When I did some work in the Los Santos area of Costa Rica a few years ago, the local population were trying their damndest to improve their lives. The hundreds of small scale coffee growers had formed co-ops around growing, grading and marketing. They did the best they could, but when it came to actually selling what they produced they were dealing with a monopsony of four or five very large and very powerful buyers. The buyers set the prices, and the growers had to take it or leave. With no real alternatives in the area, they took it. I suspect that that is the way it is in most poor countries.
Ed ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Cordell" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; "'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 8:17 PM Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: Too Poor to Make the News > Mike > > I've been shocked and appalled (!) by "development" projects when it > appears > that they *intentionally* subverted or destroyed the existing system of > relationships and subsistence in un[der]developed countries. > Do I infer correcty from the tone of your comments, Arthur, that such > subversion and destruction is, in fact, intentional and that (possibly) > everybody in the field of international development work knows this? > > If that's the case, (getting back to the original topic in this thread) > then > when a ripple or shift in the global system happens and the already-poor > at > the bottom of the scale just fall off the ladder into utter destitution or > worse, this is an intentional and predictable outcome of development > strategies. I hope that's not correct. > ================================== > (Deleting the rest because of these para breaks. ) > > All I can say is that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. > Happened with the missionaries many years ago and happening again in all > too > many development projects. > > In the law, intent defines the act. Development people don't intend a > negative outcome, but sometimes that is exactly what happens The aid > often > benefits the donor country more than the recipient . > > arthur > > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
