iss final paper leclair and daftedar spring 2012

Running Head: Group Study on Individual Actors in UNICEF and Room to Read

Paper II: Group Study on Individual Actors in Multiple Organizations

Prentice LeClair and Raghda Daftedar

Teachers College, Columbia University

Issues and Institutions in International Educational Development

ITSF 4090

Professor Mark Ginsburg

May 11th, 2011

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Introduction

“Nearly everything which works today began with an idea and a small group of people

committed to its realization” (Jolly, 2007). But these ideas are sometimes challenging to realize.

Jolly (2007) asserts that in some respects, those concerned with development and human

development are grappling with the same issues as 30 years ago, though again in a changed and

changing context. Ideas get embodied in institutions, in ways that provide a mandate and

responsibilities for implementation. But even so, implementation is never so simple or

straightforward. So do these ideas ever become realized? But how committed are international

organizations to the realization of these ideas? What factors hinder or allow for its

implementation? Based on interviews of two employees in two international organizations, the

following cross case study analysis provides an insight on the challenges and support UNICEF,

and Room to Read, provide for the realizations of their development ideas.

UNICEF

Literature Review

The United Nations Children’s Fund was “brought into existence on December 11, 1946,

by a resolution of the UN General Assembly, as the International Children’s Emergency Fund,

charged with responsibility to prevent epidemics and stave off the worst consequences of

malnutrition among millions of children who had been exposed to the ravages of war.” (Mark,

2011). After world war II, UNICEF’s role as an emergency agency expanded to address long

term needs of children and women everywhere. Seen as an instrument for raising capacity and

capability rather than mere provider of supplies and equipment, UNICEF’s role from has

transitioned back and forth from a humanitarian agency, to a development agency as well as a

human right advocate (Jones, 2006).

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From my research, it seems that this transition is influenced by three main factors:

Funding, development views, and leadership; the former and latter being inextricably linked.

Furthermore, the agency’s mandate has been influenced by two development theories and

initiatives: Human Rights encompassing Child’s Right, and the Millennium Development Goals.

With three years left to meet the goals set back in 2000, Keyer and Lia (2006) assert that

although Asia seems to be well on their way to meet the eight goals, they “submit that over a

time horizon of about twice the 15 years of the MDG’s and with adequate international support,

realization of the MDG-targets should be possible for Africa too” (p.443). They argue that the

estimates to reach the goals were too low as it disregarded many of the indirect cost of delivering

the goods to the target beneficiaries, including the cost of providing adequate security and

avoiding corruption (p.443).

Although reaching these goals is not the sole responsibility of UNICEF, apparently,

leadership change since 2000 has shifted priority back and forth between health and education.

Both, priorities being subject to scrutiny for prioritizing on over the other; a report by Richard

Horton (2004) argued “it is widely, if regrettably, accepted that UNICEF has lost its way during

Carol Bellamy’s long term of office.” He asserts that she was ill equipped for the leadership role

“despite her evident enthusiasm for UNICEF’s ideals” (p. 2071) due to her focus on girl’s

education, early childhood development and related issues of immunization while failing to

address “the essential health needs of children.” Criticizing her leadership, he suggested that the

following UNICEF term requires an energetic and inspirational individual who is ambitious for

the future of the world’s children, one who has the willingness to speak with a strong voice

against power, and has proven interest in the well-being and health of children, seeing it as a

critical factor in advancing human development.

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Tomkins et al. (2005) followed Horton’s article scrutinizing Bellamy’s policies that failed

to reduce the 10.8 million children who are dying every year (60% of which are from

preventable causes). Arguing that children need to survive first then thrive, he highlighted that

the challenge for UNICEF is not restricted to leadership. Rather it is policy and strategy

decisions that need to be made by an executive board that would use UNICEF’s history of field

work and thus play on its strength of many decades of experience developing vital links between

government services and community groups, including faith-based organizations. Asserting that

the new leader needs to thus be able to mold the organization so that UNICEF would show

initiative and innovation in three areas: leadership, advocacy for action by national governments,

as well as becoming an effective broker between industrialized and poor countries.

However, nowhere have the politics of UNICEF been more intense than when human

rights are involved (Jones, 2006). Even eternal critics have argued about UNICEF’s development

priorities. For example, Tomkins et al. (2005) argued that unlike Horton’s (2004) postulate that

UNICEF’s focus n human rights has undermined it commitment to child survival; he viewed

human rights as one that provides the basis for holding the governments accountable for their

actions. Thus, human rights encompass the rights to the highest attainable standard of health,

education, food, as well as other human right mandates.

