DEVELOPMENT: MEANING AND CONCEPT

Development means “improvement in country’s economic and social conditions”.

More specially, it refers to improvements in way of managing an area’s natural
and human resources in order to create wealth and improve people’s lives.

Dudley Seers, while elaborating on the meaning of development, suggests that

while there can be value judgments on what is development and what is not, it
should be a universally acceptable aim of development to make for conditions
that lead to a realization of the potentials of human personality.

Seers outlined several conditions that can make for achievement of this aim:

i. The capacity to obtain physical necessities, particularly food;

ii. A job (not necessarily paid employment) but including studying, working on
a family farm or keeping house;

iii. Equality, which should be considered an objective in its own right;

iv. Participation in government;

v. v. Belonging to a nation that is truly independent, both economically and

politically; and

vi. Adequate educational levels (especially literacy).

The people are held to be the principal actors in human scale development.
Respecting the diversity of the people as well as the autonomy of the spaces in
which they must act converts the present day object person to a subject person in
the human scale development. Development of the variety that we have
experienced has largely been a top-down approach where there is little possibility
of popular participation and decision making.
Human scale development calls for a direct and participatory democracy where
the state gives up its traditional paternalistic and welfarist role in favour of a
facilitator in enacting and consolidating people’s solutions flowing from below.
“Empowerment” of people takes development much ahead of simply combating
or ameliorating poverty. In this sense development seeks to restore or enhance
basic human capabilities and freedoms and enables people to be the agents of
their own development.

Human Scale Development adheres to the following principles:

 Development is about people and not about things. - When it comes to
people and not just about things, the gross national product (GNP) cannot be
taken as an indicator. Instead it has to be related to the quality of life (QOL).
Quality of life depends on the possibilities people have to adequately satisfy
their fundamental human needs.
 Fundamental human needs are finite, limited in number, and classifiable. -
This is in contrast to the traditional idea that there are many human needs,
and that they are insatiable.
 Fundamental human needs are the same in all cultures and in all historical
periods. - This is in contrast to the traditional idea that human needs are
subject to trends and vary to a great extent.

In the process of capitalistic development and leading national economy towards

integration into foreign markets, even politically democratic states are apt to
effectively exclude the vast masses from political and economic decision-making.
The state itself evolves into a national oligarchy hedged with authoritarian and
bureaucratic structures and mechanisms that inhibit social participation and
popular action.

The limited access of the majority to social benefits and the limited character of
participation of the masses can often not be satisfactorily offset by the
unsuccessful and weak redistributive policies of the government. Powerful
economic interest groups set the national agenda of development, often
unrepresentative of the heterogeneous and diverse nature of our civil society
making for a consolidation and concentration of power and resources in the
hands of a few.

Also, a focus on people and the masses implies that there could be many different
roads to development and self-reliance. The slogans “human centred
development”, “the development of people”, “integrated development”, all call
for a more inclusive and sensitive approach to fundamental social, economic and
political changes involved in development such that all aspects of life of a people,
their collectivity, their own history and consciousness, and their relations with
others make for a balanced advancement.

The adoption of a basic needs approach with the concept of endogenous

development make for a development agenda that is universally applicable while
at the same time allowing for country specific particularities to be given due
account.

The challenge of human scale development is to nurture diversity instead of being

threatened by it, to develop processes of political and economic decentralization,
to strengthen democratic, indigenous traditions and institutions and to encourage
rather than repress emerging social movements which reflect the people’s need for
autonomy and space.

The fruits of economic development may be distributed more equitably if local

spaces are protected, micro- organizations are facilitated and the diverse collective
identities that make up the social body are recognized and represented. Greater
control of popular masses over environment is a must. In fact this concept of
development seeks for the civil society rather than the state to own up and nurture
development, so that the role of social actors is enhanced.

Social and Human Development, therefore necessarily requires a unified

approach, integrating the economic and social components in plans, policies and
programs for people’s betterment. The challenge is to simultaneously integrate
cross sectoral and regional developmental needs as well as to make for a
participative development. The issues of environment, pollution, women, habitat,
hunger and employment have come to the fore one by one and continue to
require public and institutional attention along with resource allocations. Two
major contemporary concerns that require focus in any development initiative are
that of human security and sustainability.

We need to ensure that development does not mean social dislocation, violence
and war and that we meet “the needs of the present generation without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Each of these problems is interrelated in complex ways and requires a unified

approach. The purpose of development should be to develop man and not to end
with developing things. Fulfillment of basic needs of mankind should be the true
objective of development and achievements that either do not contribute to this
goal or even disrupt this basic requirement must not be pursued as a development
goal.

Source:
http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/society/development-meaning-and-conce
pt-of-development/688

DECENTRALISATION LEADS TO DEVELOPMENT

by Hazem Qashou

Decentralization is a foundation stone in the process of reform and development.

It creates a wider platform for participation in the decision-making process and
works to bridge the gap between policy makers and the community.

Decentralization is based on comprehensive structures that include development

strategies centred on a participatory approach; the needs of citizens within
achievable, objective priorities; and groundwork that combines capabilities and
aspirations.

It is assumed that decentralization only works in stable and safe societies that
adopt a democratic approach.

