Knowledge 1

KNOWLEDGE WITHIN DEVELOPMENT

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Table of Contents

People-centred Knowledge ............................................................................................................. 4

Production of Knowledge within Development Practice................................................................ 6

Challenges Faced by Development Practitioners ........................................................................... 9

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 12

References ..................................................................................................................................... 14
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Knowledge Within Development

Development does not necessarily mean the same thing for different people and varying

contexts. According to a UNDP report, development refers to the empowering of human lives by

expanding the range of choices that are available to individuals for the improvement of their

lifestyle standards (Clark, 2011). A number of institutions emphasise the importance of

economic growth, but it only facilitates in enlarging the range of choices available for enhancing

living standards. Measurement of development can be judged on the basis of the quality of life

and people's well-being. Better the development, better will be the quality of life for individuals

(Clark, 2011). With the modern advancements in academic techniques, the propagation of

knowledge has become easier and convenient. Scholars and experts are no longer faced with

problematic methods which impede the diffusion and production of knowledge. All they need to

do is to write a book or report and publish it through a third-party and then let the authorities and

critics take relevant note on this contribution to knowledge (Borda, 2011). It has been found that

social anthropology started becoming popular a few decades ago when indigenous knowledge

caught the attention of experts and institutions (Pottier, 2003). More importantly, knowledge and

development were viewed as important elements for organisations and institutions to avoid

failures. Major emphasis was given to top-down development and transfer-of-technology focus

(Pottier, 2003). Concentrating on people and not on things, is yet another important approach

which has been found effective in promoting better development (Anderson, 1996). Women

empowerment has been viewed by Anderson (1996) as an important indicator of development.

For instance, it was recommended that project plans must not be limited to men only but must

include women also so that human and social implications are catered for.
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People-centred Knowledge

At the present time, there is a constant incline towards adopting a people-centred

development approach, in contrast to the familiar forms of development which are employed all

around the modern world. As the civilisations are getting advanced, several old theoretical

models for knowledge have been rejected, and newer ones have been formed. This has been

promoting modernised approaches for the development and production of knowledge. Anderson

(1996, p. 17) recognised that people must be preferred over things, as it is a more effective

method of dealing with issues. For instance, gender quality must be observed when planning

community development and racial differences must be minimised. More importantly, poor

people must also be given equal opportunities as other people in every step of life so that they

can have their chances of coming forward and play their positive role in development (Anderson,

1996).

Wealth grants power over people. Development projects centred around people attempt to

reject the modern concepts of development which basically turn people into labour by offering

them money only. Those concepts are feeble attempts at turning a useful employee into a paid

labourer who works for a rich employer. Therefore, people-centred approach is more effective

since it restores economic justice by promoting policies which can be easily adopted by workers,

producers, and community-owned corporations (Chhachhi, 2011).

People-centred development has been rejecting the concept of anthropocentric humanism

as it places more value on people’s spiritual and cultural respect for natural systems such as the

universe and the Earth. Progress and development are usually derived from knowledge and

power, by the people of the Earth. These cannot be derived if the resources on the earth were not

available. Therefore, the people-centred approach of development values the natural systems and
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places, to which people belong. It is based on the belief that all the natural resources belong to all

people, not a specific or rich group of people only. Based on the reflections by Chhachhi (2011),

it can be said that economic activities are important for personal, ethical, and spiritual values,

even though there might not be complete relevance. People-centred development rejects the

relation between economics and moral sciences. It is based on the fact that economic choices are

based on moral responsibility and that markets can be used by individuals for the advisement of

their personal career goals as well as public policies. More importantly, it believes that markets

are instruments for personal goals, not determinants of them. In addition to this, the belief of

people-centred development rejects the common belief that an invisible hand has the ability to

turn greed into public benefit.