Mark Ginsburg (personal communication, 2012) invites us to deconstruct narratives with

a focus on the author’s underlying goals. Both Tomkins et al. (2005) and Horton (2004)

criticized UNICEF’s policies and labeled them as failure because they measured it solely from a

health perspective. Hailing Bellamy’s predecessor, James Grant’s who was able to deploy high

tech costly urban models in poor, rural and remote regions (Jones, 2006) thereby saving nearly

20 million children by embracing the human needs argument about primary health care and

services for all.

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But Horton (2004) and Tomkins et al. (2005) did not mention that Education For All was

according to Jones (2006), proposed by Grant. It was also during Grant’s tenure that World

Conference on Education For All in Jomiten (1990), was held highlighting meeting basic

education for all by 2000. And back in 1989, after the convention on the rights of the child that

UNICEF greatly expanded it’s political mandate and legitimation for a larger normative and

operational role. Jones (2006) claims that during 1992-1993 health and nutrition persisted in

keeping education programs at their traditional levels. He also criticized the planning and

program management capacity of the Fund.

However, Jones (2006) presented another view of Bellamy’s work. He claimed that

Bellamy rapidly displaced Grant’s skepticism concerning rights based approach, asserting that

she “quickly embraced the human rights of children as the normative and operational cornerstone

of UNICEF” (p. 601). He also argued that Bellamy’s tenure focused on management issues,

program capacity, and the need to achieve greater focus and thus “insisted on narrowing the gap

between developmentalist and rights based program rationales” (p. 601). Jones also focused on

her work developing community and home-based programs, as well as recognizing the political

capacities of NGO’s thus collaborating with them on Gender equity models.

The child-friendly and child-seeking school initiatives were also put into effect during

Bellamy’s leadership thus placing rights at the heart of mainstream education. These community-

based schools were the focus of my interviewee, Dr. Malak Zaalouk –former Regional Education

Advisor MENA, UNICEF (1992-2010). The interview encompasses her UNICEF experience,

which I analyze relative to her career goals and development ideologies. However, there is one

final factor that influences UNICEF’s focus and work – funding. According to Jones (2006),

political leverage for fund raising was applied by the organization adopting a humanitarian

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agenda. Consequently, child’s right to survive represented an important rally point that went

hand in hand with UNICEF’s survival and growth. But who gives aid to who and why?

Alesina and Dollar (2000) posit that foreign aid is dedicated as much by political and

strategic considerations, as by economic needs and policy performance of the recipient. In fact,

aid tends to be more directed towards emerging economies, and thus not reaching those who

need it most or even the poorest in the merging economies. For vey well known reasons, to do

with the conflict in the Middle East, Egypt has received much political and economic support

that the indicator variables are statistically significant and are very large for the US regression

(Alesina and Dollar, 2000). Accordingly, Egypt has received some $117 billion from the U.S.

alone during the past three decades (Cochran, 2008). The question then lies in the direction of

funding. Fleet (2011) asserts that most U.S.-based companies do not prioritize philanthropic

contributions to education in developing countries and thus channel 91 percent of their

contributions to the health sector (p. 9). The rationale being the ease of attainability of health for

all goals compared to that of education. Moreover, Alesina and Dollar (2000) argue that private

flow tends to go to higher income developing countries, perhaps because they have larger

markets. Nevertheless, Horton (2009) argued that although funders might have a say, leadership

policies still influence the direction of funding. They argued that during Ann Veneman’s tenure

(2005-2010), donors saw that UNICEF acted more like a “big NGO” implementing its own

programs in its own way, with little effort to work collaboratively with country governments and

health systems. In fact, he asserts that some governments grew intensely frustrated with

UNICEF’s go-it-alone attitude.

It seems then that the challenge for UNICEF is not restricted to a wise choice of

executive director. Rather, it encompasses wise policy and strategy decisions to be executed by

an executive board whose government reps are wisely elected (Tomkins et al., 2005). Thus,

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positively influencing country-level initiatives. The following case study reflects a pattern in

supporting of the education initiatives in Egypt that commensurates with UNICEF’s leadership

both on the local and executive levels.

Case Study

Interviewee: Dr. Malak Zaalouk, former Regional Education Advisor, UNICEF (1992-

2010)

Dr. Zaalouk is a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. This is her

second year at the university after a long history working with UNICEF as the country and

regional educational advisor respectively. Dr. Zaalouk’s pioneer work on community schools

and gender equity in distant and rural countries in Egypt marked a cornerstone in UNICEF’s

work in Egypt. Her highly regarded 2004 publication, Pedagogy of Empowerment: Community

Schools as a Social Movement in Egypt, was an incentive for UNICEF to extend her work to the

rest of the region, as a region education advisor. The work of Dr. Zaalouk was also adopted on a

national level via the Ministry of Education as well as the Center for Motherhood and Childhood

as a model for improving educational opportunities in distant communities with a focus on

gender equity and empowerment. However, leadership in UNICEF was not always supportive

towards the end of her tenure.

