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PAN AFRICA INSTITUTE FOR DEVELOPMENT – WEST AFRICA (PAID-WA) BUEA

LECTURE NOTES

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF PAID, AND THE SCIENCE OF DEVELOPMENT

Uwem Essia

AUGUST, 2015

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Pedagogic Objectives: Bring the higher degree students to master PAID’s guiding principles,

concepts of concerted, decent and sustainable development, and how these specificities of

PAID fit within the mainstream development thinking their relevance to Africa.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the course, the higher degree students should be able to promote sustainable development for the common good of all, while keeping alive the guiding principles of PAID. Learning Outcomes: Development concepts, applied development science concepts, guiding principles of PAID, application of the guiding principles of PAID to various sciences for development, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches of development, development communication, science of learning, and the different aspects of development (humanist aspect, ecologic aspect, economic aspect, social aspect, cultural aspect etc.). Credits: 30 (comprising 15 hours of lectures, 9 hours of class/group work, and 6 hours of students’ presentations and comments).

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LECTURE 1: Introducing PAID and Its Guiding Principles

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1.1 Creation, Mission and Vision of PAID ……………………………………………………………………….. 6

1.2 Governance and Administration ………………………………………………………………………………. 6

1.3 Policies and Programmes …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 1.4 Languages of the Association ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9 1.5 Orientation of the Association 9 LECTURE 2:

PAID’s Conceptualization of Development 11

2.1 Meaning and Scope of Development ……………………………………………………………………………………. 12 2.2 PAID’s Development (Project) Implementation Strategy ………………………………………………………. 14 2.3 Field of Activities ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15 2.4 International Network ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15 LECTURE 3:

PAID’s Development Paradigm (Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Development)

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3.1 Concerted Development ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18 3.2 Decent Development ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20 3.3 Sustainable Development ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 22 3.4 PAID’s framework for Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Development …………………………….. 23 LECTURE 4:

Review of Selected Conventional Development Theories 28

4.1 Growth vs. Development Economics ……………………………………………………………………………………. 29 4.2 Globalization of Conventional Development ………………………………………………………………………… 30 4.3 Marxism and Development ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 31 4.4 Influence of Marxism on Modern Development …………………………………………………………………... 33 4.5 Changing Theories of Development ……………………………………………………………………………………… 35 LECTURE 5:

Science, Innovation and Development 39

5.1 Mainstreaming Science and Technology Issues in Modern Development ……………………………. 40 5.2 Strategies for promoting STI in LDCs ……………………………………………………………………………………. 41 5.3 Globalization of STI ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 41 5.4 The Nature of Science ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 44 5.5 The Scientific Revolution ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 47 LECTURE 6:

Working with Local People and Communities 50

6.1 Community Intervention Conference of October 2009, at Chicago, Illinois ………………………….. 51 6.2 Ecological Perspective to Community Intervention ……………………………………………………………… 51 6.3 Primary Intervention of the Community Intervention Paradigm …………………………………………. 51 6.4 From MDGs to SDGs …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 53

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LECTURE 7: Action Learning

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7.1 The New Science of Learning ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 57 7.2 Implications for Teaching and Teacher Preparation ……………………………………………………………… 57 7.3 The Learning Organisation …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 60 7.4 Learning Structures and Systems …………………………………………………………………………………………. 62 7.5 Leadership, Teams and the Learning Processes …………………………………………………………………… 62 LECTURE :

Development Communication 64

8.1 Meaning of Development Communication …………………………………………………………………………… 65 8.2 Theoretical Approaches to Development Communication ……………………………………………………. 66 8.3 Theoretical Frameworks for explaining Community or Societal Behaviour …………………………… 66 8.4 Creating and Enabling Environment …………………………………………………………………………………….. 68 8.5 Using Communication to tackle Poverty ………………………………………………………………………………. 69 8.6 Myths of the Politics of Neutrality ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 70 8.7 Development Communication in the 21st Century ……………………………………………………………….. 71 8.8 Technology vs. Cultural Perspectives on Community Development ……………………………………… 72 8.9 Non-Governmental Organisation …………………………………………………………………………………………. 72

LIST OF CHARTS

Chart 1: The Regional spread of R’PAIDs in Africa ……………………………………………………………………… 15 Chart 2: Students spend only 14 percent of their time in school ………………………………………………..

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 The traditional vs the learning organization ………………………………………………………………… 61

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Concertization ecosystem in a typical national/sub-national economic setting……………… 19 Figure 2: Concertization in the electoral process of a modern society…………………………………………. 20 Figure 3: Brundtland definition of sustainable Development ……………………………………………………… 22 Figure 4: Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Development ………………………………………………………. 23 Figure 5: The Concertization Ecosystem …………………………………………………………………………………….. 24 Figure 6: The concretization ecosystem in a governance setting ………………………………………………… 25 Figure 7: The concretization ecosystem in an electoral setting …………………………………………………… 25 Figure 8: Requirements for Decent Development ………………………………………………………………………. 26 Figure 9: Pillars of Sustainable Development ……………………………………………………………………………… 27 Figure 10: Sustainable development goals ……………………………………………………………………………………. 54

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LECTURE 1

INTRODUCING PAID AND IT’S GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Aims and objectives 1. To make the students understand the vision, mission, and guiding principles of PAID. 2. To explain the different types of members and how to become a member of PAID. 3. To introduce the students to the various Organs and Units of PAID and how they operate.

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1.1. CREATION, MISSION AND VISION OF PAID 1.1.1. Creation: Pan African Institute for Development (PAID) is an International Association

set up on the 28 February 1964 in Geneva as an International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) to empower the peoples of Africa.

1.1.2. Purpose: To support the economic, social and cultural development of the African countries through action-research, support-consultancy, and the training of African staff to enable them to assume responsibility at various levels with the participation of the population, in order to achieve self-development and improve their living conditions.

1.1.3. Vision: To be the preferred centre for concerted, decent and sustainable development

of the African continent bringing together in every country all persons without distinction of race, nationality, religious origin or belief.

1.1.4. Mission: The mission of the International Association is to foster the economic, social,

and cultural development of the African countries through:

Training of Africans for self-development and improved wellbeing.

Research–publication to meet the needs of Africans.

Support for rural-based agrarian African population.

Consultancy in development issues in Africa.

Development projects in Africa.

1.1.5. Core Value: PAID accepts no gifts, grants or contributions from any public or private

institution which is subject to conditions contrary to its political and religious neutrality.

1.2. GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION The Association is administered in conformity with:

1. The Guiding Principles.

2. The Association Statutes.

3. Internal Rules and Regulations.

4. Professional Staff Statute.

5. Administrative and Technical Staff Statute.

6. PAID-Mutual Health Insurance Fund Statute.

7. The Swiss Confederation Legislation applicable to private and non-profit making

International Associations.

8. Headquarters Agreements signed with African Governments.

9. The Harmonized Policies and Procedures Manual.

1.2.1. The key Governance and Administrative Organs are the following:

Community of members or General Assembly (CM/GA).

Governing Council (GC) and the Executive Committee (EC).

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1.2.2. Structure of the Association

The structures of the Association are broadly classified into statutory organs and consultative

organs. The statutory organs are created by the Association’s Statutes. These organs are

classified in three categories, namely: Governing Organs, Governing Organs, Consultative

Organs, and Other Organs.

1. Governing Organs: These are organs that formulate policies and strategic plans, and orientate activities of the Association. The Governing organs includes: Community of Members (CMs), Governing Council (GC), and the Executive Committee (EC).

2. Operational Organs: These are organs that execute or implement policies and strategies

laid down by the Governing organs. These include: PAID General Secretariat (PAID-GS);

Management Committee (MC); PAID Regional Institutes (R-PAIDs); and International Centre

for Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Development (ICCDSD).

3. Consultative Organs: These are organs that are not created by the Association’s Statutes

but are found in the Internal Rules and Regulations of the Association: Finance Committee

(FC); Scientific and Pedagogic Council (SPC); Advisory Council (AC); Staff Council (SC); and

Mediator.

4. Other Organs: Other operational organs include: Pan African Institute for Development

Foundation (PAID-F); and PAID Staff Mutual Health Insurance Fund (PAID-SMHIF).

Table 1: Members of the current Governing Council

S/n Name Designation

1 Dr. ELAD Teresia (Cameroon) President

2 Mme. Loise Kibera (Kenya) Vice President

3 Prof. Quenum (Benin) Vice President

3 Dr. VINCENT Fernand (Switzerland) Founder

4 Prof. KAMDEM Emmanuel (Cameroon) Secretary General

Other members of the Governing Council

5 Michel Damon (France)

6 Moynat Jacque (Switzerland)

7 Sielinou Andre (Cameroon)

8 Abdel Cherkaoui (Morocco)

9 Ethel Cote (Canada)

10 KWESI F. A. Biney (Ghana)

11 Aleck Soupene (Senegal)

12 Baldé Fatoumata (Equatorial Guinea)

PAID Regional Institutes

PAID Central Africa (PAID-CA) B. P. 4078 Douala, Cameroon

PAID-West Africa (PAID/WA) P. O. Box 133 Buea, Cameroon

PAID-West Africa Sahel (PAID/AOS)B.P. 1756 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

PAID-East and Southern Africa (PAID/ESA) P.O. Box 80448 Kabwé, Zambia

IPD-Afrique du Nord 99 99, Qasbah des Genaoua Sidi Moussa, Sahel Morocco

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1.3. POLICY AND PROGRAMMES

PAID’s guiding principles and views about activities relating to Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Economic, Social and Cultural Development of the African countries which is the mission of the Association are clearly spelt out in the Policy of Association.

PAID’s Harmonized Manual describes in detail a logical sequence of activities or processes that are to be followed by PAID family (the CM, GC, EC, SG, the Regional and Central Directors, Staff and Students) to execute tasks assigned to them in a correct and consistent manner. The Manual is a support document to the Guiding Principles of the Association, the Statutes, and the Internal Rules and Regulations.

1.3.1. Membership of the Association

Membership of the Association is opened to all persons, regardless of race, sex, religion, faith, tribe, creed, etc. who adheres to the Statutes and Internal Rules and Regulations. The terms of membership of the Association, rights, obligations and duties of members shall be described in the Policies and Procedures Manual.

1.3.1.1. Types of Membership The Association shall comprise four (4) types of members as follows: 1. Founding Members - Individuals who took the initiative to create the Association and

adopted its first Statutes. They are honorary life members of the CMs, unless a contrary notice is received from them. They shall participate in an advisory capacity, at any meeting of a PAID organ without exception if they are present at the meeting locality.

2. Active Members - Members who are up-to-date with their annual contributions which are

paid each calendar year, and respond to consultations and other census/surveys at the headquarters of the Association.

3. Honorary Members or Patrons – Titles conferred by the GC of PAID following the

recommendation of the SG, on persons who have interest for the Association but whose functions or other circumstances do not allow them to fully participate as active members.

4. Benefactor Members - Those that the GC of PAID shall on the recommendation of SG

confer this title, given the substantial material and financial contributions made by them.

1.3.1.2. Application for Membership of the Association Any person wishing to become a member of the Association shall submit an application file to the General Secretariat.

Table 2: List of Founding Members

N° NAME AND SURNAME NATIONALITY TITLE

1 Jules-Alphone RAZAFIMBAHINY Madagascan President/Founder

2 Fernand VINCENT Swiss Secretary General/Founder

3 Dr Marie-Thérèse BASSE-SENGHOR Senegalese Founder

4 Gilbert BLARDONE French Founder

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5 Pierre BUNGENER Swiss Founder

6 Michel DEBEAUVAIS French Founder

7 Pastor Thomas EKOLLO Cameroonian Founder

8 Magatte FALL Senegalese Founder

9 Prof. François PERROUX French Founder

10 Peter Du SAUTOY English Founder

11 Augustin TEFAK Cameroonian Founder

12 Augustine VANISTENDAEL Belgian Founder

13 Robert VAUTHERIN French Founder

14 Jean-Baptiste YONKE Cameroonian Founder

15 Monseigneur Jean ZOA Cameroonian Founder

16 Pierre ZUMBACH Swiss Founder

1.4. LANGUAGES OF THE ASSOCIATION

PAID uses four (4) working languages of the African Union (AU) namely: 1. French for French speaking African countries (Afrique Centrale-AC and Afrique de l’Ouest

et du Sahel-AOS).

2. English for the English speaking African countries (West Africa-WA and East and Southern

Africa-ESA).

3. Portuguese for Equatorial Bissau and other Portuguese speaking African countries.

4. Arabic for the Arab speaking African countries (Afrique du Nord-AN).

To maintain its international identity and principle of neutrality regarding discrimination of any form, PAID shall adopt any other language if the need arises.

1.5. ORIENTATION OF THE ASSOCIATION

PAID shall intervene in the areas of economic, social and cultural development. PAID shall not

intervene in partisan politics and inter-religious issues. Members of PAID family (CMs, GC, EC,

PAID-GS and R-PAIDs) are expected to be neutral on political and religious issues of African

countries. PAID shall not accept any gift or subsidy from any public or private institution that

may seek to impose conditions which are not consistent with its political and religious

neutrality.

1.5.1. The Pan African Nature of the Association

1. PAID exclusively serves Africa and its population. The economic, social and cultural

development of African countries is at the centre of all its activities.

2. PAID is rooted in Pan-Africanism and other African development issues.

3. PAID promotes exchange of experiences, cooperation and complementarily between the

English-speaking, Arab-speaking, Spanish-speaking, French-speaking and Portuguese-

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speaking African countries and strengthens regional and national solidarities to better

consolidate African unity.

4. PAID notes that many of Africa’s conflicts and underdevelopment are the direct outcome

of external domination by the industrialized economic systems. Hence, PAID opposes all

forms of domination of Africa, whether external or internal, endorses the search for a new

world economic order, and undertakes to assist African populations to abandon the

sphere of marginalization and play an active role in asserting their needs and realizing

their legitimate aspirations.

1.5.2 PAID’s Operational Choices

PAID is an International Association of individuals. Each member is expected to act in

the interest of PAID, not representing any Government or Organization.

PAID is an international NGO recognized by the African Union (AU), European Union (EU), UEMOA, CEMAC, ADB, ECOSOC, ECA, and FAO. PAID has signed headquarters agreements with African governments that are hosts of its existing Institutes for training and research.

Although a private International Association, PAID has very close official ties with African governments and African Regional Organizations. Through its various activities and choices, PAID aims at serving Africa exclusively. It shall not be influenced by political, religious, ideological, and philosophical interests of a State or group of States. “Its members shall be of any race, nationality, origin or creed’’.

The International Association PAID shall consider Africa as its continent and it is within this overall framework that it provides assistance. The Pan-African nature of its activities facilitates contacts, research and joint activities of all African countries to strengthen the continent's unity in diversity. PAID promotes exchange of experiences, cooperation and complementarities between the English-speaking, Arab-speaking, Spanish-speaking, French-speaking and Portuguese-speaking countries and strengthens regional and national solidarities to better consolidate continental unity. PAID seeks to be become a Pan African terrain of dialogue, a hub and laboratory for research, exchange and sharing of experiences in the continent.

Review Questions 1. State and explain the Vision and Mission of PAID. 2. Describe the different organs of PAID. 3. Explain the Pan African nature of the International Association, PAID

Materials for Further Reading PAID’s Brochures PAID’s Policies and Procedures Manual PAID’s Annual Reports (Various Issues)

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LECTURE 2

PAID’s CONCEPTUALIZATION OF DEVELOPMENT

Aims and Objectives

Expose the students to PAID’s definition and concepts of development.

Explain the importance of focusing on the people, the ‘field’, culture, and the community.

Justify PAID’s concerns for the environment and its sustainable utilization.

Explain PAID’s field of activities.

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2.1. MEANING AND SCOPE OF DEVELOPMENT

By “development,” PAID “refers to a planned, global and cumulative process through which a regional or national community can fully benefit from the potentials of the environment by using appropriate methods and techniques, to equitably and sustainably satisfy everyone’s needs, in line with the process of transformation and opening up to the whole world”. PAID advocates for a concerted, decent and sustainable development, always involving all relevant stakeholders and preserving the environment, soil, sub-soil, waterways, water-table as well as fauna and flora.

PAID believes that a person being both the instrument of and the purpose for development should be transformed to a principal being that is responsible in an organized society. Training is the best way to enable human beings to participate actively in self, community, and national development.

