I wrote this in a moment of frustration, when it was clear to me that the capacity that needed to be built was not with local partners, but with upper management.

Are you building your capacity to prepare for what Dennis Whittle, co-founder of GlobalGiving.org, terms the pending “democratization of aid"?  It's time for the ability and penchant to work with organizations of any size or type to become a core capacity of donors, governments, and all key stakeholders working on behalf of people's well-being.

***

Capacity Gap

You see only what is not,
within your per view,
your limited world view.
A great mind,
but ideas insulated
from true change.
Challenge not.
Ask not.
Criticize not.
As a beneficiary of status quo,
you resist
the shifts
that are necessary.
Yet we gain
with each push,
against the power within.

Have some poems you treasure that you'd like to share with fellow aid workers and do-gooders? Please send them my way at email.howmatters@gmail.com!

***

This post originally appeared at: http://www.how-matters.org/2012/01/27/capacity-gap/

***

Related Posts

Hallowed Halls or Ghost Towns?

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Generations”

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Let It Flow” by Mike Klassen

Friday’s Poetic Pause: “Sun Sang” by Thomas Centolella

An aid worker’s poetic journey