Income generation and sustainability: The magic cure-all… or is it?

Monday in Maxixe finds the internet down all around town. No emails, no Skype long distance phone calls, and saddest of all, no in-between time on facebook. What's a person living in this modern age to do! Nick has been calling the internet company all morning trying to get the problem fixed. As expected with technology issues in Mozambique, it's as of yet to no avail. The only answer the company provides is to say that there's a glitch in the fiber-optic cable. Oh no! Not the fiber-optic cable! I have no idea what this is, but it sounds serious, right? I mean, you could blame the world's end on a problem with the fiber-optic cable and I'd probably be convinced. And according to Nick, that's oftentimes just what happens around here. If there's a problem with the phones, it's the fiber-optic cable. If the fax machine messes up, it's got to be the fiber-optic cable. And if you're late to work, just say the words “fiber-optic cable” and everyone will give a knowing nod and a look of unsolvable desperation. From what I've discovered, these are the three magic words in Maxixe. (Gosh, the thought of this creates many a-good Saturday Night Live skits in my head. Can't you just see Tina Fay giving the Weekend Update and blaming the current economic crisis on the fiber-optic cable?)

Both similarly and sadly, I've discovered the use of three other magic little words we in the West use that can at times sound just as ridiculous to the folks in Africa as the F.O.C. does to us. These are income generation and sustainability; two politically correct, buzz-worthy topics that can be studied add-nausea at any university boasting an international relations program. And for good reason. The words just sound so good, don't they? They roll off the tongue so easily, providing graduate students galore with inspiration for that final year's thesis project on what Africa needs to develop itself. Income generation and sustainability. What could be better than transforming outside aid into programs where the people themselves make the money that keeps their organizations afloat? This type of ingenuity rocks, eh? It counteracts all those dependency models that keeps Africa crying for foreign aid and instead provides a way for them to pull their own selves up by their flip-flop straps, right? Hmm... maybe. But then again, maybe not.

From what I've discovered thus far, income generation and sustainability may sound good in theory, but it's actually one of those things that's less practical when put into practice. If the economic system isn't relatively developed with high-skilled systems already in place, it's difficult to imagine an income generating project that could generate enough money to allow an organization to become completely sustainable on its own.In many cases, I see this playing out with the work of the home-based care (HBC) programs here in Mozambique. The HBC system works with groups of community-based organizations (CBOs) whose members are volunteers who visit HIV/AIDS patients in their homes to help them climb their way back to recovery. In return for the services of the volunteers, NGOs provide a limited amount of funding (about 25 dollars per volunteer per month) so that the HIV/AIDS operations in the country can function. In addition to this, NGOs provide the vast majority of the antiretrovirals and funds for the operations to exist in the first place. In the case of Mozambique, I couldn't even begin to say how much money is funneled in through this system. Millions upon millions of much needed dollars flows into this country each year.

Now, rightfully so in many cases, the criticism made by the income generation and sustainability folks is that there's a real danger being created in this system of aid dependence. What, they ask, is Africa going to do when the money goes away? Indeed, this is a good question. God forbid it from happening, but just what would the majority of developing countries do if funds for HIV/AIDS, women's rights, disease prevention, etc dried up? How would they sustain themselves and keep the operations in tact? I have no answer for this. However, I do know that most of the models for sustainability and income generation don't provide an answer yet either. Although a system built on going directly to the people and asking them what they want to produce seems decently just and democratic to our Western ears, it's also not going to be workable in the long run. No apron project can generate enough money to keep a working organization afloat. No AIDS ribbon arts and crafts project can provide a constant flow of cash so that the volunteers will keep working after the aid groups are long gone. I'm unconvinced that any of the income generating sustainability projects we talk about will ever provide a real answer. And when we think about it, it's almost funny that we expect them to. What percentage of American organizations are self-sustainable on their own? What nonprofit that you know of can function without funding from outside grants and governmental organizations? Very, very few.

In discussing this, I’m wondering what others out there think about these topics? Do you know of workable income generation that can sustain a new organization for the long-term? If so, please comment because I’m struggling to make sense of these concepts that don’t seem to make much sense on the ground here in Africa. I don’t have an answer. However, I can say from watching the work of IRD and how they successfully manage to balance the thin line between workable programs and slow but steady and real sustainability-building that there is an answer somewhere out there. Perhaps it won't be as catchy and clean-cut as the income generation/ sustainability cure all that we currently talk about, but I'm thinking it will be just as thesis worthy for all us grad students out there. But until then, let's just blame all of the unsolvables on the fiber-optic cable, shall we?