NGO Another Way (Stichting Bakens Verzet), 1018 AM Amsterdam, Netherlands.

 

Edition 02 : 21 April, 2010.

Edition 06 :  30 September, 2014.

 

01. E-course : Diploma in Integrated Development (Dip. Int. Dev)

 

 

Quarter 1.

 

 

SECTION A :  DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS.

 

 

Study value : 04 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 112 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

Study value : 02 points out of 18.

Indicative study time: 57 hours out of 504.

 

Study points are awarded only after the consolidated exam for Section A : Development Problems has been passed.

 


 

First block : Poverty and quality of life.

 

First Block : Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

First Block : Section 2. Services needed for a good quality of life.

First Block : Exam. [ 4 hours each attempt]

 


 

Block 1 of Section 1. Analysis of the causes of poverty. [26.50 hours]

 

Part 2 : In depth analysis of the causes of poverty. [14.00 hours]

 

01. In depth : definition of poverty.

02. In depth : some factors linked with poverty.

03. In depth : debts and subsidies.

04. In depth : financial leakages : food and water industries.

05. In depth : financial leakage : energy.

06. In depth : financial leakage : means of communication..

07. In depth : financial leakage : health and education.

08. In depth : financial leakage : theft of resources.

09. In depth : financial leakage : corruption.

10. In depth : the industry of poverty.

 

Report on Section 1 of Block 1 : [06.00 Hours]

 


 

Part 2 : In depth analysis of the causes of poverty. [14.00 hours]

 

06. In depth : Financial leakage : means of communication.

 

Look at slide:

 

06. Financial leakage : means of communication.

 

Important centrally owned investments.

 

1. Research.

 

Make a list of the means of communication available in your chosen area.

 

How many of them are local?

What is the percentage use of local means of communications in relation to the total use of means of communication?

Can you give an indication of the average cost of local communications per person ?

 

How many of the means of communication used are imported into your project area?

What is the percentage use of imported means of communications in relation to the total use of means of communication?

Can you give an indication of the average cost of imported means of communications per person ?

 

What are your  conclusions ?

 

Professional and private use.

 

“Professional” communications can help to increase the productivity of  local populations. These include communications directly linked to production such for instance as reduction of loss through sickness, improvement of educational levels, and support of family members needing assistance.

 

“Private” communications tend to have a more social function. They may include, for example, long-distance contacts between family members and even games.

 

2. Opinion.

 

What percentage of communications in your chosen area would you consider “professional” and which percentage “private”?

 

Make a list in order of necessity priority of the types of communication used in your project area.

 

Telephone and internet costs

 

You considered modern means of communication in your initial analysis. You may have been able to conclude that most of these services originate outside your project area. You have attempted to calculate their costs.

 

3. Opinion.

 

Where do these payments end up?

Will the payments ever return to your project area?

 

4. Opinion.

 

Calculate a total for the purchase of telephones in your area.

Calculate a total for telephone usage costs in your zone, including subscription and connection  costs.

 

5. Opinion.

 

Calculate a  total for the purchase of computers in your project area.

Calculate a total for computer usage costs in your zone, including subscription and connection  costs.

 

When you analysed  «professional » and “private” communications applications, you prepared a list of necessary communications and unnecessary ones.

 

Official United Nations sources are very optimistic on the potential of mobile (cell) phones. An example is Cell phones revolutionizing Kenya’s livestock sector, Media Centre, F.A.O. Rome, March, 2013. The “sponsors” mentioned at the end of the article should be carefully noted. Bear in mind, this is a United Nations document.  In this connection refer to the discussion in Block 2, Section 1, on millennium goal 08. Develop a global partnership for development, and in particular to Target 18 : In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologies.

 

Aker J., and Mbiti I., in Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 3, Summer 2010. pp 207-232 write:

 

"Existing empirical evidence on the effect of mobile phone coverage and services suggests that the mobile phone can potentially serve as a tool for economic development in Africa. But this evidence, while certainly encouraging, remains limited. First, while economic studies have focused on the effects of mobile phones for particular countries and markets, there is little evidence showing this has translated into macroeconomic gains. Second, while the proliferation of mobile-based services and projects has the potential to promote economic development, there is a tendency for development agencies and donors to "jump on the information technology bandwagon" without properly assessing its effects." (p. 223)

 

Assessments awaited might include appropriateness of information supplied, literacy levels and language, nature of use, the relevant benefits against costs at individual, household and village levels. The authors point out on p. 227 that in 2010, an off-line call in Niger cost US$ 0,38 per minute, 40% of a typical family’s daily income, while lack of competition would enable profit-making businesses to increase their costs and reduce the quality of their services.

 

“… in the field of agriculture, ICT (and mobiles) are sustainability neutral; that is to say that ICT is equally applicable to the expansion of conventional high external-input-dependent agriculture, or to the development of more sustainable agro-ecological approaches. The rapid growth in mobile phone penetration in developing countries therefore presents a significant opportunity to help underpin a transformation in agricultural development and food systems, but without a co-operative and focused effort across different stakeholders groups - local actors, private sector partners, donors, expert institutions, and national governments - the potential for mobiles to empower sustainable agricultural development is unlikely to be maximized.” (Bachelor. S. and others, Is there a role for Mobiles to Support Sustainable Agriculture in Africa?, Paper, 2nd International Conference on ICT for Sustainability, Atlantis Press, Amsterdam, 30 July 2014. ISBN 978-94-62520-22-6 (conclusion)).

 

For integrated development projects the main factor to be considered is financial leakage from project areas. Do the benefits of mobile telephones for productivity purposes outweigh the financial leakage they cause? Can their use be (collectively) organised  so that they do?

 

6. Opinion.

 

What is the total cost for the purchase and unnecessary use of  telephone equipment in your area?

What is the total cost for the purchase and unnecessary use of computers  in your area?

 

What are your conclusions ?

 

The sale of knowledge, including patents and copyrights.

 

Open the  2007 report of the World Organisation for Intellectual Property(WIPO) . Chart B.3  on page 12 of the report contains a graph with numbers of patent applications deposited by residents of certain countries in  2005 and the rest of the world.

 

Study the graph.

 

7. Opinion.

 

Why, do you think, some people wish to protect their ideas and other people not ?

 

Patents are very expensive. They involve, often on a country by country basis :

 

a) the costs of depositing applications in national or regional offices.

b) (often) the costs of advisors and agents specialised  in drafting the patent applications.

c) eventual translation costs.

d) costs for the maintenance of (annual payments on) the patents.  

 

Protection of an industrial idea at international level can costs hundreds of thousands of  Euros.

 

8. Opinion.

 

Who can pay costs like that ?

 

What is your view on the sale of knowledge ?

 

Radio-telephones.

 

“Dynamic” radio-telephone systems like the ones developed by armed forces and used in the second world war can operate on a local circuit.

 

9. Opinion.

 

What would the consequences of the use of such a network in your project area ?

 

Radio.

 

10. Research.

 

How many people in your project area own a radio ?

 

Which types of radio do they have ? How do they work ? How much do they cost to run ?

 

In 1989  the Englishman Trevor Baylis invented the first wind-up radio.  ( About Trevor Baylis : http://windupradio.com/trevor.htm )

 

11. Opinion.

 

What, if any, would be the advantages of introducing wind-up radios in your project area ?

 

Additional reading :

 

Proposal for a local radio station in the framework of integrated development projects.

 



 First  block : Poverty and quality of life.


Index : Diploma in Integrated Development  (Dip.Int.Dev)

 List of key words.

 List of references.

  Course chart.


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