In the transition from subsistence-based island
societies to monetized and growth-oriented economies, Pacific island countries
have been investing heavily in social welfare and economic growth to ensure
improvements in longevity, living standards, literacy levels and acquisition of
new skills and know-how. These
investments, bolstered by external donor assistance, have largely accounted for
the remarkable level of human development that most PICs presently enjoy. They have helped overcome the constraints
brought about by the relatively small size and the geographic isolation of
settlements within each PIC. Moreover,
the Pacific culture of mutual sharing based on the extended family system has
resulted in many households being reached with the benefits derived from
participation in both the subsistence and cash economies.
Threats to SHD
In
recent years, however, some social and economic problems have emerged which now
threaten to negate the region’s human development performance. These problems include a growing labor force
that is unskilled and unable to find jobs, inequalities amongst the people and
emerging poverty, increased marginalisation of rural and outer islands
populations; and erosion of traditional values and support systems. In addition, many Pacific countries, the
race to produce more food and cash to feed a rapidly expanding population has
led to severe depletion of valuable land and marine resources.
As a result, the people’s means of livelihood and survival are seriously
threatened.
Meanwhile,
low economic growth and rising populations have strained the efforts of Pacific
governments to cope with the increasing demand for cash employment and
services. The provision of available
social services, as well as the promotion of income-
generating activities, continues to be hampered not
only by geographical factors, but by cultural diversities within many Pacific
countries.
As a result, in practically
all PICs, there has been an emerging trend of disparities in incomes and in the
access to resources and economic opportunities. Disparities are becoming increasingly apparent between social
groups, people in rural and urban areas, central and outer islands, and men and
women. In fact, many PICs now
acknowledge the existence of specific groups, i.e. women, youth, people in
outer islands, remote rual areas, urban settlements, etc. which have been
previously bypassed by development efforts and are particularly disadvantaged
by current socio-economic and cultural factors.
The threats to Pacific
human development have been compounded by the increasing aspirations of the
people. Their perceptions of a better
life have been irreversibly altered by exposure to modern development, improved
education and the commercial mass media which has intensified in recent
years. The Pacific way of life, which
has accounted for social cohesion and provided effective social safety nets in
the past, is now under siege from the problems brought about by unemployment,
as well as by growing inequalities and emerging poverty apparent in an
increasing number of local communities.
Indeed these problems require priority attention from Pacific
governments because they undermine the traditional cohesiveness and stability
of local communities, factors which have largely accounted for the effective
conversion of social welfare and economic growth investments into concrete
gains in human well-being for most households in the region. For the foreseeable future perhaps the two
SHD challenges which PICs will have to seriously contend with is how to prevent
further inequalities between its population and how to provide gainful
employment and sustainable livelihood for its people.
Emerging Poverty and
Inequalities
The worsening unemployment situation is associated
with the problem of rising poverty in the region. Based on household income as one measure of poverty, there is an
increasing number of families in many Pacific communities who cannot afford to
pay school fees, seek adequate health care, buy or produce basic food
requirements, or fulfill traditional obligations to the community and the
church. Families in this situation are
considered poor. Families struggling to
provide for these necessities belong to social groups vulnerable to poverty.
These
families and other population groups who face declining standards of living are
found in increasing numbers in every PIC.
In Fiji, for instance, those living in poverty, or vulnerable to it, may
have doubled between 1989 and 1991.
Providing for school fees, rents and traditional obligations meant less
money available for nutritious food.
Household cash incomes did not also increase significantly during the
three-year period, and thus the quality of life for many households was
affected.
Through
its impact on the urbanising process,
unemployment weakens traditional support systems and contributes to the
vulnerability of many groups. In many
PICs, the unemployed set up settlements
located in marginal areas, near factories, rubbish dumps and major roads which
increase their vulnerability.
Overcrowding, poor water supply and inadequate sanitation place strains
on the urban environment which affect not only the poor, but also the wider
population. Urban-based problems also
divert resources from areas where majority of the socially and economically
disadvantaged live; hence, unemployment
as hastening agent for urbanization also causes the further marginalisation of
outer island and remote rural communities.
