Question

Identify and discuss factors within the practice of development that affects the failure of trickle-down development (grassroot development). Refer your discussion to relevant examples from the South.

Answer 1

The term grassroots development according to the inter-American foundation (2018) is the process where under-served people organize themselves locally to improve their wellbeing of families, communities, and society as a whole. This includes a holistic approach that addresses different problems of the economy, social, and cultural aspects. This can be considered as a people-oriented approach that puts people first but improving community development and participation and other strategies. The basis of this development strategy is that the center cannot efficiently administer or solve the problems of the local communities. Hence there is a need for decentralization of power for the effectiveness of the community. There are different problems that this theory faces and this can be explained with the help of an example. Lets take Nigeria which falls in the southern part of the world. The grassroots development of Nigeria focuses mainly on reducing poverty and reducing rural unemployment. Since agriculture is the main economic activity, incomes has to be increased from farm based and non farm based actiivties and decentralized policies should aim this. the different problems that this development statergy faces are as follows

1. Lack of Community Participation: People of the community should be active agents in the develoment process. The role of locl communities cannot be negelected in different stages like designing, planning and execution.

2. Corruption: Corruption is always a hindrance to development. Most of the local bodies consider official positions as a chance to earn extra money which blcoks the development process. This is very evident in the case of Nigeria

3. Lack of Qualified Politicians and stakeholders: It can be seen that most of the elected councillors and local body governments consists of uneducated people, as most of the educated people go for white collar jobs or better-paying jobs and hence their is lack of skills in the administration process. A certain level of efficeny in the administartion is required to formulate and execute a development plan

4. Lack of Revenue: the sources of revenue are undependable and without revenue sources development is impossible. The revenue of these areas are dependent on the federal government. The fluctuation in economy thus affect the fund allocation of these areas.

5. Lack of skilled Labour: One of the major problems Nigeria is facing is the lack of proper skilled labour. There is a lack of skilled labour in agriculture, health, eductaion, administration and other service sectors. These skilled labours are the driving force in the transformation of the economy.  

The above given are few of the factors that affect the grass root development. In order to remove or eradicate these problems the economy should have proper fund allocation, skilled labour, corruption free economy. The local government should have the autonomy in adopting development plans that will benefit the citizens as a whole.