A few weeks back I had the pleasure of attending a discussion at Philanthropy New York. The title of the program was Seventh Generation Leading: Making the Case for Native Youth Leadership and Organizing. It was a discussion led by young leaders of various Native American tribes, mostly from the west, and centered around the problems facing Native Americans in the US. I realize that this is a course on international development but I think that it would behoove us, as we think about development in other countries, to also remember that there are folks living here in the US who don't have electricity or roads; folks who lack opportunities for employment, education and health care.
The youth leaders at the conference represented the Plains Sioux, East Coast Mohawk, Blackfeet and Navajo and they addressed some of the same issues we discussed in class: culture in development, gender in development, economics in development. They spoke about the need for developmental aid to work with their beliefs and cultural systems and the need for aid to be ethical which, if you know anything about past relationship between Native Americans and the US Government, has rarely been the case. I think there is a lot that we, as future development folks, can and should do for some of the poor and vulnerable living right here in this country. As we discussed in class the US is still developing and sometimes I think it has a fairly long way to go
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