2.1.1. PAID’s Core Focal Areas While considering development as a global and integrated phenomenon, PAID focuses on all sectors but pays special attention to rural people and their communities. More specifically;

PAID shall seek to promote integrated, participatory concerted development.

Concerted development shall be based on strengthening and involving all stakeholders (beneficiaries, policy makers and donors). Integrated, participative and concerted development requires close coordination of training, research and a portfolio of support activities, projects, and programmes.

Concerted development requires economic, sociological, administrative and spatial integration of all elements, factors and agents that allow the population of a region to benefit equitably and sustainably from the fruits of growth and development without compromising future generations.

2.1.2. Innovation and Originality

PAID is justified in the originality, innovation and the search for a multiplier effect of its training, action research-publication, and support-consultancy to populations. In all its activities, PAID focuses on the needs of African and the changing development circumstances.

PAID shall avoid duplication of national or regional institutions. Instead, it shall seek to facilitate the creation of national training and research institutes by giving priority, in its efforts, to the training of trainers and researchers as a pedagogic support and consultant laboratory.

PAID notes the multiplicity of cultures, geographical settings, languages, attitudes, customs, economic potentials, etc. in Africa. This justifies the plurality of development pathways; each set of people, nation, region, according to its own genius and identity, should seek its development path, and strive to collaborate and work with those committed in the same way. Consequently, PAID shall adapt its daily activities to local and national realities, provided they do not conflict with its principles and choices.

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2.1.3. Opposition to foreign domination and colonization

PAID notes that Africa has conflicts, and many of Africa’s internal conflicts are either

caused or promoted by external influence. PAID also notes, that external domination

exerted on African countries and peoples by industrialized economic systems of the

world can block their development efforts.

PAID is opposed to all forms of domination, whether external or internal. It endorses

the search for a new and more equitable world economic order and undertakes to assist

populations to exit the margins and play an active role in asserting their real needs as

well as achieving their legitimate aspirations.

PAID considers that, in general, foreign models, structures, techniques and methods do

not serve Africa’s needs. Hence PAID is committed to searching or strengthening African

development methods and models. PAID is in constant search for change prerequisites

(training, educational systems adapted to needs, information, appropriate technical and

financial assistances, structures etc.) and strategies that can promote and sustain the

desired change.

2.1.4. Micro - level Orientation

PAID shall promote, through joint research, training and support activities for the

population on the field. The field here represents work-related environment where

individuals and communities work towards meeting their needs in agriculture, industry,

and delivering services, and where natural endowments, including land and its

resources, weather and climatic conditions, and human labour are required. In the field,

it is crucial to balance on meeting the people’s needs, achieving the goals of production,

and at the same time maintaining the biodiversity has to be maintained. This has to be

so at the local, sub-national, national, regional and global levels.

PAID argues that macroeconomic planning, nationally and regionally, may ignore the

microeconomic fundamentals of the field. Equally, sectoral development projects

implemented without giving due regards to issues of the field or the micro-level

fundamentals may indeed harm growth rather than promote it.

However, building in the field context calls for more broad participation of the

concerned individuals and their representatives. This pre-supposes that they are

adequately knowledgeable and skilled to effectively participate in development. It

follows therefore that:

1. Development at regional and local levels should be achieved through awareness,

training and participation of the concerned populations;

2. Regional framework should expose of needs, constraints and realities in a

manner that puts the competencies and needs of the people at the center of

development;

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3. Development requires a global view of facts and activities, with planning as the

instrument of this integration, and efforts applied both at the national and local

level to determine medium- and long-term goals (top-down planning).

2.2. PAID’S DEVELOPMENT (PROJECT) IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY In practice, PAID’s development programming strategy is based on the following principles:

2.2.1. Principle of Praxis

Real activities involving application of human skills and knowledge (generally referred to

as the “field”) is the permanent focal point of any PAID activity. It is on the field that

human beings live, express their needs, think and act. For PAID, the field is the physical

location or the social setting where development is initiated and progresses to link other

activities and sectors. It includes several players and settings like the family, village, local

area, sub-national, and national projects, institutions (e.g. administration), structures,

individuals, groups committed in a practical way in development, etc. More specifically,

field work in PAID encompasses support for the population, particularly those living on

the fringes or margins of societies and civilizations.

2.2.2. Principle of Demonstration

To ease buy-in and mass adoption, PAID may exceptionally undertake the responsibility of packaging a development project, as a demonstration. PAID shall advise, assist, create contacts, endorse, etc., local development, monitor it closely, give it coherence and adapt it within the context of national development. In its studies and research, PAID shall consult, design and plan development based on projects from the population.

2.2.3. Principle of Skilling

In the area of training, PAID shall target different levels of personnel in concerned organizations and the population. There are short-, medium- and long-term training. Training can also be done by correspondence (e-learning). PAID can prepare special training programs for its clients on demand.

PAID’s consultative activities shall enable its staff to keep abreast with new knowledge and innovations, and obtain information to strengthen teaching and training at grassroots level, while at the same time building the capacities of its Regional Institutes to finance themselves. Recruitment of training staff shall be based on the training needs, importance of the training sought and joint elaboration of selection methods with the users concerned. Experience, quality of the development facilitator and previous training by the candidates are the main selection criteria.

Training programmes are also designed by PAID in collaboration with the local partners concerned and the future employers of trainees. Generally, PAID’s training seeks to respond to specific needs expressed by the requesting party.

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2.3. FIELD OF ACTIVITIES 2.3.1. Training/Capacity Development PAID offers two types of training:

Long-term trainings (Academic/Professional) following the BMD (Bachelor, Master and Doctorate) system;

Short-term trainings that takes the form of refresher courses, mentoring, internships, workshops, and seminars.

PAID organizes its training using various methods:

On-campus training that takes place at the Regional Institutes and Learning Support Centers;

Off campus training that takes place outside the Regional Institutes and Learning Support Centers and also known as delocalized training;

Distance training takes two forms: e-learning and correspondence learning;

Tailor-made and customized training takes place when PAID signs an agreement with an entity that expresses its needs.

2.3.2. Action-Research and Transfer-Research Action-research aims at acting constructively to positively change the living conditions of the population; it enables the participation of the beneficiary populations to the action taken. Transfer-research aims at promoting a successful initiative at another place; what others with similar conditions and needs have achieved elsewhere.

2.3.3. Support -Consultancy Support-consultancy aims at reinforcing capacities of leaders and managers of public and private institutions as well as the civil society by providing them with appropriate consultancy services in their actions. 2.3.3.1. Project Management Project management consists of designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating technical cooperation projects in a participatory and concerted manner. 2.4. INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

It effectively realize its mission and goals, PAID’s strategy has been to setup a regional institute in each region of the African continent. PAID currently has a network of five regional institutes (IPD-AC, PAID-WA, IPD-AOS, PAID-ESA and IPD-AN) and a General Secretariat (PAID-GS).

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Chart 1: The regional spread of R-PAIDs in Africa

Overall activities of the Regional Institutes are coordinated by the General Secretariat (PAID-GS). PAID Foundation (PAID-F) has also been set up for fundraising process. Thus, the International Institution covers both the Anglophone, Francophone and Arab Regions of Africa from where it carries out all its activities, and pursues its vision of being the best African institution in the area of development; training middle and high level staff to imbibe the values of democracy, concertocracy, humanism, equity, social justice, good governance and the respect of human rights.

Review Questions 1. Explain PAID’s focal areas. 2. What are PAID’s views on the following: foreign domination

and colonization, and micro-level orientation? 3. Explain PAID’s project implementation strategy. 4. Discuss PAID’s field of activities.

Materials for Further Reading 1. PAID’s Brochures. 2. PAID’s Policies and Procedures Manual. 3. PAID’s Annual Reports (Various Issues).

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LECTURE 3

PAID’S DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM (Concerted, Decent, and Sustainable Development)

Aims and Objectives 1. To raise understanding and the ability to apply PAID’s concepts of concerted, decent, and

sustainable development. 2. To demonstrate the comprehensiveness and inclusiveness of PAID’s concerted

sustainable development.

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3.1. CONCERTED DEVELOPMENT 3.1.1. What is concerted development?

Improvement in the wellbeing of people in a group or society (family, community, state, region and so on) achieved together: planned, implemented, and monitored by the group or society working together or with common goals. There are always differences in the views of persons, and quite often also a community is composed of different groups. Working together can produce the desired results.

3.1.2. Preconditions for concerted development

Potential participants need to know that mass involvement and inclusion presupposes that there are barriers to working together, such as; the knowledge level of potential participants and the number of group members. Involvement of every member of the group proves more difficult when the people are not adequately knowledgeable and the populations and societies are large.

Mass inclusion would require that the representatives truly speak for the different groups. The group leaders should communicate well with the people and be trusted by them. Mass inclusion equally calls for accessibility and affordability of information. Educating people on how to access and apply the information sourced is important. Equally important are access to the Internet and proficiency in searching for the required information.

Additionally, each group should have services or products that are beneficial to the others, such that the economies from working together exceed what may be gained by operating alone.

Continuity of concerted development is hinged on the overall enlightenment level of the population. Continuing education will make it much less difficult to negotiate and reach consensuses. Concerted development thus produces a stakeholders’ economy with each group deciding to work together for higher output such as could not have been achieved if they had worked independently.

3.1.3. The Concertization Ecosystem

Figure 1 shows the actors that are important in a political economic setting, namely; the government (serving as regulators and supplier of public goods and transfer payments), consumers (households), the enterprises (producers), and the workers and labour unions (labour services providers). All parties are better-off if there is cohesion among them, mutual gains are identified from working together, and members of the group are able to access and use the relevant information.

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: determined by the level of social cohesion, identification mutual gains from working together,

level of social capital, respect for group leaders, and access to information by the different

actors and their representatives.

GOVERNMENT: subnational and national government (including ministries, department, and agencies of

government)

CONSUMERS: households, firms & government (service users)

ENTERPRISES : Public & private producers/ distributors and suppliers (service providers)

WORKERS: Employees in private and public jobs and their pressure groups.

Figure 1: Concertization ecosystem in a typical national/sub-national economic setting.

3.1.4. Concertization in the Electoral Process

Figure 2 illustrates the concertization process in a typical electoral process that aims at selecting credible leaders. Here the key players are the electoral agency, the electorates, the political parties and movements, and the non-governmental groups (NGOs). Concertization will ensure the correct targeting service delivery to all groups. Broad participation achieved through concertization will grow public interest in how government businesses are run, institutionalize democratic governance, and promote sustainability of a stakeholder economy. The preconditions for healthy concertization in the electoral process include the following:

o Grassroot participation in governance, and growing capacity of CSOs to influence local development.

o Growing stock of social capital - mutual trust, truth-telling, reciprocity, and so on. o Clustering at a location due to concentration of employment opportunities or

exploitation of a valuable natural resource. 3.1.5. Concertization and Social Cohesion

Social cohesion makes concretization possible and at the same time strengthens it. Social cohesion promotes working together and sustainability of collective conscience. It generally relates to the following:

o Access to rights for all, and respect for the dignity of others. o The right for all individuals to have opportunity for personal development, and o The willingness of many to participate in governance.

The guiding principle is that everyone can play a role in society, and people as represented in groups are willing to take responsibilities. Consultation and co-operation between all the players is essential for social cohesion.

Social cohesion has become a more dynamic concept in modern times. The structure of social cohesion in modern societies is increasingly centered on the legal and economic rights of individuals, and having to deal with rapid and radical changes, as against its traditionally connotation as the desire for social and ethnic bonding. The modern notion of social cohesion has contributed to the formulation of new relationships of responsibility between citizens themselves and between citizens and public bodies.

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: determined by the level of social cohesion, identification mutual gains from working together,

level of social capital, respect for group leaders, and access to information by the different

actors and their representatives.

THE ELECTORAL AGENCY: at municipal, subnational and national level (principally the chairman and Board

members)

ELECTORATES: those who vote during elections

POLITICAL PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS: those seeking/not seeking elective offices

NON-GOVERNMENTAL GROUPS: civil rights movements, workers’ unions, students’ union, CSOs, NSAs, etc.

Figure 2: Concertization in the electoral process of a modern society.

Social cohesion is sharing of values to the extent of building community bond, a sense of belonging, and the ability to work together. This promotes attainment of a stable, co-operative, and sustainable community. It involves reducing disparities in wealth and incomes, giving group members a sense of common enterprise, allowing them see the shared challenges, and implanting the consciousness that they are members of the same community.

Social cohesion and concertization are therefore not necessarily “scientific” or technical concepts. They result from collaborative activities that the institutional players, representatives of stakeholder groups and autonomous individuals carry out to resolve problems and shoulder collective responsibilities for the common good. Social cohesion is a vehicle that institutions and active citizens adopt and renew to provide themselves in turn with shared and relevant political objectives that prevent social conflict and ensure the democratic stability of society as a whole, while concertization is the life force or energy that powers it.

3.2. DECENT DEVELOPMENT

PAID’s view of decent development is that it should promote intergenerational equity and protect vegetal and animal species. ILO focus is on the Decent Work Agenda (DWA) that is anchored on promotion of full and productive employment, social protection, respect for fundamental principles and rights at work and social dialogue. DWA highlights the importance of decent work as a universal aspiration of working women and men in all countries, and the need to have it as a central objective of economic and social policies, and as a way to advance towards fair globalization.

Like ILO’s DWA, PAID’s decent development connects policies with the issues working women and men face and care about, and emphasizes also the need to confront stagnated growth, unemployment, and poverty by raising productivity. It supports the

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growth of enterprise profits alongside respect for the values and principles of decent work, human dignity, and environmental sustainability.

Policy coherence here means balancing the different drivers of growth, by focusing not just on exports as a source of growth but also on the growth dynamism that can come out from growing internal markets and the expanding middle class of wage earners. Decent development also involves healthy waste management through recycling and reuse, and putting limits on wasteful developments.

Decent development would require addressing the challenges of radioactive waste by building a sound safety case, and paying special attention to stakeholders' concerns regarding radioactive waste management. This calls for synergies and effective coordination of national research programmes on the recycling and management of spent fuel and radioactive waste.

3.2.1. Aspects of Decent Development

Decent development calls for the creation of “green jobs” that are economically and environmentally sustainable.

Qualitative, accessible and affordable healthcare is a critical contributor to and outcome of decent development.

Resilience-building for improved food security & nutrition calls for more strategic thinking. Smallholders need to access affordable climate-smart agricultural technologies and practices, safety nets, educational opportunities, financial services and pro-poor policy environments. Investments in disease-resistant crop varieties reduce vulnerability to crop losses and improved food and nutrition security. Other support programmes such as cash and in-kind transfers, work support etc, are required.

Inclusive & sustainable education systems – the role of local strategies and actors to improve education access, quality and relevance should be addressed. It is needful to apply IT and appraise the relevance of the skills and responsiveness to gender issues.

Steady expansion and improvement of productive employment opportunities, through giving support to workers’ unions and CSOs at all levels to engage effectively and constructively with development project design, implementation and evaluation.

The importance of social dialogue - social dialogue is essential for social and economic development. Building sustainable platforms for social dialogue calls for more spaces for cross-border interaction and discussions in a manner that is beneficial to all parties.

Balancing job creation with environmental sustainability - proactively addressing higher energy efficiency, resource re-uses, and waste recycling will support long-term growth. The savings from eco-efficiencies drive and cost savings can be reinvested in innovations that make enterprises stronger and create more jobs. Greening of the economy will also create additional decent jobs, upgrade existing jobs, and raise incomes, especially in sectors such as agriculture, construction, recycling, and tourism. Balancing greening and environmental sustainability optimally calls for more social dialogue and adopting coherent policies that fit country-specific contexts, pay attention to healthy labour standards and industrial policies, and give support to micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Countries need to turn away from the quick-fix approach of “grow first and clean up later” to a holistic approach that sees environmental development as an essential composite of decent development.

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3.3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 3.3.1. Different perspectives of sustainable development

The International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) defines sustainable development as environmental, economic, social wellbeing for today and tomorrow.

Tokyo Declaration, Brundtland Report – focus on the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

System perspective on sustainability - the world is seen as a system that connects space, time and cultures. As a system that connects space, air pollution from North America affects air quality in Asia, and pesticides sprayed in Argentina can harm fish stocks off the coast of Australia. As a time concept, decisions made in past years can continue to affect practices today, in much the same way that policies endorsed today will impact on the future generations. As a cultural concept, sustainable habits and practices can be seen as improvements to the existing socio-cultural practices and norms of the people, and not a total alienation or colonization.

