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NEW
INTERNATIONALIST 183  |
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THIS
MONTH'S THEME |
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THE
DEVELOPMENT
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From
the grassroots ·
CREATE ALTERNATIVES Mega-flops ·
ACCOMPANY THE POOR ·
MEET BASIC NEEDS ·
PROMOTE SELF-RELIANCE Development choices - the facts ·
EMPOWER THE WOMEN ·
RESPECT TRADITION ·
DEFEND THE EARTH ·
CHANGE THE POLITICAL CLIMATE |
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FROM
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR |
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But as we approached the subject it became clear that task was not as simple as we thought. Often at NI an issue theme gets chosen with a fairly straightforward thesis that on further investigation proves much more complex. That's the case here: success in the real world is too relative and too partial. A development project that succeeds on almost all counts is virtually unknown. One that respects the environment may at the same time increase a community's dependence on outside aid. Another project that increases a community's vegetable yields may be done at the expense of a neighbouring village that used to supply the same product at a higher price. It is pointless to avoid the difficulties. You just end up replacing an official mythology with an alternative mythology. As you read you will find that what we have managed to do is isolate some of the factors necessary for grassroots development to succeed. But each case study raises as many difficulties as it provides positive examples. The secret of a successful issue of NI is to popularize without simplifying. I hope this is what we have done with this magazine. We want to give a sense of development as a complex process, a tightrope that needs to be walked. We want to show the continual balances that need to be struck, the successes that lead to new dilemmas. And the failures that lead to new possibilities. One of the interesting aspects of doing this magazine has been working with another group. Becky Buell of Food First worked tirelessly and thought creatively about how to fit the cornucopia of raw material into a magazine format. She and a few others at the Institute are to be heartily thanked for their hospitality and co-operation. I highly recommend you get to know their work if you haven't already. Working with another group presents some of the same puzzling problems and possibilities as development itself. New approaches and ideas can be challenging as well as threatening. The trick is to find a way for everyone's creativity to contribute to the final results. Here we have tried to marry Food First's analysis and experience in the development field with our grasp of what works on the page. One last point. This issue is really a short primer on grassroots development; we hope it will get lots of use as an educational resource. It may even be a small antidote to the lavish annual reports of agencies like the World Bank. |
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Letters
COVER PHOTO:
FAO |
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Richard
Swift
for the New Internationalist Co-operative |
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This
issue was produced in collaboration with the Institute for Food and Development
Policy in San Francisco, more popularly known as Food First. The Institute
is putting together a book on the ingredients for successful organizing in
the Third World (called Turning the Tables on Development and due out
next year). When the folks at Food First told us about their project and asked
if we were interested in an issue of NI on the theme we were enthusiastic.
Too much of our analysis about development has been either hyper-critical
or just doom-and-gloom about what's wrong in the Third World. The idea was
to let in a little sunshine by doing an issue on success stories.
