Knowledge and action

Work that concerns social development seems to have gone from one extreme to another in the last 30 odd years.

We used to think that institutions knew what people needed and thus provided for these needs in the best possible way.

More recently, we seem to be thinking that people know their own needs best, and so to know how to provide for themselves given capabilities.

But the capabilities of one person are not the same for the next person and assuming this is an injustice. So, from a capability perspective, it appears more accurate (and humble) to say that nobody "knows" what the heck people need. Instead, learning about capabilities through observation, analysis and interpretation seems to be a better approach towards doing things that matter in peoples' lives.

This is not to say that once a "solution" is observed, analyzed and interpreted, it will always apply. Human lives (preferences, tastes, moods, actions, etc) are contingent on different variables, so any solutions to development should be just as contingent.

This should be continued.

Comments

Tanzania is not Tasmania

Dear friends: Please let's stop refering to Tanzania as Tasmania. Here is why. Tanzania is located on the coast of East Africa, below Kenya. It is not origin of the the cartoon character from your childhood. Tasmania is an island which is part of Australia. The animal known to exist only on Tasmania is the Tasmanian Devil. Once again, you will see this is not the cartoon character you remember from your childhood. Let's summarize: Tanzania is not Tasmania.

Policy Brief 2: Why is Tanzania Poor?

(Policy Brief # 2 Submitted December 6th 2007, for Econ 346 - Economic Development, Lafayette College) Over the course of the 20th century, Tanzania experienced a multitude of social, political and economic changes. It still remains poor today. The WorldBank classifies a ‘low income country’ – such as Tanzania – as one with a Gross National Income per capita of $905 or less (WorldBank Data 2006). As of 1992, Tanzania ’s per capita income was recorded at $110, and average per capita consumption was $0.5 per day (OECD 2000). Several possible factors have been blamed for contributing to current hardships, such as Julius Nyerere’s failed attempts to collectivize agriculture between 1961 and 1975 through his socialist Ujamaa policies as the first president of Tanzania (Pratt 1980). While pre-independence plans “focused on the commercialization of agriculture and the creation of industries that could reduce the need for a variety of imports”, post-independence interventions by the Gov

Thoughts caught up

Well hello friends, It's been a while since I wrote a post. I say this all the time, I am aware. But this time is a little special. Let's begin with a sample >> Edx - Casa Grande Now, there are times when we don't really know what we think we know. That is, physically, in this material world, we find things that happen to occur in our lifetimes, or within the realm of things we know during our lifetimes, that make it seem as though we can prove what we know. This is a completely understandable way of proving things. However, every so often, a human feels a vibe; of appreciation, of pluralism, of kinmanship, of care, of love, or of annoyance, of irriation, of anger, whatever it may be, we feel it. This exact vibe, of whatever emotion it holds, is not a physical vibe. I think this vibe has more than history, is more than a science, and is greater than our reality. This vibe, I believe, is purely human. Time for another sample >> Julian Vincent feat. Cathy Burton -

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