Inequalities
are becoming more pronounced in Pacific societies. That there are those who are rich and others who are poor is
gradually being acknowledge in the region; the gap has so widened considerably
between them that is now more visible to policymakers and development
planners. In Fiji, the top 20 per cent
of wage earners in 1977 received 53 per cent income. By 1986, the top 10 per cent received 50 per cent of total
income. In Solomon islands, 70 per cent
of the total income of households in Honiara accrues to less than two per cent
of the population.
Poverty
levels and inequalities in the PICs may also be determined based not only on
cash incomes, but also on other indicators, i.e. infant mortality, access to
sanitation and safe water, incidence of preventable diseases, population
growth, life expectancy, educational attainment. To create profound impact on these indicators of social deprivation
and human development in each PIC, and thus overcome current threats to the
well-being of Pacific people, primary attention and resources need to be
directed to promoting sustainable livelihood as key strategy for reducing
unemployment and addressing the emerging poverty and inequalities in Pacific
societies.
Employment and Sustainable Livelihood
Most
PICs have not been able in recent years to generate adequate increases in
domestic wage employment. Out of an
economically active population of 1.8 million in 1991, the region as a whole
was able to create only 370,000 job opportunities. During the 1980s, formal sector employment in PNG increased by
only 0.5 per cent annum equivalent to 1,000 jobs a year while the economically
active population totaled 35,000. In
Solomon Islands, while wage employment grew by 3.7 per cent per annum during
the period 1978 to 1987, the annual average of 722 wage jobs was well below the
5,500 joining the labor force each year.
Most PICs reflect similar unemployment pattern. It has been estimated that during the next
20 years, Pacific economies will have to create 3 million wage jobs to match
the rise in labor force entrants in each PIC.
With
the rapid population growth and phenomenal rural-to-urban migration in most
PICs, the size of the labor force will exceed the increases experienced in the
past. Wage employment creation is
likely to be slower than in recent years due to economic trends both within and
outside the region. Due to overall
financial constraints and the expected decline in external assistance, the
public sector, which accounts to around 40 per cent of wage jobs in the region,
is not expected to contribute significantly to future job growth. In addition, the smaller and isolated
Pacific island countries are not expected to emerge as dynamic economies in the
immediate years to come; hence, their contribution to the improvement of the
wage employment profile will remain less significant.
The
failure of Pacific economies to create more jobs will further strain the
subsistence-based traditional social support networks and thus threatened the
cohesiveness of local culture. Many new
entrants into the labor force are young men and women who have had years of
schooling under the formal education system; their skills training is mostly in
preparation for employment outside the subsistence sector. In general, they do not share the
expectations of their forebears and such dislocation from local culture often
lead to social problems, e.g. drunken behavior, anti-social tendencies and
defiant attitudes to community values, indifference to communal obligations,
etc. This specific dimension involving
youth unemployment is a prominent feature of human development problems and
opportunities in the Pacific. Primarily
because it reinforces youth alienation, unemployment in Pacific societies can
result in substantial social costs that PICs can ill afford to have at this
stage of their development.
2.
SEARCH FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
PATHS: THE SUVA DECLARATION ON SHD
The foregoing key human development issues and
challenges in the region are articulated in the Pacific Human Development
Report (PHDR) published by UNDP in 1994.
The urgent need to address the key issues and challenges for sustainable
human development in the region prompted Pacific governments, through their
Ministers of Planning, to promulgate in May 1994 the Suva Declaration on
Sustainable Human-Development in the Pacific.
The Declaration was subsequently endorsed at the 25th South
Pacific Forum in Brisbane in August of the same year. The document contains possible strategy options that individual
PICs may take in formulating policies and programmers relevant to the
attainment of sustainable and equitable human development.
A
strategy framework for promoting
sustainable livelihood in the context of people-centered development can
be formulated based on the options contained in the Suva Declaration.
3.
NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OT THE SUVA DECLARATION
A review of current
development policies and plans in PICs reveal that their development
aspirations mirror closely the priority policy options and strategies contained
in the Suva Declaration on SHD in the Pacific.
The current state of human
development in PICs, where analysis has been carried out, indicate that past
and current development strategies have not produced the intented results. In many PICs the unplanned outcomes of
poverty, increasing disparities between population groups, erosion of
traditional values and support systems, growing social disintegration and open
disenchantment with the state is adding to the already formidable array of
development challenges facing these small island countries.
PICs also agree that their
preoccupation with more immediate economic and growth objectives have also
resulted in the neglect of the social and human dimensions of development. It is in this context that the Suva
Declaration is serving as a powerful reaffirmation of PICs’ commitment to
putting people back at the center stage of national development.
