Country: Costa Rica

Idea: In developing countries there exists a lapsing relationship between international aid workers and the local communities in which they work. Understanding the local cultural context is critical for the role of the aid worker to be effective. International aid organizations can have a negative impact when a third culture perspective is not shaped carefully. Improving the culture sensitiveness of aid workers through systematic and comprehensive process of evaluation and training can improve the impact and effectiveness of their work.

How do you do it: The steps of the project will include:

a) the initial development of an electronic-questionnaire focusing on the international aid workersý knowledge of local culture and the origins of that knowledge

b) to distribute the questionnaire widely to every international aid organization present in a given country. The electronic questionnaire will run for a defined time, in order to check effectively the real knowledge of the workers.

c) to develop and organize workshops, which will be given by local experts (anthropologists and historians), in those organizations selected on the basis of the answers provided in the questionnaire.

d) to evaluate in the long-run the knowledge and the skills learned by the workers and the eventual improvement of their work.

e) to publish the results of the experience in booklets to give visibility to the action and promote this process as a critical component of international aid worker development.

Innovation: In academic discourse the initiative moves from ýrelativism logicý used in several training models of development of intercultural sensitivity to a new concept of ýmestizo logicý which contextualizes cultural understanding. Amselle J.L. (1990) deconstructed the "ethnological reason" that extracts elements from their context, aestheticizes them, and then uses their supposed differences to classify types of political, economic or religious ensembles. Such "reason" yields classical oppositions like the state versus segmented societies, market versus subsistence economies and Islam or Christianity versus paganism. The "mestizo logic" sees social phenomena as situated on a continuum and accentuates in-distinction and the originary syncretism in all cultures and other ways of categorizing human life

Impact: Systemic change will be obtained by reaching the following objectives:

a) General objectives:

-To improve the quality and the quantity of the work of international aid organizations by improving the cultural sensitiveness of the international workers.

b) Specific objectives:

-To underline the missing psychological and anthropological dimensions in international aid organization policy and action. -To identify the missing skills and knowledge of international workers in developing countries. - To identify the gap between international policy and implementation. -To train aid workers; in developing an awareness of cultural interconnections; to be able to analyze culture with a universalistic approach; to see ýcultureý as dynamic, mixed and fluid; and to increase solidarity.

Ethical Action: I have been working for a year in Ethiopia with an international organization and I have experienced a high level of prejudice and racism of international aid workers. There still exists colonialist behaviour towards the local population and many times the international aid workersý perpetrate and take advantage of the local population through forms of indirect violence. How can we operate ethically if we ourselves are not ethical?

Replication: The initiative will be taken as a pilot project in Nicaragua. Upon evaluation, if proven successful it could be applied worldwide. The transferability of the project is fundamental. Replication will be aided by involvement of international aid organizations who may apply the evaluation and training process in different contexts. In all instances the content of the workshop will be adapted to the context by local experts (anthropologists and historians).

Sustainability: The project is intended to draw upon existing human resources in various aid organizations and on the willingness and support of local experts. The trainings will be the most resource dependent component and can be modestly supported through the sale of the published research booklets and training materials.

Position in the Ethics Mosaic of Solutions:

Factor: Otherness

Principle: Developing self-awareness and interconnectedness