As have been reported by Clark (2011), only those things have the value which can be

counted and measured in the public lives of individuals. Things do not have necessary to be

counted in monetary terms such as life. Not everything can be measured in terms of dollars or

money. Economics can be seen as a technique which is used for services of higher values. It has

been further noted by Clark (2011) that the world economy is a system of national economies,

constantly in competition at each other. The people-centred approach takes the opposite direction

and believes that the world economy functions at a multilevel. More importantly, every level

allows the level below it to develop an environment conserving and people-enabling direction

(Clark, 2011). The major thing about people-centred development is that it recognises equal roles

for women as men (Anderson, 1996). Social economies of the local community, as well as

household, have important roles in promoting wealth.

Further, this wealth is created by both men and women. Therefore, the people-centred knowledge

approach rejects the idea that masculine drives or value have superior value over females. Mosse
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(2004) has noted that politics and economics have a relationship with each other. Usually, it is

believed that economics can operate outside the boundaries of society and politics. However, the

people-centred development realises that right connection of benefits, risks, costs, and benefits

between economics and politics, rejecting the idea that politics is something other than

economics.

Based on the above discussion, there are some recommendations which can be made to

improve people-centred approaches.

Global governance mechanisms must ensure that there is a right balance between public policies

so that accountability exists, along with democratic control. Further, the UN and other similar

institutions are working their way toward transparent policy0making and democratic

frameworks. Within these frameworks, the social and environmental are largely addressed,

which is why they are viewed as taking a positive step towards people-centred development.

National policies must be revamped in such a way that sustainable development, as well as

people-centred development, are maximised. The policies must be shaped under this

consideration, especially for richer countries. This will not only protect the interests of the rich

countries but will secure the interests of the entire world. For instance, subsidies and taxation

must be structured in a way that pollution, wastage of materials, and environmental impact can

be reduced. In addition to this, more people must be employed by creating job opportunities and

people must be encouraged to do something useful.

Production of Knowledge within Development Practice

As the knowledge sector is emerging, there are a number of research centres, being

created in a number of other sectors, besides educational institutions (Shrestha, 1995). These
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research centres are contributing a lot to the presently known knowledge on development

practices. Without knowing the different kinds of knowledge which promote the economy and

society’s development, it is not possible to carry on the development practices. With the passage

of time, professionalism and applied knowledge are also increasing. However, there are still

some problems faced in the field of development, which need to be solved by development

practitioners as soon as possible. These challenges will be discussed in the next section.

Knowledge production and legitimation inside development practices is a complicated process.

Usually, four primary steps are used to ensure knowledge production, as have been reported by

Pollock (2006). Firstly, and most importantly, the knowledge production process must be

incremental, which is to say that gradual improvements and contributions must be made in the

process. A decentralised approach can also be used for development processes and in knowledge

production. For legitimation of knowledge, wider participation is required for a given project. In

addition to this, Pollock (2006) noted that a set of highly sophisticated and complicated tools is

required for the completion of these processes, which constitute knowledge production.

Furthermore, knowledge can be developed as a single person, but the authenticity is greater if

there is collaboration involved. For the knowledge to be more accurate and strongly accepted by

society, it must involve collaborative activities of more than one individual. For development,

knowledge production must be componentized.

Evidence and knowledge for policy as well as practice are important in every area. The

process of production of knowledge of evidence must go through critical scrutiny to ensure that

it meets the needs of development context. Often, external actors produce or broker the

knowledge. Policymakers and actioners may take the research, evidence, or knowledge to use

them in their respective areas. By drawing examples from the research studies made,
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practitioners can ensure better development in the coming years. This is true for both global

cases as well as for local scenario (Pottier, 2003).

The need for knowledge arises due to the current concerns on fake news and politics. Due

to such practices, people have been growing more inclined towards evidence-based

developments, over the past several decades. Since the 1990s, knowledge production has been

strictly based on evidence-based medical practices. As for now, development practices and

policies have been based on evidence (Georgalakis et al., 2017).

Georgalakis et al. (2017) also found that a large number of literary studies have focused on the

development and its practices over the last few decades. It has been found that evidence is

important in development, its practices, and its policies.