While the Suva Declaration
contains 15 action areas, PICs are encouraged to prioritise these to meet the
situation that exists in each country.
Since the endorsement of the declaration by the South Pacific Forum in
August 1994, several countries have initiated their own national actions that
have far reaching impact on the state of human well-being.
Taking Stock of Human
Development
The SD encourages PICs to
take stock of their own HD situation and to base policies and strategies on
solid analysis of the current and future prospects of human well-being as
defined by the people themselves.
To date, Vanuatu, Solomon
Islands, Western Samoa and Tonga have agreed to produce their own national SHD
situation analysis with support from UNDP/ESHDP, UNFPA and UNICEF and working
in cooperation with SPC, Forum Secretariat and other Pacific-based UN
agencies. An analysis of Western
Samoa’s HD situation was prepared in 1993 and will be updated in 1995. Vanuatu’s SHDSA is expected to be completed
by April 1995. The mechanisms for doing
the same in Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Palau are presently being developed in
cooperation with the respective governments, regional partners and UN agencies.
The SHD Situation Analyses
are being prepared with maximum national participation and ownership, and will
provide pertinent and hard data to support policy development and reforms that
will redress inequalities and to build wide national consensus and political
support for SHD by providing a common picture of the problems affecting the
country’s people.
A series of seminars will
be undertaken after the completion of each situation analysis to sensitive
policy makers, planners, NGOs and community leaders to build consensus and
political support for SHD. It is
expected that each country would have in place policies, strategies and
programs with sharper focus on addressing inequalities and poverty.
Promoting Environment
Regeneration
Almost all PICs have now
prepared their National Environmental Management Strategies (NEMS) and have
established high level committees and
departments to implement their environmental management programs. SPREP, through the financial backing of many
bilateral donors and UNDP/GEF, has taken a lead role in strengthening national
capacities for sustainable development.
Despite the primary importance
of the region’s natural resources to the future survival of its people, the
share of government’s resources going to this area is small and genrally
inadequate to do the work that is required.
Flawed policy making processes has also resulted in many conflicts
between economic growth and resource management objectives.
At the same time, there is
now a large number of Pacific islanders who are more aware of the need to
manage the region’s natural resources in a sustainable manner. A number of NGOs and activist groups have
sprung up in many PICs and are active in advocacy and public education for
sustainable development. NGOs like
Siosiomanga in Western Samoa and SPACHEE in Fiji are active partners with governments
and donors in implementing environmental protection projects. Slowly, governments are also recognizing the
importance to work directly with the resource owners and to ensure that they
also become equal stake owners in the development process.
These initiatives and
developments reflect the priority concerns and actions contained in the
SD. While the efforts taken each
country are a good beginning, many of these initiatives and projects are still
of a pilot nature, supported largely by external funding and may not, in
themselves, be sustainable when donor assistance diminish. It is, therefore, important that there be an enabling policy environment and
appropriate institutional structures to continue to ensure that local
initiatives become national priorities.
Addressing Inequality and Poverty
It is increasingly evident,
that may PICs are now experiencing growing inequalities and emerging
poverty. Those most vulnerable are
people who live in rural and remote villages and outer islands and young people
and families displaced from the protection of the traditional sector and who
have migrated to the growing urban centers.
Women and children, in particular, are especially disadvantaged and
vulnerable.
In a region which prides
itself with an enviable quality of life, inequality and poverty are sensitive
issues. A large part of the problem is
that many governments are reluctant to recognize these emerging disparities and
are not fully cognizant of the implications of current government policies and
strategies on its people. Consequently
many existing policies and strategies in PICs are further exacerbating this
growing inequality.
While the poverty situation
is still not widespread, timely national action in this area is of a preventive
nature and a large part of the solution is for governments to recognize these
emerging realities and to work hand-in-hand with the disadvantages to evolve
practical strategies and programs for combating rising poverty and disparity.
In endorsing the Suva
Declaration on SHD, PICs recognized that if the growing inequalities amongs the
region’s people were left unchecked, they would rapidly erode the quality of
the Pacific way of life and frustrate efforts to promote economic growth.
Fiji is one of the few PICs
that have an official policy on poverty and this acknowledgement is backed by
an appropriation of closeto FID 8.5 million in their 1994/1995 budget for
social welfare and poverty alleviation.