Rio+20 Conference – member states agreed to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will build upon the MDGs and converge with the post 2015 development agenda. The process should be intergovernmental, inclusive, and transparent and open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly.

3.3.2. The Brundtland definition of sustainability

This definition revolves around two key concepts: namely, ‘need’, meeting the essential needs of the world’s poor, and the ‘limitations’ imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and the future needs.

Figure 3: Brundtland definition of sustainable Development

Sustainability in the Bruntland definition is seen as the confluence of economic, environmental, and social balance (wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development).

3.3.3. Sustainable Development Commission

This view defines sustainable development as that which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Environmental consideration is critical, but is by no means the most important

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consideration. Sustainability is beyond consideration of the environment. It is also about ensuring a strong, healthy and just society. This means meeting the diverse needs of all people in existing and future communities, promoting personal wellbeing, social cohesion and inclusion, and creating equal opportunity.

3.4. PAID’s Framework for Concerted, Decent, and Sustainable Development PAID’s framework for concerted, decent and sustainable development is demonstrated in Figure 4 where PAID’s context of concerted, decent and sustainable development are summarized.

By concerted development, PAID implies that the processes of development should be all inclusive, with emphasis on broad stake holding, consultation, and consensus building. The concertation process need not necessarily be democratic in the western sense, but should permit consultation at all levels, particularly with credible CSOs who can serve as representatives of the people. Concretization should help in identifying development goals collectively, setting up the governance structures for realizing them decently and sustainably.

Decent development involves implementing concerted decisions and mainstreaming decent jobs, waste management and recycling, and respect for vegetal and animal species. This primarily calls for wholesome education for all and poverty reduction.

Sustainable development – improvements in wellbeing that takes into account intergenerational equity and achieving overall economic, social, legal, political, cultural and environmental balance. Allegorically it implies letting the ‘plants’ grow into trees and yield fruits so many persons can keep eating.

Figure 4: Concerted, Decent and Sustainable Development

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Figure 5: The Concertization Ecosystem Figure 5 shows the design of a concertization ecosystem for managing the state economy. Four set of actors need to concert effectively. These are the government ministries, departments, and agencies, enterprise membership groups, consumer representative groups, and workers’ unions and other pressure groups. The government should be consistent and ready to negotiate well with the three sets of non-government and respect agreements. The different set of non-state actors need to be committed to the existence and sustainability of the state. This calls for patriotism and commitment to sustainability by all the parties. The concretization eco-system of the typical state (government) formation is shown in Figure 6. Success with concertization is determined by the level of social cohesion, identification of mutual gains from working together, level of social capital, respect for group leaders, and access to information by the different actors and their representatives. At the top is a credible institution for managing the process of electing leaders at all levels of governance. The people need to be mobilized by political parties that organize the people for leadership recruitment and selection. Equally needful are electorate advisory bodies to educate the electorates on the choices to make. At the base are civil society movements, workers’ unions, students’ unions, CSOs, NSAs and other non-governmental groups that mobilize the people to participate and represent them in governance at different levels.

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: determined by the level of social cohesion, identification mutual gains from working together,

level of social capital, respect for group leaders, and access to information by the different

actors and their representatives.

GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENT, AND AGENCIES OF GOVERNMENT (SUBNATIONAL AND

NATIONAL)

CONSUMER GROUPS - educating and informing consumers.

ENTERPRISE MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS

WORKERS UNIONS AND PRESSURE GROUPS

Figure 6: The concretization ecosystem in a governance setting

: determined by the level of social cohesion, identification mutual gains from working together,

level of social capital, respect for group leaders, and access to information by the different

actors and their representatives.

THE ELECTORAL AGENCIES

(at municipal, subnational and national level)

ELECTORATES ADVISORY BODIES

POLITICAL PARTIES AND MOVEMENTS: those seeking/not seeking elective offices

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS, WORKERS’ UNIONS, STUDENTS’ UNION, CSOS, NSAS, ETC.

Figure 7: The concretization ecosystem in an electoral setting Figure 8 illustrates the requirements for decent development as follows:

1. Decent work – hard work that is not exploitative and does not promote accumulation of inorganic and toxic wastes.

2. Leapfrogging dirty technologies – taking advantage of previous and current innovations and technological advances (PAID is opposed to reinventing the wheel).

3. Entrepreneurship and private participation promotion - promoting a business culture and an educational system that makes people able to create new private businesses and manage them sustainably.

4. Human dignity – having respect for the human person regardless of their vulnerabilities and disabilities. Mainstreaming the rights of everyone to good life, liberty, and basic social services.

5. Protection of plants and animal species, and the biodiversity – promoting activities that use renewable/regenerative inputs and supporting utilization with conservation.

6. Managing wastes and checking pollution – promoting recycling/reuse and ensuring the criminalizing of activities that supports growth of inorganic waste.

7. Inclusion of vulnerable groups – concerns of disadvantaged persons identified and

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mainstreamed at all stages of the development process. 8. Healthcare and nutrition – affordable and accessible public healthcare and diseases’

diagnostic services created. 9. Wholesome education for all – affordable education that is suitable and builds the skills

of different categories of persons provided to the population, particularly the youths.

Figure 8: Requirements for Decent Development Figure 9 illustrates PAID’s six pillars of sustainable development as follows:

Social Pillar – development should suit the social fabric of the people. It should promote the progression of all social classes, and not encourage any form of discrimination of negative colonization.

Cultural Pillar – the on-going cultural evolutionary process should progressively incorporate techniques and innovations for fully utilizing the available human and material resources. In other words, the cultural pillar should evolve to ensure a strong indigenous production capacity. Wholesale importation of consumables and exportation of raw materials is not sustainable.

Economic Pillar – the market process and government policies should be properly aligned to create and sustain the appropriate incentives, capacities, and institutions.

Legal Pillar – there should be a fair, effective and efficient justice administration system that is accessible and affordable to all levels and classes of persons, particularly protecting the poor, physically and emotionally challenged, and other vulnerable persons.

Political Pillar – the political leadership selection process should facilitate the recruitment and retention of appropriate political leaders that are broadly accepted and suits the overall peace and context of each society, without unnecessary imposition and resort for disruptive change.

Ecological Pillar – regenerative use of natural resources should be supported alongside deliberate efforts to conserve, recycle, and resort to greener jobs and energy.

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Figure 9: Pillars of Sustainable Development

The combination of the pillars of sustainable development yields the following attributes of

PAID’s sustainable development:

Acceptable – the realization of the ecological and political dimensions of sustainable

development will enhance acceptability of the development programme and render it

generally acceptable to the various state and non-state actors.

Justifiable – satisfying the political and legal dimensions promotes sustainability by

rendering development activities justifiable.

Accountable – the combination of legal and economic dimensions promotes

accountability.

Equitable – the joint realization of economic and social dimensions promotes

equitability.

Bearable - the social and ecological dimensions together makes the cost of

development and waiting time bearable to the people.

Review Questions 1. Explain the notion of concerted development in the context of PAID. Show how it can be used

to ensure effective management of a nation state. 2. Explain the concept of decent development and its different dimensions. 3. Show how PAID’s sustainable development concept is an improvement over the Brundtland

definition of sustainable development.

Reading Materials 1. René Kemp and Saeed Parto, Robert B. Gibson (2005) Governance for sustainable development: moving from theory to practice Int. J. Sustainable Development, 8(1/2), Working Paper Series Number 2004/2

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LECTURE 4

REVIEW OF SELECTED CONVENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

Aims and Objectives 1. To briefly expose the students to selected theories and viewpoints on development. 2. To analyze the relevance of the conventional development thinking to the challenges of

development in Africa.

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This Lecture reviews the conventional thinking and theories of development and growth. It is

important for the students to fit the perspectives of PAID within the mainstream development

thinking, with a view to demonstrating the value added by PAID.

4.1. GROWTH Vs DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

Growth economics focuses on sustained increase in national output in the short term (i.e. 1 – 2 years), while economic development occurs when the standard of living of a large majority of the population rises, including both income and other dimensions like health and literacy.

Growth economics studies the long-run, steady-state, equilibrium growth paths of economically developed countries, which have long overcome the problem of initiating development. It assumes the existence of a fully developed modern economy with a sufficient supply of entrepreneurs responding to a well-articulated system of economic incentives to drive the growth process.

Typically, growth economics concentrates on macroeconomic relations, particularly the ratio of savings to total output and the aggregate capital–output ratio, as expressed in the Harrod-Domar, Solow-Swan models and their derivatives. The focus on a fixed overall capital–output ratio assumes a way the vital causes of underdevelopment, namely; ignorance, low capital absorption, low savings, ands weak capacity to invest productively.

In other words, it is possible to have growth simply from exporting agricultural or mineral produce while allocation of available savings among alternative investment opportunities remains inefficient, supply of entrepreneurs is inadequate, economic incentives are inappropriate, and organizational framework for effectively implementing investment decisions in both the private and the public sectors are either weak or totally non-existent.

Originally, development studies considered inequitable distribution of income as the main criticism of growth economics, hence the use of per capita income as the measure of development.

Modern development thinking became intense after World War II, when a number of developing countries attained independence. The common claim made by leaders of independence movements was that colonialism skewed distribution of income in favour of the colonists. It was broadly accepted that distribution inequities against the colonies led to low incomes, low income led to low savings, low savings led to low investment, and low investment leads back to low income; thus completing the so-called vicious cycle of poverty. Capital importation and intensifying exploitation and exportation of more primary produce were considered the most practical means to break out from the “vicious cycle of poverty”.

Since “shortage of capital” was considered the primary cause of underdevelopment, accelerating import substitution with capital importation and primary produce export proceeds was the path to development. Development in this era was generally associated with industrialization and poor countries were expected to benefit from technology spillovers from the advanced economies. Accordingly, terms like “catching up”, “technology learning”, “technology imitation” and “technology adoption” were popular lingoes of this era.

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Some of the factors that explain why some countries were considered more developed than the others include:

o Effect of colonization – colonial policies can impact positively or negatively on future development of post-colonial states. For example, a history of colonization that is characterized by displacement of the indigenous population, low processing/manufacturing activities, and low commitment to science education can dampen development prospects of the host country.

o The effect of cultural heterogeneity - development is faster when the society is dominated by dense homogeneous population (such as China and Japan). Nations with highly heterogeneous population may have challenges with national integration.

o Centralized state structure - societies with centralized state structures, with population clustered around key towns would more likely progress faster with industrialization than those with highly dispersed lowly populated urban settlements.

o Human capacity – skills and knowledge of the local population are critical for the pace of development. This indicates a link between the education system and development.

4.2. GLOBALIZATION OF CONVENTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

After the post-World War II pro-independence euphoria of 1950s and 1960s, development was given a globalized context; increasingly associated with technological change and finding solutions for problems faced by societies and countries. In this context all countries had some development problems to tackle, and in the broad sense all countries and societies needed to develop in some sense.

Modern development is conceptualized as the process of technology progress (in power, transportation, healthcare, education, etc) and institutional change (such as the development of the market process, governance, international payment systems).

Modern development thinking sees the entire globe as a developing space. Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution was geographically unequal. It started in the late 18th century in Britain then spread to Germany and the United States of America, then continued to other countries by the late 19th century, and reached the rest of the world in the 20th century.

The conventional thinking was that poorer countries required more years to catch up. Such countries were advised to first promote “light industries” (basically food and resources processing plants), after which they could progress to “secondary industries” (manufacture of consumables, basic furniture and other household wares, and so on) before proceeding to “tertiary industries”, that is, production of machineries and precision goods, and growing services composites in all spheres of life.

Given the huge investments and institutional changes required to move from one stage to another, it was believed that it will take longer years for the poor or developing countries to move from being bio-mass dependent, to the secondary stage of industrialization, and then the tertiary stage of technological sophistication.

But beginning from the 1970, some hitherto underdeveloped countries, such as South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and so on, modernized their economies either by leapfrogging the “dirty” stages or concertedly progressing though all stages simultaneously. The myth associated with stages of development was debunked, and it

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became obvious that any country or society can through determination set its desired development track and trajectories and make progress along it.

4.2.1. Modern Development Terminologies

Underdeveloped Countries - a term commonly used by Marxists and other radical economists to suggest that poorer countries have been made underdeveloped by richer countries. The underdevelopment hypothesis also suggests that poor countries are often unable to optimally utilize their potentials for economic growth and development.

North and South Countries – the observed trend is that, there are more developed countries in the Northern part of the globe, while there are more poor countries in the Southern part of the globe.

Third World – this term originated in the Cold War period when capitalist countries were the “First World” and socialist countries were the “Second World”. Third World originally referred to Asia, Africa and Latin America but is now used similarly to the term Less Developed Countries (LDCs).

4.3. MARXISM AND DEVELOPMENT

Marx viewed human history as a giant spiral tracing the development of the productivity of labour (the forces of production) in relation to the changing social structure within which production takes place (the social relations of production). The forces of production tend to grow through history, although at varying speeds depending on whether the social relations created a favourable or unfavourable climate for material progress. At key moments, the forces of production find themselves held back by the form of society and this creates pressure for revolutionary transition from one social system to another, for instance from feudalism to capitalism, which was to play a pivotal role in the development of human history.

Being a system driven by the pursuit of profit in competitive conditions, capitalism would impel a sharp acceleration in the development of the productive forces to such an extent that the universal elimination of want and of involuntary labour could become possible. But capitalism is also a uniquely unequal system, polarizing people into a minority of property owners and a majority of property-less proletarians.

Elimination of want is practically impossible under normal circumstances; it is only realizable after a transition to a fully socialist society. In that way Marx envisioned human society both advancing along the axis of scientific and material progress while at the same time following a circular movement from primitive communism, through various forms of class society and ultimately to a new communism and equality which would be combined with an advanced stage of development of the forces of production.

Marx regarded capitalism as a system which is abhorrent because it rests on exploitation and generates inequality, but historically progressive because it brings about an unprecedented development of the productive forces and creates its own “gravediggers”, the property-less working class.

In the decades following World War II, a growing number of Marxists began to argue that capitalism was no longer capable of producing economic development in the poorer parts of the world. Instead it would create growing polarization between the developed and underdeveloped countries.

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Elements of theories of inevitable polarization were circulated among Latin American intellectuals when Paul Baran in the 1950s presented an explicitly Marxist version of it, concluding that the capitalist system, once a mighty engine of economic development, turned into an obstacle to economic advancement. This was due to the growing tendency towards under-consumption and crisis, held at bay only by state spending, militarism and the exploitation of ethnic minorities and economically backward countries.

Other theorists of polarization, by contrast, saw it as a process which had lasted through the four centuries of existence of a worldwide market, through which a privileged group of countries in the centre could transfer resources from the dominated countries of the periphery through plunder, unequal trade and later investment and indebtedness. Particularly influential were the writings of Andre Gunder Frank, Immanuel Wallerstein, and Samir Amin etc.

The impact of Marxian thinking on mainstream development thought is often ignored or down-played by several pro-Western authors. But an honest review would indicate that the surge of Marxism may have stimulated the proliferation of human centered development paradigms and indicators (such as, the basic needs approach, development of the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI)).

An important contribution of Marx is to focus on how people think as coagulated on the ideology. In the Marxian perspective, it is the dominant ideology or mental structure (not financial or material capital) that defines how a society confronts the fundamental economic problems. For Marx, capitalist economies are unstable because of the conflicting forces of extraction, realization, and accumulation of surplus value under competitive conditions. This instability is structural, and even the best economic policies cannot avoid it completely.

Marx argues that material necessity determines social being, and social being determines social consciousness. In other words, the human mind and ideologies are shaped by the means and processes of subsistence (the economic base), which in turn determines their world view or social relations. For Marx, therefore it is the concrete material that shapes ideology, and material consciousness is developed before social consciousness. In attempting to categorize poverty, for instance, Marx would argue that people are poor because they have limited or no access to income and other material assets and opportunities, and that material condition (poverty) shapes the self-worth and world view of people.

Fredric Engel extended Marxism to the global scene, where capital is internationalized and power shifts from local capitalists to large multinational firms, where it is not just the working class that is exploited, but the centre (advanced) countries exploits the periphery (underdeveloped) countries. This transnational exploitation of resource reach less developed countries by the developed countries, using the agency of MNCs, which is what Engel refers to as imperialism.

However, neither Marx nor Engel foresaw the converging of concrete ideological types in modern times. In both the less developed and advanced countries, the people and citizens’ based groups have become increasing demanding; putting pressure on governments to adopt a number of welfare measures. People increasingly pay little attention to whether the country is capitalist, socialist, democratic, etc. All rulers are increasingly under pressure to improve living conditions because, worldwide, and people are in a hurry to experience positive changes.

