Across the Sea

"Real peace is not just the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice"

This is going to be an exploratory post. The idea has been bouncing around in my head for a while, but I have been unable to completely settle on the specifics as of yet. This is primarily because of two significant problems to which I have no answer at the present time, those being the ideal level of military integration with the project and the adjustments necessary to avoid any neo-colonialist outcomes. Hopefully answers to these questions will emerge as I explore the idea further. In the meantime, don't hold me too strictly to anything I write in this post.

This idea was originally born out of my opinions and concerns on a variety of different issues, including the following:

1. Many Canadian youth are unsure about their life direction after high school or university. It would be ideal if there was a program in place that allowed all such individuals to undertake a rewarding experience that might help them define their life path.

2. Many Canadian youth are interested in travelling the world and learning about other cultures. However, not everyone can afford to travel extensively or feels confident enough to undertake travel in developing countries.

3. There is a need for a fundamental reorganization of Canadian foreign aid. We currently spend far less than the global standard of 0.7% of GDP on foreign aid. Part of this is a domestic political problem, but part of it is due to the fact that people see little benefit to foreign aid and perceive that most of the money is wasted or lost to corruption.

4. There is also a need for some change to the Canadian military. This issue deserves its own post, but basically I believe that the military needs to become smaller and more focused, and there needs to be a realization that as a smaller country, Canada is better suited to playing a niche role in international conflicts, as well as being a key partner in traditional peacekeeping, rather than undertaking generalized combat roles as we have in Afghanistan.

5. There is a perception that Canada's influence in international affairs has been declining, and we are now seen as marching mostly in lockstep with the United States. A unique and innovative foreign affairs strategy would help to address this issue, real or imagined. I believe Canadians are proud of our significant contributions to international affairs in the past and would like them to continue.

6. There are significant forces currently shaping the developing world, some of which are not in Canada's national interest. A more comprehensive foreign affairs strategy would help prevent terrorism and promote Canada as a friend to the developing world. Engagement with developing countries would also help address certain global issues (environmental, educational etc), but we must tread carefully in this area to avoid imposing our culture on others at the expense of their own.

7. The engagement of Canadian youth in civil service and international affairs appears to be low and declining. Encouraging this type of initiative could help address this problem.

8. Many types of foreign aid are in fact counterproductive to development. Food aid, in particular, has had disastrous consequences in Africa. Cash aid has subjected countries with something akin to a "resource curse" and has tended not to trickle down to the lowest level.

The solution I propose to these problems is this: instead of spending our foreign aid budget by distributing it as cash or goods to foreign countries, Canada could use the money to set up a well-funded foreign assistance department. The department would employ a small number of dedicated experts, but would primarily rely on manpower from temporary volunteers.

The program would have three options, a post-high school, a post-university, and a summer option. All Canadian youth would be strongly encouraged to participate, possibly through incentives like a scholarship program or an opportunity to earn course credits. I have toyed with the idea of making it a mandatory civil service obligation (as many European countries do with military service), but I think that is too ambitious a goal in the short term.

For each of the three programs, the cost of travel and accommodation in the destination country would be covered for the volunteers. Logistical support could be provided by the Canadian Forces if necessary.

I envision the characteristics of each individual program being something like this:

1. Post-high school - This program would produce the backbone of the assistance workforce. It would be a one-year program which would encapsulate about two months of training and about ten months of deployment. This group would primarily take on low-skilled tasks like construction, child care, environmental clean-up and administrative/logistical concerns. There would also be a security path open to those interested, and could provide a very effective training and recruiting tool for the Canadian Forces. This path would likely require additional training, perhaps six months or so.

2. Summer Option - this option would be focused on rapid deployment, and on providing an introductory experience to encourage university students to take the full program option at the conclusion of their studies. This would be a month of training followed by a three-month deployment and would be tailored to shorter-term projects or projects temporarily requiring additional manpower.

3. Post-University - I envision this being the foundation of the skill-based programs. University graduates have specific skills that would allow them to contribute to a variety of projects, especially if they were grouped under an experienced professional. This program would be 1-2 years, with a few months of training at the beginning.