In cooperation with the UNDP Pacific Regional Equitable and Sustainable
Human Development Programme (ESHDP), Fiji has embarked on a national SHD
initiative focused on poverty alleviation.
The initiative will start with a comprehensive situation analysis of the
country’s poor, followed by a review of existing policies and strategies
against the findings of the study and to strengthen NGO capability to work with
government to combat poverty.
Many PICs recognize the
need to redress the growing disparity between the urban and rural areas. The rapid monetisation of Pacific societies,
coupled with unequal opportunities for education and a narrow resource base is
steadily transforming the 70 percent of Pacific islanders living in the rural
sector into a cash-dependent group very vulnerable to poverty. Many of them move to the per-urban and
urbancneters where they survive in overcrowded and unsanitary squatter
settlements and living on very low incomes and intermittent employment.
All PICs recognize the need
and importance of distributing development opportunities equitably. Faced with large central bureaucracies
eating up much of domestic budgetary resources and the sheer tyranny of
distance, it is not difficult to understand why rural and outer island
communities perceive that they are worse off
than those living in the urban centers.
In addressing, this pressing issue, PICs have embarked on numerous rural
and outer islands development programs.
Many innovative rural development programs like the ones developed by
SPC in Mitiaro and North Tarawa, the UNDP Integrated Atoll Development Project,
the village project schemes in PNG, the EU IRD Project in Malaita.
What these projects have in
common is that they are founded on people’s participation and empowerment so
that these communities can begin to shape and influence the future direction of
the lives – a central tenet of the Suva Declaration.
While many countries have
made tremendous progress, the situation remains basically unchanged in much of
rural Micronesia and Melanesia for the last decade. It is hoped that their government’s commitment to the Suva
Declaration will enable them to reorder current priorities and to redirect
existing resources for the rural disadvantaged.
Creating Employment and
Sustainable Livelihood
Papua New Guinea perhaps
provides the most glaring example of the failure to provide gainful employment
for its growing rural and urban populations.
The problem has now touched almost everyone through the alarming law and
order situation coupled with the growing polarization of the society. The Government has made employment creation
the top national priority and has made a concerted effort to address this
situation through the first ever National Employment Summit which took place in
May 1994 through the support of the UNDP/ILO Employment, Manpower and Human
Development Project. The summit, which
brought together employer and employee organizations, academics and NGOs
discussed the key employment and human development issues and reached consensus
on a broad-based employment strategy for the country, covering both formal,
informal and rural employment. A
strategy paper with specific recommendations for action has been prepared is
presently being reviewed by government for operationalization.
The challenge of providing
productive employment and sustainable livelihood for the large numbers of young
men and women coming out of school each year has also prompted the Western
Samoa government to embark on a national SHD initiative centered on its
youth. The initiative is a joint
government-NGO undertaking with technical and financial support from SPC and UNDP/ESHDP. The project will establish a comprehensive
baseline on urban youth which will provide, for the first time, empirical data
and information on a large number of socio-economic variables which will enable
more informed policy, strategy and project formulation.
Another SHD initiative
aimed at developing opportunities for sustainable livelihood by improving rural
and agricultural productivity and the establishment of rural enterprises will
be implemented by the Government of
Palau this year. The lead
national agent for the project is an NGO, the Palau Community Action Agency,
working with SPC, AIDAB and UNDP/ESHDP.
Effective and Participatory
Governance
Recent organized public
protests and informed challenges, many quite unprecedented, of government
policies in several PICs underlie a growing disenchantment and loss of
confidence in the state. It is also
evident that civil society is becoming more aware a critical of actions which
impinge on their lives and which affects their future security. The need for open, effective and accountable
governance, coupled with an environment conducive for popular participation,
were explicitly recognized when Ministers of Planning met to promulgate the
Suva Declaration.
In the context of policy
making, the Suva Declaration recognizes the need for consultations and open
dialogue between government and the people.