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4.3.1. Marx Vs Hegel

Marx’s materialist determinism contrast sharply with the earlier views of Hegel that it is social consciousness that shapes the material conditions. In describing poverty, Hegel will for instance argue that people are poor because they first and foremost see themselves as being poor, and that the mental picture they hold for themselves incapacitates them in the material sphere. So while Hegel’s dialectical process is idealistic - moves from social consciousness, ideas or mindset to material conditions, Marx moves from material conditions to social consciousness.

In Hegel's dialectical idealism, truth is the product of history, and history a product of the “spirit of the time”, and thought precedes matter. But is Marx matter precedes thought, and all phenomena in the universe are perceived as consisting of "matter in motion". Hegelians would prefer to argue that change principally originates from indoctrination (either forcefully or through mental colonization) and may or may not require or lead to immediate changes in the material base.

Credit should be given to Hegel’s foresight because the ongoing exportability of cultures and mental colonization of the Internet, which is clearly in line with the Hegelian phenomenology, has tended to explain the process of social evolution much more than Marx’s historical materialism. Arthur (2000) opines that Marx’s insufficient grasp of Hegel’s philosophy may have accounted for his pre-occupation with materialist determinism, arguing further that Marx never explained his own method adequately because he was uncertain himself, especially about its relationship with Hegel’s method, and indeed that Marx may have been confused about the relevance of Hegel’s logic.

Essia (2012) notes also that colonization of human thinking by modern economics thought is largely responsible for the contradictions, distortions, and environmental degradation of today’s world. Modern economics serves as the ‘Bible’ that justifies mercantilist norms like profit seeking, capital accumulation, individualism, and excessively competitive behaviours. By equating material wealth to success, the pursuit for wealth was legitimized regardless of what one has already and how such pursuit would impact on human life. Material pursuit has extended from the levels of individuals and firms to countries and regions by the macroeconomics; like individuals and firms, countries are urged to struggle to improve their trade balance and accumulate more capital, often at the expense of other countries, particularly the poorer ones. This blind drive to obtain more monetary gains or maintain existing wealth levels has eroded peace, joy, friendship, and healthy life, which paradoxically are some of the ultimate ends of life pursuit. It remains a major challenge for neo-Marxists to redefine Marxism with Hegelian philosophy in mind.

4.4. INFLUENCE OF MARXISM ON MODERN DEVELOPMENT

4.4.1. Lessons from China’s experiences

China’s recent global emergence and sustained growth demonstrates how creating the appropriate social consciousness can promote self-sustaining development. From 1949 to 1976, Mao’s ideology was the dominant influence on Chinese economic policies. In the ten years prior to his death (1966 to 1976), his ideology could be likened to a state religion. Several features of Maoism need to be kept in mind.

Mao believed that people, through sheer willpower, could accomplish practically any end, and if properly mobilized, human resources was more important to

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economic development than capital or technology. Mao considered ideas, knowledge, information, and indoctrination as critical change factors.

Mao constructed and popularized the “communist man”, who in contrast to the “economic man” of mainstream Western economics is selfless, and committed to the common good of all.

Unlike Stalin in Russia that forcefully imposed communism using collectivization, Mao first socialized many Chinese around the phenomenon of the “Communist Man” before proceeding to collectivization. With social change preceding collectivization, Maoism became a sort of religion, with Mao as the high priest and Messiah; making it much easier to preserve Maoism years after Mao’s death. This doctrine of Mao is the foundation of modern Chinese patriotism and social relations. For instance, it is common to see Chinese form and operate sustainable business and social partnerships among themselves.

Mao believed that equal distribution of income was as important to promoting people’s welfare as economic growth.

Mao saw a continuing tendency to revert to capitalism that should be fought continually; keeping the revolution in permanent state of flux. This means the society must continue orienting the people around the desired dominant mental structures and world view.

4.4.2. Lessons from the Defunct Soviet Union

The former Soviet Union was the best example of a prototype communist economy from its inception in 1918 until its collapse in 1991. Upon taking power in the Soviet Union in 1929, Stalin prophetically announced that Russia had ten years to overcome 100 years of backwardness if it wished to survive. In order to industrialize quickly, the focus was on “heavy industry”. This required that government should have considerable control over the economy through a highly centralized Communist Party.

In the former Soviet Union, all enterprises (and all land) were owned by the government, and their managers were bureaucrats. The passion to meet production targets had two limitations: firstly, the managers had no incentives to increase production beyond the targets of the previous year because it will certainly mean an increase in the plan target the next year; secondly, it made enterprise managers very resistant to change and innovation.

There were equally incentives for enterprise managers to push for enterprise expansion. This encouraged the managers of Soviet enterprises to ask for more funds for new capital goods than they actually needed. This phenomenon called “investment hunger” was also dysfunctional for at least two reasons. First, government permitted the buying or building of more capital goods than it could possibly afford; often allowing many projects to remain partially completed for years. Second, enterprises became too large, leading to diseconomies of scale. This passion for very large companies became known as “Gigantomania”.

Centralized planning led to certain dysfunctional behaviours; enterprise managers desiring easy targets and plentiful supplies distorted information. Enterprises commonly hired people to go around the country and bribe the directors of other enterprises in order to obtain needed materials. There were also problems with the unit of measurement of the production targets.

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Agriculture was collectivized in a very bloody and destructive manner in the 1930s. Soviet agricultural production rarely reached the goals of the planners. Indeed, the growth rate of agricultural production was quite low by any standard. But the Soviet government tried to extract savings from farm workers through high taxes for investment in industry. This rendered agricultural infrastructure generally poor.

In the former Soviet Union, prices were in most cases set below market-level and were rarely changed. The result was shortages of most consumer goods. The pervasiveness of shortages led to forced savings, referred to as “monetary overhang”. This means that people had income but could not find anything to spend it on. A shortage economy created and sustained black markets and bribery of government officials became a fact of everyday life. Soviet Union had a policy of “autarky” which resulted from the government seeing other countries as “the enemy”. Imports were limited to those necessary goods that could not be produced at home. Exports, mainly from agriculture, were to earn money to pay for imports. Transactions involving foreign exchange were tightly controlled by the government. The price charged for a good within the Soviet Union and the price charge in international trade had virtually no relation to each other.

Production slowed generally until mid-1980s when production in the Soviet Union may not have been growing at all. By the last half of the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced perestroika, meaning restructuring. Perestroika only made marginal changes in the economy and between 1985 and 1989, the budget deficit more than doubled. In response, many of the changes of perestroika were reversed, which was an admission of failure. In August of 1991, communism collapsed completely after a failed coup against Gorbachev by hard-line party members.

4.5. CHANGING THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT

4.5.1. Modernization Theories

Modernization theories fall into one or a combination of the following four categories: stage theories, index theories, differentiation theories, and diffusion theories. Nonetheless, the various strands of modernization theory have roots in economic issues.

After World War II, the founding of the UN stimulated relations among sovereign states, especially the North Atlantic Nations and the developing nations, including the new states emerging out of a colonial past. During the cold war period the US and the former Soviet Union tried to expand their own interests to the developing countries. While the US opened the way for transnational corporations, the USSR promoted a network of socialist countries based on the concept of collectivization and the welfare state.

Many developing nations were attracted to the technology transfer model of the centralized state with medium term economic planning and the centrally directed development bureaucracies for agriculture, education and health as the most effective strategies to catch up with the industrialized countries.

The modernization paradigm that was dominant from 1945 to 1965 supported the transfer of new technologies and cultures of developed societies to the ‘traditional’ societies. Development was equated to evolutionary economic growth; conceived as cumulative, predetermined, irreversible, progressive, and state oriented. Many LDCs

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aimed to develop like the Western societies. It was assumed that all societies will pass through similar stages, and evolve to become a modern society with the same characteristics.

In order to be a modern society, the cultural attitudes and idiosyncrasies of traditional societies, e.g., superstition, local foods and drinks, were considered as the obstacles and barriers that needed to be removed. The central problem of development was thought to revolve around the question of ‘bridging the gap’ and ‘catching up’ by means of imitation processes.

The two sectors - the traditional and the modern - were conceived of as two stages of development, co-existing in time, and in due course the differences between them were to disappear because of a natural urge towards equilibrium. The problem of development was to remove the obstacles or barriers through:

o Demonstration - LDCs tries to ‘catch up’ with the more developed by adopting more advanced methods and techniques;

o Fusion – LDCs makes effort to accomplish the task of development in less time than it took the developed world;

o Prevention – LDCs avoids the errors and mistakes of the DCs during the early periods of their development.

The means of modernization were the massive transfer of capital, ideology, technology, and know-how, a world-wide Marshall Plan, a green revolution, etc. The measures of progress were G.N.P., literacy, industrial output, urbanization, and the like, all quantifiable criteria.

4.5.1.1. Critique of Modernization Theories

Some critics of the modernization theory like Rodolfo Stavenhagen (1966) argued that division of economies of the LDCs into traditional and modern societies was an outcome of the modernization theory. In other words, growth and modernization had brought with them greater inequality and underdevelopment. Gunder Frank (1969) argues that the progress paradigm of modernization is empirically untenable; has weak theoretical foundation, and is in practice incapable of generating genuine development in the Third World.

4.5.2. Dependency

The dependency paradigm was an outcome of the new world information and communication order popular during the period 1960s to the early 1980s, whereby the new states in Africa, Asia and Latin America grouped themselves into the Non-Aligned Movement; that is, state players that were not neither leaning to the West nor the former Soviet Union. The dependency approach emerged from the convergence of two intellectual traditions: one often called neo-Marxism or structuralism, and the other rooted in the extensive Latin American debate on development that ultimately formed the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) tradition.

In contrast to the modernization theory, the dependency perspective was propounded in Latin America by an American, Paul Baran (1957). In Baran’s view, continued imperialist dependence after the end of the colonial period is facilitated

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by the reproduction of socioeconomic and political structures at the ‘periphery’ in accordance with the interests of the ‘centre’ powers. This is the main cause of the chronic backwardness of the developing countries, since the main interest of Western monopoly capitalism was to prevent, or, if that was impossible, to slow down and control the development of underdeveloped countries.

The major criticism of the dependency theory is seeing the problem of development as external to the country or region. This means that development in the Centre determines and maintains underdevelopment in the Periphery. To remove these external obstacles, they argue, each peripheral country should dissociate itself from the world market and opt for a self-reliant development strategy. This polarization between development and underdevelopment is considered by many as generally unrealistic.

4.5.3. Multiplicity/Another Development

Another development strategy emphasizes the importance of culture and other non-economic factors of development, and the need for interdependency of nations. The concept of ‘Another Development’ was first articulated in the industrialized nations of northern Europe, particularly by the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation in Sweden and the Green Political Movement in Germany. This can also be traced back in Third World environments.

The Dag Hammarskjold Foundation established three bases for ‘Another Development’ as follows: (1) ‘Another Development’ is:

(1) geared to the satisfaction of needs, beginning with the eradication of poverty; (2) endogenous and self-reliant; and

(3) in harmony with the environment.

‘Another development’ applies to all levels of all societies, not just the poor or the non-aligned world. The central idea of ‘Another Development’ is that there are no universal paths to development, and that development should be conceived as an integral, multidimensional, and dialectic process which can differ from one society to another. Genuine development must be based on the following principles:

o Meeting basic needs - geared towards addressing human, material and non-material needs.

o Endogenous – based on the culture and resources of the society, which ensures its sustainabil ity, ingenuity, and vis ion of its future.

o Self-reliance- transforming local resources and energies to meet needs in a manner that is not over dependent on others.

o Greenness – utilizing available natural resources optimally and in full awareness of the potential dangers of abuses and excessive exploitation.

o Participative democracy - government ‘by the people’ at all levels of society.

o Continuing structural changes - in social relations, economic activities and localization of activities to realize the conditions of self-managements and participation in decision-making by all those affected by it, from the rural or

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urban community to the world as a whole. Review Questions 1. Explain the differences between economic growth and development 2. Discuss the post-World War II globalization of development thinking 3. Write short notes on the following: underdeveloped countries, North and South countries. third world

countries. 4. Explain the contribution Karl Marx to modern development thinking. 5. Compare and contrast Marx’s notion of development with Hegel’s. 6. Explain how Marx and Hegel have influenced developments in modern China and the defunct USSR. 7. Explain the context of modernization theories. What are the major criticisms of the modernization

theories? 8. Explain the orientation of dependency theories, why are the proposers of dependency theories related

to the non-aligned countries. 9. Explain the essential contribution of ‘Another Development’ strategy to modern development thinking.

Related Reading Materials 1. Essia, U. and I. Okoi (2013) Marxist Political Economy and the Crisis of Relevance in Contemporary World. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Policy 2(5):59-76 2. Dudley Seers (1969) The Meaning of Development IDS Communication 44

3. Essia, U.(2012:7) A Spiritual Reconstruction of Modern Economic Thought European Journal of

Social Sciences, 33(3), 422-430.

4. Wikipedia. Economic Growth.

5. Diffen: Comparing Anything – Economic Development vs Economic Growth.

6.Economic development and growth – New Age International www.newagepublishers.com

/000186.pdf.

7. Lord Robbins (1968) The Theory of Economic Development in the History of Economic Thought.

London: Macmillan

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LECTURE 5

SCIENCE, INNOVATION, AND DEVELOPMENT

Aims and Objectives 1. Discuss the place of science and innovations in modern development 2. Promote understanding of the origin, traditions, and values of science 3. Make the students able to explain the role of STI in modern development 4. Explain the perspective of the UN on how to mainstream STI issues 5. Explain how the scientific enterprise works 6. 6. Explain how the ‘growth mindset’ is linked to the scientific enterprise

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5.1. MAINSTREAMING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ISSUES IN MODERN DEVELOPMENT

5.1.1. Perspective of the United Nations

The UN recognizes that access to new and appropriate technologies promote steady improvements in living conditions, which can be lifesaving for the most vulnerable populations, and drive productivity gains to ensuring rising incomes.

From the UN’s perspective, two essential Science and Technological Innovation (STI) issues need to be tackled simultaneously in the post-2015 development agenda. Firstly, more LDCs need innovation driven growth, and secondly, STI policy needs to be pursued within the broader developmental agenda; that is, STI programmes should be well aligned to the people’s culture, educational system and activities and other aspects of development.

This implies that STI should be rendered more participatory and inclusive so that there is public engagement in the scientific endeavor from the full spectrum of social actors; including women, young people, and indigenous communities. Additionally, the least developed countries will require dedicated support to bolster their efforts to build STI capacity. Governments of the LDCs need to prepare for STI by providing the required amenities, but where it cuts across countries (e.g. connectivity) the international community will have a collective responsibility to ensure the provision of these goods.

UN recognizes that STI is a crucial driver of rising prosperity and improved national competitiveness. Connecting local technological needs to international technological opportunities calls for well-functioning STI ecosystem that is connected to political stability, well-functioning institutions, an educated workforce, sound research and education infrastructure and linkages between public and private innovation actors, enterprises that are committed to research and development, and a balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) framework.

5.1.2. STI as Global Public Good

The notion of global public goods builds on the established economic literature on public goods. In this context, global public goods are universally beneficial to all, and can be rendered available to many people at the least possible cost once produced. In other words, the benefits of producing them are universal in nature; spanning across countries and people. Such goods that can be called as such because the international community has a collective responsibility to ensure their safe and equitable provision and utilization.

5.1.3. The MDGs and STI

The MDGs focus on STI predominantly on access to essential medicines (particularly for the treatment of HIV/AIDS) and on internet connectivity and the related spread of communication technologies (ICTs). The favoured intervention approach has been through needs assessment and targeted capacity building.

The UN now believe the focus in post MDGs should incorporate related STI issues like environmental protection, the containment of health epidemics, mitigating climate change, and access to a range of appropriate technologies. Hence the UN recommends more investment in dynamic capabilities, particularly those that shape the ability of indigenous persons and firms to uptake and absorb technologies and make improvements in line with local circumstances.

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5.2. STRATEGIES FOR PROMOTING STI IN LDCS

Developing countries need to innovate at the frontier, and as well adapt innovations to achieve increasing local content. The focus should go beyond investments that aim at adding value to manufacturing, but also on broader public policy goals (such as health, agriculture, nutrition and environment) as well as across a range of activities that support overall development, including also marketing, management and financial services. Such investments, over a period of time, help to increase absorptive capacity and the ability to adapt and apply existing technologies, thereby leading to a gradual increase in productivity and social welfare.

