Civil society groups work hard for the well being of all things livings. There efforts have, while not exactly turning things around dramatically, still, been good enough to keep some of those social monsters such as poverty, disenfranchisement and frustration at bay. At least in some highly selective geographies for very small, carefully selected communities. The question that needs to be asked is this: Why is it that there is such a small impact of all the millions and millions of dollars that have been spent by civil groups in the name of social welfare? The answer is simple and horrible. Corruption. From the moment a dollar gets into the hands of a donor agent all the way down, that dollar is whittled away until hardly anything reaches the people who were the primary reason why some good Samaritan somewhere gave that dollar.

The same also goes for governments, IFIs, private sector organizations etc. Every single one of these has been guilty of manipulative action and the exercising of hidden agendas that are selfish in the extreme. The activities of such groups has further escalated the problem and has directly led to severe poverty and the spawning of collateral practices that compound it to a point of no return.

This is a terrible state of affairs and none of our efforts to make this earth a better place for all to live in would mean anything at all if this status quo continues. Thus, for the GMSL, the very idea of social action is steeped in ensuring a governance model that will eradicate this thinking completely from the minds and hearts of those who have managed, over the years, to "make an unfair living" out of the pain of others. We know that engineering that is not easy since, unfortunately, there are many civil groups on the other side of that great divide.

Yet, we are hopeful. If civil society organizations are to be key players in sustainable development then our action to ensure ownership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability have to have real and demonstrable meaning to those who are targeted by assistance. This requires us to ensure that there will not be the slightest hint of thieving, cheating or thuggery in our actions and that our actions will not contain the slightest hint of a desire for profit, fame or recognition. Additionally, the GMSL firmly believes that when attempting to ensure sustainability to the results of action, such action should take place within a framework of consolidated effort that takes into consideration social, cultural and economic realities of the country. Thus, while lobbying the government and external players for a better method of governance, the GMSL attempts to give specific communities the strength and resilience it needs in all aspects of life and living. This involves working closely with the people to assist them to map out their own ideas of sustainable development and help them achieve those goals - even if helping them means that we should remove ourselves from their presence without further ado. This is the reason for the most important program of the GMSL - the Governance and Consolidated Action (GCAP) program.