Anger and Hope: Working in the Development Sector

Anger.

Anger is the emotion that initially drove me to work in the development sector. I was angry by the inequalities that I observed in the world, my role in exacerbating these inequalities and what I perceived as the low hanging fruit to help alleviate poverty for millions. I was angry about what I thought to be ineffective, hand-waving philanthropy in the West and the intransigence of poverty in many parts of lower and middle-income countries. I was angry by the amount of bad that seemed to still be in the world.

This anger brought me to Poor Economics in 2016, and this book changed my life, it gave me hope that there may be a solution. The authors, Professors Duflo and Banerjee, proselytized the power of data and evidence to help alleviate poverty using the scientific method. I was sold. I was hopeful! I pursued a graduate school degree and was fortunate enough to be employed by an incredible organization, IDinsight, that deeply aligned with my values and the desire to use data and evidence to change lives on the ground.

That was just a little over two years ago. Today, as I write out my thoughts, I am preparing to embark on a career change and new challenges. The answers are nowhere near as simple as I imagined, after reading Poor Economics. Well placed RCTs are not the answer to all our ills, and the multidimensionality of the human experience makes poverty alleviation incredibly challenging.

I continue to be challenged with the question of how to sit with what appear to be independently true feelings, anger and hope, that seem to be paradoxical. I tend to vacillate between anger and hope as motivations for working in the development sector. So, I have the question, how can one harness the power of both anger and hope?

The Dismal Science

Economics holds the unenviable moniker as the dismal science. However, I think it is sadly apt. Whenever I am in the company of those who may be termed ‘development economists’, there almost inevitably tends to be a sense of doom and fatality.

On an average Saturday night, common lines of conversation start with, “Am I having any impact?” They then move to, “I think I may be having a negative impact.” And depending on the number of adult beverages consumed, these conversations can end with, “I feel like I am just taking up space and should leave the development sector and work in technology or banking or management consulting.” OR “I think the development sector is a sham.”

To be fair, there is one common denominator in these conversations … my own involvement. However, to give myself the benefit of the doubt, I have triangulated this observation with others, and they verify that this general dismal sense is rather pervasive.

I get it. The world can be really crappy. COVID-19 continues to be a challenge, the number of people in extreme poverty has increased in the past two years, political polarization and nationalism is a real challenge and many of the issues we see seem highly intractable. The work we do often feels like it is on the margins. There are reports no one reads, presentations no one views and policy briefs that get buried under stacks of paper. There are dashboards of dashboards and endless RFPs and grant proposals to prepare that go nowhere.

It can lead anyone to be frustrated, angry or dismal. But I think there is more to the story.

Hope and Opportunity

If we look at the broad stroke of recent history, the world is a much better place than it was even just 70 years ago. As Max Roser masterfully sets this out in his piece in Our World in Data, life expectancy has increased, rates of disease are lowered, overall wealth has increased and fewer people die from violence. These are just a handful of indicators that point to a remarkable positive shift in the quality of life in just a couple of generations.

The empirical facts that Max Roser sets out are undeniable. Thomas Piketty in ‘A Brief History of Inequality,’ shines a light on the surprisingly positive story of global inequality. From my anecdotal experience, I have seen funders and government leaders increasingly engage with data and evidence in decision making. Non-profits are eager to drive greater impact using robust econometric tools, and we see a surge of funding and interest in the Global Development cause priority area within the burgeoning Effective Altruism movement.

I think there is much to celebrate from the remarkable global development story, and a lot to be optimistic and hopeful about. So why is it so hard to sit with these two worldviews at the same time?

Sitting with Anger and Hope Together

Sadly, I do not know why I find it so hard to sit with anger and hope at the same time. I am sure there are psychologists and behavioral economists that have a pithy name for this conundrum.

I will share some things that I have come across that have helped me to sit with this perceived paradox. These are techniques that I have found helpful, but I would love to hear from you if there is anything that works for you:

● Accepting emotions as data points and not value statements. To feel angry is a data point to be explored and potentially exploited.

The Dalai Lama in ‘Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World’ states, “Feeling angry can, in the short term, make our minds more focused and give us an extra burst of energy and determination. In these ways, anger can, in certain situations, make us more effective in getting things done and in obtaining what we rightly seek. However, when anger extends beyond this practical function most of the energy it brings us is not helpful at all.”

I find this framing helpful. When I am angry about inequalities or the lack of uptake in data and evidence, I find it helpful to harness the productivity it brings. Simultaneously, I aim to not fall into the negative feedback loops it can cause. The emotion is simply a data point to be investigated and appended to the dataset. I encourage you to experiment with Mindfulness practice, if you haven’t already, to help with this process (linked here are two fantastic, secular, introductions — ‘Mindfulness in Plain English,’ and ‘The Mind Illuminated’).

● Try and steer clear of either / or framings but defer to both / and framings.

For example, one may say, “the development sector is neither effective nor ineffective.” I argue that a more helpful reframing would be to say, “the development sector is both effective and ineffective depending on the context we are discussing. It has been effective in raising average incomes over the generational timeline, and it was ineffective at stopping learning losses during COVID-induced school closures.”

I have far from mastered this framing, but I find it to be helpful especially in conversations that start to feel like echo chambers of either overly optimistic or pessimistic views. I find that the truth is generally in the context, and the world does not fall into clean, bright-lined dichotomies.

● Journaling and reflecting: The practice of journaling has also been a helpful tool to bring awareness and clarity to the complexity of emotions that can be stirred up when working in development. Moments of career change similarly provide us with a natural point for reflection, as I am doing in this piece.

I think it is fair to be driven by both anger and by hope with the goal of improving outcomes in the development sector. As I reflect on my two short years working full-time in the development sector, I am grateful to be just a small cog in the giant spinning wheel (Gandhiji Chakra) that is development, with all its complexity and multidimensionality.