In development, there have been identified several ways which have contributed towards

improving knowledge production. For instance, questions can be asked which reinforce the

thinking capabilities of experts and practitioners, leading them to get a better and deeper insight

into the problems and issues. Usually, the knowledge questions are developed before the

knowledge production process is begun. This is to ensure that the knowledge production process

covers all the necessary information and provides enough details to cover the subject.

The questions are to be structured on emotion, perception, reason, language, and memory.

Emotion refers to the relationship between the psychological state of mind and cognitive

processes which lead to the production of knowledge through active observation. In some cases,

questions and knowledge are developed on the basis of passive observation which is usually

based on developing an argument from other theories. As for active experimentation, the

researcher or knowledge producer draws data from their experiment.

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The reason is also a major process in knowledge production for development. This process is

based on the relationship between scientific experiment and observation. More importantly, it

brings together the experimental as well as argumentative methods together and uses a technique

of analysis to deduce results and produce knowledge.

Challenges Faced by Development Practitioners

At the present time, academic scholars, practitioners, and experts are taking a

considerable amount of interest in development practices. However, there are still several

problems, which are faced by practitioners in this sector, which are discussed below.

Socio-economic challenges have been identified by several research studies as major

challenges to development. Prevalence of diseases becomes possible because of socioeconomic

hurdles which exist in the society and the community (Vidal & Keating, 2004). A research study

recognised that diseases such as AIDS, HIV, and TB could arise due to a lack of control over

socio-economic factors (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). This lack of control can result in immense

pressure on health facilities. A sheer shortage in support to the affected people has been faced by

the community, resulting in a high prevalence of diseases as well as other similar challenges of

social nature. A survey has found that 450,000 people were infected with HIV in Eastern Cape

Province, in 1999 (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). Unless adequate measures have been ensured for

avoiding socio-economic challenges, development in any part of society or community cannot be

sustained. For instance, due to inadequate measures against such diseases, 16 thousand people

died in South Africa, in 2009. Shortages in monetary funds and economic resources is a major

challenge which hinders the development of any community or society. When a community is

financially crippled, adequate funding is not available for community development. Only by

promoting financial resources and monetary funds can practitioners ensure a smooth growth in
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access to medical facilities and hike in community development practices (Vidal & Keating,

2004).

A poor revenue base can result due to poor collection strategies. Under-pricing of

services for the public can cause municipalities and communities to have insufficient funds for

development needs. Every social service needs to be supported by monetary resources before it

can function properly. For the case of South Africa, it was found that community development is

seriously impeded by cash flow challenges (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). Inability to access equity

capital can also be a major reason for this impedance. Loan facilities and effective funding is

also important and must be present so that community development can be maximised —

reluctance to provide funds results as a consequence of lack of collateral security. Therefore, the

experts and development practitioners need to revamp their methods and techniques of financing

community development projects. In addition to this, the strategies for collecting funds must be

shaped as ways for improving service delivery (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). Institutional

constraints are creating this lack of financial sustainability, hindering the pace of community

development. Still, experts must not ignore the importance of community development projects

as they have the potential to turn around the economy and development in third world countries.

Adequate financing is essential for assisting the poor and vulnerable communities as it can

support economic empowerment and self-determination (Vidal & Keating, 2004).

Another major challenge which is being faced by development practitioners is the

difference in skills’ development and requirements. Training of technical staff is essential when

community development is considered. At the present time, there is a sheer shortage of skills and

incompetency, existing in technical areas (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). Local governments need

staff members who have expertise in market awareness, business knowledge, and project
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management. Technical skills in this sector are essential for the growth and prosperity of

communities. Lack of technical skills is shortening the lifespan of community development

projects. Managerial skills, inadequate knowledge of business, poor coordination, weak

teamwork skills, and uncompetitive pricing include some of the problems due to which

development practitioners are suffering. Administrative systems are lagging due to this lack of

skills development. A study in South Africa revealed that a number of development projects

have gone through serious fall in their development practices due to administrative systems

(Shava & Thakhathi, 2016).

