The Dependency Syndrome
 by
Phil Bartle

Workshop Handout.

When community members lack attitudes of self reliance,
what needs to be changed?

 The "dependency syndrome" is an attitude and belief that a group can
 not solve its own problems without outside help. It is a weakness
 that is made worse by charity. Why do we fight against dependency?

 If an outside agency, be it central Government, an international
 NGO, a mission, comes to a community and constructs a human
 settlements facility (eg water supply), it is natural for the
 community members to see it as belonging to the outside agency. When
 that outside agency goes away or runs out of funds, the community
 members will have no motivation to repair and maintain the facility,
 or to sustain the service In order for a facility to be used, and
 used effectively, by the community members. In order for the
 facility to be maintained and sustained, the community members must
 have a sense of "responsibility" for the facility. That sense of
 responsibility is sometimes described as "ownership" by the
 community.

 Unless the community as a whole has been involved in the decision
 making about the facility (planning and management) and has
 willingly contributed to the costs of its construction, the sense of
 responsibility or ownership will be missing. It will not be
 effectively used, maintained or sustained. It is impossible to build
 a human settlements facility or service and not expect that it has
 to be repaired and maintained. That is like trying to eat once and
 for all. As their populations grow, governments are getting access
 to fewer and fewer resources per capita every year. It is simply no
 longer feasible for communities to be dependent upon central
 governments for human settlement facilities and services. The same
 with international donors: rich countries' governments, the UN,
 World Bank, international NGOs, simply do not have enough resources
 to give to every poor community, no matter how worthwhile the cause,
 around the world.

 Whereas it was once thought that community self reliance in itself
 was a good thing, it promoted grass roots democracy, human rights,
 self development and human dignity, now it has gone much farther
 than that. If communities cannot become more and more self reliant
 and empowered, they simply will not develop and so poverty and
 apathy will eventually destroy them. Counteracting dependency is
 your prime goal. Dependency in the community must be reduced by
 every action you take. When training a community organization how to
 obtain resources, the animator must keep that prime goal in mind and
 act accordingly. A donor agency should try to avoid giving the
 community anything for nothing. That encourages dependency. Always
 encourage community members by stating that they can carry out the
 project themselves and you are here to offer them some skills and
 tips, but the work must be done by them. Applying this to financing
 a community project, you must never offer to obtain project inputs
 for them. The methods on this web site are called the Community
 Empowerment Methodology; specifically designed to fight dependency.

 You as a mobilizer, can give them guidelines as to how to raise
 money and other resources, how to ensure that accounts are kept
 transparent and simple, and how to translate non-monetary donations
 into financial inputs, but you must always emphasise that the actual
 obtaining of the resources must be done by the community or its
 community based organization (eg executive committee) working on its
 behalf, not you.

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Updated: 2003 May 18