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VIVONS TOUGAN
Édition
01 : 19 Novembre, 2013.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROJECT.
Policy consequences
Project execution has many, far-reaching, policy implications in many
sectors and at all levels. At the same time, it must be stressed that it does
not claim to offer solutions to all the problems facing the Commune of Tougan.
The project cannot act as substitute for state obligations. It does not deal
with the costs of medicines or large-scale public works, defence and security.
It provides for the creation of local social, financial, service and productive
structures which can be used to promote the gradual development of some
services, taken for granted in industrialised countries, that people in poor
countries do not even dare to dream of. Self-financed where necessary, and at a
surprisingly low cost. The following
notes set out where the local populations might want to go, and how they could
get there. It may take many years, even decades, for them to arrive.
In short, the project directly addresses some problems basic to a good
quality of life for all in the project area.
It can contribute actively to solving other problems over a longer term.
Finally, there are some areas outside local economic development where it has
little or no direct influence at all.
The project does not simply restate known development problems. It also
offers concrete down-to-earth solutions to them. The paradigms and the concepts
presented are mostly so simple and obvious they should be viewed by most people
as an expression of plain common sense. The common sense of the ordinary man or
woman in the street. No university degrees are needed to understand them. None
were required to develop them. No special expertise is needed to put them into
practice. They enable the world’s poorest to design, execute, run, maintain and
pay for their own development within the framework of open, cooperative,
interest-free, inflation-free economic environments where genuine competition
is free to flourish
If the solutions to world-wide poverty alleviation issues really are so
simple, some readers may wonder why they have not been applied before. That is a
very good question. The answers to it go to the heart and the nature of the
currently dominating economic system. But they do not fall within the scope of
this paper.
Demographic development policies
Centralisation of power through the dumping of vast numbers of people in
mega-slums in unsustainable, uneconomic, ultra-vulnerable mega-cities in
developing countries is unnecessary,
foolish, and ethically unacceptable. In our times, it is politely called
“urbanisation”. Contrary to what we are sometimes led to believe, it is
relatively easy to control vast, poor, unorganised, disconnected, disinherited,
urban masses both individually and collectively deprived of any means of
providing for even their own most basic requirements. Civil disorder may sometimes
break out, but seldom has permanent effect. “Popular riot, insurrection, or
demonstration is an almost universal urban phenomenon, and as we now know, it
occurs even today in the affluent megalopolis of the developed world. On the
other hand the fear of such riot is intermittent. It may be taken for granted
as a fact of urban existence, as in most pre-industrial cities, or as the kind
of unrest which periodically flares up and subsides without producing any major
effect on the structure of power.” (E.J. Hobsbawm, Cities and insurrections,
Global Urban Development Magazine, vol.1, no.1, May 2005.) One of the purposes of the project is to
counter this “urbanisation” by ensuring that people in Tougan and its rural
areas attain a good quality of life there with a full range of basic structures
and services and employment opportunities.
Empowerment of women
Women play an important role in all structures at all three
administrative levels of the project. They are structurally freed from the
drudgery of having to fetch water and firewood and, with their children, from
the dangers of smoke (air pollution in and around their homes), water-borne
diseases, and diet insufficiencies. Financial structures such as the local
exchange, interest-free micro-credits, and cooperative buying groups put at
their disposal greatly expand their freedom to take productivity initiatives
for which local and project level markets are created. Their formal money
budget possibilities are extended. They and their children will have (with
time) a better chance of structural medical care and formal education,
including hygiene education. They will all without exception enjoy the benefits
of drinking water, sanitation, and waste recycling facilities.
Productive
occupation and income
Tank commission members, like all other persons active for the
project, are fully paid for their work
under the local exchange systems set up as part of project execution. There are
288 tank commission areas. In all, the project creates nearly 9.000 productive
full time FTE occupations. That’s about 20% of the adult population. The actual
number of people doing productive work is much higher. Many occupations will be full-time and others
part-time according to the decisions independently taken by the people living
in each area. The remaining 80% of the
adult population is free to use the local exchange system and interest-free
micro-credit structures created by the project for the purposes of productivity increase. At least Euro
Financial
policies
The project sets up a cooperative, interest-free, inflation-free, local
financial environment, within which private initiative is free to flourish.
Basic financial instruments created include the local exchange systems and
interest-free cooperative micro-credit structures paid for and run by the
people themselves. These basic financial instruments can be supplemented as
required by self-financed self-terminating special purpose buying cooperatives
at tank commission, well commission and project level and by local
interest-free cooperative banking and insurance facilities. All formal money
financial structures are operated within the framework of the local exchange
system set up, so not only are they interest-free, but the services are usually
supplied without any formal money cost to users as well. Formal money costs for
interest and services traditionally connected with financial products are
retained in the project area. Local populations make small monthly formal money
contributions into their Cooperative Local Development Fund. These contributions
are used for multiple recycling in the form of interest-free micro-credits for
productivity purposes. The local financial environment created during project
execution operate in parallel and in harmony with existing formal money
structures. The local system does not substitute the formal money (CFA) one.
Except for products and services provided for project execution, users are
always free to choose whether to conduct a transaction under the local system
or under the traditional formal money system. The local money structure
time-based. When other project areas develop, they interact with each other to
form a patchwork quilt of cooperative interlinked local economy systems.
