The GuardianMostly Factual10d ago
I ran aid programmes for 25 years – getting my car fixed at an Islamabad market taught me why they don’t work | Mohammad Altaf Afridi
Donors mean well, but in Pakistan I saw funds poured into professional, unaccountable NGOs rather than authentic, grassroots civil society
It was a hot and humid August day in a market in Islamabad, not far from my comfortable, air-conditioned office in the US embassy. I was waiting for a mechanic to fix my car. Despite the heat, the market was unusually alive. I asked the mechanic’s helper what was going on. “Today we are electing our association,” he told me – and I could hear the pride in ...
By Mohammad Altaf Afridi
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