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

 

Edition 02: 17 December, 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.

 

03. Third level : states.  (At least 2 hours).

 

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

 

The third administrative level of structures set up by integrated development projects is the individual project  level. Each project covers an area with +/- 50.000 inhabitants and is what Jared Diamond ( reference above, “Guns, germs and steel”, Vintage, London 1998, chapter 4, p.268, pp.278-288) calls a «state ».   

 

Individuals in each project area must be able to associate with and participate in the project’s administrative structures. The project area must be comprehensible to the individuals in the area.

 

The first ancient city states were formed about 3500 years ago.

 

The ancient Greek state had a radius of about 20 kilometres, so that the king or administrator could go on foot from the centre of the state to the farthest parts of it and return the same day. The population of the Greek city states is believed to have reached, in some cases, 100.000. The average population size of a town (or polis) at the centre of the state was probably about 20.000, though some may have reached 50.000. (C.A.Doxiadis, The ancient Greek City and the City of the Present, Ekistic, vol.18, no. 108, 1964, pp.346-364)

 

The population of the area had at the same time to be large enough to offer a market capable of supporting wide-spread specialisation of productive activities and services. It also had to be able to offer a range of products and services necessary for a good quality of life for all free men in the project area.   “We may thus define the optimum number of the population [of an ideal state] as “the greatest surveyable number required for achieving a life of self-sufficiency”” (Artistotle, Politics, Book VII, Chapter IV, tr. E. Barker , Oxford University Press, London, 1948). 

 

Diamond’s «states »  (op.cit p. 268) had populations of 50.000 persons and even more. They included a main settlement and a  lot of villages in the same area.  The inhabitants were divided into classes, there might have been more than one language, decisions were centralised, there were several levels of bureaucracy, there was a monopoly of military force and control over information. Food production was intensive, there was a high level of specialisation of labour.  Financial means were redistributed according to tax systems. There were courts and judges to resolve conflicts.

 

The choice made under the Model for local economic systems with about +/- 50.000 inhabitants is therefore anything but new. There is, furthermore, nothing critical or mystical about the number. Individual project areas can have more or fewer inhabitants according to the population concentrations, geographic features, cultural and ethnic considerations including language, and above all according to preferences expressed by the local populations.  Populations of project areas in developing countries today are rarely as concentrated as those in Greece at the time of the City States. The population of  Greece at that time is thought to have been 7-9 million . (Dioxiadis, op.cit.). Some integrated development project areas under the Model may have a surface area larger than that of Greek city states, especially where they include regional or national reserves or parks.

 

The size of the project areas for integrated development is still valid for several important basic services today, including services in the most industrialised  countries. For example, the number of hospital beds per 100.000 persons in the 27 countries of the European Union is currently 600. The tendency is towards a reduction of this figure. The more «advanced »  countries from this point of view (Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden,  United Kingdom,) have just  300 beds for 100.000 people.(Source Eurostat). This indicates in principle the establishment of a  hospital with 150-200 beds at the centre of each integrated development area with a  population of 50.000.  

 

The same concept applies to higher education institutions, such for example, as trade schools and propedeuse service for the preparation of students for university studies at regional or national level.

 

The number of members of the central committee which is legally charged with the ownership and on-going administration of project structures is determined by the number of well commissions it serves. Normally, 35-45 members can be expected. Each well commission chooses a member to represent it on the central committee. Since the a majority of the members of the well commissions is expected to be female, the well commissions can be expected to nominate a women to represent them on the central committee. Women should, therefore, form a majority of the members of the central committee as well.

 

1. Research.

 

On one page, make a summary of the logistical and social reasons for the choice of a project area with 50.000 inhabitants for integrated development.

 

2. Opinion.

 

The traditional chiefs in your project area are afraid of losing their authority as a result of the execution of the project. You represent them. On one page make a list of their problems and give the details.

 

3. Opinion.

 

The political authorities in your project area are afraid of losing  ( part of) their political power .On one page explain how the execution of the project will increase rather than decrease their personal  prestige and their political authority.

 

4. Opinion.

 

You are a candidate for election to the central committee of the project in your chosen area. On one page, write your «political »  programme.

 

5. Opinion.

 

On one page explain to the members of the well commission which has to choose you amongst other candidates, why your programme is the most appropriate one to satisfy the interests of the populations served by the well commission.

 

 



 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.


 Courses available.

Homepage Bakens Verzet


 

Creative Commons License

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Licence.