Ideas for DevelopmentOur world seems entangled in systems increasingly dominated by power, greed, ignorance, self-deception and denial, with spiralling inequity and injustice. Against a backdrop of climate change, failing ecosystems, poverty, crushing debt and corporate exploitation, the future of our world looks dire and the solutions almost too monumental to consider. Yet all is not lost. Robert Chambers, one of the ?glass is half full? optimists of international development, suggests that the problems can be solved and everyone has the power at a personal level to take action, develop solutions and remake our world as it can and should be. Chambers peels apart and analyses aspects of development that have been neglected or misunderstood. In each chapter, he presents an earlier writing which he then reviews and reflects upon in a contemporary light before harvesting a wealth of powerful conclusions and practical implications for the future. The book draws on experiences from Africa, Asia and elsewhere, covering topics and concepts as wide and varied as irreversibility, continuity and commitment; administrative capacity as a scarce resource; procedures and principles; participation in the past, present and future; scaling up; behaviour and attitudes; responsible wellbeing; and concepts for development in the 21st century. |
From inside the book
Results 6-10 of 56
... farmers from the wasteful, fragmented, and shifting system of agriculture to a settled and improved pattern of farming'.5 The opportunity attracts and nourishes the idea of a scheme. In such conditions a personal commitment can develop ...
... farmer; in Kenya, a sturdy yeoman; in Tanzania, a co-operative worker. Another Utopian aspect is the frequency with which stresses and breakdowns are not anticipated: as Apthorpe (1966, p23) has pointed out, provision is often lacking ...
... farmers already on their land or settlers, already on a scheme, than to attempt radical transformation in one long step. Settlement schemes, particularly those which are complex in system, will remain temptations. Because of their ...
... farmers: if the innovation succeeds, it is propagated without further government intervention; if it fails, it is quickly and easily abandoned by the farmers without additional cost or administration for government. There are, of course ...
... farmers, as had been achieved during the 1960s in Kenya. More generally, the withdrawal of the state from administered development such as settlement schemes has been so widespread and so comprehensive that we find ourselves now, in the ...
Contents
1 | |
2 Aid and Administrative Capacity | 30 |
3 Procedures Principles and Power | 54 |
Review Reflections and Future | 86 |
5 PRA Participation and Going to Scale | 119 |