Power of the People

There have been outbreaks of violence since Antigovernment protests arrived in the Libyan capital, Tripoli today.

In the first months of 2011 we have seen a familiar call for freedom. Spread from out of Northern Africa to the Middle East, calling out with force for liberation from the iron fist.
In the U.S. 170 million Americans are angered at the proposed elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting. Citizens are also speaking out against the amendment passed by Republican-led senate on Friday, which would stop all funding for Planned Parenthood. And on February 11th, the same day that Mubarak stepped down Republican Governor of Wisconsin quietly commenced an attack against public sector unions. All the protests that have ensued in recent days are asking Government officials to honor their right to civic participation.

This wave of radical political alteration reminds me of Amartya Sen's notion of 'Development As Freedom,' in this thesis Sen approaches freedom and the developmental process as intertwined dynamics. The more freedom people have, the more likely they are to partake wholly in their society with greater happiness and health - the more freedom people have the greater the productivity.

Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development,
they are also among its principle means.' – Amartya Sen

People must be granted the Right to speak out, share information and assemble peacefully. Public Broadcasting is on the line, and it is the people's source to reliable news and the capacity to . Do what you can for Public Broadcasting, call your elected official by going to this site. Public Broadcasting allows people to participate in the political process as informed citizens - And to have choices other than Fox News when seeking out unbiased coverage.

The issue of participation

A school teacher with hope, Arusha

An emerging young woman in Kigoma.

Dusty road of Kasulu.

Tanzania is a developing nation. Like many post-colonial nations, poverty is rife. Throughout the republic there is a complex web of Non-profits, religious and governmental development initiatives. There are as many organizations as ways of doing things and it has become important to look more closely at the work of others, and to learn from it. Not all development organizations lend force to the people and local culture, not all money filters to favorable cause, but, there are many who are doing noble work in all domains.

The Nobel prize winning economist, Amartya Sen explores development theory with a lens of freedom as development. This includes the central issue of participation. Are the people free to represent themselves? To Act? To Action. 'The people directly involved who must have the opportunity to participate in deciding what should be chosen,' Sen writes, thus development as we know it may be harmful for traditions and cultural heritage.

A quiet elder on the boat to Gombe, Lake Tanganika

So, let the people lead themselves. Some non-profits and initiatives are beginning to engage participation and partnerships with local volunteers. The UNHCR is making efforts to extend that right to displaced individuals. More and more, it seems NGOs in Tanzania are lessening their overseas volunteers in order to make efforts more sustainable.
Chellie Kew, a dear friend and the founder of The Q fund inspired me early on to be awake to the deep contrast that is alive in this era. She spoke of her time in South Africa with such gaping darkness and extreme luminosity, depicting the real chiaroscuro of progress and devolution. We must always look closely at both.

Furaha.

Development as Freedom

The remarkable economist Amartya Sen is known as the 'Mother Theresa of economics' for his innovative work in the field of development. His theories of social and economic welfare go well beyond the standard ideas of what it means to be 'developed.' Rather than seeing development as an end (i.e. GDP, industrialization), he sees it as a means to expand substantive freedoms. In his book, 'Development as Freedom' Sen describes development as the process of expanding the real human freedoms people can enjoy. I really like this approach.

What is individual freedom?
Sen sees freedom as achievement. What people can positively achieve is influenced by economic opportunities, political liberties, social powers, and the enabling conditions of good health, basic education and the encouragement and cultivation of initiatives.

What are some forms of unfreedom?
Famine, lack of water, healthcare, unnecessary morbidity, gender inequality...to name just a few.

The problem with the notion of development, and even the code of the 'Declaration on Human Rights' is that it often requires the adoption of western values.

"People need to be actively involved -
given the opportunity to shape their own destiny,
not just passive recipients of cunning development programs."
-Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom

It makes sense then that most people who are living in poverty often describe their situation or life as, 'without choice, without a voice, 'on the outside,' I use these words after having read the World Banks series of books called 'Voices of the Poor' which contain the stories and views of the people who are actually living in poverty.

Poverty is like living in jail, living under bondage, waiting to be free.
— a young woman in Jamaica

This is why grassroots and community initiatives are usually more effective than ones applied from the outside or from western models. Because the people who are living it know the needs and wants of the community. And perhaps one group of people places more importance on a community ritual or feast rather than on independent financial gain. This would make them happier, thus more able to make individual decisions, act upon those decisions and then thrive, perhaps even economically. It takes a re-imagining of our ideas of development. Let us even trace back to the Aristotelian notion of eudaimonia; εὐδαιμονία which means happiness, or flourishing. -Eu- means a general state of well being, and -daimon is the spirit that lives within or about you. Thus, eudiamonia means a deep connection to self within the world, or living in accordance with yourself in order to flourish. Therefore, development and human flourishing very much depends on the culture, needs and talents of the individual, and their participation in the world.

Happy young woman in the market, Kumasi, Ghana, 2009

The approach should vary case by case.

With all this in mind, I am more skeptical about development initiatives and even many volunteer programs today. I don't think that should stop us from engaging in development strategies, because many do benefit from these aims. However, I think we are still suffering from an ethno-centric development model - not one based on individual freedoms. In general I believe that the leaders and administrators of the world do too much talking and not enough listening.
On this return to Tanzania I want to close my mouth and use my eyes, and ears in order to better understand that which I will encounter. More importantly, I want to be given more opportunities to amplify the voices and stories of those who are not often heard.