The conversation with Dr. Zaalouk took place via a Skype session where I got the chance

to ask questions about her experience at UNICEF as well as her development views, during a 30-

minute interview. Dr. Zaalouk is a partisan of equity and social justice. Using that as her

development ideology, she is “very keen to bring about transformation.” According to her, “most

activism work has been around class and gender perspective of equity” and therefore, UNICEF

aligned perfectly with her career goals – offering a “Harmonious perfect match”. During her

tenure, UNICEF provided opportunities to focus on disadvantaged children, setting up

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community education in Egypt and most of the region. She was inspired by Sir Richard Jolly’s

renowned article: Development with a Human Face and used it to guide her work in Egypt and

the region.

Dr. Zaalouk’s Pedagogy of Empowerment: Community Schools as a Social Movement in

Egypt was published during her work in UNICEF. Dr. Zaalouk regards herself as a lucky person

since “support is very much dependent on who is leading the organization,” during her 18-year

tenure, she says that she has had “wonderful leaders at UNICEF who were very supportive” of

her work. In fact, two country representatives1 gave her full institutional support, completely

trusted what she had to say about UNICEF, and helped her look for financial support. She further

elaborates that publishing her work was one of the reps idea, coming from an academic

background too, and encouraged her to create a publication out of her work. That representative

not only supported her work rather helped her “to take it to different levels.” The data gathering

process took five-six years, during which she was able to engage other teams in action research

and data collection.

With all the necessary data collected, the new country representative in 2001 provided

her with 2-3 weeks of UNICEF time – an act that she says was “unusual and respectful” – and

provided the legal permission to publish her work.2

Continuing the conversation about the influence of the book on her work, Dr. Zaalouk

regards her work as an initiation of a movement that was “mainstreamed on the national level

where a whole department on community education was established by the government and was

also adopted by the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood.”3 She had attempted to

1 Dr. Zaalouk did not specify names or exact dates

2 All Loyalties of the book goes to programing at UNICEF up to this date.

3 Dr. Ronald Sultana girl’s education in Egypt in Egypt: shows how it has picked up on the model and was expanded.

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mainstream the pedagogies throughout the whole ministry at which point two things happened:

change of ministry and she was asked to go to the regional office to expand her work.

She further explains that although UNICEF was supportive, during that time, “there was

a bit of a lull”: the executive director at New York, who came from a bush administration, was

very negative and focused on health issues more than education. Exclaiming that she “was not

harmonious to the UNICEF mandate and people went in an upheaval to have her removed,” Dr.

Zaalouk also felt that the country representatives at that time, were not of great profile and did

not support her work as they “were not people who understood the value of this kind of

movement.” Furthermore, the UNICEF’s education team working at that time “was not

sufficiently tuned or competent to take her work forward.” the minister had changed, she had left

to the regional office, and the person in charge of continuing her work did not have the caliber to

do so. However, because the foundation was strong, she asserts that the movement towards

social justice and development is still going forward.

I asked her about her views of societal development, and whether they were any different

from that of UNICEF’s. Her response was: one that is “inclusive and adopts a rights-based

approach towards women and children - these rights are indivisible, inalienable (a birth right),

representing the basic child right to life, development, and survival. These principles allow you

to narrow any discriminatory gaps (poverty, religion, gender) – the kind of societal development

that allows the under privileged to have a voice.”

Furthermore, she explained that UNICEF’s definition of societal development depended

upon the organization’s leadership and their interpretation of it. However, she claims that they

were “quite lucky due to the certain harmonious ethos throughout its history in terms of societal

development.”4

4 Unless, the interests of those with power and resources are perceived to be aligned with the new ideas, the hopes may not be fulfilled,

at least not entirely. But again human development is one clear case where the institutional embodiment of the idea has recorded some clear

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I was intrigued by her response and extended the conversation to know whether she

viewed the mainstream educational system to be one that contributed to societal development

and social justice. She replied that “unfortunately, education has not played an active role or

supported transformation towards democracy or social justice.” In fact, “in a lot of ways

education has reproduced the structural inequities.” Her comment commensurates with

Althusser’s (1971) view, that schools are “the ideological state apparatus”(p. 147), through

which dominant cultures can reproduce their ideologies.5

Moreover, she argued that although there are “seeds and factions of people who are

seeking change, the predominant nature of the education system has been one that is highly

centralized, one that failed to engage students in active participation and learning.”

According to Zaalouk, active participation requires more progressive forms of education

that implement learning theories such as activity-based learning. These theories shape the brains

of young people, providing the necessary skills and personality development to potentiate

building a strong democratic society.