In the field of administrative development, decentralization normally reduces

bureaucracy, reinforces transparency, emphasizes the importance of individual
responsibility, and stresses efficiency, creativity and innovation.

In the social sphere, decentralization helps limit the migration towards the capital,
and enhances creativity and competitiveness among geographical regions, which
strengthens social values.

It also limits unemployment and pockets of poverty, and creates investment

opportunities in the regions.
Devolving authority to governorates makes access to services easier and more
targeted, as they will be tailored according to the priorities and needs of the
citizens, based on comprehensive scientific field surveys.

To achieve decentralization there is need of a participatory framework that

includes all provinces whose input has to be taken into account when preparing
the decentralization law, especially knowing that municipalities’ ability to deliver
services was seriously hindered by financial problems and sagging
administrations.

Municipalities need effective solutions to remove all obstacles that prevent them
from playing their role. Therefore, it was essential to establish a municipalities
law that gives more authority to local councils.

In order to overcome the social and economic repercussions of the political

situation in the region, it is necessary to draw up modern policies and use
contemporary approaches that adapt to the developments, take into account the
needs, aspirations, abilities and capabilities of the people in the different
geographical regions and involve effective popular participation.

Building on achievements, there is need to ensure that all citizens contribute to

development in a democratic manner.

Strengthening pluralism to ensure that each citizen contributes to the building on

the future, Jordan will become a model of citizenship and good governance.

Reform and modernization require move towards local governance, and new
laws on decentralization and municipalities.

Municipal work is expected to rely upon comprehensive studies and field surveys
to invest in capacities in accordance with objective plans and studies within each
area and at all levels.

Citizen participation strengthens the case of administrative reform.

Any action aiming at decentralization should endeavour to: delineate the
administrative boundaries of the province and the development boundaries of the
local administration; draw up plans needed to highlight the appropriate
developmental framework; give incentives for investment and bring about a
qualitative partnership between the private sector and municipalities; include
professional associations and sports clubs in the decision-making process; invest
in a municipal fund; give renewable energy projects a leading role in developing
municipalities and find the necessary facilities to do so; give due consideration to
the role of youth in municipal development work, enable their participation in
decision making and benefiting from their ideas; create an administrative
structure and give job description to municipal councils; and highlight the role of
national and cultural content in service development.

Source:
http://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/hazem-qashou/decentralisation-leads-de
velopment
PARTICIPATORY RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Form past few decades developing countries making great efforts to improve the
lives of the deprived communities. Awareness towards education and maternal
health improve significantly. Now there is low infant death rate and life
expectancy improved by more than fifty percent. Almost in more than half
population, children started their schooling. Similarly, there is significant
improvement in provision of clean drinking water to rural areas. Average per
capita income of the developing countries rose to almost double (Sandstrom,
1994).

According to UNDP report in 2000, despite of the improvement and development,

poverty still remains a biggest challenge for world. Still in this development era,
seven million people die every year due to preventable diseases. In developing
countries, still death rate is high, fertility ratio is low and child death ratio is high.
On the other side, there is significant improvement in ratio of rich peoples in
world in developed countries in last thirty years but seven million peoples in
developing countries still struggling to earn less than a dollar and striving to live
with limited resources (UNDP, 2000).

Over the past few decades new approaches to development have been adopted.
The human element has lately acquired a new significance. Getting over their
earlier obsession with economic growth, planners now readily appreciate that it is
the involvement of people in the development process that ensures sustainable
development. While programs differ substantially in design, objectives and target
communities, a common organizing principal is clearly discernible. It is the belief
and principle of participatory development, according to Keith R. Emrich (1984)
that development must begin in the very lowest tier or level. There must be real
opportunities for participative decision making for the target groups and those
decisions must relate to their future development (Sadiullah, 2006).

According to the advocates of Participatory Rural Development (PRD)

(Mansoori and Rao, 2004), the aim of the Participatory development is to
accomplishing following three functions:
1. Communities should identify and implement projects for themselves for need
based development.
2. Improve the capacity of the local peoples to organize themselves as
community.
3. Enable community organization to work together for common purpose.
Decentralization as a policy of rural development is consistently focused in many
developing countries since the 1970s. The motivation for and application of
decentralization policies varied considerably. In past deconcentration type of
decentralization was favored in many countries. In a decentralized system, that
stresses people’s participation and devolution of authority, local units must be
autonomous and clearly distinguished as a separate jurisdiction over which the
centre exercises little or no direct control. In many of the cases the central
governments initiated introduced and heavily publicized decentralization policies
only to see them falter during implementation. Haque (1986) emphasizing the
great extent of central control over local units as an “illusion of decentralization”.
The impact of decentralization varies from country to country; however, the
results of decentralization policies so far implemented in developing countries are
not impressive.

Development is a complex and continuous process, defined and interpreted in a

variety of ways. Economists identify it with economic productivity and higher
standard of living; sociologists with social change and social differentiation;
political scientists with democratization and participation; and administration
experts with bureaucratic performance. Underlying all these divergent viewpoints
is common concern to improve the quality of life for man. Regardless of the
efforts made by world from past generation, people still suffering for basic services.
Almost one billion populations in the world still live the poverty line and have no
access to education, health and clean drinking water

Source:
http://www.ce.vizja.pl/en/download-pdf/volume/5/issue/4/id/227