[afro-nets] Eliminating world poverty: making governance work for the poor (17)

["jeff buderer" <jeff@onevillage.biz>]

Eliminating world poverty: making governance work for the poor (17)
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Usman,

Good comments. Indeed the policymaking and structural issues have to be addressed before the urgent issues of development can be effectively addressed. I would add it is not only gullibility but arrogance in that the powerful who make these decisions are slow to see the need to change direction. Indeed it is symptom of excessive professionalism or professionalization where the focus is on fancy worded statements (designed for a sophisticated Western Audience) and proposals and not on the effective implementation and replication of best practices in the field.

I think for many of us the structural problems are increasingly clear, yet a clear path is needed in terms of developing an alternative funding system or mechanism that is more focused on local empowerment, a culture encouraging bootstrapping and self-reliance and is also carefully managed to ensure minimal overhead costs and concrete, replicable and sustainable results in the field.

Indeed I say cultural because it is that a cultural change within the development community is needed to in affect address the urgent issues of the planet today which revolve not simply around poverty but way in which human beings relate to each other. Until we humans change fundamentally the way in which we relate to each other, the symptoms of human dysfunction and neglect will continue to be a part of the human condition. Throwing money or technology at the problems of the human condition will not eradicate them, because they do not address the root cause which relates to inability of many to relate to the impact of their actions in the global society and economy upon others.

Jeff
mailto:jeff@onevillage.biz