Cooperation between systems is always on a zero balance basis, to avoid all
risk of financial leakage from one project area to another.. The network of
powerful interlinked local economy systems will I turn form a strong,
independent, national economy in host countries.
Social
security policies
Few developing countries are known for their efficient social security
schemes in support of the poor, the sick, the elderly and the handicapped. More
often than not, the sick have to pay in
cash on the spot for medical help. If they (or their families) are unable to
pay, they cannot get access to the services. In many countries, parents of
schoolchildren have to pay relatively high school fees and for school books and
school uniforms. Sometimes they even have to pay teachers’ wages where
education ministries fail to fulfil their duty to do so. This means that poorer
families are often unable to send their children, especially their daughters,
to school. The project can make a powerful contribution to social solidarity in
the Commune of Tougan, as they set up a three-tiered social safety network for
the weakest members of society, both for their obligations under the local
money systems and for their formal money contributions to their formal money
Cooperative Local Development Fund.
Control
and ownership of local project structures
Management and ownership of all tank commission level structures set up
during project execution are vested by the project in the “local tank
commission for the time being”. Physical service structures vested in them
include drinking water and lighting facilities and project structures provided
in schools and clinics situated in their tank commission area. The tank
commissions also manage the operation at tank commission level of the local
exchange, interest-free micro-credit and waste recycling systems set up during
project execution. They are responsible for the collection of the monthly
contributions paid by each inhabitant into the Cooperative Local Development
Fund and for the operation of the social security or safety nets set up for the
poor, the sick, the aged, and the handicapped. They organise the election of
representatives to intermediate level (well-commission) structures and of local
money transaction specialists. Physical and administrative structures run by
the tank commissions can also be extended to activities in the health and
education sectors, as described below, and to interest-free cooperative
purchasing and investment initiatives. Similarly, intermediate structures are
vested by the project in the “well commission for the time being”.
Project-level structures are vested by the project in the “central committee
for the time being”. The social safety nets set up, together with strong local
social control and extended guarantee structures built into micro-credit loan
agreements should reduce defaults in the payment of contributions. Micro-credit
loans under the project are interest-free and free from all formal money costs,
as they are managed under the local money systems set up.
Complementary
interests
A qualifying feature of the activities of the tank commissions and of
all other structures set up under the project is that they fit in with, and
operate in harmony and in parallel with existing political, financial, and
administrative structures. For instance, the local exchange system set up is
operated in parallel with the existing formal money system. 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
Traditional
leadership and land ownership structures
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 the project
structures. As the quality of life in the 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. The same applies to the extensive reforestation
initiatives provided for in the project.
Millennium
development goals
The project provides 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 area. The global formal money cost does not
exceed Euro 173 per inhabitant. Of this, 48,9 % 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 51,9 % 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 Burkina Faso with
a population of 17.000.000 can be
“developed” by 2018 for a total seed
capital investment of € 1.751.500.000, some or all of which can be repaid by
the local populations at the close of the first ten years’ period.
Health
policies
The project 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 266 people)
provide an ideal work terrain for a qualified nurse. Suitable premises can be
built under the local exchange system by the community for nurses willing to
work within the local exchange structures in so far as they do not receive
formal money salaries. The cost of some 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 1850 inhabitants form an ideal work terrain for doctors’
practices (J.Muysken et al, op.cit.) and for other professions such as dentists
and physiotherapists. The Commune of Tougan with its -76.460 inhabitants can support
a local hospital in Tougan. 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. The project structures provide
a natural framework for middle- and long-term development in the health sector.
The on-going costs for imported medicines and vaccinations are excluded from the project as they tend
to cause financial leakage from the project area.
Education
policies
Many improvements in education structures, like those for curative
health care, can also be covered under project applications. Single tank
commission areas will be able to support a primary school with four or five
classes on their own, allowing for an ideal primary school population of
perhaps eighteen pupils for each grade.
(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 60-80 would need to be split amongst, say, 4
classes. 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
exchange system set up by the projects. Teachers, especially teachers
originating in the project area, willing to work within the local exchange
structure can be paid by the residents in so far as they do not receive
(regular) formal money salaries from education authorities. Similarly,
intermediate commission areas are ideally sized to provide a secondary education structure to pupils
from the 6-7 primary schools in their area. With classes of 18 pupils, they
would have the 350-400 pupils to provide coverage for the various subjects
studied. The project area with its populations of 76.460 is 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.
Policies
for sports and culture
The financial and social structures set up under the project make it possible
for individuals and groups to get cultural and sporting groups off the ground.
The project 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 exchange system and interest-free the micro-credit
structure. Sports competitions can be organised amongst clubs in the project
area, and later on amongst inter-linked project areas. Cultural circuits can be
formed, almost “automatically”, for theatre, dance and music groups, providing
them in many cases with paid full time work.
Energy, environment and conservation policies
All initiatives taken under the project are directed towards zero net
energy use, so as to avoid financial leakage from the project area and wastage
of resources. Energy used must be in the form of renewable energy originating
in the project areas itself, so it can be produced and paid for under the local
exchange system 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 using local Jatropha oil,
starting with the sixth year after planting. Local production is necessarily
environmentally 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 exchange system. An example is the protection and
sustainable exploitation forested areas already described above, where the
forest administrations could participate as
members of the local exchange 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.
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