The ‘Golden Champa” Chanel’s
secret ingredient or Ladakh’s secret to keep?
My ears pricked up immediately on hearing about India’s decision last week for direct rule of Kashmir. I once had some remote (very remote of course) involvement with Ladakh and some good people there. There are mixed views as ever on India’s move but one thing I do recall is how honourable and ethical were our erstwhile Ladakhi colleagues. That’s something very rare in Cambodia.
There wasn’t a lot of sensibility in Jane Austin’s novel
where personal conduct throughout was open to question. That’s a question as
relevant today in the world of Foreign Aid. We may refer more to “ethical conduct” or the
lack of it. How often is money put ahead of principles?
My colleagues in Ladakh were not guilty of that, not in the
least.
The flower above still features in Chanel’s
advertising, Indeed it still lauds its co-operation with the Ladakh Society
of Traditional Medicine (LSTM).
It could be that these are old sites
maintaining such claims but they have not been taken down yet. They do,
however, serve Chanel’s interests among its customers who like a “feel-good”/“doing good for others”/"doing good for the environment” factor to assuage
their profligacy.
Now it is not for me
to tell LSTM’s full story, and they might not want it told, but suffice to say here
that not all Chanel’s claims were correct, according to LSTM, including the
part it played in the “discovery” and exploitation of their Ladakh local
plants. The scent in the air was not so sweet. The upshot was LSTM rejected
Chanel’s lucrative offer of funding. (I wonder if the two sides ever reconciled?)
It is strange to think how India’s Ladakh and Cambodia’s Mondulkiri came
to be connected but that is precisely what occurred through Laurent Pordié,
Anthropologist and Pharmaceutical Scientist. Laurent had found his way to both
places. He established the NGO “Nomad RSI” that I joined in 2010. [See notes at end] I am pretty
sure I recall seeing him many years earlier. He was just about the only
other “barang” (used by Cambodians to describe a foreigner) in Sen Monorom the
main town of Mondulkiri. Locals were
worried about him because he was ill with malaria. He wasn’t unduly. It’s one of the reasons why Nomad RSI did
ground-breaking work in malaria prevention health education? (Annual Report 2011 page 6 - Extract with Laurent below.)
Chanel as it happens was also funding our work in
Mondulkiri. We were well-advanced is securing larger longer-term funding from
it, for important work in traditional medicine. Indeed Laurent with Nomad RSI’s
then President Calum Blaikie had co-written authoritative “Introductory
Remarks” in our book. (See also Francois Chassagne Extract
2013 Annual Report below.)
What should we do? Should we stand alongside our Ladakh
colleagues or look after our own vested interests? Could we separate ourselves? Was it a case of tainted money? The Nomad Board of Directors spent inordinate
time trying to resolve the issue. Not even the copious red wine and kind
hospitality of Elisabeth in the Pyrenees made that task easier.
← Nomad RSI’s Board met for annual conventions
and important meetings at the Board Secretary’s house in the Pyrenees. They
seldom had time to enjoy the scenery. The snow fell heavily delaying members
from Paris to discuss LSTM and Cambodia business.
I can recall only one other NGO in Cambodia in 21 years ever refusing to take funds for ethical reasons. Far more common is the phenomenon of “chasing money” where NGOs reinvent who they are and what they do to meet the proposal guidelines of donors. That of course – as I also grumble about – is where the professional fundraisers are in their element.The big international NGOs all have them. I call them the “usual culprits”.
Small local NGOs can’t compete. They tend to
miss out and even worse their senior staff have wasted time working on futile
applications when their time and effort could be spent on direct activities or
supervising them.
The UK does have excellent fund-raising
standards that ought to be adopted worldwide in Foreign Aid. For example in the
Code of Practice Clause 2.7.1 says “You must use all funds raised
for a particular cause for that cause”. This has always been the one to interest me most. This is partly because of often witnessing
it not observed - one case is described here - but also because there is a real dilemma for local NGOs. Many donors these days do not cover “core” costs
but direct beneficiary-related activities only, so basic salaries and overheads have
to be covered. If people can’t be paid their salaries or essential bills paid
such rent and electricity, you can see the temptation to use money differently,
not in accordance with approved budgets. Few in Cambodia see this as fraud
although it is.
LSTM was clear in its understanding. Chanel’s money was not
what it thought the money was for, their purposes, common purposes, shared ideals, with Chanel
as they thought originally. Some of us in Cambodia accepted LSTM's stance that this must be
respected. The upshot is we never did get the funding from Chanel and sadly we
never managed to replace it. The work is on-hold apart from occasional visiting
researchers. So the traditional health practitioners of Mondulkiri have never
had sustained support for their work, validated (or dismissed) by modern
science. If they do hold the key to
potential discoveries, they are likely to stay undiscovered. The province and its
indigenous people are losing their forests at a shocking pace in the name of
national economic development. Their medicinal plants are disappearing.
Perversely those people making money from the decimation of
the forests sometimes share their ill-gotten gains with locals. One former
self-help group member, astride his brand new motor-cycle and brandishing his
new Smart-Phone, told me
“If you can’t beat them, join them!” He knew it was tainted money
and the end of his community’s traditional lives and livelihoods “But
they’re going to take it anyway, so we might as well get a share”.
It’s a kind of sensibility, even if it makes no sense.
.....ooo0ooo.....
Notes and more viewing or reading:
1. Nomad RSI in Cambodia "localised" its operations and handed over to the local NGO created for this purpose "Mondulkiri Indigenous People's Association for Development" (MIPAD) still going strong as at August 2019. Please go here. They prefer to update on their Facebook or Wordpress.
2. Green action as a luxury strategy in the field of cosmetics:
1. Nomad RSI in Cambodia "localised" its operations and handed over to the local NGO created for this purpose "Mondulkiri Indigenous People's Association for Development" (MIPAD) still going strong as at August 2019. Please go here. They prefer to update on their Facebook or Wordpress.
2. Green action as a luxury strategy in the field of cosmetics:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/46888431.pdf
3. Gonzalo Chacon's insightful film as part of his M.A. in Visual Anthropology dissertation, produced in collaboration with Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines:
3. Gonzalo Chacon's insightful film as part of his M.A. in Visual Anthropology dissertation, produced in collaboration with Ladakh Society for Traditional Medicines:
Excellent film: https://vimeo.com/29322841
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