The Development Dilemma

What are the challenges in Kenyan-Expat friendships? What are the inequities in the Kenyan-Expat romantic relationships? What do we need to be more aware of? 

This episode with Alexandria Njenga and Conor Walsh comes from a live panel event held on March 10th in Nairobi. It was a fun event where Alex & Conor brough nuance to this sensitive topic and their critiques. Enjoy this episode and if you know a friend who is in such a relationship or someone that really needs to hear this advice, share this episode to spark the conversation. 

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

This podcast with Jim Chuchu comes from the panel event held in Nairobi on the topic 'Let's talk about Inhabiting Injustice'. This was a powerful, hard and uncomfortable conversation - the kind I hoped for when starting this podcast. It is thought-provoking and worth discussing with others - come to my next panel event on March 10th to do so. Many thanks to Jim for tackling this with me!

Check out the show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/jimchuchu 
Find more of Jim's work here: https://www.jimchuchu.com/

Follow for more on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma or email: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

This episode features Dr. Wangui Kimari. Wangui wears many hats and I know her best for her role as a key part of establishing and supporting the Mathare Social Justice Centre (referred to as MSJC) in Nairobi. MSJC began in 2014 by young members of the community to promote social justic in an area of Nairobi where residents face many daily forms of violence from forced evictions, police abuse to extrajudicial killings. They are involved in a number of initiatives, most notably documenting extrajudicial killings in public reports and recently curating a photo exhibition and book with the Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network. This is a powerful community based organisation making hard-fought change in their community - https://www.matharesocialjustice.org/about-msjc/

Wangui has played a core role in this and whilst all other MSJC members live in Mathare, she comes from the more leafy suburbs of Nairobi and brings her research skills and leadership to MSJC. In this discussion, we hear her perspective on the evolution of the NGO space in Kenya, the good, the bad and the ugly, and how MSJC navigates such an environment. 

Follow for more on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma or email: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

This episode comes from the first live event for this podcast on the 3rd of October (as a result the sound quality varies). This was a great panel discussion event with Lorraine (from episode 1) and Sarika (episode 4) where we discussed some of the reasons it is so hard to have this discussion in the first place. It was lively and was followed by even more engagement in the following unrecorded break-out rooms. Based on this energy, I will be hosting the next event in Nairobi on the 6th November 2021 at 3pm at Lava Latté - more information on social media. For now, I hope you enjoy this episode! 

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Follow for more on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

The aid system needs a revolution but criticising it requires nuance. In this episode, I speak with Arbie Baguios. As the founder of the initiative Aid Re-imagined and as a vocal critique of the aid industry on social media, he is a leading voice in the decolonisation movement. At the same time, Arbie walks the line between critiquing the ills of international actors and also pushing for constructive change with them.

Building on the last episode, we can pick up on the focus on aid structures, not individuals, but also how an individual can think about working with or against this system. Throughout, Arbie brings much needed nuance to my questions and it was a very enjoyable conversation. 

Follow Arbie: @arbiebaguios - https://medium.com/aidreimagined

 Follow for more on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma or email: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

In this episode, I wanted to bring in a perspective from the private sector because the challenge of running multi-cultural teams of foreigners and nationals is not limited to the development sector. I speak with Shakeel Hassanali who is the Managing Director of JW Seagon - an international insurance broker with offices in Kenya. 

We explore the mistrust and bias he faced when he arrived and how collectively, they managed to build a shared organisational culture and put in structures which recognise the systems at play, rather than ignore them, but to ultimately let the individual to flourish. There is plenty that organisations in the public sector could learn from this approach.

Share any thoughts you may have on social media (Insta: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma, email: [email protected]). Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Why is there a Gap between Expats and Kenyans in the social and work space? What consequences does this have for our work and collaboration? What can we do to change this?

In this episode, I explore these questions with Vandana Thottoli. Vandana is an Indian who has lived in Kenya for 7 years, forming close friendships with both Expats and Kenyans and in so doing straddling the gap between them. From an Indian background, she has some familiarity with Kenyan culture and systems and yet has found that it has taken her years to gain the trust and friendship of others to then learn how to navigate Kenyan culture with respect. We touch upon why expats should be cautious to complain, why misperceptions widen this gap and how friendships, initiated by expats acknowledging privilege and subsequent conversations, have an important role in the workplace - a responsibility of companies.

Share any thoughts you may have on social media (Insta: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma, email: [email protected]). Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Only 6% of Kenyan start-ups in 2019 that received over 1m USD of funding were led by locals. It is clear the investing space is disproportionately skewed to expats whilst local entrepreneurs seem to be crowded out. In this discussion with Efayomi Carr, we explore in detail why the ecosystem of funders, investors and entrepreneurs leads to this and what needs to change. We discuss the bias towards trusted networks but also why Efayomi believes change is arising and why he would caution judging too quickly.

Efayomi speaks from a place of experience, having worked in 2 start-ups (Jumia, Lori), 2 Venture Capital funds (Quona Capital, Flourish Ventures) and a Private Equity fund (8 Miles). Efayomi also adds that investing in local start-ups and hiring locally is not as easy as it seems from the outside. He knows because he has tried. These are questions he is continuing to grapple with but with a rich appreciation for quite how brave and hard-working entrepreneurs are. This conversation challenged my opinions and I hope it might do the same for you.

Disagree with Efayomi? How could he source local leaders better? Share any thoughts you may have on social media (Insta: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma, email: [email protected]) and share and subscribe. Feel free to email your thoughts to Efayomi: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Sarika Bansal is an editor and storyteller, I first came across her work in the BRIGHT Magazine which you hear referenced frequently on this podcast. As founder & editor-in-chief, they told fresh, solutions-oriented stories about social change which I learnt a lot from and would highly recommend to check it out.

As I admired her work with BRIGHT Magazine and writings, it was a real honour to have her on the podcast. One particular area of interest has been on the language we use in the international development space. There is nothing more systemic than language, it is the very thing that a system is built on and thus best captures some of the underlying themes & assumptions. In this episode we focus on the language as it pertains to describing the humans involved, the approach of projects and the impact and what it reveals about the development space. I hope you take something away from our discussion!

You can follow Sarika at @sarika008 on instagram and twitter to find her work and her upcoming book, more info here: https://ifundwomen.com/projects/tread-brightly-bright-magazine

Please review, share and subscribe! You can also follow for updates, other content and teasers on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; and email: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

In this episode, Marion shares her perspective of how expats like myself should come to Kenya, with a mentality of doing work rather than helping. With this, expats shouldn't feel any guilt to enjoy the beauties of Kenya but at the same time, they then should be held accountable for this. 'We tried' isn't good enough.

We also delve into the different treatment of expats and Kenyans in the workplace, how she navigated this and the system it created of picking the easy route and hiring expat consultants. Coupled with the different risk considerations Marion shares, it paints a strong picture of why there is a structural problem in this space.

Interlaced throughout is plenty of laughter and the aspiration from both our sides, to work to make things better. I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did recording it!

Please review, share and subscribe! You can also follow for updates, other content and teasers on Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; and email: [email protected]. Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'

Instagram: thedevelopmentdilemma; Twitter: @dev_dilemma; Music credits: Juliani, 'Kama sa Sisi'