2.17.09

This came while reading an article about structural adjustment programs and their devastating effects in developing countries:

Empowerment must go beyond the "grass roots" approach. If leaders are to create policies that will help communities and countries to develop, it is essential that they too be empowered with problem-solving and decision-making skills. And, in addition to those skills, they need to have access and know they have access to resources along with training in the effective use of those resources. I think that many developers are afraid that this type of training would impose Western ideologies on developing cultures. I disagree: problem-solving and decision-making are universal concepts that need to be present if any progress is to occur. It would only be culturally imposing insofar as one culture were to suggest the direction of that progress. For a people to have more equal access to social services, culture itself should be empowered at all levels of society: top-down and bottom-up.