This calls for promoting inclusive innovation within countries to ensure that local inputs are increasingly transformed and brought to the market at cheaper rates. However, for many developing countries, persistent obstacles should be addressed through a global partnership for development. The obstacles to be addressed globally include:

Financing - a large number of LDCs have shallow capital markets and mobilizing financial resources for technological development can pose major challenges.

Incentives – in a world where the primary incentives for innovation are market-based, the inability-to-pay often translates into an inability-to-access. There is a need for a proactive policy agenda that focuses innovation on the needs of poor populations and makes the products of that innovation more readily available to those who need them.

Information - there is a challenge to change attitudes and cultures within government MDAs of the country and across governments, firms, and research organizations on the need for knowledge sharing to promote synergies across the pillars of sustainable development.

The World Bank has suggested that such initiatives could be complemented by an Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIF) to support innovators in developing countries to nurture their ideas to the point where they can raise private finance by proof of concept or through prototyping and marketing development. Such Funds can be operated in developing countries at national level, but could be extended regionally or internationally. Given the importance of absorptive capacity in the diffusion and uptake of new technologies in LDCs, the STI framework for post-2015 should consider developing such centres to complement the IIF.

5.3. GLOBALIZATION OF STI

The current global development orientation has tended to promote technological

anarchy, whereby underdevelopment and poverty are sustained in many LDCs while the

advance countries continue to grow. Equally, there is a runaway drive towards

technological anarchy, and the global proliferation of innovations in the post-World War

II era has been unprecedented.

The spread of innovations and new knowledge is facilitated by the explosion of the

Internet, and advances in process technology that have aided codification of several

production processes in operational manuals that simplify previously complex activities

into simple tasks that can be carried out just like manual work. Consequently, it is now

technically easier for firms in poorer countries to innovate.

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The emergence of countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil, and so on,

which were, in some economic sense, comparable to many African countries in the

1960s and early 1970s raises the hope that many of today’s poor countries can someday

‘catch-up’ with the advanced countries.

Within the firms, better information flow has increased management efficiency and

accelerated decision making. This has supported more democratic leadership models,

and raised teamwork potentials. As the operational environment becomes more

dynamic, product life cycles get shorter and shorter, and the scope for long term

planning is increasingly narrowed. Indeed in many industries, long term thinking means

just one year!

Given the fast rate that changes take place, firms derive benefits from networking with

competitors and collaborators. A new word describing the combination of competition

and collaboration is “copetition”. It is in the mutual interest of trading partners and

competitors to share their plans for future events, and working on issues before they

occur. The resulting openness and transparency of the operational environment makes

it quite difficult for a few firms to skim off extra profits for a long time.

For the customers (consumers), building brand awareness through advertising and

marketing is critical in the face of multiple options. Digitalization has promoted

disintermediation, whereby many industries now interact directly with the customers.

However, as the traditional supply chains are removed through ‘disintermediation’,

digitalization promotes ‘re-intermediation’ by giving increasing roles to Internet service

providers, often referred to as ‘infomediaries’. The growing consumer focus gives

marketing more expansive roles in modern development thinking.

More sophisticated customer relation management (CRM) strategies that deliver a

complete lifecycle view of customer interactions are being developed and deployed. The

goal is complete personalization of the virtual store, which allows marketers to better

capitalize on advertising and cross-selling opportunities.

It seems logical to argue from the foregoing that innovations have contributed

significantly to development, firstly because firms in poor countries have some

opportunities to copy, imitate or adapt what top performing firms are doing. Secondly,

innovations promote productivity by raising competitiveness and limiting the capacity of

a single firm to make profit for too long.

Additionally, the current innovation culture has improved internal management

strategies of firms and the overall productivity effect is beneficial to the entire economy.

Equally, the unequivocal consumer focus has raised consumer satisfaction and

supported a more satisfied population that gets what it desires from goods and services.

One can therefore argue that with minimal control from government and adequate

supply of the required infrastructures, the ongoing innovation culture can promote the

desired type of development. This glossy picture of how the current trend of STI and

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competitiveness can globalize sustainable development is not without some ‘dark

spots’.

5.3.1. ‘Dark Spots’ of the current STI enterprise

The Internet economy has rendered information generally more accessible and

affordable, but the “tacitness” of new technologies, high cost of innovative R&D, high

speed of change, control of distribution and supply chains by few large firms, and

customers’ loyalty still give ‘big firms’ significant monopolistic advantage. These have

made it more difficult for firms in poorer countries to copy or adapt the latest

innovations. To ‘catch-up’ or ‘imitate’ is more or less an illusion, because the technical

potentials for globalized innovativeness are hardly realized due to several obvious and

latent market barriers.

In an increasingly monetized world, entrepreneurship and innovativeness can be applied

either for positive or negative purposes by anyone, depending on what may be

considered more profitable or useful. The conscience of the innovator is hardly guarded

for any logical moral code. The gap between “economic rationality” and “reasonability”

is widening. People can become popular and wealthy from creating innovations that are

quite destructive. The tendency to innovate destructive materials and promote negative

or socially harmful development is growing.

There is growing anarchy of the cyber space. Individuals and firms can own websites or

blogs and post whatever information they may desire with very minimal regulatory or

monitoring restrictions, and often the identities of such person may be hidden from the

public. It is also possible to hack into the website of others to post or retrieve

information without authorization.

Internationally, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

has a model law that supports the commercial use of international contracts in e-

commerce. But few countries have so far domesticated this law, making its applicability

difficult. Even in countries that domesticate the model law, there is still the challenge of

how to set up and run a globalized tracking system for identifying and apprehending

culprits.

Technological anarchy equally shows up in ecological, social, economic, legal, political,

and cultural contexts where the drive for financial gains and ignorance have pushed the

key players – government, firms, consumers, and the polity to make choices that may

benefit a few in the immediate term but having harmful effect on others, and ultimately

impacting adversely on the entire society in the long term.

The dwindling power of state actors and growing influence of firms, non-state actors,

civil society groups globally calls for paradigm shift in development studies from the

assumed power of the state and markets in the neoclassical – Keynesian synthesis (what

is currently contained in standard macroeconomic textbooks), to a stakeholder

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economy where the sustainability of decent development is best achieved through

concertization.

5.4. THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

5.4.1. Assumptions of Science

Science uses the means of observing, thinking, experimenting, and validating. Scientists share certain basic beliefs and attitudes about what they do and how they view their work. These have to do with the nature of the world and what can be learned about it.

Science presumes that the things and events in the universe occur in consistent patterns that are comprehensible through careful, systematic study. Scientists believe that through the use of the intellect, and with the aid of instruments that extend the senses, people can discover patterns in all of nature.

Science assumes that the universe is, as its name implies, a vast single system where the basic rules are everywhere the same. Knowledge gained from studying one part of the universe is applicable to other parts. All it takes is searching to discover the universal principles. For instance, the same principles of motion and gravitation that explain the motion of falling objects on the surface of the earth also explain the motion of the moon and the planets.

Science views change as inevitable; hence it remains at the frontiers of producing knowledge. Change in knowledge is inevitable because new observations may challenge prevailing theories. Scientists assume that even if there is no way to secure complete and absolute truth, increasingly accurate approximations can be made to account for the world and how it works.

Scientific Knowledge is durable. Scientists accept the modification of ideas rather than outright rejection. Continuity and stability are as characteristic of science as change is, and confidence at any point in time and space is tentative.

Scientists agree that science cannot provide complete answers to all questions. There are many matters that cannot usefully be examined in a scientific way, and a scientific approach that is valid may be rejected as irrelevant by people who hold to certain beliefs (such as in miracles, fortune-telling, astrology, and superstition). Nor do scientists have the means to settle issues concerning good and evil, although they can sometimes contribute to the discussion of such issues by identifying the likely consequences of particular actions, which may be helpful in weighing alternatives.

5.4.2. The Scientific Inquiry

Scientists do not always have to agree - scientists differ greatly from one another in what phenomena they investigate and how they go about their work. Scientific inquiry is not easily separated from the context of particular investigations. There is no fixed set of steps that scientists always follow, no one path that leads them unerringly to scientific knowledge. There are, however, certain features of science that give it a distinctive character as a mode of inquiry.

Science Demands Evidence - ultimately, the validity of scientific claims is settled by referring to observations of phenomena. Hence, scientists concentrate on getting empirical evidence. Such evidence is obtained by observations and measurements taken in situations that range from natural settings (such as a forest) to completely contrived ones (such as the laboratory). To make their observations, scientists use their own senses, instruments (such as microscopes) that enhance those senses and instruments

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that tap characteristics quite different from what humans can sense (such as magnetic fields).

Science work with assumptions – Nearly in all cases scientists control conditions deliberately and precisely to obtain their evidence. Often, however, control of conditions may be impractical (as in studying stars), or unethical (as in studying people), or likely to distort the natural phenomena (as in studying wild animals in captivity). In such cases, observations have to be made over a sufficiently wide range of naturally occurring conditions to infer what the influence of various factors might be. Often assumptions are made on the behavior of real factors or changes that cannot be measured. Because of this reliance on evidence, great value is placed on the development of better instruments and techniques of observation, and the findings of any one investigator or group are usually checked by others.

Science is a Blend of Logic and Imagination - scientists sometimes take-off with tentative hypotheses about the way things may be. Such hypotheses are widely used in science for choosing what data to pay attention to and what additional data to seek, and for guiding the interpretation of data. Moreover, the use of logic and the close examination of evidence are necessary but not usually sufficient for the advancement of science. Scientific concepts do not emerge automatically from data or from any amount of analysis alone. Inventing hypotheses or theories to conceptualize how the world works and then figuring out how they can be put to the test of reality is as creative as writing poetry, composing music, or designing skyscrapers. Sometimes discoveries in science are made unexpectedly, even by accident. But knowledge and creative insight are usually required to recognize the meaning of the unexpected. Aspects of data that have been ignored by one scientist may lead to new discoveries by another.

Science explains and predicts - scientific theories are considered more credible if they are able to show relationships among phenomena that previously seemed unrelated. But it is not enough for scientific theories to fit only the observations that are already known, theories should also fit additional observations that were not used in formulating the theories in the first place; that is, theories should have predictive power. The predictions may be about evidence from the past that has not yet been found or studied.

Scientists try stay on the facts and avoid biases - when faced with a claim that something is true, scientists seek evidence to supports it. But scientific evidence can be biased in what data is important, how it is recorded, and how it is analyzed and interpreted. Biases attributable to the investigator, the sample, the method, or the instrument may not be completely eliminated. One safeguard against undetected bias in an area of study is to have many different investigators or groups of investigators working in it.

Science is not authoritarian - there are no pre-established conclusions that scientists must reach on the basis of their investigations. In the short run, new ideas that do not mesh well with mainstream ideas may encounter vigorous criticism, and scientists investigating such ideas may have difficulty obtaining support for their research. In the long run, however, theories are judged by their results. The improved version of an explanation or answer to a question eventually takes its place.

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5.4.3. The Scientific Enterprise

The scientific enterprise is multi-faceted - scientific activity is one of the main features of the contemporary world. Organizationally, science is organized in different scientific fields, or content disciplines, all having similar purpose and philosophy. New scientific disciplines (astrophysics and sociobiology, for instance) are continually being formed at the boundaries of others. Funding agencies influence the direction of science by virtue of the decisions they make on which research to support. Other deliberate controls on science result from federal (and sometimes local) government regulations on research practices that are deemed to be dangerous and on the treatment of the human and animal subjects used in experiments.

Scientific work is not value free - as a complex social activity, the scientific enterprise reflects social values and viewpoints. The history of western economic theory, for example, has paralleled the development of ideas of social justice around the mercantilist times. Additionally, the direction of scientific research is affected by informal influences within the culture of science itself, such as prevailing opinion on what questions are most interesting or what methods of investigation are most likely to be fruitful. For example, donors and other funding authorities have their independent considerations in deciding on which research proposals should receive funding.

Effective communication is critical for success – given the social nature of science, the dissemination of scientific information is crucial to its progress. New development in information science and technologies are speeding up data collection, compilation, and analysis, making new kinds of analysis practicable, and shortening the time between discovery and application.

Weak enforcement of ethical principles in the scientific enterprise – while it is expected that scientists respect the traditions of accurate recordkeeping, openness, and replication, peer review etc., sometimes, however, the pressure to get credit for being the first to publish an idea or observation leads some scientists to withhold information or even to falsify their findings. Commercial considerations may as well make it profitable to research on products that may be potentially harmful. Currently, no rule stops a scientist from working on what may be potentially harmful. Whether a scientist chooses to work on research of great potential risk to humanity, such as nuclear weapons or germ warfare, is considered by many scientists to be a matter of personal ethics, not one of professional ethics.

5.4.4. Why the Growth Mindset is important in the Scientific Enterprise

Mindsets predict motivation and achievement – people with growth mindset are easily motivated to learn and exert effort, and outperformed those with a fixed mindset.

Growth mindset training boosts motivation and achievement – people in the growth mindset group are more likely to work harder compared with the group with fixed mindset.

Growth mindset training narrows gender and racial gaps – people who receive growth mindset training have less gender biases. Disadvantaged persons who receive growth mindset training are more likely to transcend biases posed by their racial inhibitions.

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5.4.4.1. 'Mindset shift' required by African Scientists

New reports from several African science academies recommend the incorporation of growth mindset training for Africans in the continent's post-2015 development agenda. This is necessary because STI may be used destructively, and there is likelihood that people in LDCs can embrace the negative aspects of development. For example, a new report from a committee convened by the Network of African Science Academics, outlines strategies to combat increasing tobacco use in Africa. While tobacco use has declined in high-income countries, it is growing in many developing parts of the world, especially Africa, where, without interventions, it could double within the next 10 years, according to the report.

Growth mindset allows intelligence to be developed. It promotes interest in learning for the students and educators. In a growth mindset school:

i. The Administration - supports teachers’ and students’ learning by being responsive to honest feedback, rather than defensive. They seek to build their skills, and are willing to learn from their teachers. ii. Teachers/instructors - collaborate with their colleagues and instructional leaders, and strive to strengthen understanding of the subject matter and how to teach. They truly believe that all students can learn and succeed. iii. Parents - partner with teachers, and respond to outreach. They worry less about advocating for their children to get good grades and focus on getting them to put in the effort needed to grow. iv. Students - are enthusiastic, hard-working, persistent learners. They take charge over their own success.

5.5. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The "Scientific Revolution" refers to historical changes in thought & belief, and social and institutional organization that unfolded in Europe during 1550-1700; beginning with Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who asserted a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmos, and ended with Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who proposed universal laws and a Mechanical Universe. The Scientific Revolution provides an excellent exercise for thinking about how historical periodizations emerge, develop, and mature.

Science grew from natural philosophy and it has brought important transformations in what came to be held as "real" (ontology) and how Europeans justified their claims to knowledge (epistemology). The learned view of things in 16th-century thought was that the world was composed of Four Qualities (Aristotle's Earth, Water, Air, and Fire). By contrast, Newton's learned contemporaries believed that the world was made of atoms or corpuscles (small material bodies).

Most historians agree, however, that what marked the scientific revolution was the belief in a core transformation which began in cosmology and astronomy and then shifted to physics (some historians have argued that there were parallel developments in anatomy and physiology, represented by Vesalius and Harvey). Understood as an historical periodization, the Scientific Revolution refers to European developments or movements extending over periods of at least 75 to 185 years. These developments involve changing conceptual, cultural, social, and institutional relationships involving nature, knowledge and belief.

The received traditional claim is that the Scientific Revolution stands for a series of changes that stemmed from Copernicus' bold claim that the earth moves. This claim clearly ran

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contrary to tradition, to the authority of the Ancients and to established views in the universities and most church officials. Copernicus claimed that the earth is not fixed and stationary in the center of the cosmos (geocentric and geostatic) but instead argued that it rotates on its axis each day and revolves around the sun each year.

From Copernicus' claim, a complex series of new developments were necessary to support his view and, at the same time, to replace earlier beliefs. What was needed, at least in retrospect, were new astronomical observations, these now associated with Tycho Brahe (1546-1601); new theoretical modifications concerning planetary orbits and their motions, now associated with Johannes Kepler (1571-1630); and not least, new theories of motion that would accommodate a moving earth, these theories now associated with Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), René Descartes (1596-1650), Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), and of course, Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Newton invented the universe that displaced the traditional Aristotelian cosmos. This change signaled that all things were one. There is one kind of matter, one set of laws, one kind of space, and one kind of time. Everything is always and everywhere the same: Space, Time, Matter, and Cause. Hence the very word: Universe.

