1. Development Perspectives
Jagadish C. Pokharel, Ph. D.
Administrative Staff College Jawalakhel
August 22, 2017

2. We will discuss Development : as concept
Perspective: what does it mean?
Development perspective: different
Why does it matter to have a perspective?
What our perspective on development in Nepal?
What does it mean?
What are the new trends?
Are we changing perspective to development?

3. Development Development : What is it? Change in—
Desired Change of condition
A process of achieving desired change
Change “within” and change “in relation”
Change in—
Economic condition
Social condition
Environmental condition
Governance system

4. Measuring Development
Measuring Change
Indicators of measurement
Unit of measurement
Economic indicators
Change in personal or national wealth
Social indicators
Equity, justice, inclusiveness, freedom of expression, health, education, happiness etc

5. Measuring Development contd..
Environmental indicators
Comfort, aesthetics, pollution level, disaster risks, clean drinking water, clean energy etc
Governance indicators (institutional)
Efficiency
Security and safety
Transparency and accountability/ voice
Protection of individual right/ dignity
Equality
Enforcement of law
etc

6. Perspective
The angle or direction in which a person looks at an object
Point of view: a position or perspective from which some thing is considered evaluated
A particular way of considering something
A way of thinking about something
Accurate view to understand what is important and what is not
A view especially one in which you can see a long way into distance
Keeping things in perspective– you must keep things in perspective, the overall situation is not that bad
“Because of its geographic position Nepal’s perspective on situation in Doglam is different from that of …”
“we have to look at things from international perspective”
“from her perspective the sun was setting but from the perspective of someone on the other side of the world the sun was rising”

7. Development Perspectives
Political / philosophical
Marxist perspective
Mode of production
Capitalist perspective
Wage labor and surplus
Internationalist perspective/ dependency
Existence of inequality historical reasons
Disciplinary perspective (theories)
Sociological
Anthropological
Ecological
other

8. Development Theories Early thinking: Development Problem
Having more money (nation and individual)
Indicators: money,
Unit of measurement: per capita income, Gross Domestic product, Gross National Income
Development Problem
how to make more money, create more wealth, Labor is available, how/ where to get more capital and technology from?
Industrialization key
COEN YEE Training 2017

9. Lessons and Realizations
Not happening as we wished
Slow Growth
Disparities increased
Poverty did not get reduced
Inequality increased
Environmental degradation
Hunger and diseases
Weak and poor left behind
Vulnerability to disaster increased
Increased dependency on non renewable energy
undemocratic governments emerged
COEN YEE Training 2017

10. Revised Theories Socialization/ humanization of development
“Think of human race” / “Think of planet”
Socialization/ humanization of development
Equity and justice
Redistributive justice
Human development/ happiness
Inclusive development
Environmental concerns
Sustainable development
Nature’s capacity

11. Revised Theories Governance matters Democratic values
Decentralization
Participatory development
empowerment
Bottom up
Focus on institution: Role and Relations of
State,
Market and
Civil society

12. Development Practice Nepal’s Desire to Develop
National development planning since 1st plan (2013) through 14th plan (2073/ /76)
Basic needs, Poverty, growth, governance
Agriculture, tourism, industries
Prosperity, modernity and justice
Bottleneck: energy, capacity, efficiency
Initially
The state main and only actor in develoment
Later on
Greater role of market and civil society
Strategy
Reform, privatize, open market
COEN YEE Training 2017

13. Participation of Multiple Institutional Actors
(post 1990s)
State
Facilitate
Regulate
Guide
protect
National
development
Market
Efficiency
Investment
Management
Growth
Cooperatives
Empowerment capacity building
Local resource mobilization
Civil
Society
Advocacy
Social issues
Justice
equity

14. Revisiting Development Thinking
We evaluated impact of policies, program, projects against certain values– social justice, inclusion, human dignity, poverty etc
Evaluation at different level
Macro level evaluation on some indicators
We found:
NPC conducted mid/ final evaluation
Projects Mid/ terminal evaluations
Economic growth alone not adequate to reduce poverty, ensure equity, justice, happiness etc
Lessons and findings became input for policy, program, project, design and implementations process changes

15. Changing Development Perspective?
Global Trend
Shrinking and changing liberal, open and global thinking
Ownership of Global agenda – climate change etc
China’s emergence and new thinking
Nepal’s experience with multiple actors
Experience with trade, remittance and import based economy
Experience with Indian blockade
“self reliant economy”-- Production of strategic goods
State’s and private sector’s space
Overall “shrinking” space for NGO sector
Growth of Cooperative sector
Federated Nepal and local units of government– development movement
Others

16. Thank you …
COEN YEE Training 2017