Humility and sensitivity are keys to Asia Foundation's success

Humility and sensitivity are keys to Asia Foundation's success

JAKARTA (JP): A major sore point in international development
cooperation is the perception held by developing countries that
developed states which provide assistance often attach conditions
and prescribe values which are ill-timed or unsuitable.

Various private organizations which seek to assist in a
country's political development face the same predicament. They
must ideally help to strengthen civil society without becoming
patronizing or haughty.

Asia Foundation President William P. Fuller has stressed that
humility and sensitivity are important in development cooperation
efforts. He said that no one should assume that an economically-
developed state is better than others.

"Nobody should assume there's a right set of answers all the
time," he told The Jakarta Post.

Fuller, in Jakarta to attend the 25th anniversary celebrations
of the Foundation's office here, revealed some of his
organization's secrets for working in Indonesia and other Asian
countries.

"We always respond to requests that comes from organizations
from a country in which we're located," he said. He said that
this generates local interest in the Foundation.

"In every society there are impulses to move toward economic
reforms and in some societies it may be broadly based and others
narrowly based. I think what has been important for us is to find
those leading edges and be supportive of them," he said.

The second element is to respect local perceptions and
viewpoints.

"We're very respectful of the diversity in the region, and of
the pace and sequence of political and economic change," Fuller
said.

Prior to joining the Asia Foundation in 1989, Fuller had
worked extensively in the field as Deputy Assistant Administrator
of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The Asia Foundation has been noted as an organization which
adopts an unobtrusive approach, working within the confines of
government systems.

It has tended to shy away from a confrontational approach on
sensitive political issues, choosing instead to work
cooperatively with, rather than against, the established formal
institutions.

"In the end there's no doubt we believe that open societies
are valuable. But decisions on how to get there and over what
period of time is something for local consideration," Fuller
said.

A member of the Foundation's board of trustees, Harry Harding
who accompanied Fuller on his trip here, defended the non-
antagonistic approach.

"A great deal can be accomplished when you take a stance of
cooperating with other societies rather than confronting them on
issues such as human rights," he said. This does not mean
criticism should be muzzled.

"Obviously there is a role for well-meaning criticism, so I'm
not saying that criticism should never be part of the picture,"
he said.

Harding, dean of the Elliot School of International Affairs at
George Washington University, also criticized short-sighted
approaches which focus on derision rather than empathy.

"My own view is that Americans tend to see this process too
much as a process of criticism, confrontation, denunciation and
don't see how important a role can be played by active
cooperation," he said.

Fuller added that it was useless for developing societies to
progress at an accelerated pace if they failed to consider the
various complexities that might arise.

"There are important factors to look at before making
judgments on the pace of reform. It is terribly important to
understand some of the negative consequences coming from foreign
processes and to ensure that they're being dealt with along the
way, rather than saying go, go, go all the time," he said.

Apart from respecting local needs, Fuller noted the importance
of well qualified field representatives to assess circumstances
correctly.

"I think one of our distinctive features is that we've been
here in Asia for a long, long time. I think that gives us an
historical institutional view that is very helpful in making
decisions on what works and what doesn't," Fuller said.

"We're not new to this business. We've followed the evolution
of society for a long time and that's a real asset," he added.