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Sallie Johnson sandbox- Global Poverty and Practice 105

 Rural Development Article- 


 * rename section "Development Action" in article to "Approaches to development"

New Section 1:

Case study: rural development in Uganda
In Uganda specifically, several mid-century centrist administrations, particularly the regimes of Idi Amin (1971-1979) and Milton Obote (1981-1986), described as brutal and ineffective led to a sharp drop in responsiveness to citizen’s needs between 1966 and 1986. As a result of these administrations, several constraints were placed on local governments that prevented effective development initiatives: every single employee in local governments had to be appointed by the president, all local budgets and bylaws had to be approved by the Minister of Local Government, and this Minister could dissolve any local government council.

Because of the several shortcomings of the dictatorial government in promoting the participation of citizens in local development efforts, a decentralization campaign was officially launched in Uganda in 1992, with its legislative culmination occurring in 1997 with the passing of the Local Governments Act. This act led to the transfer of power to local governments in an attempt to encourage citizen participation and further rural development. Regarding funding under the decentralization structure, local governments receive a majority of their funds in block grants from the national government, mostly as conditional grants but with some unconditional and equalization grants administered as well. Furthermore, local governments were given the power to collect taxes from their constituents, however this usually only accounts for less than 10 percent of the local government’s budget.

Debates in decentralization efforts in Uganda
Some scholars express concern that decentralization efforts in Uganda may not actually be leading to an increase in participation and development. For example, despite increases over the years in local councils and civil society organizations (CSOs) in rural Uganda, efforts are consistently undermined by a lacking socio-economic structure leading to high rates of illiteracy, poor agricultural techniques, market access and transportation systems. These shortcomings are often a result of taxes and payments imposed by local authorities and administration agents that inhibit farmers' access to larger markets. Furthermore, the overall financial strength of local governments is considerably weaker than that of the national government, which adversely affects their responsiveness to the needs of their citizens and success in increasing participation in community development initiatives. Finally, civil society organizations are often ineffective in practice at mobilizing for the community’s interests. Dr. Umar Kakumba, a scholar at Makerere University in Uganda, notes of CSOs: "The CSOs’ inability to effectively mobilize for and represent the local community’s interests is linked to: the disabling regulatory environment with cumbersome and elaborate procedures for registration and restrictions on what constitutes allowable advocacy activities; their desire to complement the work of government rather than questioning it; the difficulties in raising adequate resources from their membership; the inability to exercise internal democracy and accountability; the urban/elite orientation of most NGOs; and the donor funding that encourages a number of CSOs to emerge in order to clinch a share of the donor monies."

Role of NGOs/Non-profits
Nonprofits and NGOs are also greatly involved in the provisioning of needs in developing countries. As a result of the decentralization policy in Uganda in the 1990s, these organizations have played an increasingly large role in supporting development. A qualitative study conducted by researchers at Kampala International University in 2018 found that over half of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that NGOs, donor agencies, and international organizations in conjunction with participation have led to rural development. However, this study also notes that 56% of the sample had received a tertiary level of education, and it has been shown that most NGOs are oriented to serve local elites above the rest of the population. This also highlights the importance in discussing rural development needs of encouraging participation of non-elite citizens, as civil society organizations have been faulted with being easily controlled through donor money, leading to a lack of stakeholder representation from other kinds of environments, such as rural communities, in the policy-making process. Finally, the influence of NGOS and nonprofits in development work further brings into question whether decentralization is an effective strategy for rural communities. Often NGOs and development nonprofits are criticized for taking over responsibilities that are traditionally carried out by the state, causing governments to become ineffective in handling these responsibilities over time. Within Africa, NGOs carry out the majority of sustainable building and construction through donor-funded, low-income housing projects.

Sustainability in Construction Article-

New Section 1: (*note: still not sure what to title this section, might use this to replace current section "definition of sustainable construction")

Sustainable construction discourse
The concept of sustainable construction was born out of sustainable development discourse. The term sustainable development was first coined in the Brundtland report of 1987, defined as the ability to meet the needs of all people in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own. This report defined a turning point in sustainability discourse since it deviated from the earlier limits-to-growth perspective to focus more on achieving social and economic milestones, and their connection to environmental goals, particularly in developing countries.

