Governance: Peace is Within our Grasp

It’s one thing to say the world should be more inclusive. It’s another entirely to build the tools to make that a reality.In the last year, we’ve been examining how we build relationships to govern ourselves as an organization. Working with members from all socio-economic classes, we’ve discussed questions like: How do we work to include everyone in decision-making processes? Why does this matter? How can we build participatory governance in a world that discourages the participation of those who are struggling the most?In 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives. In the weeks and months that followed, an unprecedented international humanitarian response was launched and media outlets all over the world began to share images of food and medical help being distributed to those in need.And yet, in some of the most vulnerable parts of the city of Port-au-Prince, no aid was received at all.In the words of Eugen Brand, Director General of ATD Fourth World International at the time, “After the earthquake, everything was broken except for social exclusion.”ATD Fourth World members in Haiti contacted another NGO and organized a distribution of nutritional supplements for children in their community, where no other assistance had reached.They knew that aid distribution in other areas of the city had been marred by violence. Security had always been a problem in their own neighborhood too. They decided that the best way to ensure a peaceful distribution was to make sure everyone was included. They set out to visit every single house to make sure no one was left behind.David Jean, one young member of ATD Fourth World, recalled thinking he had visited every family, only to be told that no, he needed to go higher up the hillside, that there was one more woman living there with a child. David found her alone with her 3-year-old granddaughter. Her house had been destroyed; she had a broken leg.The woman cried when she saw David, she was sure she had been forgotten. The next day David returned with food and water and organized a group of neighbors to visit the woman regularly.The food distribution organized in the community happened without violence, and truly included everyone. And yet it was not repeated. The NGO’s leadership decided to send their team elsewhere where it could work more quickly, even if it meant not reaching the most needy. Reaching out to the most excluded and including everyone was simply “not efficient enough.”What does this say about our priorities? How can we work to build a world where “efficient” does not mean “excluding”?These questions and others have been posed to groups in Europe and the United States over the past few months. In Boston in September, our Merging Knowledge project hosted one such gathering, bringing together members of ATD Fourth World from three different continents and the UMASS Boston Center for Social Policy.In the words of Njiba Mbuyi, stories like these, “Underline the fact that even though we might live in isolation we are not alone. We are connected. Through these illustrations and our group discussions it was easy to realize that the key to peace lies in us as individuals, in the ways we care and relate to one another out of genuine concern. Peace is not a farfetched idea but more than ever it is in our grasp.”Click on the image below to watch the reactions of Chris West and Cristina Diez after the governance seminar in Boston.