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Phased Development & Osmosis
“If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved.”
“If real development is to take place, the people have to be involved.”
Julius Nyerere
“You cannot develop people. You must allow people to develop themselves.”
Julius Nyerere
“Man and Development: Binadamu Na Maendeleó”
***** ***** *****
The ‘3 generation’ rule of thumb
It can take 3 generations for a significant change in societal behaviour for it to become
the new norm.
The ‘early adopters’ of a significant societal change live out their lives being
constantly reminded that they are ‘swimming against the tide’.
Their children grow up living the ’new norm’. They might be confronted by ‘challenge’
when outside their home but not always. Some others will also have chosen the ‘new norm’
as being right for them. This provides reassurance and reinforcement. And of course when
the children return home parents answer doubts and questions and reinforce.
By the time the grandchildren arrive the density of people living the ‘new norm’ is now
such that it no longer seems risky. And of course there are now a wide number of people
who have now had positive experiences about the ‘new norm’ to relate to the world around
them.
*****
When less than halfway through preparing this narrative I had accumulated slightly more
than 5,000 different reports, studies, journals, articles and such like. (By the end this had grown
to almost 10,000)
Some of the biggest impressions these left me was the decades long feedback that
World Bank and IMF programmes were widely regarded as,
a 'one size' fits all approach
imposing pre-ordained timescales that effectively asked too much, too soon regarding key
elements of the infrastructure for governance
opening up domestic markets well before the local regulatory framework was sufficiently
developed to meet the new pressures
having increased the potential for social conflicts
having weakened recipient states’ ability to govern effectively
