Comments on: Essay: The death of international development

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 15:18:12 +0000

Excellent article, but it doesn’t help to include the Arab Spring in your list of role models: this is fast becoming the winter of death and destruction….

By: MarKLG

MarKLG — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 13:58:14 +0000

A most excellent article in my mind for two reasons: first, it is a superb collection of thoughts and insight well beyond any I have ever seen among development scholars. Furthermore, it is so beautifully articulated and expressed that it is compelling and powerful without appearing grandiose or exaggerated. A truly remarkable article which every development professional and regular joe alike must read. Well done and thank you.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 08:54:38 +0000

Hello,

Just wondering were I could get more information/readings on the efforts of development organizations to market development as talked about in this article.

Thank you.

By: Tiiu-Imbi Miller

Tiiu-Imbi Miller — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 19:14:33 +0000

” Millennium Campaign has done its best to convince us that poverty has reduced dramatically over the past decades, but independent watchdogs have shown that this claim rests on statistical sleight-of-hand: the metrics have been massaged by focusing on proportions rather than absolute numbers,”
Imagine that there are 2 societies, one of 1000 people. the other of 100,000. Imagine that all the citizens of both are below the poverty line, and both are trying to get their people out of poverty. Imagine next that in 10 years time there are 500 people of the first, smaller society still below the poverty line – that’s 50% of them. but in the larger society there are 1000 below the poverty line – 1% . According to the reasoning of this article the first society has done much better than the second, because they have only half as many poor left. Dose that make sense? it is surely the proportions that matters not the absolute number when we want to see if there has been progress. The Millennium Campaign are right. We have made progress. But when we design programs to deal with the problem the absolute numbers are more important for assessing what resources are needed.

By: Jazz

Jazz — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 20:06:03 +0000

Hay I think this is very good essay with an interesting point of view. I think there is a lot of valid points here. I work for one of the more famous development agencies I won’t mention which one. But it would be really interesting to see your sources for your statistics concerning poverty levels and income.

Secondly, I think that we need to differentiate between different kinds of development, although I think that would take a longer essay. I think emergency humanitarian aid is essentially important and we now have a growing body of evidence of exactly what to do in the first 100 days of any natural disaster. This needs to stay.

Long term development is a different matter, although I think looking at income only confuses the picture, although on the whole I think your right that income levels have gone down using some measures weighted against inflation.

However other things have dramatically improved enrolement in primary school places for example. Access to health care, infectious diseases and infant mortality to name but a few. Income doesn’t tell the whole story. So there has been some successes which doesn’t necessary mean the aid agenda is dead. However, it’s important to mention that some of these successes are not purely down to aid money.

It would be really interesting to hear your thoughts on this. Keep writing.

By: wisdom8020

wisdom8020 — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:51:09 +0000

I agree that the author has legitimate points about the failure of developments. However, I believe that we are slowly tackling the fundamental issues.

First, the World Bank with Jim Yong Kim is trying to become more transparent, wholesome and effective (http://freakonomics.com/2015/02/19/hacking-the-world-bank-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/).

Second, charities such as givewell.org and innovation poverty lab are scrutinizing the effectiveness of programs, raising the efficiency of programs.

Third,Bill Gates is investing in banking, which is more effective in increasing and allocating capital. (http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/22/investing/bill-gates-mobile-banking/).

Yes, past development efforts were disastrous but we are getting better. Also, focusing on overall happiness is a noble long term goal but a bit idealistic and slow. We will get there one day but we must go in slow steps. And we are getting there slowly through sharing economies and refocusing on local communities.

By: Eugene Oh

Eugene Oh — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 22:25:57 +0000

interesting analysis of the problem with development as a field, but bases its suggested solutions on very problematic assumptions and questionable value judgements. catch down? romanticising poverty? not accounting for technology and the structural need for some degree of inequality to drive technological advancement? static resource consumption paradigms? tick tick tick and tick

By: Ann Wigglesworth

Ann Wigglesworth — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 21:47:11 +0000

If we open our eyes we will see the evidence of this inequality every time we buy obscenely cheap produce made in Asia, worth hardly more than the value of the raw materials. What are the chances that the workers are paid a living wage? Meanwhile in our economy the principle of corporate competition is seeking to make the prices ever lower. It is our consumer society that fuels inequality, and sets unsustainable standards for the Asian middle class to aspire to. Development NGOs should be primarily addressing personal action against poverty, yet their commercialisation of poverty as a strategy to raise funds fuels the mentality that allows such extreme inequality to be acceptable.

Having spent my working life in development NGOs I can’t help being dismayed by the commercial

By: Arman Balonkita

Arman Balonkita — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 00:33:41 +0000

Until such a time that the development workers, consultants and personnel of Development Agencies work and are paid in the true spirit of volunteerism can there be only genuine cause by them to end hunger and poverty. Otherwise, it is simply BUSINESS. Business for development workers looking for higher salaries and per diems; business for consultants looking for big projects to bag in; and business for in-house personnel who are evaluated in terms of fund utilization rate since this justifies their stay and high salaries. The personnel of WB, ADB, IMF, GIZ, etc. should first exemplify a life of simplicity to become truly recognized as gurus of development. It is so ironic that we see lots of them holding meetings and summits on big and expensive hotels, riding in business class planes, with premium per diems per day, riding on luxury vehicles; and talk of – POVERTY. I wonder if these same people will do the same without getting paid that much. There are lots of consultants who have left NGO world and shifted to international financial institutions for greener pastures. There are those however who still remain and continue to work in the true sense of development practically journeying with the poor. I do hope they keep going . . .

By: Daniel Esser

Daniel Esser — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 05:11:17 +0000

I agree with your overarching observation that charity “allows people to feel they are fixing the problem of poverty without ever having to confront power, challenge the tenets of the prevailing economic order, or question their own position within the global class system.” This has been a convenient untruth. I am less sure, however, that foreign aid was ever–by anyone–considered “some kind of silver bullet […] or that Bono and Bill Gates can save the world.” I am also in disagreement with your claim that “global poverty is not getting better.” We need to look at specific countries. Maybe this is the global development industry’s greatest failure: namely its attempt to globalize capital-D Development through the MDGs etc. We cannot simply drop China from the equation. Yes, China’s growth has come at a tremendous environmental cost — but so did England’s and the US’. Do we have evidence that those living in developing countries today want zero-growth? I am not arguing for moral blank checks, but we ought to be careful when it comes to expecting late developing countries to embrace different standards. Rather than showing the way forward, indices like the Happy Planet Index (HPI) are emblematic of continued paternalism of developing countries by “Western” Development thought.