This shift from Cosmos to Universe also marked a transformation from an Organic Worldview to a Mechanical World Picture. That is, the Modern World Machine. All of this, according to traditional definitions, would have been rather important in itself, given the importance of science to 20th-century civilization. From these concerns came the 'Clockwork Universe' debates about God's relationship to Nature and whether God was rational or willful. One historian suggested that God, in effect, had been excommunicated from the world of humans -- not to the edge of Space (as with Aristotle and Aquinas) but left there at the beginning of Time. From such debates (according to this narrative) came new distinctions that walked the line from Theism to Deism to Agnosticism and Atheism.

Review Questions 1. Explain the UN’s perspective on the importance of STI and why STI should be mainstreamed 2. Why is it proper to categorize STI as a global public good? 3. Discuss the view that the MDGs did not adequately mainstream STI issues. In what ways does

the UN intend to render the post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDGs) more inclusive of STI and other development issues?

4. Explain the challenges LDCs face with growing STI. What strategies are proposed to promoting STI in LDCs?

5. What challenge does globalization of STI pose for technology learning in LDCs? 6. Explain the viewpoint that the Internet revolution has supported the growth of a mixed bag of

economies and diseconomies. 7. State and discuss the key assumptions of science. 8. What are the key issues to consider in promoting the scientific enquiry? 9. Explain the basic characteristics of the scientific enterprise. Why is it necessary for people in LDCs

to have the ‘scientific mindset’?

10. Explain what is meant by the scientific revolution.

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Reading Materials

1. Science for all Americans online - Chapter 1: The Nature of Science

2. Science, technology and innovation for sustainable development in the global partnership for

development beyond 2015 - A Post-2015 Agenda for Development: Ensuring equitable and inclusive

globalization. A Document of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda

3. Ben Ramalingam, Harry Jones, Toussainte Reba, and John Young (2008) Exploring the science

of complexity: Ideas and implications for development and humanitarian efforts 2nd Ed. Working

Paper 285.

4. UNDP (2011) Communication for Development: Strengthening the effectiveness of the United

Nations

5. Wikipedia International Development

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LECTURE 6

WORKING WITH LOCAL PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES

Aims and Objectives 1. Expose the students to the concepts, theories and application of community intervention. 2. Explain the major weaknesses of the MDGs and why the proposed SDGs are an improvement. 3. Understand the challenges of working with local people and communities.

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6.1. COMMUNITY INTERVENTION CONFERENCE OF OCTOBER 2009 AT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Community interventions are complex social processes that need to move beyond single interventions and outcomes to a scientific paradigm that supports collaborative, multilevel, culturally situated community interventions aimed at creating sustainable community-level impact.

The contours of a new scientific paradigm for community intervention was shaped during a conference held in October 2009 at Chicago, Illinois, where several researchers, community representatives, policymakers, journal editors, and funders took stock of movements and issues in community intervention research including; the need for a framework for community level interventions, ideas on how to promote more effective strategies for community interventions taking into consideration criticism of the traditional methods by scholars and community members.

It was recognized that interventions and multiple-intervention programs influence contexts as well as individuals, and so can promote or obstruct community supports and resources. Moreover, knowledge produced through an intervention is more valid when it is tested and generalized to socio-culturally diverse communities.

6.2. ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE TO COMMUNITY INTERVENTION

This perspective appreciates how the cultures of both science and local communities affect community intervention priorities, processes, and outcomes. More specifically, the ecological/systems paradigm of research focuses on the following: o Increasing community capacity through interventions directed at specific community

issues identified through community-engaged processes; o Adopting an ecological and systemic perspective that assesses the influence of multiple

levels of community ecology on the issue at hand and on community resources and capacities, research partners, community tensions, and the relationship between the intervention team and the community;

o Focusing on the empowering role of community collaboration throughout the community intervention process; and

o Emphasizing the permeating role of culture and cultural history as both a resource for and an influence on the community-intervention process.

6.3. PRIMARY ASSERTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY INTERVENTION PARADIGM 6.3.1. Goals of Community Intervention

To strengthen the health and welfare of communities and enhance existing local community capacity for the health and welfare of the community. This conceptually, frames health and other welfare matters as embedded in a community ecology that includes local conditions, community history, relations among subgroups in the community, relations between community groups and groups external to the community (including relationships with community intervention researchers), local resources, networks and their social capital, and effects of macro-system policies on community life.

Knowledge of the community allows any intervention that is designed to address an identified community issue to become an opportunity to draw on and develop local resources or capacity. The emphasis on evaluating community impact underscores the importance of structural and policy factors affecting community life and helps frame the

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intervention goals within a social justice perspective.

The community impact goal treats community capacity as a central organizing concept. Capacities may include social participation, inter-organizational networks, skills, knowledge, leadership, and social settings. A focus on capacity shifts attention from an exclusive focus on needs and deficits to the search for community strengths and resources on which to build. Capacity development is also expected to allow lessons learned by the community to be used to solve other related problems.

6.3.2. Community Interventions as Complex Interactions

Community interventions are best conceptualized as complex interactions between the structure, processes, and goals of the intervention and the community system or systems affected by it. Such a shift reverses the relationship between interventions and communities found in approaches that export interventions to communities. Community interventions that are conceptualized as system events emerge from and are defined by knowledge of the community.

A conceptualization of communities as systems or ecological niches consisting of settings and processes, and of the intervention as an event in a system, provides direction for assessing community dynamics and potential effects of a given intervention process. Emphasis on dynamic processes suggests the value of moving from a “best practice” orientation to a “best process” and “best fit” orientation, in which evidence accumulates around the development of effective intervention processes rather than around importing specific, fixed intervention protocols.

Additionally, ecological/systems framework draws attention to the manner in which community interventions may inadvertently enhance or disrupt existing community dynamics. External agents or researchers need to develop knowledge of how their decisions about partners and programs may affect existing racial or class divisions and hierarchies of power in a community.

6.3.3. Community Intervention is Collaborative

The creation of empowering collaborative processes whereby community members play key roles as members of the project team throughout the intervention is essential for achieving long-term, sustainable community impact. Such engagement is a key to capacity building through the development of leadership, critical thinking skills, and other dimensions of community capacity.

More specifically, engaging community members throughout the intervention process provides opportunities for researchers to learn about community history and current issues and to identify social relationships within and among subgroups in the community. This engagement can play a critical role in identifying possibilities for interventions that build on and enhance community capacity.

Community interventions are located within and affected by historical relations of inequality in and around communities. Dealing effectively with this requires the development of trust, selection of intervention goals, issues of measurement, and the meanings of key concepts.

6.3.4. Community Interventions and Culture

Culture pervades all aspects of community interventions and a “culturally situated”

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perspective thus places any specific intervention in both a historical context and a current cultural context, highlighting the importance of situating the intervention in the community’s culture. Culture is not seen as something to which interventions are tailored; rather, culture is a fundamental set of defining qualities of community life out of which interventions flow. Culture is further reflected in the social norms, the community settings, the ideological commitments of those communities, and the hopes communities have for their future.

The centrality of cultural understanding in community interventions highlights the importance of investigator’s immersion in the daily life of the ethnic or cultural group(s) of interest, to learn about their deep cultural life-ways and thought-ways. Such a perspective reinforces the assertion that interventions are collaborations. This orientation requires the researchers to conduct research in accordance with the ethical principles of the host community, in addition to professional and personal ethical principles, and to be transparent about research objectives, uses, and funding.

6.4. FROM MDGS TO SDGS

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are proposed to replace and serve as improvement on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) whose closure date is 2015. The SDGs are intended to address persisting systemic barriers to sustainable development and balance between the various dimensions of sustainable development and the institutional/governance aspects.

The MDGs dealt only with developing countries and only to a limited degree captured the different dimensions of sustainability. In contrast, the SDGs deal with all countries and all dimensions, although the relevance of each goal will vary from country to country. But despite both repetition and many weakly formulated targets in the OWG proposal, the SDG process has been a huge step forward to creating universal goals that articulate the need and opportunity for the global community to come together to create a sustainable future in an interconnected world.

The SDG as a transformative development pathway - The framework does consider certain barriers/drivers of development such as inequality, inappropriate consumption and institutional structure and capacity, but a description of the process through which the change will occur or ‘narrative of change’ is missing, There is also no clear means-ends continuum or ‘theory of change’. More technical work, such as through scenario analysis, is needed to demonstrate the ways in which goal implementation can induce social change and the degree to which the unfolding pathways make sense for a country’s socio-economic development.

The SDG’s capacity to be universal while respecting local contexts – the SDG framework calls for elimination of poverty in all its forms everywhere and a collective (shared) commitment to establishing the conditions for poverty eradication. The SDG framework also reflects the shared interest and responsibilities for addressing global challenges by governments at the nation-state level. However, governments are only one type of actor in a multi-actor landscape that characterizes global governance today. Representation from the different communities of non-state stakeholders within society that will be required to deliver on the goals (beyond aid agencies and national governments). For example, it largely fails to reflect private sector perspectives and incentives to participate in the delivery of the goals.

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Does the SDG framework reflect inter-linkages and integration? The level of integration is far lower than justified from a science perspective. With regards to poverty, although there is a multi-dimensional understanding of poverty reduction and development, there is no clear articulation of what the development agenda actually involves, and how the intended outcomes and key elements of wealth can be achieved. A more elaborate conceptual framework for inter-linkages and integration is required. 6.4.1. Recommendations from ICSU, ISSC (2015) for improving the SDGs

Formulate a broad goal as the ultimate end of the SDGs and articulate how the 17 goals and targets would contribute to achieving this end in a manner that is more compelling. It is needful to determine a broad based metric for measuring the ultimate end through a participatory process. Such a metric should go beyond the GDP, HDI, and other existing measures of progress toward sustainable development.

Develop interlinking targets that are common to different goals. This would require establishing a new process across sectoral domains at both national and UN levels, and could result in a framework where targets and indicators of each goal are represented within or linked to other goals. Ultimately, there is a need to incorporate a wider systems perspective that can articulate how the goals and targets would interact over time, in both positive and negative ways, and how they would contribute to the overarching goal.

Formulate a compelling narrative of development. To be effective in communicating the SDGs it is necessary to have a compelling narrative to describe how the world could look when the SDGs are fully achieved. Articulating this narrative would enhance the capacity to deal with the trade-offs and synergies among the 17 goals since it must describe a world where the trade-offs and synergies have been resolved. It can also enhance public discussion of the type of future we actually want.

Aggregate and package the goals and their interactions. SDGs should, according to the Rio+20 agreements, be “limited in number, concise, and easily communicable”. Clustering the goals under ‘meta themes’ should be considered. The Synthesis Report of the UN Secretary-General launched in December 2014 (UN, 2014) proposed six ‘essential elements’ for delivering on the SDGs. Some clustering of the goals is not only feasible but essential in order to communicate the framework to a wider lay audience.

SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT

GOALS

Figure 10: Sustainable development goals

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Review Questions 1. Explain the ecological perspective to community intervention. 2. What are the primary assertions of the community intervention paradigm? 3. Explain the weaknesses of the MDGs and why the SDGs are considered to be an improvement

over the MDGs.

Reading List 1. Edison Trickett, et al. (2011) Advancing the Science of Community-Level Interventions Am J Public Health. 2011 August; 101(8): 1410–1419. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300113. 2. Wikipedia Non-governmental organization. 3. Review of Targets for the Sustainable Development Goals: The Science Perspective

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LECTURE 7

ACTION LEARNING

Aims and Objectives 1. To promote the students’ understanding of action learning, and the implication it has for the

students, teachers, and the learning environment. 2. To explain the context of a learning organization.

3. To explain the context of leadership, team building, and the learning process.

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7.1 THE NEW SCIENCE OF LEARNING The new science of learning provides insight on how to improve people’s abilities to become active learners, who seek to understand complex subject matters and are better prepared to transfer what they have learned to new problems and settings. The emerging science of learning underscores the importance of rethinking what is taught, how it is taught, and how learning is assessed. To develop competence for applying knowledge, the students require the following inputs into the teaching/learning programme.

Take into account the preconceptions and previous knowledge of students/trainees - The key assumption is that students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.

A deep foundation of factual knowledge is a precondition for understanding - Knowledge of a large set of disconnected facts as offered through regular educational institutions is not sufficient. To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must have the opportunity to learn with understanding. Deep understanding of the subject matter transforms factual information into usable knowledge. A pronounced difference between experts and novices is the experts’ knowledge of facts and concepts.

Building Conceptual Framework and Learning - centering learning on a conceptual framework allows for greater knowledge transfer and enhances the student’s ability to apply what was learned in new situations and to learn related information more quickly. The student who has learned the geography of America in a conceptual framework context approaches the task of learning the geography of another part of the globe with questions, ideas, and expectations that help guide acquisition of the new information. Understanding the geographical importance of Mount Cameroon sets the stage for the student’s understanding of the geographical importance of Mount Everest and other mountains. And as concepts are reinforced, the student will transfer learning beyond the classroom; observing and inquiring.

Action-learning or Metacognitive Approach - organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application. This means the students should be actually involved with the learning process and there should be practical aspects to ensure that the knowledge does not skip their minds. This is the notion of action learning or the metacognitive approach. Generally, a “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them. The teaching of metacognitive activities must be incorporated into the subject matter that students are learning. Using the metacognitive approach has to be fitted into the context what is studied, as the same approach may viable across subjects and fields.

7.2. IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND TEACHER PREPARATION

Teachers should make effort to know their students and the preexisting understandings they bring with them. The model of the student as an empty vessel to be filled with knowledge by the teacher must be replaced. Instead, the teacher must actively inquire into students’ thinking, and create classroom tasks and conditions that reveal the

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students’ thinking. Students’ initial conceptions will provide the foundation on which the more formal understanding of the subject matter is built.

The roles for assessment must be expanded beyond the traditional concept of testing. The use of frequent formative assessment helps make students’ thinking visible to themselves, their peers, and their teachers. This provides feedback that can guide modification and refinement in thinking. Given the goal of learning with understanding, assessments must tap understanding rather than merely the ability to repeat facts or perform isolated skills. Schools of education must provide beginning teachers with opportunities to learn: (a) to recognize predictable preconceptions of students that make the mastery of particular subject matter challenging, (b) to draw out preconceptions that are not predictable, and (c) to work with preconceptions so that students build on them, challenge them and, when appropriate, replace them.

Teachers should teach the subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge. Superficial coverage of all topics in a subject area should be replaced with in-depth coverage of fewer topics that allows key concepts in that discipline to be understood. The goal of coverage need not be abandoned entirely, of course, but there must be a sufficient number of cases of indepth study to allow students to grasp the defining concepts in specific domains within a discipline. Moreover, in-depth study in a domain often requires that ideas be carried beyond a single school year before students can make the transition from informal to formal ideas. This implies that the defining courses in an academic programme can be broken into parts and taught across semesters and where necessary levels. This will require active coordination of the curriculum across school years.

Teachers should prepare for teaching with in-depth study of the subject area themselves. A teacher needs to be familiar with the progress of inquiry in the discipline, and understand the relationship between information and the concepts that help organize that information in the discipline. The teacher should also have a grasp of the growth and development of students’ thinking about concepts in the field. Clearly the teacher would need to know more than what is required in the field and additional training on teaching may be required.

Students’ assessment tools may need to be revisited to ensure that they align with the new learning approaches.

7.2.1. Designing Classroom Environments

Schools and classrooms should be learner centered. Opportunities would need to be given to all students regardless of their level of performance. Cultural differences can affect students’ comfort level in working collaboratively versus individually, and they are reflected in the background knowledge students bring to a new learning situation. Students’ perception of what it means to be intelligent can affect their performance. Research shows that students who think that intelligence is a fixed entity are more likely to be performance oriented than learning oriented—they would prefer to focus on passing exams anyhow rather than studying to know for fear of mistakes while learning. In contrast, students who think that intelligence is malleable are more willing to struggle with challenging tasks.

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Teachers in learner-centered classrooms also pay close attention to the individual progress of each student and devise tasks that are appropriate. Learner-centered teachers present students with “just manageable difficulties”—that is, challenging enough to maintain engagement, but not so difficult as to lead to discouragement. They must therefore have an understanding of their students’ knowledge, skill levels, and interests.

