NGO Another Way (Stichting Bakens Verzet), 1018 AM Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

Edition 04: 16 April, 2011

 

01. E-course : Diploma in Integrated Development (Dip. Int. Dev)

 

Quarter 1.

 

 

SECTION A :  DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS.

 

 

Study value : 04 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 112 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

Study value : 02 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 57 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

First Block : Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

First Block : Section 2. Services needed for a good quality of life.

First Block : Exam. [ 4 hours each attempt]

 


 

Block 1 of Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

 

Part 2 : In depth analysis of the causes of poverty. [14.00 hours]

 

01. In depth : definition of poverty.

02. In depth : some factors linked with poverty.

03. In depth : debts and subsidies.

04. In depth : financial leakages : food and water industries.

05. In depth : financial leakage : energy.

06. In depth : financial leakage : means of communication..

07. In depth : financial leakage : health and education.

08. In depth : financial leakage : theft of resources.

09. In depth : financial leakage : corruption.

10. In depth : the industry of poverty.

 

Report on Section 1 of Block 1 : [06.00 Hours]

 


 

Part 2 : In depth analysis of the causes of poverty. [14.00 hours]

 

 

10. In depth : the industry of poverty. (at least one hour)

 

Look at slide :

 

10. Financial leakage : development aid.

 

Read the notes you made on the law of diminishing returns in 07. Financial leakage : health and education.

 

Read the universal declaration of human rights.

 

1. Opinion.

 

Everyone should be able to benefit from the universal rights.......shouldn’t he/she ?

 

Or perhaps, 60 years after the date of the  Declaration, the real-world situation is quite different from the one described in the Declaration?

 

Since the world was not created in one day, priorities have to be set when dealing with development problems in poor countries.

 

2. Opinion.

 

What are these  priorities ? Who decides them ?

 

It may be necessary to make «brutal » choices.

 

3. Opinion.

 

Where a person suffering from AIDS needs medicines costing € 1.000 and for  € 1.000  a local production unit for mosquito nets can be set up for the benefit of all of the children in the village and surroundings, which choice, do you think, should be made? What about the situation where € 1.000 is enough to set up a cooperative information system over AIDS and a service for the distribution of condoms ? Which choice should be made in that case ?

 

Is a human life more valuable than the quality of life of the rest of the inhabitants of the village? Is hygiene education and disease prevention for the benefit of  future generations more valuable than the life of an AIDS patient ?

 

In poor communities,  the very first investments of a few Euros per person can bring important benefits to the population. For example, the installation of just 5 peak watts per person of photovoltaic energy means a 1000 Wp installation in a community of 200. This is enough to supply energy for a pump for drinking water, a grain mill, lighting for evening study, and for the storage of medicines.

 

As capital investments increase, their relative benefits tend to diminish, following the law of diminishing returns.

 

4. Opinion.

 

Which criteria would you adopt in this regard?

 

A new, often profit-making, industry.

 

In the slide 10.Financial : leakage:development aid it is claimed that even money spent on «good» things reduces the amount of funds available for integrated development of the poor.

 

5. Opinion.

 

What do you think about that statement?

 

In 07  Financial leakage : health and  education , an analysis was made of GAVI’s investments and George Bush’s provision for aid for AIDS medicines. The total amount of development aid is about € 100 billion per year. Amounts spent one way for development aid are not available for spending in another way. This means that neither the money spent to make vaccines in industrialised and emerging countries nor the money paid to consultants in industrialised countries to carry out research on vaccines, nor the money needed to pay for the transport of food products (with or without farmers’ subsidies) from rich countries for distribution to the hungry is available for direct investment in poor countries.

 

6. Opinion.

 

Who makes these  decisions ? Why are the decisions made ?

What is the  relationship between the decisions made and the priorities established by the local populations in developing countries ?

 

In your first analysis in 10 Financial leakage : development aid   a list of local projects was prepared.

 

7. Opinion.

 

During the execution of  the projects on your list, were there any  cases of  friction between what the populations said they wanted and what was supplied to them ?

 

Resource :  Easterly, William, The White Man’s Burden – Why the west’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good , Penguin Press, London, 2006. For a review of the book , read Why doesn’t foreign aid work ? Mercy Corps, Global Envision, April 25, 2006, reproduced by Mercy Corps with the authorisation of CATO Unbound .