Further, a gap in existing and required training programmes have led to poor budget

implementation as well as high politicisation in development projects, leading to poor

sustainability. Critical challenges are being faced by community development in terms of cadre

deployment as well as a skills shortage. The consequences of these problems have caused

politicisation in institutions to increase (Vidal & Keating, 2004).

Monitoring and evaluation are an important aspect of all projects. This is especially true

for community development projects. Such projects need to be based on strong foundations so

that environmental, social, and climatic changes cannot impact them in any negative manner. For

this purpose, monitoring and evaluation are essential for community development projects.

Poverty alleviation is something which cannot be achieved until the community projects are

operating at their maximum potential. Serious lack of commitment and enough manpower cause

lack of monitoring and evaluation. Unless every step of the project is heavily monitored and

evaluated, it is not possible to gain considerable advantages in the context of national or

international community. Needless to say, this lack of evaluation leads to a negative effect on the

growth of development projects. A number of projects in South Africa faced serious collapses
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due to lack of evaluation and skills (Shava & Thakhathi, 2016). The management can only know

about the skills of employees if the evaluation is on point; otherwise, no project can perform at

an effective speed. Inadequate evaluation practices are signs of uncompetitive leadership and

poor management. To deal with this, practitioners need to promote an environment which is

conducive to evaluation and monitoring practices where the community development programs

can grow, without any hindrance due to irrelevant employee skills (Vidal & Keating, 2004).

Some challenges are posed by natural causes such as climatic conditions and unexpected

weather changes. However, geographical location has an important role in deciding the climatic

conditions for a place and their favorability for community development (Shava & Thakhathi,

2016). For instance, the prevalence of summer rains, along with flooding and erosion, does not

look like a promising condition for the growth of community development projects. The bad

climate is often accompanied by the compromised agricultural sector, causing food insecurity for

the local residents of a region. Environmental degradation is a factor which cannot be ignored

when it comes down to development since public health is essential for the sustainability of

community development projects. Furthermore, deterioration in urban infrastructure can also be

caused due to poor waste management which is again a threat to public health (Vidal & Keating,

2004).

Conclusion

Development does not necessarily mean the same thing for different people and varying

contexts. Development, usually, refers to the empowering of human lives by expanding the range

of choices that are available to individuals for the improvement of their lifestyle standards. A

number of organisations emphasise on the importance of economic growth, but it only facilitates

in enlarging the range of choices available for enhancing living standards. Measurement of
 Knowledge 13

development can be judged on the basis of the quality of life and people's well-being. Better the

development, better will be the quality of life for individuals. The problems faced by

development practitioners include lack of skills, lack of monitoring, lack of evaluation, and

climatic changes.
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References

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Publication.

Aponte-Hernández, E., 2016. Knowledge Production, Social Change and the Future of Research

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and-the-future-of-research-universities-trends-and-challenges/

[Accessed 22 December 2018].

Borda, O. F., 2011. Production and Diffusion of New Knowledge. In: A. Cornwall, ed. The

Participation Reader. London: Zed Books, pp. 85-87.

Chhachhi, A., 2011. Interview with Nancy Fraser. Development and Change, 42(1), pp. 297-314.

Clark, H., 2011. People-centred Development, New York: United Nations Development

Programme.

Fraser, N., 2000. Rethinking Recognition. New Left Review, Volume 3, pp. 107-120.

Georgalakis, J., Oronje, R. N., Ramalingam, B. & Jessani, N., 2017. The Social Realities of

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102.
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[Accessed 23 December 2018].

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Knowledge: Power and Identity in Development. London: Pluto Press, pp. 1-29.

Shava, E. & Thakhathi, D. R., 2016. Challenges in the Implementation of Community

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56(3), pp. 363-373.

Shrestha, N., 1995. Becoming a Development Category. In: J. Crush, ed. Power of Development.

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