I recently had an exchange with a human rights lawyer friend that went something like this:

Friend: Hey, how’s that new project you’re working on?

Me: Oh, it’s going well. Really great, actually!

Friend: Oh wow! That’s good to hear. So you feel like you’re making a difference?

Me: Oh no! (laughs) Not really.

Some of you may be thinking - yikes. That’s rough. Others (maybe those who of you working in or close to this field?), might be giving a tired nod of the head.

See, when my friend asked about work, my first thought was of the cool people I’m working with and how interested I am in the topic (how Covid-19 is fueling a rise in authoritarianism - BOOM). The question of whether or not I’m individually “making a difference” is one I stopped asking myself a while ago. In part because of a learned humility that comes with age and experience: I acknowledge I’m a cog in that whole giant wheel of human rights and development. In part because lasting change for social justice takes a long time and can be agonizingly incremental (hence, the frustration and burnout).

And yet that doesn’t discourage me. In fact, as I’ve mentioned in posts about numbing and anger, I think I have a healthier relationship to work and the Cause than I did before. Which brings to mind a concept I fumble with endlessly in meditation - aspiration without expectation.

Basically: do the work and release the result.

And here we go with the punchline: I think the principle of aspiration without expectation should be more regularly applied to human rights and development work.

Of course we want certain outcomes, of course we’re working to expose abusers and bad actors and we want them to stop. But if we hold on too tightly to a certain expected result, we not only get frustrated when it doesn’t happen, we potentially miss other, unexpected things that did. If we’re too attached to the target indicator, objective or goal, we might not see the other (positive or negative) outcomes of our work. This can blind us and entrench us so firmly in old ways of thinking and acting, we don’t even see we’re doing it.

Methodologies like Applied Political Economy Analysis are one way to constantly re-evaluate and adjust our understanding of (constantly changing) underlying factors in a given context. This naturally challenges our definition of programmatic “success” and, by extension, how we get there.

Ultimately, though, abandoning the Tyranny of Expectations requires a mindset shift we need to cultivate in ourselves, with our teams, and with our donors.

Do the work, with discipline and real effort.

Know you have no control over the outcome.

Check. Learn. Recalibrate. Course correct.

Start again.