "social infrstructure" for collective work, followed by the economic infrastructure. All of these aspects comes together in what they call the "Shramadana Camp". This camp is how the movement gets a start in a given village. It is a family gathering, a revival, a community brainstorming session, a planning activity, and a place to share food. They usually last several days. One major "need"---a new well, an irrigation system, whatever the need--- is adressed through this process. After this, different social groups are formed to lay the social infrastructure. This contnues until there is a comprehensive array of prgrams dealing with different aspects of living.
What is very significant about the SSM is their critique of the devloping "Global Economic Order", their critique of materialism and consumerism, and more importantly their clear intention to create a "no poverty-no-affluence" society. No other mass and popular movement that I know of has both a spiritual foundation, a comprehensive community development model, and also a desire to create a new society, not just in Sri Lanka, but throughout the world.
As Patrick Mendis wrote recently in the Community Development Journal---Vol 29(3) July 1994, pp 195-202-- "The view of modern economics of life is to maximize an individual's utility by increasing the level of income or the level of consumption in order to have a higher standard of living. From a Buddhist economic perspective, the pursuit of economic wealth and higher consumption risk human happiness and is detrimental to the commmunity at large."
SSM does not argue against economic growth---but that economic growth must have a spiritual component to it.
SSM is not all volunteer. They have paid staff and administrators, etc. But, the values or spiritual component of the movement does reduce some of the friction bewteen paid staff and "volunteers". There is a level of discussion and communication about these issues through the community building process itself.
Some URL's on SSM
Sri Lankas Gandhi http://www.csmonitor.com/plweb-cgi/idoc.pl?27557+unix+_free_user_+www csmonitor.com..80+paper+paper+archives+archives++Sarvodaya
Buddhist Socioeconomic System http://www.amherst.edu/~dxhoang/academic/sarvodaya.html
Buddhism and Nonviolent Problem Solving http://www.lacnet.org/srilanka/issues/ariya.html
Sarvodayas Integrated Approach http://info.lut.ac.uk/departments/cv/wedc/papers/ariyara.html
Richard Flyer mailto:rflyer@earthlink.net