The Fiji National Economic Summit to be held in May this year is a good
example of a participatory policy development process. Committees, compromising of representative
from the private sector and NGOs, will prepare issue papers and recommend
appropriate strategies in five priority areas of national concern-deregulation,
private sector development, indigenous and Fijian participation in business,
social development and public enterprise reform. Significantly, the Fiji government has recognized the importance
of social policy in meeting its economic growth objectives. Employment and livelihood creation and law
and order are the two priority social issues to assistance to the social policy
committee for the preparation of the social issues papers and to help identify
practical strategies
In a bold and genuine
endeavor to realign government structures to support the needs of its people,
the Tuvalu Government has, in partnership UNDP/ESHDP, embarked on a program of
total local government reform. The
objective of the program is to make Island Councils more autonomous so that
they can better respond to the development aspirations of its people and to
realign government service delivery mechanism to support the Island
Councils. The program will begin with a
People’s Congress where island representatives (including traditional leaders
and women groups) will come to Funafuti to express their views and aspirations
and to reach broad consensus on the kind of local government structure best
suited to their unique situation. The
Congress will be followed by an intensive review of the existing system,
followed by island-by-island consultations and the implementation of a capacity
building program to train local government leaders, local functionaries and
community groups to plan and manage the sustainable development of their people
and island.
Many PICs are also
undergoing public sector reforms and corporatization to make government
services more efficient and competitive.
It is important that the reform process do not further widen the
disparity between urban and rural populations by curtailing service delivery to
rural communities or that user-pay policies do not impose additional burden on
the poor and those regular paid employment.
Advancement of Women
Pacific women have prepared
a Platform for Action which identifies to be taken across 13 areas covering
health, education, economic empowerment, agriculture and fishing, legal and
human rights, shared decision making, environment, culture and family,
violence, poverty, peace and justice indigenous people’s rights.
In the countries where the
UNIFEM Pacific mainstreaming Project has been active, there has been improved
national capacity in mainstreaming the concerns of women in national
development as well as recognition for the need to produce disaggregated data
for effective gender-sensitive planning and decision-making. The extension of gender training and advocacy
work to other PICs is being carried out by the SPC Women’s Bureau. The ADB and ESCAP have produced a series of
national women reports and profiles which will further aid gender-responsive
development.
Bilateral donors, notably
AIDAB and NZODA, have been major sponsors for PICs’ preparatory work for the
Beijing World Conference on Women. It
is noted that sustainable human development concerns dominate the aspirations
of Pacific women and their participation at the Global Conference will be to
ensure that these concerns are incorporated into the global platform for
action.
While there is growing
awareness on women and gender issues, the plight of the majority women living
in slum settlements, remote villages and outer islands are still to be
addressed adequately and on a concerted manner. There have been many donor supported projects on improving
women’s well being but their impact have been largely local. These need to be scaled-up and made a part
of national development policy to make any lasting impact on the lives of
Pacific women. The Suva Declaration
provides clear directions for recognizing and harnessing the tremendous
potential of women for national sustainable human development.
While the process leading
up to the promulgation and endorsement of the Suva Declaration represents a
major political and development milestone in the Pacific, its translation into
practical actions which will lead to a secure and fulfilling life and future
for the majority of Pacific islanders will largely depend on the political will
and stamina to genuinely put people first in national and local
development. Many countries have
already taken this step and UNDP is committed to working with PICs to build
national and local capacity for implementing the Suva Declaration.
4.
INHERENT STRENGTHS OF PACIFIC SOCIETIES AND SHD
In pursuing policies supportive of sustainable
livelihood in the context of people centered development, it is worthwhile to
take into account several positive elements which have contributed to current
progress in human development in the Pacific.
These include the large subsistence sector, which has consistently
absorbed external shocks; the stable social and cultural fabric based on the
community and extended family system; strong government address common concerns
through inter-country approaches and organizations. Policies promoting sustainable livelihood and human development
need to build upon these inherent strengths to ensure that social, economic and
structural changes will continue to improve people’s lives and well being.
Guided
by such policies, promoting sustainable livelihood in the context of
people-based development will contribute to effectively managing the transition
from subsistence based to monetary and growth-oriented economies. Improved economic growth and its equitable
distribution remain crucial to the future of human development in the
region. Rapid population increase and
low economic growth pose a serious threat to the provision of much-needed
services in most PICs. The emergence of
a dynamic cash-based economy and effective management of budgetary and other
resources, including those inherent in subsistence-based economies, can correct
current imbalance in the pattern of development of most PICs. They can help build a sound social and
economic base for sustainable and equitable human development in the
Pacific. As key to the improvement of
living standards in Pacific societies, measures to promote livelihood and human
development need to be integrated with a broad range of policies on health,
education, equity, environment and gender.