Shifting back to the views of the organization, I asked about the development factors

UNICEF regards as most important in educational development. “Strategic planning”, she said.

That is, despite limited resources compared to the big aid agencies, UNICEF has the advantage

of being “on the ground, while being on the highest level of strategic planning.” These evidence-

based practices buttress UNICEF’s argument on the policy table, thus allowing for the adoption

of evidence-based policies.

These evidence-based policies can support their work in emergency areas and

consequently, the post revolution era. Although the country office is currently not doing much,

she explained that UNICEF’s long history of “grasping a moment of crisis” has enabled it to

success. (Jolly, 2007)

5 See also Sen (2005)

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establish successful post-conflict educational systems such as those in Afghanistan & Lebanon

emergencies in 2006. As “Crisis offers you an opportunity to build back stronger, because the

flexible parameters allows for the setting up of higher standards, becoming an incentive to

rebuild stronger.”

Nevertheless, she emphasizes that all this eventually depends on the organizational

leadership and their focus. For example, the leadership from a Bush administration6 focused on

health and thus directed most resources towards that. But the current “regime is very much into

education with an equity perspective that commensurates with the corner stones of the revolution

- particularly social justice.

Finally, as I read her work on Partnerships for Girl’s Education, I was curious as to what

she meant by “partnerships being a source of empowerment for the civil society and community

at large by fostering democracy and public accountability.” She kindly explained, “These

community schools were set up by true and profound community participation. People in the

different governorates created voluntary teams and task forces to support girl’s education, and to

monitor their progress. This is the perfect model for civic engagement, empowerment and

activism.”

Room to Read

Overview: Contextual framework

“Social development is the bundle of technological, subsistence, organizational, and

cultural accomplishments through which people feed, clothe, house, and reproduce themselves,

explain the world around them, resolve disputes within their communities, extend their power at

6 Mathew (2008) berated Ms. Veneman’s response about whether she would continue to emphasize primary and secondary education

for girls. She replied: “I don’t come with any broad agenda with regard to those or any other social issue. She said: “I don't believe these issues

are relevant to the mission of UNICEF.”

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the expense of other communities, and defend themselves against others’ attempts to extend

power” (Morris 2010: 144).

In this case study it is important to understand the context in which we shall examine

development and for those purposes we will draw upon Lorrain (1998), and take a look at

development in the framework of its contemporary connection to societal development as it is

categorized and referenced from the historical developments of the 20th century, we shall not

attempt a complete historical contextualization of the development field, but instead we shall

look at the period referred to by Lorrain as Late Capitalism and its expansion. This would place

us in the time after World War II, but in particular the time of the emergence of the

modernization theories that culminated into the current Neo-liberal paradigm. The issues of

social progress and economic development are pushed back into the forefront of policy in light

of the shift of tactics taken on by western societies in response to the ongoing drive by the

parallel socialist expansion. These led to an adoption of treating underdeveloped countries, no

longer as resource rich opportunities destined for the western industrial machine, but now the

idea of modernization and the shift in concern of the poverty and economic difficulties

experienced by these countries, lead to a shift in how to win the race to influence and dominant

the third world, who are undergoing decolonization, however there remains an inherent struggle

to instill the dominant western view. The theories of modernization that emerge attempt to

explain the shift in economic concerns; they seek to identify and manipulate the transition from

traditional society to modern or industrial society (Lorraine, 1998). Here we can see the

beginnings of a long struggle for ideologies that are not based in the traditional warfare strategies

of the past centuries, but now we see social and economic concepts dominating the battle to

expand capitalist principles and at the same time maintain dominance over the third world. This

pattern of change is induced by economic theories that emphasize societal development

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motivations. Economic progress, the center philosophical driver in the modernization theory,

requires development more along the lines of economic factors, which induce developing nations

to progress through stages that were experienced by Western societies. The diffusion of capitalist

values, economic attitudes and institutions is deemed to be indispensible for development. With

a context that places us in the mature stages past capitalism late era, what we find that after the

dissolution of the socialist movement, we find ourselves in a mature capitalist paradigm, that is

based on the direct relationship, between economic development and social development. Here

we will take a look at two diverse organizations, one a Bilateral player who has been

instrumental in the diffusion and implementation of the life of the modernization theory and the

other an international NGO, that has emerged as a modified economic centered organization

whose development principles lie in the same historical roots as any organization today. With a

snapshot of development, we will seek to understand where each organizations stands in the

shallows of modernization, we shall examine the values of each organization in relation to

societal development, in its present form.

Organization

“Education is perhaps the most powerful tool for reducing poverty, improving health,

promoting healthier economies, and providing peaceful and productive opportunities for young

people around the world.”