To provide a knowledge-centered classroom environment, attention must be given to what is taught (information, subject matter), why it is taught (understanding), and what competence or mastery looks like. Teachers should focus more on well-organized knowledge that supports understanding. Learning with understanding is often harder to accomplish than simply memorizing, and it takes more time. Many curricula fail to support learning with understanding because they present too many disconnected facts in too short a time. Tests often reinforce memorizing rather than understanding. The knowledge-centered environment provides the necessary depth of study, assessing student understanding rather than factual memory. It incorporates the teaching of meta-cognitive strategies that further facilitate future learning.

Knowledge-centered environments also look beyond engagement as the primary index of successful teaching. Students’ interest or engagement in a task is clearly important. Nevertheless, it does not guarantee that students will acquire the kinds of knowledge that will support new learning. There are important differences between tasks and projects that encourage hands-on doing and those that encourage doing with understanding.

Formative assessments designed to make students’ thinking visible to both teachers and students are essential. They permit the teacher to grasp the students’ preconceptions, and understand where the students are in the “developmental corridor”.

Learning is influenced in fundamental ways by the context in which it takes place. A community-centered approach requires the development of norms for the classroom and school, as well as connections to the outside world, that support core learning values. The norms established in the classroom have strong effects on students’ achievement. In some schools, the norms could be expressed as “don’t get caught not knowing something.” Others encourage academic risk-taking and opportunities to make mistakes, obtain feedback, and revise.

Chart 2. Students spend only 14 percent of their time in school. 7.2.2. Students Spend More time out of School

As indicated in Chart 2, students spend only 14 percent of their time in school. This

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implies that the school needs to develop ways to link classroom learning to other aspects of students’ lives. Engendering parent support for the core learning principles and parent involvement in the learning process is of utmost importance. A focus only on the hours that students currently spend in school overlooks the many opportunities for guided learning in other settings.

7.3. THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION

According to Peter Senge (1990), the learning organization is a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they desire, where new and expansive thinking is nurtured, and where collective aspiration is set free and people are learning how to learn. Five learning disciplines represent lifelong programs of both personal and organizational learning and practice, as follows:

1. Personal Mastery — employees learn to expand their personal capacity to create desired results in a manner that encourages other employees to follow suit.

2. Mental Models — employees reflect upon their realities and seek to continually improves their pictures of the world, and d e t e r m i n e how t o shape personal actions and decisions.

3. Shared Vision — employees build a sense of commitment within particular workgroups, develop images of common and desirable futures, and the principles and guiding practices to support how to achieve goals.

4. Team Learning — employees bui ld the thinking skills that enable groups of people to develop intelligence and an ability that is greater than the sum of individual members' talents.

5. Systems Thinking — employees develop a language for describing and understanding forces and interrelationships that shape the behavior of systems. This discipline helps managers and employees alike to see how to change systems more effectively, and to act more in tune with the larger processes of the natural and economic world.

7.3.1. The McKinsey 7-S Framework

Seven key elements of an organization, namely; the structure, measurement system, management style, staff characteristics, distinctive staff skills, strategy/action plan, and shared values are identified. The first six elements are organized around the organization’s shared values. Hitt (1995) adds an eighth element; synergistic teams, described as the ‘missing link’, at the core of the learning organization. The process of building a learning organization unleashes individual creativity, and fosters collective learning which is crucial for encouraging, and developing innovation and rapid responsiveness to global competition (Millett 1998). The learning organization continually gets ‘smarter’ because learning is planned, systematic and in alignment with the organization's strategic goals.

In a competitive environment characterized by rapid change, a firm’s competitive edge depends on its ability to deal with change more effectively and more rapidly than its competitors. Each individual within the organization needs to be accountable and take responsibility for making the necessary changes within their individual work areas. They also need to share their knowledge with others in the organization,

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thus emphasizing the importance of teams and teamwork. Table 1: The traditional vs the learning organization

Element Traditional Organization Learning Organization Shared Values Focus on productivity and cost reduction Focus on excellence and organizational

renewal Management Style The manager controls The manager is facilitator and coach Strategy/Action Plan Top down approach Road map Everyone is consulted Learning map Structure Hierarchy Flat structure Dynamic networks Staff Characteristics People who know (experts): success is

celebrated, mistakes punished People who learn. Mistakes tolerated as part of learning

Distinctive Staff Skills Adaptive learning Generative learning Measurement System Financial measures All values Teams Working groups Departmental

boundaries Cross functional teams

7.3.2. Strategy as a learning process

Strategy is an integral part of the learning process for a learning organization because it focuses on the organization’s development of core competencies, both in the present and in the future. It also focuses o n the learning process a n d o n the desired future position that the organization would like to progress to.

The organization’s vision – a company’s vision an articulation of the core competence of the organization. The importance of the vision is strongly emphasized in m eetings, regular feedback sessions to staff and other types of communications.

o Our Vision (Where we want to be). (“to become international leaders in the delivery of development support services”, for example)

The organization’s mission - How we will get there. For example: o Innovation: applying the communication techniques in the field o Excellence: setting higher standards in all our activities o Service: focusing on the needs of vulnerable women and children

Our Values (Guiding our decisions and actions) o Non- partisanship o non-religious o consensus building o respect for vegetal and animal species o Non-profit making principle

Critical Success Factor (CSF) and supporting strategy o CSF 1: People (Attract, motivate and develop talented people who are committed

to our values and vision). Strategies supporting CSF 1 are: Rendering the working environment attractive to employees; Supporting employees to develop their full potential; and Commitment to developing effective leadership.

o CSF 2: Continuous Improvement (Strive to entrench a culture of continuous improvement in everything the organization does). Strategies supporting CSF 1 are:

Identifying improvement opportunities by measuring and analyzing work processes;

Enabling all employees to play an effective role in continuous

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improvement; and Benchmarking key work processes.

Supporting Initiatives (specific tactics to implement the strategy) o Encouraging employees’ participation a n d b u y - i n t o the building of a

shared vision, mission and value statement through the following:

• Organizing a competition to find the best mission statement supporting the vision;

• extensive consultation with staff through team meetings and feedback sessions during the values development process; and

• Organizing the annual mission award process recognizing individual and team effort in activities contributing to the achievement of the vision,

mission and values. o Facilitating Personal Mastery, through Informal feedback from employees to team

leaders. o Encouraging and developing team work, through periodic assessment of

individual and team performance, and team members’ performance score card assessment.

o Flattening the organizational structure. 7.4. LEARNING STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS

The organization’s structure and systems are an integral part of fostering the development of a learning organization. If the structure of the organization is highly mechanistic, formal, and the decision making centralized, then individual learning and organizational learning will not be developed. However, an organizational structure which is organic is more likely to develop an effective open communication flow between management, employees, customers and competitors.

Sharing knowledge horizontally and vertically is a fundamental aspect of the learning organization. Without the structure to support performance management and appropriate reward systems, individuals are more likely to compete with each other, than share their knowledge.

Innovation and experimentation a r e integral c o m p o n e n t s of the learning organization because instead of waiting for a problem to occur, a learning process of continuous improvement is encouraged. Failure is part of the learning process if, when it occurs, evaluation takes place and the same mistakes are not repeated. If the organizational structure is formal and highly bureaucratic, it severely restricts individual autonomy and decision making.

7.5. LEADERSHIP, TEAMS AND THE LEARNING PROCESSES

Traditional leaders are charismatic with certain personality traits that promote followership. The leader make decisions for the organization via their own learning experiences, which they then use to influence other members in order to achieve company goals. H o w e v e r , i n a learning organization the leader is seen to be more of a facilitator of learning, leading by example, and encouraging and motivating individuals to learn themselves. The leader in a learning organization is a team player, taking on a mentoring and coaching roles, rather than planning and

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controlling role. Leadership is not the ‘responsibility’ of a single individual but that of a community of leaders within the company.

Review Questions

1. Explain the difference between the mechanistic and the organic learning structures and systems. 2. Explain the concepts of leadership, team spirit and the learning process. 3. Strategy building is a learning process. Discuss. 4. Explain the difference between the traditional and the learning organization. 5. Explain the major characteristics of a learning organization 6. Explain the McKinsey 7-S framework 7. Explain the context of the new science of learning particularly as relating to action-learning.

Selected Reading Materials 1. Diana du Plessis, Michael du Plessis & Bruce Millett DEVELOPING A LEARNING ORGANISATION: A CASE STUDY

Journal of Management Practice 2 (4), 71-94 2. Bransford J. D. et. al. Eds ( 1999 )How people learn: Brian, mind, experience, and school Committee on

Developments in the Science of Learning National Academy Press Washington, D.C., April 3. The Growth Mindset: the Science.

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LECTURE 8

DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Aims and Objectives 1. To explain the meaning and purpose of development communication 2. To explain theoretical approaches to development communication. 3. To promote understanding of the major approaches to participatory communication. 4. To promote interest in the study of how to explain societal or community behavior.

5. Explain the meaning of life skills and why they are necessary.

6. To explain how communication can be used to alleviate poverty.

7. To discuss how to debunk the myths of policy neutrality

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8.1. MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION

Development communication is a social process involving the sharing of knowledge aimed at reaching a consensus for action that takes into account the interests, needs and capacities of all concerned. At an applied level, several perspectives on communication for development can be identified as follows:

o Communication as a process is not confined to the media or to messages, but to their interaction in a network of social relationships. By extension, the reception, evaluation, and use of media messages, from whatever source, are as important as their means of production and transmission.

o Communications media as a mixed system of mass communication and interpersonal channels, with mutual impact and reinforcement. In other words, the mass media should not be seen in isolation from other conduits.

Development communication is the planned and systematic use of communication through interpersonal channels, and audio-visual and mass media to:

o Collect and exchange information among all those concerned in planning a development initiative, with the aim of reaching a consensus on the development problems being faced and the options for their solution.

o Mobilize people for development action, and to assist in solving problems and misunderstandings that may arise during project implementation.

o Enhance the pedagogical and communication skills of development agents (at all levels) so that they may dialogue more effectively with their audiences.

o Apply communication technology to training and extension programs, particularly at the grassroots level, in order to improve their quality and impact.

Development communication rests on the premise that successful community development calls for the conscious and active participation of the intended beneficiaries at every stage of the development process. It is necessary because development cannot take place without changes in attitudes and behaviour among the people concerned.

8.1.1. What development communicators can do

1. Designing projects that take properly into account the perceptions and capacities of the intended beneficiaries - development communicators can help the design an action plan of a development project that mainstreams the attitudes, perceived needs and capacities of the target beneficiaries. This will enhance buy-in and absorption of the project outcomes by the people.

2. Mobilizing rural people for development action and ensuring information flow among all concerned with a development initiative - development communicators ensure that the beneficiaries are mobilized to participate fully through the implementation cycle.

3. Improving the reach and impact of rural training programs – communication technology is making training simple for all, and has become much easier and cheaper to use in rural areas.

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8.2. THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION The major theoretical approaches to development communication are the diffusion/mechanistic model, and the participatory/organic model.

8.2.1. The Diffusion Models

These models see the communication process as a ‘two step flow of message’ going from a sender to a receiver, with the sender having feedback. There are a number of perspectives to the diffusion theory.

8.2.2. The Participatory Model

The participatory model incorporates the concepts in the emerging framework of multiplicity/another development. It stresses the importance of cultural identity of local communities and of democratization and participation at all levels—international, national, local and individual. It points to a strategy, not merely inclusive of, but largely emanating from, the traditional ‘receivers’.

Dialogue and face-to-face interaction is inherent in participation. The development communicator often spends more time in the field and therefore needs to develop rapport and trust. Development of social trust precedes task trust.

8.2.2.1. Two Major Approaches to Participatory Communication

The first is the dialogical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, and the second involves the ideas of access, participation and self-management articulated in the UNESCO debates of the 1970s. The Freirian argument works by a dual theoretical strategy. He insists that subjugated peoples must be treated as fully human subjects in any political process. This implies dialogical communication. The second strategy is a moment of utopian hope derived from the early Marx that the human species has a destiny which is more than life as a fulfillment of material needs. Also from Marx is an insistence on collective solutions. Individual opportunity, Freire stresses, is no solution to general situations of poverty and cultural subjugation.

The main orientations of UNESCO’s Sector for Communication and Information have, in recent years, been in line with the main policy development of other leading United Nations agencies dedicated to human development. For UNESCO the challenge is to build a knowledge society based on the sharing of knowledge and incorporating all the socio-cultural and ethical dimensions of sustainable development.

8.3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR EXPLAINING COMMUNITY OR SOCIETAL BEHAVIOUR

8.3.1. Diffusion of Innovations (DOI)

This is based on the premise that social change or changes in human behaviour can be understood by the way that individuals and groups respond to new or different ideas and behaviours that are introduced. The theory explains the progression over time as members of a community or society adopt new, or different, ideas and practices. The theory also provides insight into the impact of social influence on

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individual and household behaviour. Acceptance of innovations by the target population begins slowly as a few people or groups try the idea out first before it gradually spreads to others, as a social momentum may be created or the social climate becomes more accommodating. The theory also posits that the adoption is a process. All eventual adopters pass through five stages: (a) awareness of the innovation; (b) interest in it; (c) trying it out; (d) making a decision to accept or reject; and (e) adopting or adapting the innovation into one’s daily life.

8.3.2. Conceptual Model of Empowerment

Empowerment is the process in which individuals develop and employ necessary knowledge, competence and confidence for making their own decisions/voices heard. Essentially, It involves the building of participatory competence which is the ability to be heard by those in power and a social process of enhancing people’s abilities to meet their own needs, solve their own problems and mobilise the necessary resources in order to feel in control.

Central to an understanding of the community empowerment process is the recognition that communities are composed of individuals and organizations that interact in a variety of social networks. This interdependence supports the notion that changes in one part of the social system have rippling effects in other parts. As a result, development programmes that aim to facilitate community ownership, competence and commitment to change must explore the concept of empowerment at the following levels:

Individual - focusing on personal efficacy and competence, and recognizing the individual’s sense of mastery and/or control over a situation.

Organization – people working through organizations are able to influence policies and decisions in the larger community.

Community empowerment centres on collective action and control that is based on participation of individuals and organizations within a specific social context. Some of its benefits, on a group level, are greater economic independence and social recognition.

8.3.2.1. Empowering with Life Skills

The term “life skills” is applied in a variety of ways in the context of different programmes. In the vocational context, it refers to entrepreneurial or livelihood skills, necessary for economic survival. In the school context, it is taken to mean the essential skills of basic education, including literacy, numeracy, and technical skills in health education. It can also mean psycho-social competencies that enable individuals to think and behave in a pro-active and constructive way in dealing with themselves, relating to others and succeeding in the wider society. Life skills are required both in everyday circumstances and, particularly, in specific risk situations.

Life skills are required by people for their healthy development by enabling them to:

to acquire a sense of self-worth and self-efficacy;

to build supportive relationships with family and friends;

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to promote healthy living;

to cope with the stresses and pressures of daily life;

to deal with conflicting values and norms for behaviour.

The acquisition of life skills is clearly linked to the development of values, and it goes hand in hand with the promotion of self-esteem, self- control and personal responsibility. These general attitudes need to be combined with efforts to clarify one’s own set of values. In many regions, vast population growth, urban migration and exposure to alternative values through new information channels, have challenged traditional family and community structures that formerly raised young people within their own particular cultural system.

8.3.2.2. Life Skills Learning Process

In life skills programmes the emphasis is more on process rather than on content; on how something is learned, rather than what is learned; on how to think, not what to think. Life skills are not a set of technical skills that can be taught on the basis of information transferred from the teacher to the pupil. Nor should life skills be taught in isolation. They need to be dealt with holistically, taking into account the social, cultural and economic context of the learners’ lives, with application to real life concerns.

Experience of life skills programmes around the world indicates that life skills need to be learnt in an integrated, holistic manner, since real-life problems require a range of psychosocial skills. Life skills programmes should be developed to address the “whole person” within his or her environment.

Learners require opportunities for practice of skills and positive reinforcement. Consultation and parallel life skills training with other family members, parents, peers and the community can aim to make the environment more supportive. Early interventions with children of primary school age enable them to acquire life skills before they may become involved in risk-taking behaviours.

The participatory, active learning approach required for life skills education makes new demands on the abilities of educators. Teacher/facilitator training and follow-up support need to be given priority.