Once the program had been set up, Canada would offer comprehensive development assistance to any country that requested it and met the following criteria:

1. Absence of conflict - The program would not deploy into any country with a severe ongoing conflict. Afghanistan, Somalia and others would be out. Areas of semi-conflict would have to be carefully considered, and possibly there is a small role for the military if there was a deployment to a somewhat unstable area like the Palestinian territories or Georgia.

2. Willingness to accept comprehensive assistance - Countries would not be able to pick and choose what services would be provided. They would be able to request specific things and advise as to areas of need, but the whole idea of the program is to avoid the problems that come from providing one-off services. There is also a plethora of excellent NGO's that can provide single-project services. Obviously exceptions would be made if a particular activity would be prohibited by a legitimate (in Canadian eyes) cultural or religious objection.

3. Need- Prioritization would be need-based as well as logistical. In general, the program would prioritize the poorest areas. However, it would be a waste of resources and a volunteer deterrent if there was not a variety of options available. Trying to have a variety of geographic areas available would be a good idea from that perspective.

The organization would engage for five-year terms, which could be ended prior to that time at the discretion of either party. This would allow governments to back out if they are unhappy, and for the Canadians to leave if conflict or other problems were to arise.

The types of development assistance that would be provided by the program would include the following:

1. Housing - It would be relitively cheap from a materials standpoint to vastly improve the living conditions in many rural areas and slums in developing nations. With a minimum of investment for construction materials and some significant manpower, some sort of housing, even if it was extremely basic, could be provided to many people that do not currently have it. Improving sanitation in these areas would also be a key objective.

2. Health and Wellness - Although it is unlikely that there would be enough medicine/nursing graduates in the program to provide general medical care to everyone, the program would certainly offer advice and help to improve the quality of existing facilities.

The second key part of the health and wellness initiative would be the distribution of information. Education on the causes of ailments like malaria and AIDS would be key, as well as the distribution of low-cost preventative measures like condoms and mosquito netting and information on their use.

3. Education - There would be significant opportunities within this program for volunteers with the neccessary language skills to teach English and French as a part of the program. Additionally, in many countries children are prevented from going to school because they are required to assist their parents with household/farm tasks. In this program, a volunteer could provide replacement labour to enable the child to attend school, although care would have to be taken to avoid distortion of the local labour market.

4. Environment - The primary initiatives in this area would be around providing things like solar powered water purification and information on its use. Labour could also be used to identify an drain standing water that breeds mosquitos, subject to ecological concerns. Again, the focus would have to be on things that would not be done otherwise, to avoid displacing local labour earnings with volunteer labour.

Secondary concerns in this area would include the maintainance of the natural environment in the country, although here volunteers would have to be extremely careful. There is certainly advantages to promoting things like sustainable farming practices and conservation of land, but volunteers may not be equipped to handle such tasks.

5. Business - Canadians could help local businessmen set up the types of buinesses that are key to economic development. I am specifically thinking about microfinance here, providing small loans to people who would not otherwise have access to them is a great way to jumpstart economic development.

I am sure that there are many other areas where Canadians could make a positive difference. There are some challenges, however, that must be addressed.

1. Dependency - The program should be explicitly designed not to create dependency. The focus should be on enabling locals to build a stable society, not on Canadians building a society within the developing country. This is why education and health are at the core of this initiative.

2. Neo-Imperialism - This is a fine balancing act. There are obviously some things that Canada would like to see occur in developing countries, like democracy and sustainability. We can promote these things to a limited extent, but we must not attempt to replace or devalue the local culture as we did to our own native people.

3. Liability - It is likely that some Canadians will be killed or die from disease in the course of this venture. It is critical that this is understood and accepted as a cost of the program. Canadians who die abroad, in service to humanity, should be given as much respect as troops who die in combat.

4. NGO's - This program would overlap with the work done my many NGO's. Although the program's aims are different, some policy must be developed for working with private NGO's working towards the same goal.

If Canada could successfully spearhead development in even 2 or 3 countries using this program, it would be vastly more successful than any foreign aid we have ever given in the past. Canadians would be filled with a new sense or purpose and pride internationally. Our young people would return with a greater understanding of the world and a new commitment to civil service.

We would all be able to sleep more soundly knowing that we have made a difference.