– Global Campaign for Education

An International NGO, Room to Read (RtR) began its work with a simple idea of

bringing books to the children of Nepal. Today, they are a global organization, working in nine

countries across Asia and Africa that helps millions of children in the developing world gain

access to quality educational opportunities. Room to Read seeks to change the lives of millions

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of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

Room to Read has partnered with local communities throughout the developing world to provide

educational resources to underserved children. Room to Read believes that all children,

regardless of the circumstances of their birth, deserve access to a quality education because

today’s educated children are tomorrow’s empowered, active and responsible citizens (Room to

Read, 2012).

The story begins in 1998, when a Microsoft Executive named John Wood went on a

adventure in Nepal, where he was exposed to the devastating poverty and a lack of educational

resources in one of the countries rural schools. This experience brought John to an impasse and a

reevaluation of personal motives that ended with a mission: to collect enough books to start a

library for that one school. Beginning in Nepal, John and his Nepali Co-Founder, Dinesh

Shrestha, started by working with rural communities to build schools and establish libraries

(Room to Read, 2012). A couple of years later, John met Erin Ganju, Room to Read’s current

CEO, who helped him expand his project into Vietnam. This was the beginning of the first

international expansion of the organization now known as Room to Read. They were

overwhelmed by the response to their work and realized the need to expand. In 2000 Room to

Read began the Girls' Education program, which targets young girls and provides a long-term

commitment to their education. Growing demand motivated them to expand their work to

Cambodia in 2002, followed by India in 2003.

Children’s books in local languages were very difficult to find, and in 2003, Room to

Read launched the Local Language Publishing program. The December 24th Asian tsunami

devastated thousands of villages, at which time they made the decision to launch operations in

Sri Lanka and help this community rebuild itself. In 2005, Room to Read expanded into their

sixth Asian country, Laos. In 2006, Room to Read expanded to a new continent, when they set

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up operations in South Africa in 2006. In 2008, new plans led to their spreading out into

Bangladesh. In 2009, Room to read revised its strategic plan to focus on Literacy and Gender

Equality in education, building upon the commitment to libraries, children’s books, schools, and

girls’ education, and expand their work to include reading instruction programs and enhanced

life skills workshops for girls.

Over the past two decades, the international community has mobilized around universal

education. Education is increasingly perceived to be a basic human right and key to human

development. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

meetings around education, first in Jomtien, Thailand (1990) and then in Dakar, Senegal (2000),

resulted in Education for All, a common vision and framework for all children to receive a

quality basic education. Additionally, the Millennium Summit, held in New York in 2000,

resulted in the Millennium Development Goals, a set of time-bound, measurable goals and

targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and gender

discrimination (UNESCO, 2012). The initial outcome of these various international

commitments was an emphasis on the part of governments, international non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) and local NGOs to increase educational enrollment, particularly in

primary schools in the developing world. As a result, hundreds of millions of previously out-of-

school children are now participating in formal education (Room to Read, 2012).

Exponential enrollments and scarce resources leave the majority of these children,

principally in rural areas, without access to a quality education. Gender disparities and efforts on

achieving gender, gender equality in education is immense challenge, due to bias against girls in

many places around the world. Room to Read seeks to ensure that all programs are sustainable

and scalable, believing that the most coherent process for systemic and sustainable change is by

working with the largest supplier of schooling: the government. Their programs support

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mainstream government schools or government-supported schools, “enabling environments of

development.”

Room to Read’s vision reflects the value that change starts with Education.

Philosophically RtR promotes a quality education that enables children to reach their full

potential and contribute to their community and the world. RtR calculates education as a human

right, the right to a basic education, seen as crucial for economic, social and political

participation and development. Here our research falls back to question, to whom and from

where is the measurement of progress attributed. As can be seen the vision of RtR is subject to

the foundational principles of economics from which development emerges. This despite the

mature and dynamic innovations they employ in creating local ownership.

So in the role of development, lifelong literacy skills, keys to success, require access to

books and other reading materials, which are often scarce in many of the communities. The

Local Language Publishing program was created to fill this need and introduce concepts like

simple math, personal health, family life and beginning vocabulary with a familiar backdrop that

children will recognize from their own lives (Room to Read, 2012). At the same time, children

need safe, child- friendly learning spaces. Capital investment programs serve the need for

infrastructure and address the need for better learning environments for the support of schools

and the programs that provide teachers, facilitators and librarians with materials and strategies to

engage children and cultivate the custom of reading. One of literature’s greatest strengths is its

ability to introduce new concepts, that stimulates the local economy and develops the local

talent.

