Institute of Development Studies

Kenyan Perspectives on Development

8 May 2009

In February 2009, IDS in partnership with the Society for International Development (SID) held a roundtable discussion, as part of the Ford Foundation-funded project entitled ‘Globalising Development Studies’. Attendees included representatives from the worlds of academia, the media, the private sector and Non-government Organisations among others. The event, like others in the series, looked critically at the uptake of local knowledge in global development debates; what helps local and alternative voices to be heard and what obstacles have been encountered.

The following list of ten summary points is taken from the event report written by Duncan Okello, Regional Director of SID in Nairobi and the local host of the roundtable.

SID-IDS ROUNDTABLE: 10 NOTABLE POINTS

1. There is a need for different perspectives on development. The state, market and civil society should see each other as development partners and not antagonists. We need to include a diversity of players for synergy in the development process. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) should continually put the government on checks with regard to service delivery and play a facilitating role by opening up space for voices of local people to be heard and influence the policy agenda.

2. The individual, the state, and development practitioners should all bear responsibility for the failure of development.

3. The market cannot operate without an effective state. CSOs should appreciate the market forces of supply and demand; and the state should regulate the market.

4. Development is never a peaceful process. Managing the conflicts that arise should form part of the development agenda.

5. The duplication of roles of the state and International Development Agencies should be addressed. CSOs should build networking capacity to avoid duplication of service provision.

6. Service delivery alone will not have an impact on people unless they are empowered. The rights-based approach to development planning and enhanced participation of the people should be adopted. The role of citizens’ participation is crucial in any development process, and no change can happen without their involvement.

7. The state should not abdicate its role in development because the people pay taxes for service delivery. With regard to the concept of ‘development as freedom’ as advanced by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, there is a need for the enhancement of people’s abilities and capabilities to hold the government accountable.

8. Structural adjustment programmes were noted to have been responsible for a lack of development particularly of people’s welfare. In direct contrast to the provisions of the SAPs, the subsidies model adopted by the government of Malawi is a success story that should be emulated and replicated in other African countries.

9. There is an information asymmetry which affects the performance of the market, and ICT can bridge this divide. It was therefore appreciated that technology will play an important role in making the world a global village and ensuring that we are able to globalise not only development studies but also development practice and make globalisation work for us.

10. Finally, the state must be responsive. The state should move in to cushion the citizens in the event of market failures, and also to bail out the markets. An example was given of the Wall Street crash that resulted in the global financial crisis, and how the government of the US moved in to both cushion the citizens and also bail out the market.