COMMUNITY AND DEVELOPMENT / ECODEVELOPMENT
Development is a process of change which improves people’s present situation and allows them to achieve a better lifestyle for the future. That improvement should include economic advancement, the attainment of a greater degree of economic independence, social stability, stronger political influence and the maintenance of cultural identity.
There is an increasing interest in development at the community level as potentially providing a sustainable basis for the meeting of human needs, a development paradigm for local people ‘ not just to survive, but to live with dignity.’ Community development represents a vision of how things might be organised differently to remove disadvantage in the community. Community development is defined as
‘the process of establishing or re-establishing structures of human community within which new ways of relating, organising social life and meeting human needs become possible.’
Community development is ultimately the responsibility of local people, who, as they gain control and confidence in their activities and regain control over the circumstances of their lives, will make developmental projects self-sustaining.
A community approach to development is small scale, with local aspirations extremely important. This means alternative forms of development receive strong support. Empowerment will occur as the capacity of local people is activated in the development process. By starting small, people are comfortable with the enterprise and as confidence increases the ability to manage a larger scale enterprise is forthcoming.
‘Ecodevelopment’, as advanced by the United Nations Environment Program (1975) is defined as ‘development at regional and local levels .... Consistent with the potentials of the area involved, with attention given to the adequate and rational use of the natural resources, and to applications of technological styles ...... And organisational forms that respect the natural ecosystems and local sociocultural patterns.’
Ecodevelopment considers cultural, social, political, spiritual, economic, technical and environmental concerns.
Who dictates what is successful development? Development is often destructive; such ‘development’ is actually an illusion. For most regions and people development has bought environmental degradation, dispossession and poverty. The invisible costs of development have been the destruction of nature’s processes and people’s survival.
The modernisation strategy of the Western development paradigm, a strategy of ‘catching up development’ is not the solution, it is the problem. Development’ has resulted in the destruction of cultural and biological diversity. The widespread destruction of local lifestyles, knowledges and cultures has consistently eroded people’s control over their own lives and use of natural resources. The underlying assumptions of development need to be fundamentally questioned. Development has been highly destructive of local cultures. The continuation of the industrial growth model, can only lead to further ecological destruction, greater inequity and deeper poverty.
The precedence of monetary economic gain and resource exploitation over the impacts of development on the natural, cultural and social elements of a society and landscapes need to be questioned. Thi Quy (Pilger 98) states:
‘It is an insult to our humanity to maintain that people only have economic demands, and therefore economic development must be made at all costs. To live is not enough. People must seek many things to make their lives significant.’
True development is concerned with raising levels of life sustenance, human dignity and freedom. Local and regional self-sufficiency, ecological sustainability, cultural maintenance, freedom, democracy, communality, equality and social equity; these are also important to people. They are important considerations for appropriate community development.
The objective for planning is to support community development by enhancing the capacity of people to not only be full participants in the process but to own and plan their own development. Development can best be promoted by people themselves working together harmoniously in their local community. People and communities have an inherent capacity to organise themselves to ensure that their basic needs are met, their problems are solved and opportunities for advancement are created.’
We must not just enter into reactionary politics, a ‘politics of despair and retreat’. We must engage in collective community struggles. Community development is a means of achieving social, cultural, economic, political and ecological justice.
-Gary