Room to Read's combines the best of private and public sector management in order to

succeed as an educational development organization. RtR balances international business and an

approach that engages partnerships with local communities to empower them to improve their

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situation. An important aspect of Room to Read’s Literacy mission is supporting educators as

they teach children to become readers, aligning themselves within a global framework that

address’ local language specificities and learning needs. Strategic partnerships with governments

reveals a model that understands that development functions as a process, in which, under

current conditions, must respect not only the individuality of the learner, but a respect within a

strategy of development that pursues an agenda, bound by circumstance. A model to complement

the government’s role, develops stronger relationships with government officials at the local,

regional and/ or national level, which increases the success of scalability and sustainability. A

lingering thought is provoked as to what impact on their many successes are attributable to the

flexibility and autonomy of financing that comes from generous contributions in the private

sector.

Room to Read is making important philosophical changes in the way they implement,

fund and support the programs and initiatives that they are developing, in particular the

philosophy of local partnerships and native leadership and staffing. Room to Read has many

programs and projects across several continents; Vietnam is one of the original countries of

expansion in the early years of RtR’s history.

Vietnam is home to nearly 90 million inhabitants on the South China Sea. A turbulent

history of colonization and warfare ended with the establishment of the unified Socialist

Republic of Vietnam in 1976. In the years after unification, the country was plagued by poverty,

repression and international isolation that hindered widespread economic prosperity. Today,

Vietnam is both one of the world’s most populous countries and one of its poorest (UNESCO,

2012).

More than 50% of Vietnam’s population lives in poverty, an economic reality that

coupled with a long history of warfare has contributed to poor infrastructure development. In the

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1980's, the country’s one-party government introduced a series of reforms aimed at improving

the economy and living standards. The Doi Moi (renovation), as it’s called, has made great

advances since then—specifically in the areas of growing private enterprise, attracting foreign

investment and transforming the country into an industrialized nation (Room to Read, 2012).

Vietnam continues its struggle to develop an effective infrastructure, and with 33% of the

population under the age of 15, the country's educational system is heavily burdened. The

concept of a knowledge-based economy is new in Vietnam, and presents many challenges to the

education system. Like all countries of operation for RtR, Vietnam has facilities and teachers in

short supply, many students attend school on only a half-day basis, and rarely have access to the

textbooks and supplies they need. In rural areas, transportation is also a challenge, with many

students forced to travel miles alone on treacherous, war-damaged roads to reach the nearest

school. Often, family pressure outweighs children’s dreams to finish their education, and girls in

particular drop out so they can contribute to the household income (Room to Read, 2012). Room

to Read focuses on infrastructure includes school construction, libraries and book publishing.

RtR operates a Girls’ Education program, recently introducing a reading, and writing program

that targets early literacy skills among primary school children.

Interview: Le Tien Phong, Country Director RtR, Vietnam May 3, 2012

“NGOs can become instruments for the delivery of services, democracy, or innovation on

the basis of clearly defined inputs, outputs, and NGO interventions" (Biggs & Neame, 1996).

Director Le Tien Phong has spent more than 20 years in the nonprofit sector working

with leading development agencies like the World Bank, AusAID, ActionAid and the Food &

Agriculture Organization, but began his career began as a professional librarian (Room to Read,

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2012). His role as country director is a upward move, but not an unfamiliar mission, where he

now is Country Director for Room to Read in Vietnam.

Before joining RtR, Director Le Tien observed for several years what the organization

has been doing in Vietnam. Phong believes that the experience of the leadership and

management of RtR, their fiscal responsibility and efficiency is key to the successes. He has

been with RtR for about a year and seven months to date. This is a new position for him and one

that he is extremely proud to be doing, especially in his home country.

The conversation as I prefer to describe it began after many days of international

communication, passing several gatekeepers to my eventual contact with Director Le Tien, who

immediately requested I call him Phong, as we had done in our email communications. As the

approaching day for our scheduled Skype call was arriving, I was anxious and excited, it took

several hours to coordinate the final time for our meeting, something that just ten years ago,

would still have taken a Herculean effort to achieve. In describing this portion of the paper, I will

take leave to some formalities, in an attempt to preserve the experience and relate it to the theme

of understanding how an organization and their employee’s view, share or disagree in

understanding societal development. In, our examination of RtR, we have found out the essence

of societal development and development as their approach to improving certain conditions in

underdeveloped countries. With this in mind, it was interesting that Phong, not only was nearly

fully aligned with RtR, but that he had made a great effort to understand and observe RtR, long

before joining their mission. Our conversation consisted of questions regarding societal

development and NGO, the relationship with the Vietnamese government. Challenges were

discussed regarding the daily lives of the children and their families, with that Phong identfied

the main reason education is not contributing to the society and its development. Education was

not working due to the controls availability to information and communication. Equally

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important and of great consequence are factors such as national/local policies, and political will

of government. This is where I will depart from our academic questions, which are preserved

below and turn to expressing the most important part of the interview, my education of humanity

and the power of democracy. Throughout our conversation, I began to comprehend that human

rights, economic prosperity, and many daily functions of my democracy are not a reality in the

rest of the world. What was communicated to me by Phong, was a human being in a struggle for

freedom, and the belief that education was the vehicle that would bring change. Our

conversation continued along the lines of freedom, censorship and communism, all barriers that

are taken for granted by your average Westerner, however, it gave new meaning to democracy

and to my commitment to education.

