NGO "ANOTHER WAY" (STICHTING BAKENS VERZET), NETHERLANDS, SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED SELF-FINANCING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGIES

“A qualifying feature of the activities of the tank commissions and of all other structures set up under the Model is that they fit in with, and operate in harmony and in parallel with existing political, financial, and administrative structures. For instance, the local money systems set up are operated in parallel with the existing formal money system in the project’s host country. Except for transactions carried out for the project itself, users are always free to choose whether to conduct a transaction under the local money or the formal money system. Tank and well commission members and management may also be members of statutory or voluntary local development agencies or organisations. In some cases, the formation of the tank commissions (independently of or together with intermediate and project level structures) may be helpful in creating and running, free of charge, local development organs foreseen in national legislation. For instance, in the case of Togo, the Village Development Committees (CVD), which are mostly inoperative and lack adequate finance, could be built into project structures foreseen by the Model. The administration of the Togodogo Reserve (Yoto District, Togo) can offer work opportunities to local people under the local money system to help achieve sustainable management of the Reserve for which no formal money funds are currently available.”

1. Opinion.

You are Chairperson of the Permanent Cooperative for the On-going Management of Project Structure in your chosen area. Explain the members of the local town or rural council on one page the advantages brought to the Council by the project structures How is it that so much more can be done to benefit the populations where the Council and the Project cooperate closely.

Traditional chiefs and land ownership,

“There is wide recognition of both the need for and difficulty of reforming land and resource tenure systems. Although there is no generic formula for tenure reform, experience in several countries suggests a few guiding principles.

“First is the need to explicitly recognize local customary land rights, including communal tenure, since such rights are still in common use and cannot be ignored without disenfranchising many rural families.

“Second is the desirability of developing low-cost and accessible forms of land and resource registration that make use of local institutions such as local councils or courts for their execution. These can provide an alternative to the formal titles issued by central authorities, which have proven to be slow, costly and contentious.

“Third is the need to specify in national law the rights and responsibilities of both parties in co-management arrangements, where the state shares resource tenure with local communities or resource user groups.

“Fourth is the necessity for developing a functional dispute resolution mechanism that can link the existing customary and statutory tenure regimes in a common framework that allows conflicting land and resource claims to be settled.” (Hazlewood P., Mock G., Enabling Local Success: A Primer on Mainstreaming Local Eco-based Solutions do Poverty Environment Challenges. ( N.B. This is an 11.8 MB file.) UNDP-UNEP Poverty Environment Initiative (PEI), Nairobi, October 2011.)

“Project structures are not intended to interfere with the power and recognition of traditional, elected and non-elected, institutions such as village heads, chiefs, religious leaders, mayors, town councils, health boards, water boards, tax department, police commissioners, or members of parliament. The tasks carried out by the project structures are all new ones, created by the people themselves (including mentioned local leaders as individuals) within the framework of each integrated development project. As the quality of life in each project area increases as a result of project execution, the status of the traditional institutions is expected to grow. For the tax department, for instance, a taxation base will be created over time where none existed before. Traditional leaders are free to take advantage of project structures for the management of communal property. Management of communally owned tribal land and natural mineral and renewable income resources can be brought free of charge under the financial structures created by the project, so that costs and benefits can be equitably distributed amongst the owner populations. For instance, income from the sale of sustainably harvested wood from communally owned forests or from the use by community members or nomads of communally owned land for grazing can be distributed amongst the communal owners using the financial instruments set up by the project. The cost of protecting natural resources such as flora and fauna can be brought under the local money systems and divided amongst community members to supplement the limited formal money resources available at national and regional level.”

2. Opinion.

You are village chief in an integrated project area. You meet another Chief from the project, who hesitates giving his approval to the execution of the project because he fears losing his traditional authority. Set his doubts and problems out on one page and answer him.

Millennium Goals.

