Rosa's Story - Coady International Institute - St. Francis Xavier ...

some key groups, and this is important because of the [physical] distance between
the groups” (personal communication, October 16, 2004). It is also important
because it creates a pool of potential successors to key leaders such as Rosa.
There is an unspoken sense of shared leadership at Jambi Kiwa. This is formally
encouraged through the association’s policy of electing new leaders to the board
every two years. The frequent turnover of leaders has prevented the emergence of
an entrenched old guard. It has also created an organizational culture that feels
non-hierarchical and where leadership is recognized as action, rather than position.
2.3.2 External Agency
Breaking from Tradition
A community-driven initiative that has developed external relationships on its own
terms is the exception rather than the rule in Ecuador. Community development is
often seen by government and non-government organizations as an exogenous
rather than endogenous process. According to Pancho Gangotano, relationships
between NGOs and community-based organizations in Ecuador are typically structured
along the lines of patron and client. He observes that while community members
analyze their problems, they often look to external organizations to provide
technical assistance. Since the answers come from outside, he says, “people no
longer trust their vivencia, [or] their life experience” (personal communication,
October 21, 2004). The unfortunate consequence is that communities develop an
inferiority complex. He has concluded that, in general, NGOs tend to reinforce this
sense of inferiority, rather than alleviating it:
We promote it; we have big programs…to solve problems. We get technicians and
money. Everything is external. If an outside technician is present, communities will
defer [to that individual]. But if a technician is not there, the community will go and
see how their neighbours did it. They will…carry out the initiative, and, when they finish,
the community will have ownership and pride (personal communication, October
14, 2004).
Rosa adds her impression of traditional relationships between NGOs and communities
in Chimborazo:
There are two dynamics going on: one, a long history of the NGO as protagonist
where almost all the work is palliative…and two, people have become complacent,
almost like beggars. Whatever NGOs have [they] will take (personal communication,
October 14, 2004).
34