5.
PARTNERSHIP FOR SHD ACTIONS
Pacific
island governments are aware that due to the magnitude of tasks related to
ensuring sustainable human development, there is a need for continued and more
purposeful partnerships with their own civil society organizations and the
development community. Geographical
constraints and the relatively small size of the formal economy will limit the
capacity of governments to provide for the needs of a rapidly expanding
population. Hence, governments and NGOs
must assist local communities take an active and leading role towards their own
development and, in the process, ensure the sustainability of programs and
projects. Aid coordination and
consultation between government and donors need to focus on policy dialogues
and mobilization of resources to support strategic areas for economic growth
and human development.
The
promotion of sustainable livelihood in the context of people-centered
development will necessarily involve such broad-based alliance of the
government and the various development partners: NGOs and grassroots institutions, central and local governments,
private sector and commercial entities, external agencies and donors. Their complementarities will need to be
identified and further strengthened. A
reassessment of their pivotal role in the overall development process is vital
for a more systematic approach to forging their closer collaboration.
6.
RECOGNIZING SOCIAL CAPITAL AS THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR
SHD
Such
reassessment need not be confined to the roles, tasks and functions usually
associated with program or project execution.
In carrying out activities required to pursue the key concerns for SHD
and the promotion of sustainable livelihood, the Government and its development
partners will necessarily commit themselves to the standard program support for
people-centered development, i.e. a conducive policy environment, responsive
institutional and administrative structures, strengthened coordination,
implementation and monitoring mechanism, and appropriate targeting
methodologies. All these are vital
ingredients for participatory programs and projects to be planned, implemented
and monitored.
There is a
growing recognition that for sustainability consideration to be more
effectively incorporated in human development efforts, the Government and its
development partners need to work in concert to create an enabling environment
for people and local communities to take stock of and augment their social
capital. The Government, donors and the
other development partners themselves cannot create social capital, but they
can ensure that programs and projects will become vital tools for people and
local communities to forge or further strengthen their social and cultural
ties, their collective will and determination to pursue a common vision of a
fulfilled life for themselves and the generations to come.
Core Values
Their
pivotal role, therefore, can be reassessed on the basis of their accepting core
values supportive of social capital formation.
Some of these values or guiding principles are as follows:
-
Social capital is the “glue” that pulls together the other
kinds of capital (physical, natural, human capital) mobilized by development
efforts. It is generated by collective
decision- making, community action, political participation, sound governance
and well-functioning institutions. An
operational plan for SHD should focus more on the “glue”, rather than on the
other kinds of capital. A new approach
is required, focusing on advocacy, coordination, learning, and partnership,
rather than direct implementation. The
existing approach in which each agency pursues its agenda independently of all
other is incompatible with this core value.
-
SHD requires changes in the way we do things, particularly
in these key areas: strengthening civil society, governmental reform and
changes in donor approaches.
Civil society can be
revitalized by mobilizing existing institutions or agencies. There is also the need to support
NGO-government-business sector partnership.
This can be done by establishing associations or organizations where
possible, and informal arrangements elsewhere.
Ultimately, the purpose of
government reforms must be to restore confidence. More attention must be given to incentives for tapping existing
technical and professional expertise within the country.
Donors need to be more
patient at adopt a long-term perspective on their own involvement in
development activities.
-
At national level, the main objective is to enhance capacity
to pursue SHD. The basic building block
is the establishment of participatory institutions at local level.
-
The emergence of new habits and outlines is a critical
indicator of success. These may be
formal and explicit but are often informal and implicit like every day customs
and moral at social norms. They are all
evidence of valuable social capital.
Some organizations
routinely include reference to indicators of social capital, such as meetings
held, number of participants at meeting and number of decisions taken. These indicators provide a framework for
incorporating non-tangible dimensions of social change in monitoring work.
Due to limited financial
resources most donors hold the view that emphasis must be placed on supporting
existing institutions instead of creating new ones. This could lead to the entrenchment of institutions whose
behavior is inimical to SHD.
-
Social learning can only be effectively promoted if local
organizations and communities are allowed to take direct responsibility for
design and implementation, and to have the right to call in experts to help
them, not merely be the recipients of technical advice. Outsiders must accept their role is only
secondary and learning must be an opportunity foremost for the insiders.
-