UNICEF estimates that it would cost an additional $34 billion a year to
meet the immunization, sanitation, education, food and water needs of all
children in the world. This is less than what the world spends annually on
golf. Infectious disease, illiteracy, malnutrition, and so on are already
serious global threats that will become more serious as the world becomes
smaller and more interdependent. I wonder, if the U.S. House and Senate
Appropriations committees applied principles of systems thinking to their
work would they continue to fund the same priorities? Currently, the
United States contributes less than one percent of its budget to
international assistance, placing it last among 21 donor countries.
Roughly half of that assistance goes to military and security aid.
Or if the U.N. Security Council practiced scenario planning and evaluated
mental models, would it respond differently to events such as the 1994
genocide in Rwanda, the most intense killing spree in history? The
Security Council was alerted two weeks before the killing began that Hutus
were purposefully caching weapons. It chose to stand clear and not be
drawn into an unmanageable Somalia-like conflict. The UN's espoused
mission is "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war...to
reaffirm faith in the dignity and worth of the human person."
What might the impact be for poor people of the world if key governmental
or non-governmental organizations learned to operate as learning teams?
Granted the environment in such organizations can be scary: no money for
OD, no clear mission, meddling by constituents, party politics, and so
on--but their impact, good or bad, is immense. I'm curious who else is
thinking about applying powerful learning tools to organizations that are
often viewed as inept and beyond hope. Your thoughts?