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

 

Edition 01: 31 October, 2009

 

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

 

 

Quarter 1.

 

SECTION B : SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS.

 

 

Value : 06 points out of 18.

Work foreseen: 186 hours out of 504.

 

The points are awarded only after passing the consolidated exam for Section B : Solutions to the problems.

 


 

Third block : Solutions to the problems.

 

Value : 01 point our of 18.

Work foreseen: 36 hours out of 504.

 

[16.00 Hours] Section 1 : Anthropological analysis of the three levels of project structures. (Value 0.5 point)

[16.00 Hours] Section 2 : Division of responsibilities amongst the three levels of structures. (Value 0,5 point)

[04.00 Hours] Exam block 3.

 

The point is awarded only after passing the consolidated exam for Section B : Solutions to the problems.

 


 

[16.00 Hours Section 1 : Anthropological analysis of the three levels of structures. (Value 0.5 point)

 

[14.00 Hours] Anthropological analysis.

 

01. First level : hunter-gatherers. 

02. Second level : groups of clans with chief. 

03. Third level : states. 

04. General plan of an individual project. 

05. Management lines for individual projects. 

06. Regional plans. 

07. National plans. 

 

[02.00 Hours] Report on Section 1 of Block 3.

 


 

[14.00 Hours] Anthropological analysis.

 

02. Second level : groups of clans with chief.  (At least two hours).

 

General reference :  Diamond, Jared,  Guns, guns and steel, (London, Vintage, 1998). ISBN 0 09 930278 0

 

One of the aspects at the base of human history if the history of his food supply. Some 7.500 years ago, as food security in the small villages inhabited by clans improved, the first forms of specialisation of tasks began to take shape. Apart from reasons of physical security from living together, the clans were able to exchange partners. They speak the same language, perhaps using different dialects. Most of the inhabitants still know each other, but the interests of the different bands or clans could give rise to conflicts. The position of chief, often hereditary, was formed  to solve the conflicts. The chief had specific powers which were recognised by the other inhabitants. As the communities formed by conglomerates of clans got larger, the chiefs needed help for their management , and gradually  a bureaucracy with several levels developed, each level with specific, recognised, rights. At a certain point, a division of the community into classes began to take shape : the «ordinary » people, and the privileged elite. The instruments at the disposal of the elite to maintain their control over the people included :

 

1) Disarmament of the population and armament of the elite.

2) Redistribution amongst the people of a large part of the tributes received from the people.

3) Use of their monopoly of force to promote the happiness of  the population.

4) The construction of an ideology (later, a religion)  justifying the position and the privileges of the elite.

 

(Source : Diamond, Jared,  Guns, germs and steel, Vintage, London, 1998, chapter 4, p. 277).

 

Communities run by chiefs often had about 1500-2500 inhabitants. The presence of a few «outsiders » or strangers began to be tolerated.  

 

In integrated development projects, this intermediary level structure is called the «Well Commission», with 1500-2500 people served by a drinking water system formed by several water tanks fed by a single (large diameter) borehole or well.

 

Part from the more directly political organisational aspects of these communities, their interest for integrated development projects lies mostly in their «intermediate » size.  It is a size which still applies to our day for certain important basic services, even in the most advanced industrialised countries. For instance, the ratio of general medical practitioners to population served in industrialised countries is to the order of  1 doctor to 2000-2500 people. In the Netherlands, the ration was 1 to 2347 on the 1st of January, 2006 (J.Muysken et al, Cijfers uit de registratie van huisartsen – peiling 2006, Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, 2006.) 

 

The ideal school class would have 18 pupils (V. Wilson, Does small really make a difference?, Scottish Council for Research and Education (SCRE) Report 107, Glasgow, 2002). At secondary school level, with 5 grades of classes and taking into account some specialised courses,  there might be about 20 classes, with +/- 350 pupils. This is exactly the secondary school population to be expected  in communities with +/- 2000 inhabitants in developing countries. It is a number of pupils which is within human comprehension, where the students all know each other, and the teachers know all the students.

 

Taking into account 6 grades, each with 18 pupils, the population of a primary school would be about 100-120 pupils. At tank commission level, with a population of about +/- 250 people,  primary schools would have 3 classes with two grades per class, or 50-60 pupils. A well commission is expected to serve  7 tank commissions.  That would mean the pupils attending +/- 7 primary schools at tank commission level would go to a secondary school at well-commission level.  50 pupils by 7 schools produces a secondary school population of 350 pupils, considered the «ideal » population for a secondary school.

 

1. Research.

 

Makes a list of the groups or conglomerates of villages in your project area forming intermediate population formations with 1500-2500 inhabitants. You should arrive at 30-40 groups.

 

The number of members of each well commission is determined by the number of tank commission it serves. There will usually be 6-7 members. Each rank commission chooses on member to represent it on the well commission from which it gets its water supply. Since the majority of members of the tank commission will be women, it is expected  they will elect women to the well commissions. The well commission should therefore have a majority of women members.

 

2. Opinion.

 

Suppose you are responsible for the integrated development project for your chosen area. You are about to help the populations to form the first social structures, amongst which the well commissions. You need to explain to the inhabitants of the villages forming a future well commission zone (+/- 7 tank commission areas) why an intermediate administrative level is necessary between the tank commissions on the one hand and the central committee on the other. One of your listeners(a man) puts 5 questions to you. You answer them. Write the man’s questions and your answers in the form of a two-page dialogue.

 

3. Opinion.

 

You are a candidate for  nomination by your tank commission to the well commission serving your community. You can be a member of the tank commission, or you can be a member of the population served by the tank commission. On one  page make your plea (case) to the (other) members of the tank commission describing the personal qualities you think make you particularly suitable to represent the community on the well commission.

 

4. Opinion.

 

On one page, write a report on how you think the new well commissions will influence the traditional management structures of the community.

 



 Third block, section 1: Section 1 : Anthropological analysis.

 Third block : Solutions to the problems.


Main index of the course for the Diploma in Integrated Development  (Dip. Int. Dev.)

 List of key words.

 List of references.

  Course chart.

 Technical aspects.


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