Lyn Morgain: Deconstructing Development

The Good Problem

There’s a common misconception in the doing good sector that the people working within it must be wholesome, values driven and above things like racism and sexual exploitation. But the reality is that the sector is driven by harmful structures that perpetuate the very things we are trying to ‘fix’ through our work.

I’ve always found the psychology behind wanting to be in the helping professions fascinating, and more recently have become deeply interested in the systems and structures that facilitate doing good. The international development sector is a fascinating expression of how the colonial structures that underpin the sector are the very same structures that caused, and continue to cause the damage that development interventions profess to be fixing.

The sector has been in the spotlight over the past few years, with repeated scandals including #metoo, #aidtoo, as well as the well publicised safeguarding crises within large charities. Racism in the sector has also come under the spotlight, withthe emergence of the Charity So White movement in the UK highlighting the systemic racism and power imbalances that permeate the development world.

To unpack these issues, I invited the Chief Executive of Oxfam Australia, Lyn Morgain on to the podcast. As a relative newcomer to the international development world, Lyn shares her experience of transitioning into the sector at a very challenging time, and proposes some ideas for change.

Lyn has spent her career advocating for the rights of disadvantaged peoples and is passionate about using strengths based approached that engender community ownership and control.

Lyn is reading Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir by John Lyons

Lyn is listening to Dharma Talks

Follow Lyn on Twitter @MsLynM