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.

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