We need to talk about companies who pretend to help Africa but in actual fact they are only attempting to profit through lies and manipution
What should be done about them and how do we stop this?
Replies8
- @Ushila Dosieah you can actually set this up?!?!?!?! You’re right, I apologise for that little section I wrote. It’s just from my experience it’s tough to be heard by the top, however I never considered that someone might have that ability here on that level. I was planning on going through another avenue too, not just bringing awareness through to those who work! I’m happy to discuss with you everything. I’ll dm you
- @Ushila Dosieah I’m not here to debate. I’m here to make others see this issue and question their own organisations - that’s the most effective way of being heard as, believe it or not, it’s kinda tough to get a meeting on zoom with unicef and other organisations that support these lying companies
- @Sophy Robson thank you! I didn’t come on here to ask for people’s opinions on whether this topic should be discussed on the dots. I came on here to make these designers and founders aware that this manipulation and lies is unacceptable, and Africans in Europe don’t want this because it’s fake help. It’s not coming in with intention for changing circumstances, it’s coming in with a profit only mindset - something that is so harmful that social media which used the same approach is now struggling to control. All due to design, whether that’s monetisation/ business model, all the way through to content and media
- @Ushila Dosieah the awards are not the issue. I understand, Europeans will not know what’s going on on the ground and therefore they will fund anything with a couple buzzwords and give it some awards. Making them slightly more aware, when it’s places like UNICEF giving these people props is essential. My issue and the reason I asked this was to make founders, designers and others involved look at how their companies are moving - are they lying and making wild claims? Have these things they are marketing been fact checked? Are they genuine or are they moving intentionally to just gain funding, not caring about those they claim to care about? Is their answer to their end goal just a marketing answer? Etc etc
- I think this is an excellent place to air this topic. This app hasn’t been overloaded with opinions yet and more awareness of what really goes down in the world is needed for us to progress
- @Ushila Dosieah I’m trying to make people aware of the problem, allow people to then look through this lens when looking at western companies in Africa, and I’m trying to find a solution to the fact these are the companies winning awards and being featured in things like UNICEF when they shouldn’t as they’re lying through their teeth - this is a structural issue clearly. If you saw what I saw you would be mad too and we as Africans outside of Africa should collectively aim to target these companies and stop them, since we are the more aware ones
- @Ushila Dosieah it’s not about leaders, it’s about European companies pretending to be going in to help, not using actual design processes to include those who they’re designing for and writing utter lies about the things they’re doing to gain funding from other clueless European bodies
- @Antonio Willis see I don’t think so. Today I encountered a sustainability company who were pretending to help people in Africa and wanted designers to manipulate to their fake narratives and preconceptions - the dots does everything with inclusivity, why not ask this question here?
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