8.4. CREATING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

Enabling environment is one that is supportive to positive behaviours and minimize or change those which are negative or resistant. There is the ‘immediate environment’ of parents and family, friends and community members, where interpersonal communication is the major influence on behavior, and the “wider environment”, such as culture and religion, health and education systems, news and entertainment media, which both influence and are influenced by pervading social values.

Factors that affect the wider environment, which influence and constrain behaviour choices include; policy and legislation, service provision, education systems, cultural factors, religion, socio-political factors, socio-economic factors; and the physical environment.

o Policy and Legislation – the appropriate policy environment is one with

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consistent and realistic policies that achieves synergy through coordinated action.

o Service Provision - there should be commensurate improvement in the quality of services l i fe su pp ort in g serv ices l i ke health and education provision, safe water supply, sanitation and waste disposal facilities, and agricultural extension services.

o Education Systems - sound educational experience is a significant determinant of how well people receive, process and use information.

Cultural Factors - cultural values form the overriding determinant of behavior, which

cuts across all other factors. People’s behavior is guided by their personal values, and

governed by the pervading cultural values of their social group.

8.5. USING COMMUNICATION TO TACKLE POVERTY

Training for Rural Journalists – trained and empowered rural journalists will easily report issues related to poverty in communities that they operate. Often the urban based journalists are unable to capture the situation as it is.

Focus on integrated, participatory communication projects – communication projects that are at the centre of community development and address the critical issues facing the community in all its complexity and variety should be promoted.

Investments in community-based communication projects – Since effective communication is central to development, it is needful to invest in community media projects just as they support local development initiatives such as the Panchayat system in India. Support for local cultural diversity, and right to language needs to be seen as integral parts of investments in communication for community.

Involvement of local people in local planning for – Communication for the poor should be planned with inputs from them. Equally, communication should also be seen as a right of all citizens. There is a need for specific right to information/communication legislations aimed at the poor and that relates to their special needs for information and communication support.

8.5.1. Communication and the Persistence of Poverty

Poverty as a Mindset – this psychologistic interpretation of poverty often referred to as the ‘blaming the victim’ syndrome. It argues that people are poor because they think as poor people. This interpretation of poverty is no longer widely subscribed to because of the tendency to blame people rather than to query the models, priorities tools and technologies of change.

Poverty as a Lack of Resources - This view affirms that people are poor relative to others because they do not have the means to develop themselves or to sustain their development over time. The means could be financial, material, access to critical infrastructure, etc. UNESCO traditionally defined deprivation in terms of ownership of radio sets and access to newspapers per hundred of any given population. The solution to poverty then is inputs – food supplies, shelter, health-care centres, the creation of employment opportunities, and so on. This then is the

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favoured model of poverty alleviation adopted by international agencies, governments and NGOs.

Poverty as a Lack of Access – This view attributes poverty to lack of access, for example, the lack of access to legal advice or information on available opportunities. The notion of access as used here suggests that when people are aware of their rights, they are empowered to deal with the many reasons that continue to keep them in the thrall of poverty.

Poverty as a Lack of Human Rights – the human rights model of poverty is conversant with the politics of ‘entitlement’, the legal, political and administrative arrangements that allows ordinary citizens to fulfill their immediate and long-term needs. These arrangements vary from welfare models on one end of the spectrum, mixed models to completely privatized models.

8.6. MYTHS OF THE POLITICS OF NEUTRALITY

The Market as the Great Leveler – This view hinges on the primacy of the market in the context of development and growth. The assumption is that the more people get connected to the market, the better their chances of becoming part of the global consuming public. In other words there is an assumption that market forces will inevitably lead to prosperity or a leveling, thereby closing the gaps between the rich and poor. While it be true that there are markets everywhere, the so-called ‘invisible hand’ is increasingly controlled by the rich. Consequently, change to consumption habits and lifestyles s more a consequence of the profit-seeking habits of corporations rather than the change-seeking mentality of the rural poor.

The Neutrality of the Development Enterprise - This assumes that development programmes targeted at the poor will ultimately be beneficial to the entire society. The problem of this approach is the relativisation of poverty. Often people who are targeted by poverty reduction programmes are those who are seen as having some basic resources that can enhance early flight from poverty; for example those who are capable of providing counterpart funding or some material components of the project. In other words, there is a typical gravitation towards families who will contribute towards the government’s or agencies anti-poverty success statistics. This approach inevitably crowds out the core poor who have no access to land and resources. In other words poverty schemes rarely affect those who are the most vulnerable. That is an axiom that has remained constant in spite of millions of aid dollars.

The Information Technology Fix – IT has quite useful, but the logic of its cost effectiveness and capacity to substitute human labour can adversely affect the poor. While in climes characterized by wide employment opportunities, re-skilling and employment can be a possibility, but such may not apply in rural contexts in the South, where employment opportunities relate to a fixed number of professions.

Vertical Minds, Horizontal Cultures - the discourse of development i s ch an g i n g f ro m t h e vertically imposed and rigid model of “assistance” from international and bilateral development agencies, to more flexible alternatives, that take into account

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what people really need, or at least, what governments say that their people need. The vertical minds, shaped during colonial times, assumed that they just “knew” what was best for recipient countries. But increasingly it is obvious that many LDCs have their own ideas about development. The notion of horizontal cultures emphasizes the need for healthy communication and the fact that across board, the views of everyone is important. Horizontal minds make participation inevitable for success, and participation is the core of communication. Participatory communication is fragile and often contradictory because defies the ready-to-replicate model exercises, which may have much easier and cheaper entry.

8.6.1. Importance of IEC Materials

The acronym IEC―Information, Education and Communication―has achieved greatest prominence in programs designed to influence knowledge, motivation and behavior.

8.6.2. The role of Information and Communication Technology

While radio and television continue to be important “new technologies” for some parts of the world, computers and the Internet are attracting substantial interest in developing nations. Information technologies have played a role in development for at least half a century. Heavily influencing the communication technology initiatives was an interest in distance learning projects.

8.6.3. E-readiness

E-readiness is an assessment of a country’s status regarding several aspects of ICT development: its ICT infrastructure, the accessibility of ICT to the population, the suitability of the policy environment for ICT effectiveness, and everyday use of ICT. Gathering reliable data on e-readiness and building appropriate programs for e-readiness programs at the local level have posed serious challenges. Commitment to promoting e-readiness in developing countries have been based on the following assumptions:

o Appropriate information can contribute significantly to development. IT provides an important and potentially economical way for people to access the required information.

o Tele-centers are a viable way to link communities with the information and communication technologies.

8.7. DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY

People-Centered Development - increasingly communication interventions have become people-centered, placing the individual or family or community as the center of the development process.

Stakeholders’ ownership – information is more accessible to the various stakeholders on time, thereby increasing their commitment and influence. Additionally, the deployment of ICT has increased the number and diversities of stakeholder groups.

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Participation – ICT has revolutionized the notions of “targeting” and “receiving”, thereby promoting more involvement, interactivity and sharing of power within and among stakeholders’ groups thereby promoting participation.

Multiplicity of mediums – information and messages are now passed through several different mediums, thus making how many messages are sent out and what medium is used less important than what is perceived by stakeholders and what changes take place in stakeholders’ behavior relative to development objectives.

Data gathering and analysis - ICT tools and methods have eased and inspired the systematic data collection on a variety of difficult subjects like behavioral change, perception and a variety of other non-tangible aspects that could have been difficult in the past.

Systematic models – ICT models have become increasingly diverse and sequential with a variety of experts to deal with situational analysis (research), planning, pre-testing, implementation and evaluation.

8.8. TECHNOLOGICAL VS CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Technological perspective - closely associated with political development, and policy and regulatory reform. Equates community development to economic development and considers innovations and new technologies as necessity for economic development and socio-cultural progress. The perspective is ‘from the outside in’ and ‘from the top down’, and human beings are seen mainly as economic agents . Development communication in this context involves media forms and ICTs to bridge the digital divide and thus close the information gap between and within communities. The digital divide is primarily a result of inequality. It describes the growing divide between the so-called ‘information haves’ and ‘information have-nots’. The perspective is technology and media centered.

A Cultural Perspective - this is closely associated with social development, processes of democratization and human rights. Development is conceived as socio-cultural and political economic. Technological-economic development is not a goal in itself, and people are seen as development actors. The perspective is information/software and socio- cultural centered.

8.9. NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization that is neither a part of a government nor a conventional for-profit business. It can be set up and funded by ordinary citizens and groups. It can also be funded by governments, foundations, and businesses. It can be run by volunteers or employees or both. NGOs engage in a wide range of activities. The activities might include human rights, environmental, or development work. An NGO's level of operation indicates the scale at which an organization works, such as local, regional, national or international. NGOs take different forms in different parts of the world; they can be charitable organizations, diplomatic institutions. Many countries exempt them from paying taxes based on recognition of social purposes.

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The term "non-governmental organization" was first coined in 1945, when the UN made it possible for some NGOs to be awarded observer status. The current definition of NGOs according to the UN is any kind of private organization that is independent from government, provided it is not-for-profit, non-criminal and not simply an opposition political party. NGOs often enjoy a high degree of public trust, which can make them a useful - but not always sufficient - proxy for the concerns of society and stakeholders.

8.9.1. Classification of NGOs

8.9.1.1. By orientation

Charitable orientation – primarily aimed at meeting the needs of the poor and other vulnerable persons.

Service orientation – NGOs engaging in the provision of healthcare, education services, water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.

Participatory orientation – focusing on the self-help approach, where local people are involved in the implementation of a project by contributing cash, tools, land, materials, labour etc.

Empowering orientation – aims to strengthen the awareness and capacities of people to

control their lives. Usually requiring active involvement of the beneficiaries with NGOs

acting as facilitators.

8.9.1.2. By level of operation

Community-based organizations (CBOs) – carry out activities at the level of communities, often with the rural poor and disadvantaged urban population as primary beneficiaries.

Urban-based organizations include organizations such as chambers of commerce and industry, coalitions of business, ethnic or educational groups, and associations of community organizations.

National NGOs covering the entire country often having subnational, city, and local area branches.

International NGOs - range from secular agencies such as PAID, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller, etc.

8.9.1.3. By Activities

The World Bank divides NGOs into operational and advocacy NGOs. For instance, an NGO such as Oxfam, concerned with poverty alleviation, might provide needy people with the equipment and skills to find food and clean drinking water, whereas an NGO like the FFDA helps through investigation and documentation of human rights violations and provides legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses. Often the pro-advocacy NGOs make effort for promote dialogue between government and communities. A popular type of dialogue is the Track II dialogue, or Track II diplomacy. This is transnational coordination that involves non-official members of the government including epistemic communities as well as former policy-makers or analysts. Track II diplomacy aims to get policymakers and policy analysts to come to a

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common solution through discussions by unofficial means. Unlike the Track I diplomacy where government officials, diplomats and elected leaders gather to talk about certain issues, Track II diplomacy consists of experts, scientists, professors and other figures that are not involved in government affairs. The members of Track II diplomacy usually have more freedom to exchange ideas and come up with compromises on their own.

8.9.2. Types of NGOs

NGOs constitute a heterogeneous group with several acronyms:

BINGO: 'Business-friendly international NGO' or 'Big international NGO'

SBO: 'Social Benefit Organization,' a positive, goal-oriented designation as an substitute for the negative, "Non-" designations

TANGO: 'Technical assistance NGO' TSO: 'Third-sector organization' GONGO: 'Government-operated NGOs' (set up by governments to look like NGOs in

order to qualify for outside aid or promote the interests of government) DONGO: 'Donor organized NGO' INGO: 'International NGO' QUANGO: 'Quasi-autonomous NGO,'. CSO: 'Civil Society Organization' ENGO: 'Environmental NGO,' such as and WWF NNGO: 'Northern NGO' PANGO: 'Party NGO,' set up by parties and disguised as NGOs to serve their political

matters. SNGO: 'Southern NGO' SCO: 'Social change organization' TNGO: 'Transnational NGO.' The term emerged during the 1970s due to the increase of

environmental and economic issues in the global community. TNGO includes non-governmental organizations that are not confined to only one country, but exist in two or more countries.

GSO: Grassroots Support Organization MANGO: 'Market advocacy NGO' NGDO: 'Non-governmental development organization'

8.9.2.1. Corporate structure

A. Staffing - Some NGOs rely mainly on paid staff, others use predominantly voluntary labour, and many use a combination of both. Many NGOs working in LDCs use international staff from more developed countries, but there are many NGOs in both North and South who rely on local employees or volunteers.

B. Funding – the major sources of NGO funding are membership dues, the sale of goods and services, grants from international institutions or national governments, and private donations. Many NGOs depend heavily on governments for their funding. NGOs can manage the social

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responsibility budgets of large corporations on their behalf.

8.9.3. History of International NGOs

International NGOs (INGOs) have a history dating back to at least the late eighteenth

century, and it is estimated that by 1914, there were 1083 NGOs. INGOs were important

in the anti-slavery movement and the movement for women’s suffrage, and reached a

peak at the time of the World Disarmament Conference However, the phrase "non-

governmental organization" only came into popular use with the establishment of the

UN in 1945 with provisions in Article 71 of Chapter 10 of the United Nations Charter for

a consultative role for organizations which are neither governments nor member states.

The definition of INGO is first given in resolution 288 (X) of ECOSOC on February 27,

1950: it is defined as "any international organization that is not founded by an

international treaty". The vital role of NGOs and other "major groups" in sustainable

development was recognized in Chapter 27 of Agenda 21, leading to intense

arrangements for a consultative relationship between the United Nations and non-

governmental organizations. It has been observed that the number of INGO founded or

dissolved matches the general "state of the world", rising in periods of growth and

declining in periods of crisis.

Rapid development of the non-governmental sector occurred in western countries as a

result of the processes of restructuring of the welfare state. Further globalization of that

process occurred after the fall of the communist system and was an important part of

the Washington Consensus. Another reason for the growth and importance of INGOs is

the inefficiency of top-heavy global structures.

The legal form of NGOs is diverse, however four main family groups of NGOs can be

found worldwide: unincorporated and voluntary associations; trusts, charities and

foundations; non-profit companies; and entities formed or registered under special NGO

or nonprofit laws.

INGOs gain legitimacy from the general perception that they are an “independent

voice”. This reputation is however strengthened by accountability and sustainable

management of INGOs. In recent decades INGOs have increased their numbers and

range of activities to a level where they have become increasingly dependent on a

limited number of donors. Growing dependence on donor funding raises the risks

donors adding conditions which can threaten the independence of NGOs; for example,

an over-dependence on official aid has the potential to dilute “the willingness of NGOs

to speak out on issues which are unpopular with governments”.

NGOs have also been challenged on the grounds that they do not necessarily represent

the needs of the developing world, through diminishing the so-called “Southern Voice”.

Some postulate that the North-South divide exists in the arena of NGOs. They question

the equality of the relationships between Northern and Southern parts of the same

NGOs as well as the relationships between Southern and Northern NGOs working in

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partnerships. This suggests a need for division of labour and specialization, with the

North taking the lead in advocacy and resource mobilization whilst the South engages in

service delivery in the developing world. This however calls for sustained dialogue

between the NGOs from the South and North to ensure unity of purpose.

INGOs need decide to operate under centralized or decentralized management

structures. Centralized INGOs assign a common theme or set of goals to its regional and

national organs, while decentralized INGOs are more flexibly and effectively to localised

issues by implementing projects which are modest in scale, easily monitored, produce

immediate benefits.

Review Questions 1. Explain the context and meaning of development communication 2. Discuss the theoretical approaches to development communication. 3. Discuss the major approaches to participatory communication. 4. Explain the theoretical framework for explaining community and societal behavior. 5. What is community empowerment? Articulate and explain a conceptual model of community

empowerment. 6. Explain the concept of life skills and why they are important for human empowerment. 7. Explain the major interpretations of poverty that you know and their relevance to the context of

Cameroon. 8. Explain the myths of the politics of neutrality 9. Explain how development communication can be used to promote grass root development. 10. Discuss the role of ICT in community development 11. Discuss the issues of development communication in the 21st century 12. Compare and contrast technological perspective with the cultural perspective to community

development. 13. What are NGOs? Identify and explain the different types of NGOs.

1. Jan Servaes (Ed.) (2002) Approaches to Development Communication Paris: UNESCO. 2. Wikipedia, Development Communication (Retrieved on April 12 2015). 3. Silvio Waisbord. Family Tree of Theories, Methodologies and Strategies in Development Communication. Prepared for the Rockefeller Foundation