Here, I would like to present Phong’s academic response, but in this study, we are

observers, who prescribe and speculate, one important point to be expressed is that societal

development is a human effort, not a theory, and when we can use education to give voice to the

human plight, we are serving, and service means understanding. Education is a light.

“Director Le Tien, excuse me Phong, would you share with me your thoughts on

education and societal development and how RtR approaches this theory?”

Long-term support to Girls life skills and education, 1 year, this commitment makes a huge

difference in the success and sustainability a the program

Providing life skills education most important to the girls, where as the parents are more

interested in the material support

The new literacy initiative provides more than libraries but gives skills for managing

libraries, and how read

Phong considers literacy education most important to future learning and opportunities with

Government partners are important especially in a communist country where all information

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is controlled. The government is also important to get involved, for sustainability and

success. The Government has pros and cons: pros are that government will fund the program

after RtR has completed their commitments, RtR maintains field facilitators who come from

gov employees—Pros: gov partnership means more funding, long-term staffing. Monies from

gov would not be available if it where not for RtR and their efforts to motivate the gov

through such initiatives as the Challenge grant, which challenges the gov and to match funds

provided by RtR.

Phong sees RtR impacting the gov thinking positively

Libraries come from a partnership, in which a survey is put out to the local community to

find out where the best locations for, because libraries are required to have a fulltime

librarian and training is provided.

A local team sets up the library and commit to the leveling of each age group

Local language publishing focuses on early reading ages

SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT means justice, equality, feeling that they have rights, a rule of

law that protects the individual. There are new times emerging and after a long, long period

of great poverty, new economic growth is spreading and people are focusing more and more

on social issues and freedom of expression, whereas before they were concerned with simple

survival.

EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT NOW AND IN THE FUTURE-education is power,

education is freedom, in a country under communist control access is a fundamental problem.

Equal Access to quality education is essential.

Phong is very optimistic, but believes that it will still take time and perseverance to make

change, not just economic prosperity, for it is the society that is damaged not just the mode of

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economics, this requires people to see and experience the benefits of education, which cannot

be easily changed, considering the history and culture of Vietnam.

The must be caution when working in Vietnam, he speaks of the importance and positive

effects of other NGO, but notes that U.S. based organizations and Faith-based organizations

are under greater scrutiny and this makes things more challenging but not impossible.

RtR has a good future in Vietnam and that this will continue, due to its focus on education,

and power is in education

Key partners in Vietnam include the Department of Education and Training and the

Union of Friendship Organizations.

Cross Case Study Analysis

Overview

In the cross case study analysis, we provide a comparison of the commonalities and

differences in perspectives and approaches adopted by the interviewees’. We present the analysis

through two different lenses: societal development and organization’s development philosophy.

Analysis

Room to Read claims success from their philosophy that promotes government

partnerships and local ownerships. The global model where human rights are constructed, and

enacted by national and local actors. The model affords dialogues with their counterparts in

different settings and with actors representing international governmental and nongovernmental

organizations (Suarez, 2007). Room to read as an organization puts forward an approach that

seeks to ensure that their programs are sustainable and scalable.

To achieve long-term success RtR builds partnerships with governments as well as with

local communities and other external partner organizations. They rely almost exclusively on in-

country associates to implement programs, this collaboration with local NGOs helps build upon

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the strengths of existing work and also ensures long-term sustainability of programs. RtR

considers local ownership an intrinsic value that allows for the proper respect, dignity, and

confidence of people of a distressed society. Hence, enabling for their ability to engage in

difficult situations, find workable solutions and to decide how it manages its own affairs. Thus,

the buy-in by the various local actors generates smoother cooperation, and greater effectiveness

because the solutions pursued have come from within and are more appropriate to the specific

conditions to which they are expected to be applied; not dependent on the presence and dominant

financial support of external actors.