“Project applications under the Model provide complete structures for full, high quality coverage for drinking water, sanitation, waste recycling, smoke eradication and other services for 100% of the population, without exclusion, in the project areas. The global formal money cost does not exceed Euro 100 per inhabitant. Of this, 25% is provided directly by the inhabitants themselves, in the form of work done for project execution fully paid under the local money systems set up and “converted” into formal money at the rate of Euro 3 per working day of eight hours. The remaining 75% is initially supplied by external support agencies in the form of seed finance. If the seed finance is in the form of a grant, monthly contributions paid by inhabitants into their Cooperative Local Development Fund continue to be recycled interest-free for micro-credits after the close of the first period of ten years. If the seed finance is in the form of an interest-free ten year loan, the contributions paid by inhabitants during the first period of ten years are sufficient to repay the seed capital at the close of the first period of ten years. The amount in the Cooperative Local Development Fund in that case drops temporarily back towards zero. Since the inhabitants continue to make their monthly contributions after seed loan repayment , the capital in the Cooperative Local development Fund builds up again over the second period of ten years to cover the cost of replacement of capital goods after twenty years. The difference between a grant and an interest-free seed loan therefore becomes operative only after ten years. In the first case, the flux of funds for interest-free micro-credits is not interrupted; in the other the fund available for micro-credits has to build up again during the second ten year cycle as it did during the first one. Where part of seed funds is made available by way of grant, the rest may be by way of soft (low interest) loans, including loans from private sources. Condition for this is that the total sum to be repaid by the population at the close of the first ten years’ period does not exceed the total initial seed capital. On this basis, a country such as Togo with a population of 4.500.000 can be “developed” by 2015 for a total seed capital investment of Euro 337.500.000, some or all of which can be repaid by the local populations at the close of the first ten years’ period.”

3. Opinion.

On just one page, explain to the President of your country the reasons justifying the immediate drafting of and National Integrated Development Plan based on the concepts of the Model.

Health policies.

“The Model addresses preventive medicine related issues by supplying health clubs and hygiene education courses in schools, clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, waste recycling, smoke elimination, better diets and drainage of stagnant waters. While it is not intended to substitute for the duties of national and regional governments with respect to remedial health care, it is structured to help provide local supplementary services in some cases. Tank commission areas (about 200 people) provide an ideal work terrain for a qualified nurse. Suitable premises can be built under the local money systems by the community for nurses willing to work within the local money structures in so far as they do not receive formal money salaries. The cost of basic equipment and materials can be cooperatively covered at tank commission, well commission, or project level by small monthly formal money contributions paid into a Cooperative Health Fund. The same considerations apply to structures for doctors. Well commission areas each serving about 2000 inhabitants form an ideal work terrain for doctors’ practices (J.Muysken et al, op.cit.) and for other professions such as dentists and physiotherapists. Project areas with 50.000-70.000 inhabitants can support local hospitals, preferably at a central point of the project area. Once the financial structures for cooperative local economic development have been set up as a normal part of project execution, basic health care structures can be provided at little or no extra cost to financially hard-pressed government ministries. (Model, complete index, section 5.62 - Health aspects). Project structures provide a natural framework for middle- and long-term development in the health sector. »

Review part 10. Health structures, of Section 5: the service structures of the fourth block the structures to be created.

4. Opinion.

You are the District health officer in an area where an Integrated Development Project is being executed. You read all the information available on the project. On one page, write your reaction. Before doing this exercise, try to discuss the issue with the local district health officer in your area.

Education policy

“Some improvements in education structures, like those for curative health care, can also be covered under project applications. Single tank commission areas will often be too small to support a primary school on their own, as an ideal primary school population of perhaps eighteen pupils for each grade is required. (V. Wilson, Does small really make a difference?, Scottish Council for Research and Education (SCRE) Report 107, Glasgow, 2002). Assuming six grades, a primary school population of 120-150 would be needed. These requirements can be met by groups of two or three tank commission areas working together. Simple locally constructed, centrally located buildings (with clean drinking water, eco-sanitation and photovoltaic lighting facilities) and locally built school furniture can be supplied by the local populations under the local money systems set up by the projects. Teachers, especially teachers originating in the project area, willing to work within the local money structures can be paid by the residents in so far as they do not receive (regular) formal money salaries from education authorities. Similarly, well commission areas are ideally sized to provide a secondary education structure to pupils from the 2-4 primary schools in their area. With classes of 18 pupils, they would need to have 350-450 pupils to provide coverage for the various subjects studied. Project areas serving 50.000 to 70.000 are ideally sized to provide further education in trades and perhaps a first year preparatory course (propedeuse) for university studies for which students would subsequently need to go to larger centres. (Model, complete index, section 5.63 Education).”

