Message-ID: <m0uSQWu-000anSC@aztec.co.za> Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 18:06:00 EET From: steve worth <mailto:stevew@AZTEC.CO.ZA> Subject: stakeholders To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Riaz Khan raises some very excellent points! Thanks!I have a friend, now working in a most remote part of northern Mocambique, who used to describe our relationship as a partnership between one who lives in a valley forest amongst the trees and one who lives on a mountain overlooking the valley.
When the mountain dweller goes into the valley, he does so with a perspective not shared by the valley dweller. Thus the valley dweller struggles to understand and accept the views of the mountain man -- because they are so broad and wide and seemingly irrelevant. And should the valley dweller go up to the top of the mountain to teach the mountain dweller of the ways of the valley, the mountain man will be frustrated because the valley ways are so specific and confined.
Who is right?
I think the point here in this discussion (at least one point anyway)is that it is not a question of who is right, but a question of genunine interest in the welfare of mankind. People are elected by people. So part of the answer to Riaz's question is in the education and empowerment of the electors to choose well and freely. Part of the answer is to have safe ways of removing from office those who violate the trust of the electorate.
Another part of the answer is to aid the 'development agent' to see through the eyes of the 'valley people' while not losing his perspective from the top of the mountain.
I know of no development principle which says that the elected officials or the community are always right. I do know of the development principle which says that decisions affecting the well-being and status of a person or group of persons should not be made without consulting the person or group affected. There will be times when the perspective of the group is 'right' and times when the perspective of the outsider is 'right' -- but there are more times when the best idea/ solution comes through a clashing of differing opinions (not personalities and vested interests) where pieces of the perspective of the groups and pieces of the perspective of the outsider are brought together to form a totally new perspective shared by all.
Striking this balance is not easy because it is largely dependent upon the creation of unity among the members of the group and between the group and the outsider (and between the outsiders if there are more than one of them).
If the top-down agenda is filled with ulterior motives, then ultimately it will collapse under the weight of local scrutiny (whether pre or post implementation).
If the bottom-up agenda seeks (even if unwittingly) to retard the expansion of the well-being of the community, it too will collapse under the weight of the ever-advancing nature of humankind's spirit.
My experience has been that when communities do not want to take on some beneficial activity, it is usually not the activity to which they object, but to the strings attached to that activity, or to the unanswered questions of how this fits in with their perspectives.
Another aspect here is that even when communities _are_ consulted it is perhaps done without recognition by either part of the assumption of accountability for the ensuing decisions. With accountablity in view, consultation of the community becomes less of a grappling for power, less of a superficial 'hearing them out so they will feel involved and committed', and more of a creation of a partnership which overrides the assumption of the adversarial (us vs. them) scenario which tends to dominate the debate when discussing alternative development approaches.
Humankind is globally coming of age, and with that coming of age comes the responsibility on the part of those with current temporal power _and_ those deserving of empowerment to come to a collective understanding of their fundamental equality and shared accountability for the destiny of their part of the planet -- or the whole planet for that matter.
This, to my mind, as utopian as it may sound, is the only long-term solution to the issues Riaz so accurately raises.
Steve
˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙Worth * Box 535 * Hartswater * 8570 * South Africa Tel/Fax: +27 - 1405 - 41323 (ask for fax) Email: mailto:stevew@aztec.co.za ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ "...We must begin with the farmer, there will we lay a foundation for system and order...." ** "The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, but do not strive to put them into practice." 'Abdu'l-Baha (1844-1921) ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