 

Foreign development aid : a very wide definition.

 

«Throughout the history of the aid program, Australia has consistently used the mantle of ODA [Overseas Development Aid] to protect, bolster and line the pockets of domestic corporations and to maintain our country's commercial presence in the region, with the bulk of project tenders going to big businesses that have diversified their operations to accommodate overseas development in order to get in on the lucrative aid deals.” Aid is increasing, but can we spend it well? (Wheen K. and Lusby S., Aid Watch News, 28 February 2008.)

 

“The continued effect of tied-aid, an over reliance on expensive, Australia-based technical assistance including Australian companies, consultants and contractors, and a common perception that aid can be legitimately deployed to serve Australia’s own strategic and commercial interests are all factors that fundamentally handicap Australia’s $3 billion aid program.” Source : Duxfield F and Wheen K.   Fighting Poverty or Fantasy Figures ? Aid Watch, Erskineville, Australia, May 2007, p.28.

 

8. Research.

 

The industry of poverty and  arrange them in an order of priority, beginning with the  projects you  consider the most “pure” and ending with the ones you think are the least “pure”.

 

 Next to each project make a note on the (eventual) corrupting  factors.

 

9. Opinion.

 

What are your conclusions?

 

Experts, expatriates, everywhere.

 

Clearly, the presence and participation of experts with knowledge which is not available locally is justifiable both in industrialised and in developing countries. For example, for large-scale works such as the construction of dams, motorways, and refineries. This may be one of the reasons why donors traditionally had a tendency to favour large-scale “development” projects.

 

More recently, projects of more modest dimensions have been preferred. The question is whether this had led to a reduction in the number of expatriates involved in the execution of development projects.

 

10. Opinion.

 

Take the list of projects you have made for your project area (eventually for your country). Why are the participating experts necessary for the success of the projects?

 

Could they be substituted by local people? Could they be substituted by nationals from other areas?

 

Vaccination campaigns.

 

11. Research.

 

Make a list of the  activities (see your analysis in  07. Financial leakage : health and education ) which could be executed in your area to reduce the incidence of bacterial, viral, parasitic and other infections.

 

You might wish to consider the following, amongst others :

 

Active protection against mosquitoes (nets).

Action against flies (all species).

Elimination of surface waters (drainage).

Control over waste disposal (pest control).

Hand washing.

Use of condoms.

 

12. Research.

 

How many of these activities can be executed at local level?

How many expatriate experts would be necessary?

How much would the activities cost?

What are your conclusions?

 

Help! We’re hungry !

 

Section 05.43 recycling of urines and faeces of the Model for integrated development projects, the file Agriculture and Food Security, the block five file Section 4: Food crisis and the file 09. CDM funding indications for the selected applications and methodologies all provide information on how food security can be reached in project areas.

 

Read your notes from section 03. Debts and subsidies of this section, on subsidies paid to farmers in industrialised countries.

 

Read your notes from section 04. Financial leakage : food industries and water  of this section, on food production.

 

About 11.000 years ago, nomadic groups of a few dozen hunter-gatherers (usually defined as “extended families” or “clans”) began cultivating food and to form village groups  (Diamond J., Guns, germs, and steel, Vintage, London, 1998, part 2 : The Rise and Spread of Food Production).

 

For more information refer to 01. First level  : hunter-gatherers  of the  anthropological analysis in the third block solutions to the problems of the course.

In the absence of natural disaster, many communities managed to survive at the same site for centuries.

 

13. Research.

 

Through which passages have some developing countries put themselves into a situation where there is not enough food to feed and maintain their populations, while some industrialised countries have a food surplus?

 

14. Opinion.

 

Try to relate your conclusions to financial leakage caused by development aid.

 

Proceed with the drafting of your report on Section 1 of Block 1 Analysis of the causes of poverty.

 



 First block : : Poverty and quality of life.


  Index : Diploma in Integrated Development  (Dip.Int.Dev)

 List of key words.

 List of references.

  Course chart.


 Courses available.

  Homepage Bakens Verzet.


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