The introduction of sustainable development into the environmental/economical discourse served as a middle ground for the limits-to-growth theory, and earlier pro-growth theories that argued maintaining economic growth would not hinder long-term sustainability. As a result, scholars have faulted sustainable development for being too value-laden since applications of its definition vary heavily depending on relevant stakeholders, allowing it to be used in support of both pro-growth and pro-limitation perspectives of development arguments despite their vastly different implications. In order for the concept to be effective in real-life applications, several specified frameworks for its use in various fields and industries, including sustainable construction, were developed.

Sustainable construction grew out of sustainable development and was not introduced until several years later, with the first attempt to coin the phrase coming out of the first International Conference for Sustainable Construction in 1994. The concept was defined most rigorously through the 1999 Agenda 21 on Sustainable Construction, published by the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB). CIB defined sustainable construction as “the sustainable production, use, maintenance, demolition, and reuse of buildings and constructions or their components”. The same council published an additional version of the agenda for sustainable construction in developing countries in 2001.

New Section 2:

Sustainable construction in developing countries
Specific parameters are needed for sustainable construction projects in developing countries. Scholar Chrisna Du Plessis of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) defines the following key issues as specific to work in developing countries:


 * New, non-western frameworks for development
 * Understanding the connection between urbanization and rural development
 * Sustainable housing solutions
 * Education
 * Innovative materials
 * Innovative methods of construction
 * Merging modern and traditional practices
 * Promoting equity in gender roles
 * Development of new financing systems
 * Improving the capacity of the government and the construction industry

In a later work, Du Plessis furthers the definition for sustainable construction to touch on the importance of sustainability in social and economic contexts as well. This is especially relevant in construction projects in the Global South, where local value systems and social interactions may differ from the western context in which sustainable construction frameworks were developed.

Debates surrounding sustainable construction in developing countries
First, the need for sustainable development measures in developing countries is considered. Most scholars have reached a consensus on the concept of the 'double burden' placed on developing countries as a result of the interactions between development and the environment. Developing countries are uniquely vulnerable to problems of both development (resource strain, pollution, waste management, etc) and under-development (lack of housing, inadequate water and sanitation systems, hazardous work environments) that directly influence their relationship with the surrounding environment. Additionally, scholars have defined two classes of environmental problems faced by developing countries; 'brown agendas' consider issues that cause more immediate environmental health consequences on localized populations, whereas 'green agendas' consider issues that address long-term, wide-scope threats to the environment. Typically, green agenda solutions are promoted by environmentalists from developed, western countries, leading them to be commonly criticized as being elitist and ignorant to the needs of the poor, especially since positive results are often delayed due to their long-term scope. Scholars have argued that sometimes these efforts can even end up hurting impoverished communities; for example, conservation initiatives often lead to restrictions on resource-use despite the fact that many rural communities rely on these resources as a source of income, forcing households to either find new livelihoods or find different areas for harvesting. General consensus is that the best approaches to sustainable construction in developing countries is through a merging of brown and green agenda ideals.

Foreign investors and organizations
Since all of the definitions and frameworks for the major concepts outlined previously are developed by large international organizations and commissions, their research and writings directly influence the organization, procedures, and scale of rural development projects in the Global South. Attempts at community development by foreign organizations like the ones discussed have questionable records of success. For instance, billions of dollars of aid have flowed into Africa over the past 60 years in order to address infrastructure shortcomings, yet this aid has created numerous social and economic problems without making any progress toward infrastructure development. One compelling explanation for why infrastructure projects as a result of foreign aid have failed in the past is that they are often modeled off of successful strategies used in western countries without adapting to local circumstances and cultural value systems.

NGOs/Non-profits
Often NGO s and development nonprofits are criticized for taking over responsibilities that are traditionally carried out by the state, causing governments to become ineffective in handling these responsibilities over time. Within Africa, NGOs carry out the majority of sustainable building and construction through donor-funded, low-income housing projects.