Doing Good in Africa: Lessons from Traditional Agencies of Self-help in the Continent

The constructed image of Africa as a luckless and helpless continent forever in need of foreign aid unjustly ignores the strong tradition of self-help and self-reliance that is found across African societies. Drawing from specific cases from his home community, Okemesi, in the Yorubaland of Nigeria, the speaker will describe the processes, practices, and enabling values of traditional agencies of self-help and explore how these can be adapted to foreign aid to make the effort more effective, respectful, and enduring. About the Lecturer: Yomi Durotoye, Director of the African Studies program, Wake Forest University in North Carolina