Leading Light

Tags

Development, Education, energy, innovation, power solutions, solar lamps

The Economist features a story on solar lamps, it hails the advances in design, manufacturing and financing models that make the lamps increasingly attractive and affordable to the poorest of people. If the Economist is right, solar lamps will transform entire societies: “Just as the spread of mobile phones in poor countries has transformed lives and boosted economic activity, solar lighting is poised to improve incomes, educational attainment and health across the developing world.”

This claim struck me as kinda funny, and I would gladly be proven wrong (today or over time), but really, will solar lamps do all that? I do like the picture in the Economist (courtesy of d.Light) of the two eager students in pressed shirts craning their necks to study their books by the light of the S1 d.Light lamp. But will this one lamp improve both these boys’ educational attainment? I am afraid that there is too much of the old (new) “silver bullet, new technologies will save the day” sentiment in the idea of the solar lamp as savior. My guess would be that health and environmental benefits could be significant, but long term health risks and environmental concerns are not necessarily known as the best motivators for mass behavioral change, so some of the potential appeal of the solution might be lacking. Considering all one could do – and many around the world do – during long dark evenings and nights in their fully illuminated houses, it is easy to assume that to bring light would have a huge enabling effect, which is of course what the mobile phone has done in the lives of millions of people (rich and poor). But how many solar lamps does it take to provide an enabling effect on that kind of (mobile phone) scale? Of course it is exactly the mobile phone that is facilitating some of the innovative financing models mentioned in the article, illustrating the versatility of the phone. The phone as data transmitter is proving versatile beyond what phone companies imagined and for that reason the mobile phone was probably not hailed as a savior of the poor 10 years ago, and it is only with each new application of those handhelds that some very crafty people in places as far apart as Brooklyn and Nairobi are transforming lives and boosting economic activity. It seems a tall order for the solar lamp to match the mobile phone.

Todd Moss at the CDG also talks about bringing light where it is dark, but focuses on the underlying infrastructure, the supply of energy. Of course, innovative power generation and supply solutions lend themselves much better to the analogy of the mobile phone revolution. That is what will transform lives and boost economic activity. Including bringing light, of the kind that offers lots of lumens and watts, that will allow students to study and play games (like they do on their phones).

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Mining for Stories

Tags

Development, Perspective

A very interesting article from the New York Times on the Marikana mine tragedy:

THE 34 miners killed by the police earlier this month in a wildcat strike at a Marikana platinum mine, in northern South Africa, were immediately engaged as bit players in various morality tales. Marikana reminded some of the 1960 police massacre at Sharpeville; suggested to others that poverty and division had survived apartheid; or foretold a sharp confrontation between capital and labor. To many, it either predicted or confirmed the political and moral disintegration of the ruling party, the African National Congress.

Link to the article on the NYTimes.

FPE

Tags

Development, Education, Responsibility

There is a debate going on in Uganda about the benefits of Free Primary Education, or, true to the age of test messaging shorthand, FPE. This may have sounded like a good idea to many, politicians, teachers, parents and students alike, but now people are questioning its wisdom. Apparently, headteachers have seen a dramatic decline in the involvement of parents in the education of their children, acting like it is now only the government’s business to assure their children are learning. It may have been, as happened in Tanzania, that the influx of thousands of children previously not in school flooded classrooms, pushed over the edge a system that was likely already struggling to keep up. Now the quality of education is suffering, leading one reader to pose the following question on Chris Blattman’s blog: “Is everyone getting mediocre education worse than few receiving good, and most no education?” Syntax aside, I think it is a question worthwhile asking.

It reminds me of a discussion I had a couple of years ago with one of the primary school headteachers here in Mtakuja. He was telling me, matter of fact, not whining or complaining, that a parent had come to berate him for his efforts to encourage his/her child to do well in the exam at the end of Standard 7, the final year in Primary School. What if their child received a good grade, and was then able if not obliged to go to secondary school? They asked him. Then they would be on the hook for four years of secondary school fees! These are real issues.

As with so much when it comes to development, it hinges on questions about who should be taking responsibility, and for what and how much. And about who is deserving of what. And I sense a libertarian trend that seems to equate being responsible with the qualification of being deserving. These are questions that come up in one shape or form on a continuous basis in our work, answering them is hard, because a lot of it is relative, especially considering who deserves a hand up or out. In terms of responsibility, I believe the answer requires some thought about how much responsibility one can realistically expect from anyone person or community. While I fully agree that taking responsibility for your own actions and over your own life is generally a good thing, but if somebody doesn’t, does that make it an undeserving person? It strikes me that having the belief or trust in oneself to take responsibility is the outcome of a complex set of experiences and opportunities that shape a person, that are not evenly spread among humanity. Throw in community dynamics, power inequities, and it all becomes a lot more complicated.

Bonanza ya Afya

Tags

Development, Education, Initiative, Joy, Mserikia, Mtakuja, Sports, Youth

Carrot (and stick) approach to development?

What place should fun have  in a community development project? Probably quite prominent if you want it to be successful, nevertheless, I suspect most communities and development organizations do not set out to have fun. But it was clear last week when teams from the two primary schools in Mtakuja met to challenge each other at a range of sports and games how having some fun together is both a sign of harmony and a means to create it. The sillier the challenge the greater to harmony. Tanzanians have always struck me as enjoying a little schadenfreude, and it was on full display with the failures of participants, who, granted, were often set up to fail. Yes, the winners were cheered, but those who fell, stumbled, dropped what they shouldn’t drop or didn’t catch what they should have caught were cheered louder!

From the hundred meter dash to “mandazi biting” (a localized version of the Dutch “Koek Happen”), sack-races and a run with a bottle on one’s head, the students took their challenges serious, but relished being at the center of attention for the duration of their races.

This girl was simply killing it at sack-racing!

The day was largely organized by the newly formed youth group, who also performed a number of short plays and songs “with a message” in between the various sporting events. Their goal is to use performing art as a way to share messages and information about health and other issues affecting their peers. They clearly understand the value of entertainment and the need to appeal to their audience. The theme was health (“afya”) and this was emphasized throughout the day, the winners of each challenge were given a prize: first prize was a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush!

The youth group performing one of its songs.

Having only just returned to Mtakuja recently, after having been away for two years, it was truly quite remarkable to see and sense the community spirit, here in Mtakuja, a village that was widely know around here for being internally divided and split between north and south. I do not doubt that challenges remain, and distrust has not been dealt with completely, surely, but the sense is that the atmosphere has indeed changed in the village, there is more energy and do I dare to say it, more local initiative. This is no more obvious than at the irrigation farm where there is always activity, villagers are working the fields, planning irrigation cycles, getting ready to harvest. But it was also apparent at the Bonanza, and that was a wonderful thing to experience.

Ready to race!

The sheer intesity of this guy, deserves him a second picture!

Back

It feels like (re)starting my blog was a harder decision to make than deciding to return to Tanzania. But here we are with “Development Considered” where I plan to share my observations and thoughts from the field of development. How often those thoughts will make it to the blog will  need to be seen. Hence, this blog will be focused on my work and not the family, this, surely at the risk of attracting many many fewer readers! But do not despair, Sarah and I will also keep a photo-blog where those interested can visually follow what Jonah and Max are up to in Moshi. You’ll be able find that blog here: Mr. Jones and The Mix.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you. First post to follow soon!

Threading the Needle.