5. Opinion.

You are the District education officer in an area where an Integrated Development Project is being executed. You read all the information available on the porject, especially the information on local education development. On one page, write your reaction. Before doing this exercise, try to discuss the issue with the local district education officer in your area.

Policies for culture and sport.

“The financial and social structures set up under the Model make it possible for individuals and groups to get cultural and sporting groups off the ground. The Model does not attempt to list or regulate all of the initiatives which could take place, as these are as varied as the minds and wishes of the people. They include sports, coaching and training activities in general, theatre, music, local arts and folklore groups. Basic facilities can be provided under a combination of the local money systems and interest-free micro-credit structures. Sports competitions can be organised amongst clubs in a given project area, and amongst inter-linked project areas. Cultural circuits can be formed, almost “automatically”, for theatre, dance and music groups, providing them in many cases with full time work.”

The possibilities opened up to cultural and sporting activities in integrated development project areas are impressive, at all three administrative levels. They include the creation of hundreds of new activities, such as the formation of local clubs and groups and the formation of sports circuits (including project level competitions) and circuits for theatrical activities and artistic expression in general. In principle these activities are considered «productive ». Formal money investments needed will be supplied in the form of interest-free micro-credits. Operation and management will take place under the local money systems. Micro-credit loans can be repaid through formal money payments made by visitors/participants from outside the project area.

6. Opinion.

On one page, make a list of the cultural and sports groups you think the populations in your chosen area would be interested in and calculate the number of occupations you think would be created. Don’t forget local traditional culture ! For example, there is place in the local money systems even for a circuit of blind (and other) story-tellers historians, and poets.

Energy, environment and conservation policies

“All initiatives taken under the Model are directed towards zero net energy use, so as to avoid financial leakage from project areas and wastage of resources. Energy used must be in the form of renewable energy originating in the project areas themselves, so that they can be produced and paid for under the local money systems set up. By way of example, the distributed drinking water systems are powered by solar photovoltaic panels. Locally produced high-efficiency stoves are fuelled by locally produced mini-briquettes made from locally grown crops and waste products. Public transport facilities may be driven by bio-fuels produced locally on a small scale. Local production is necessarily environmentally energy neutral and is always intended in the first place for local consumption. Communities in project areas usually request cooperative food storage facilities coupled with traditional food conservation practices such as solar drying and storage in the form of edible oils. National level and regional environmental and conservation agencies can receive job-creating support from the local money systems. An example is the protection and sustainable exploitation of the Togodo National Reserve in Togo, where the Reserve could participate as a member of the local money system, and use the services of local inhabitants as wardens and for forest maintenance and services in exchange for sustainable low level local exploitation of timber, hunting and fishing rights. (Model, Yoto Nord-Est 10 project).”

The course contains numerous references to energy, environment, and conservation. By way of example, part 05. Financial leakage : energy in section 1 of the first block analysis of the causes of poverty ; part 07. Provide a sustainable environment in the second block the problems to be solved and section 5 sustainability of the fifth block how the fourth block structures solve specific problems. It can be said that the entire Model is about energy, environmental and conservation policies.

The issue refers to the role played by man to provide a good quality of life for himself and for other living creatures and guarantee the same to their future generations. For the world’s poor, advanced environmental protection and wise use of energy resources can create great wealth. This can be perfectly well achieved at local level.

7. Opinion.

You are Chairperson of the Permanent Cooperative for the On-going Management of Project Structures in your chosen project area. Make a one-page report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the situation following the introduction of the Project Structures in your area during the two years of project execution and the first five years of operation.

◄ ►

◄ Fifth block : Section 9: Political implications.

◄ Fifth block : How fourth block structures solve specific problems.

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

◄ List of key words.

◄ List of references.

◄ Course chart.

◄ Technical aspects.

◄ Courses available.

◄ Bakens Verzet Homepage.

"Money is not the key that opens the gates of the market but the bolt that bars them."

Gesell, Silvio, The Natural Economic Order, revised English edition, Peter Owen, London 1958, page 228.

“Poverty is created scarcity”

Wahu Kaara, point 8 of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, 58^th annual NGO Conference, United Nations, New York 7^th September 2005.

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