22580: Hess: Re: 22527: Durban: Sustainable Development and Industrialization (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dougrhess2@aol.com

Lance Durban writes:
I  favor foreign aid monies going into  only two things:
(1) Basic K-12 education for the  masses
(2) Visible public works; bricks and mortar  projects.

===
It's interesting that Lance supports bricks and motar projects for
development since here in the US community development corporations have learned  that
going beyond physical infrastructure development is key to helping
communities thrive. Indeed, there's an excellent report out there, I forget by  whom,
called "Beyond Bricks and Motar." Essentially, they have rediscovered what  they
used to do: community development requires community participation and
strengthening of social ties. And no, this doesn't mean a bunch of reports.
Imagine how far Haitian community organizing/development networks could have  taken
Haiti since 1986 if they did not have to waste so much time and resources
since then rebuilding after each round of violence! It would have been amazing.
Sadly, so many people who played key roles in these groups were killed or
fled.  Many organizations built projects up only to see them razed to the ground.
A  healthy state would prevent that from happening without having to dictate
or  co-op the work of grassroots organizations.

-Doug Hess