Why doesn't Tearfund send staff to live fulltime overseas?

There is often a mindset that western Christians need to go into a country and ‘fix’ everything that is broken. We want to be on the ground making a difference. But this isn’t always the best way of doing things. In fact, it can be harmful to local people. It creates an attitude of inferiority, and discourages local leaders from solving their own problems.

Admittedly, Tearfund Canada used to send staff to implement programs overseas. As development practices evolved and our mindsight shifted, so did our practice of sending relief workers to international countries.

To move on from this practice, we started to invest in local partners who know their own country and culture. This creates more empowerment and ownership in our poverty alleviation programs. Instead of ‘the westerner’ coming in to solve problems, locals are given the opportunity to step up and find ways to lift themselves out of poverty.

The practice of employing local people means that capacity is being built up in our partners. They learn and become capable of supporting themselves, which will allow us to completely step back. This is our end goal, to work ourselves out of a job and see local people lift themselves from poverty.

In some countries like India, our local partners have even more staff than we do in Canada! Our partner, EFICOR, is well established and does incredible work on their own. Tearfund provides support where needed, but the local Indian people are able to do the work and implement programs without a Tearfund staff member in the country.