Back in September, had someone asked me to predict what would be the most frustrating part of our Kenya experience, I probably would have responded:

1. Our outdoor toilet,
2. The five hours it takes for a simple trip to the grocery store,
3. The mud and bugs during raining season, and
4. Flat tires.

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What has the most frustrating thing turned out to be? The same thing it was during my 25 year corporate career, BUREAUCRATS. Particularly bureaucrats who hide behind smokescreens of advanced degrees, lofty missions and altruistic rhetoric.

The developing world, Kenya included, is rife with said bureaucrats. Legions of them employed by NGOs (non-governmental and not-for-profit organizations) with expensive logos, glass and granite offices and glossy brochures. They churn out studies, dabble in “pilots” and have slogans like “Reducing Poverty, Improving Lives,” or “Market Solutions for Sustainable Growth.” Their real mottos should be “Process Ever, Act Never.”

I guess it’s obvious that I’m a bit fed up with these guys.

Over the past couple of months, while working to develop and fund NRT’s livestock trading business, I’ve had the pleasure of doing business with some of the best NGOs and the pain of being bounced through the mirror-maze labyrinths, road blocks and dead ends of some of the worst. Thank goodness for the best; organizations like The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT). TNC is a rare combination of big, smart and nimble. It combines an investment banker’s ability to structure deals and make decisions in uncertainty with a scientist’s commitment to facts and evidence based interventions. TNC invests its money to get things done on the ground with the people. It is willing to make long-term commitments and take prudent risks in order to achieve progress.

NRT is part of an emerging breed of NGO innovators. It breaks with bureaucratic tradition by being community driven rather than single or special purpose driven and valuing action over process. Change in this neck of the woods is a messy business. It is often two steps forward, one step back. There are no guarantees and a lot of obstacles. Things like entrenched cultural practices, century old conflicts, animals and people migrating across borders, arms trafficking, human trafficking and drought disrupt the best laid plans. Change agents need to be flexible, able to read the shifting local currents in real time and to adapt as the situation requires. Optimism, faith and patience also help. NRT embodies these attributes. It is in it for the long haul, meets communities where they are and helps build positive momentum forward.

The frustrating NGOs? My parents taught me to be polite so I won’t name any. Suffice it to say I’ve re-donned my thick, corporate skin and reminded myself that it is a waste of time and energy to fume about people or things that aren’t going to change. Move on and find the real movers and productive organizations. They are out there. Remember the Ten Centuries slogan: “Hard is Fun.”