Director Le Tien comes from a long history of working with NGO and Multilateral

development organizations that have not been effective in influencing the mechanisms that

contribute to societal development. However, the Director was speaking to me from the point of

view of an active agent in the struggle to engage repressive government controls. What was of

particular concern for the Director was the ability of people to have access to information and

knowledge skills. There is a clear distinction in what role education plays in the development of

a healthy society. Le Tien states, implicitly that education, “means justice, equality, the feeling

that they, the people have rights, a rule of law that protects the individual.’” (Interview, Director

LeTien, May 3, 2012 ). The Director observes that there are new times emerging and after a

long, long period of great poverty, new economic growth is spreading and people are focusing

more and more on social issues and freedom of expression, whereas before they were concerned

with simple survival. The conversation that I witnessed, unveiled the illusion that education is

not a simple method of creating productive citizens, or obedient members of society, education is

seen as the means to the end goal of democracy. However, the idea of democracy lies not merely

upon some lofty idealism that is tied to societal concerns for comfort and consumerism. The

value of education is understood and lived as an active mover, agency in the plight of a people to

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remedy repression born of ignorance. “Education is important now and in the future---education

is power, education is freedom. In a country under communist control, access is a fundamental

problem, making equal access to quality education essential”(Interview, Director LeTien, May

3, 2012 ).

Room to Read and UNICEF seem to be aligned in their work policy. UNICEF too utilizes

local partnerships as an effective strategy to ensure the sustainability of their programs. In Egypt,

UNICEF has worked closely with the Ministry of Education to implement some of their work in

the mainstream education (as referred to earlier). Furthermore, according to Sultana (2008), the

Girl’s School Initiative were built after intense mobilization of the community members in order

to ensure that they are not seen as alien implants, rather as an expression of the community’s

own resolve to educate their daughters. Accordingly, the establishment of the community schools

took all the barriers into perspective from schooling time, who’s teaching, gender population,

fees, as well as providing other incentives in the form of take at home rations for the whole

family. This is commensurate with RtR’s reliance on in-country associates to implement their

programs that fosters local ownership and cooperation, and thus ensures the success of the

programs.

Moreover, Dr. Zaalouk viewed societal development as a movement or “quest for

change: a revival of a rights-movement calling for equity and participation.” But this quest

cannot be realized except via learning that will help in transforming oneself and ones society. It

is only through learning that a new social consciousness will be developed – one that is socially

just and that would allow the disadvantaged to have a voice. This is aligned with Director

LeTien’s notion that education as an emancipatory process from communism towards freedom.

Conclusion

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Both interviewees’ have two common themes that seem to influence their work: freedom

education as a source of development (Sen, 2005) and democracy as a fundamental human right

(Joel, 2000). These two themes, seen as a form of managing competing ethnic, religious and

cultural interests (Joel, 2000), could also be the basis of grassroots movements that garner basic

human rights, where education is an implicit goal of the interviewee’s. The engagement in active

learning and literacy becomes a social process whereby people start to discover that they are

having similar experiences, perceptions, and feelings that open new sets of possibilities, made

possible by self-awareness through educational influences that promote aspirations for

democracy, confronting the structural inequalities, revealing them via education, where

ignorance was used as a method of control. RtR has adopted culturally responsive literacy

programs that build upon traditional and indigenous knowledge, through promotion of local

ownership, thus encouraging a socialization process to take place from within the society, which

bestows longevity and sustainability to educational gains.

Similarly, Dr. Zaalouk’s community schools could not have been possible without the

massive community mobilization that took place. Here we can see that similarities in both our

Interviewees intersect at education and that for both it is a foundational component to societal

development. In each case our Interviewees give notice to the importance of local ownership and

sustainability. Thus, as we see the larger scope of development in the educational process, we see

that economic inputs can create opportunities, but that the success of long-term growth are not

constant without providing each society the tools to take ownership, these skills in the opinion

and practice of our Interviewees are the motivation of both RtR and UNICEF philosophies, that

being to create literacy and promote equality among gender relations.

However, the implementation and buy-in process are distinct. The revelation of both our

Interviewees’ provokes us to look at the differences in approaches, funding, and strategy. RtR

25


and UNICEF practice a form of local ownership in policy, but the analysis reveals that funding

and knowledge/curriculum development originates from more diverse philosophical frameworks.

As alluded to in the early portions of our paper, we must regain our contextual footing

and give due notice to the fact that the development framework and ideology are still derived

from the emergence of development theories in the post-WWII era, where capitalism and now to

neo-capitalism are the dominant operating paradigms. The question left to this analysis and the

subject of further inquiry lies in not, “if a development model can be successful, founded on the

theoretical backbone of modernization, as we see the ups and downs of our multilateral

approach, and the apparent success of the International NGO, but can and will there emerge a

theory of societal development, that is not rooted in an economic deficiency pattern. Can and

will the globalization process, uncouple itself from the economic reference framework? Is there a

new model of development that is not measured in productivity and indicators? We have

evidence that culture, Democracy and humanity can influence the motivation for development,

but can development be the motivation for freedom, at the expense of productivity?

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