re: Development?

Development is a Western construct. We all know this. It is us in the West who ulitimately decide what development trajectory a particular country or group of people should follow: the donor people, the governments, consultants and yes, advising academics. But given the significant disconnection between policy and reality - a gap that those driving the development project have little intention of bridging anytime soon - how can these actors possibly know what is 'best' for poor groups?

Let us look at development more pragmatically, in a more basic sense. It is the act of improving or expanding or enlarging or refining or more simply, improving quality of life. The billions of dollars earmarked for doing this well, have failed to do so. These monies, after all, have gone toward privatizing parastatals, overhauling taxation regimes, keeping corrupt leaders in power, liberalizing trade markets, and removing subsidies on farm inputs - changes made in the name of development but which have rather made life even more difficult for poor people in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. So how, in light of increased hardship, do people go about improving their quality of life? More specifically, how do these people escape hardship and develop?

A recent story told to me by a Ghanaian colleague sheds light on how. He always buys his newspapers at a particular "stall" in Accra. Four family members and friends manned this particular stall at one point. But after some time, there were only three. "Where is the young lady?" asked my colleague one Tuesday morning. Her brother replied: "She has left. We all financed her travel." After some time, my colleague noticed there were only two of the original four manning the stall, and so he asked the same question. "He has joined the lady," replied her brother. "We saved and saved and financed his travel and secured his documents." And, sure enough, after some time, the brother was also nowhere to be seen. "He has left as well," the middle-aged woman explained, the only one remaining of the original four. "I soon will be joining them in Cleveland, Ohio."

Westerners have overseen the implementation of comprehensive policies and programs in the name of development. But many residents of the developing countries being exploited have responded by launching their own, equally-comprehensive, development programs...