Development

Development is a confusing concept but often defined as the act or process of growth.

However, presently development seems to refer to anything seen as positive social

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change, for example, economic development, sustainable development and women's development. There are various indicators used to measure development, such as, inter alia poverty prevalence and literacy rate among others (Ferraro, 1996:58-64). However, for development to take place, modernisation was proposed as an alternative and dependency theory came as a response to modernisation. To start with, modernisation came as a prescription for development. In other words, it was a developmental alternative for Third World countries to follow so as to reach the same development that was achieved by the First World countries. However, it is the failure of the developmental alternative that brought about the issue of satisfying basic needs, enhancement of capabilities and sustainable development. Accordingly, CADEC as shown by the findings of this study is following the alternative development of providing for the basic needs and enhancing Binga people’s capabilities as well as enabling them to gain a sustainable livelihood. Thus, the failure of traditional development theories brought about new alternatives to development.

2.3 Failures of traditional development theories to seriously address the praxis of development.

Modernization theory was seen as the underpinning touchstone of the evolutionary recommendation for development. However, being a pathway for development, the theory was criticised for focusing on shortages in the poorer countries and its proposed ways to get rid of these deficiencies. This theory sees traditional society as characterised by negative things, in particular, stagnation in terms of development, lack of innovative ideas and the absence of commitment to the capitalistic profit motif. The theory argued that people were poor in the traditional societies and were characterised by subsistence social

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arrangements. However, what prompted change was the desire for profit maximization through economic growth and the capitalistic economic system. As a result, this capitalist economic system brought about modernization and technological growth in Western Europe. This urged capitalists to compete for profit maximization and these profits were pursued by re-investing so as to make huge profits. It was this profit that resulted in Third World countries being exploited and underdeveloped by Western countries. (Tipps, 2012). Hence according to the Modernization theory, there is a need for the Third World to transform itself from the primitive stage to modernity. This means that Third World countries were to follow the route that was used by the West towards development.

However, the theory also does not consider such factors as the existing inequalities and sees no conflict of interest between the rich and of the poor. It also ignores the fact that the resources in the world may be limited and the accumulation of wealth by some capitalists may actually reduce the chances of other people to get rich. However, dependency theory sees the theory as a-historical and too Eurocentric (Wayne, 2006:5-8).

Dependency theory was a response to the modernization theory and it was motivated by the fact that economic growth in the advanced industrialized countries did not essentially lead to development in the poorer countries. The dependency theory argues that economic activities in the richer countries often led to serious economic problems in the poorer countries. The problems are created by exports of primary commodities to rich countries by poor countries who then manufacture products out of those commodities and sell them back to the poorer countries. The bone of contention is that, value added goods always cost more than the primary products used to create those products. Therefore,

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poorer countries are not earning enough from export earnings to pay for imports (Ferraro, 1996:1-2).

In other words, the world cannot be understood without reference to the entire international economic system. From this viewpoint, underdevelopment is a dynamic progression of poverty interconnected to development and as a result, some parts of the world are underdeveloped because others are developed. This applies to a greater extent to the Binga community, their suffering was due to their displacement from their land in 1957 to make way for the establishment of the Kariba dam. The Binga people were not compensated in any way and the resources in their proximity including water industries that were supposed to first benefit them were taken away. As a result the suffering of the Binga people brought NGOs into the development agenda of Binga.

Underdevelopment and development are two sides of the same coin because they are aspects of the same process. To be more precise, economic growth in advanced countries created Third World poverty in its wake. The Third World countries are poor because they were exploited by the West (Wayne, 2006: 5). In other words, the Third World is poor because the development of the industrial system in Western Europe and North America transformed and underprivileged many societies of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, through colonization, imperialism and unfavourable terms of trade (Ferraro, 1996: 58-60).

For the above-mentioned reasons, dependency theory was viewed as a possible way of explaining the persistent poverty of the poor countries (Ferraro, 1996: 3-4). Whereas modernisation theory perceives capitalism as a creative force behind development and

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progress, dependency theory perceives capitalism as the cause of the devastation of the developing world. Similarly, modernisation theory perceived the First World countries as helpers of poor countries whilst dependency theory perceived them as detrimental to the welfare of the Third World countries. However, not all of the dependency theorists’

remedies are anti-capitalism (Tipps, 2012). A number of them see some good in using capitalism owing to the fact that it enhances national economies (Ferraro, 1996: 60-64).

Since the modernisation cannot be applied to communities like Binga, this study argued for the enhancement of capabilities and sustainable projects as alternatives to development in small communities. Similarly, Suharko (2012) proposed self-initiated projects that enable attainment of a sustainable livelihood as a strategy to reduce poverty in rural areas. This is in line with the argument of this study which is based on the belief that the provision for fundamental human needs and immediate relief are not adequate to help people. Hence, for authentic development to take place there is a need for the enhancement of people’s capabilities and enabling them to attain sustainable development.