| Return to the Front
Page
Systems Thinking Puzzler:
The Darfur Situation
by Chris Soderquist
Jul - Aug Puzzler Challenge
Your friend works for an international human rights "think tank" organization
scrambling to suggest strategies for dealing with the current conflict in
Darfur. As a Systems Thinker, you've asked her to tell you the "story" of
what's going on there. She told you the following: Militias (generally
perceived to be "Arab" militias supported by the Sudanese government) are
systematically and intentionally displacing "black Africans" from their land.
At present, over 1 million people have been displaced. Though a fair number
made it into refugee camps (in Chad, for example), many are fending for
themselves in Sudan, under very dangerous and difficult circumstances.
The militias are waging their campaign through stealing livestock, taking over
or destroying cropland and crop stores such as grain stores, evacuating people
from towns and burning their homes, systematic rape and killing. Militias also
control access points to water and food in many areas of the conflict. In
addition, they also control access to many camps of displaced people,
terrorizing those who leave for firewood, "taxing" people who leave in search
of water, and in general people displaced by violence continue to find
themselves in the presence of those who are perpetrating the violence.
A specific outcome is that these militias are displacing people from being able
to participate in their normal economic livelihoods.
Emergency education programs are just now starting to arrive and take shape,
but there has been an 8-9 month delay in humanitarian response to conflict. As
in all complex emergencies, the greatest threat to the population is
malnutrition and disease.
Your friend goes on to tell the story of how aid is typically delivered with
two unique "stovepipe" objectives. Usually humanitarian assistance (such as
food, health and security programs) is separated from capacity building
programs (such as emergency education and economic development). Often there's
little that's done in the capacity building arena. Your friend thinks more
capacity building needs to be done; and further, that capacity building and
assistance programs must be linked. She wants you to help her describe why they
need to be systemically orchestrated (i.e. implemented as part of a whole
strategy). And she wants you to do it using the Darfur situation as context.
Your challenge is to do so with a model you can build in four hours. Good luck!
|
|
| About this
Feature
A distinguishing characteristic of
highly-skilled systems thinkers is their ability to quickly get to the heart of
an issue, problem, or process. Perhaps you've seen it in action, or perhaps
you've experienced it yourself. Skilled users of the thinking skills, language
and toolset typically are very good at focusing problems, at posing good
questions, at untangling complexities, and at generating high-leverage
insights.
Just as you can get stronger by exercising, you can improve your ability to do
systems thinking by practicing. This feature is a practice field for developing
that capability. Each month, we'll present you with a puzzle-a real-world case
that can benefit from the application of systems thinking. We'll ask you to
spend a couple of hours (maximum) to work through the case, capturing the
essence of the issue. In the next month's issue, we'll provide you with one
approach to the solution of the puzzle. So each puzzle gives you two chances to
learn-first, as you work the puzzle, and again as you compare your approach to
ours.
|
|
|
|
