Enough poor children: Africans call for diversity in aid campaigns

DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Beneficiary communities want international charities to go beyond the images of poor children and offer a more balanced vision of Africa, revealed a Friday study.

Residents of six African countries were invited to evaluate images used in campaigns by major charities, including Oxfam, UNICEF and Save the Children.

Most respondents to the survey conducted by the Norwegian campaign group Radi-Aid felt that the representations provided were accurate, but said they would like to see more pictures of older generations, racial diversity and positive aspects of their life.

"I think they'll conclude that literally all of Africa is in a sad state," said a 22-year-old Ugandan quoted in the study.

"It's like we can not change. It's as if we are still begging, "Radi-Aid told a 22-year-old Ethiopian man.

Other people who participated in the study, who interviewed 74 people of different ages in Ghana, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Africa, reported that they seldom seen pictures of black doctors or black aid workers, or white children suffering.

The Norwegian International Assistance Fund (SAIH) created Radi-Aid to challenge what it saw as a tendency for aid groups to stereotype the poor as passive recipients of aid.

He awards annual rewards for the best and worst fundraising appeals. Last year, a video starring British singer Ed Sheeran was one of the most offensive.

The video, in which the singer proposed to pay the hotel fees for street children in Liberia, was close to "poverty tourism".

Most interviewees understood that the fundraising campaigns are strategic and said they would also choose negative images to inspire donations, according to the Radi-Aid study, conducted in collaboration with the University of East Anglia.

"(The help agencies) know that in some situations, such as disasters, negative images work," said David Girling, lecturer at the University of East Anglia and senior author of the report.

"But constantly using these negative images, I think, has a long-term impact," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

One of the consequences may be "the exhaustion of compassion", where people do not feel obliged to donate because they have seen negative images for years and nothing has changed, a- he declared.

Last year, a study titled "People in the Pictures" by Save the Children had similar reactions, said content director Jess Crombie.

"The people represented understood very fundamentally why NGOs often use this type of images," Crombie said.

"But all that everyone has said next to that, is that they want to actively see more descriptions of their 360-degree lives."

Girling called for more follow-up work, including bringing photographers together to discuss the problem and possibly defeat the request of aid agencies, he said.