Development, not Construction
by Jaida Perkinson, Summer 2024 Intern
Published October 9, 2024
Too often, when people think of development, their conceptualization is limited to two ideas: increased incomes and physical construction. It’s often argued that with additional money and infrastructure, communities would have all the necessary ingredients to improve quality of life for residents. While infrastructure and monetary growth are indeed key components of successful development, there are many additional factors necessary to ensure a community is positioned to prosper.
In contrast to the narrow definition of development as more concrete and a higher GDP, holistic development is best understood— as economist Amartya Sen explains— “as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy,” (Sen 1999, pg 3).
It’s true that monetary growth and construction both contribute to this goal. As one’s purchasing power increases, so too does their ability to make decisions. Likewise, infrastructural advancements help facilitate economic and social activities that can enhance connectivity and ease burdens.
But as opposed to being ends themselves, these advancements are mere means to achieve the ultimate goal一 increased freedom. Just as critical to achieving this objective are “political and civil rights,” such as privacy and participation, and “social and economic arrangements,” like education and healthcare (Sen 1999, pg 3). The development of local capacity is also key to ensure community members have the knowledge and skills to solve problems and actualize goals.
Rather than putting bandaids on deep-rooted issues, investing in long-term state-strengthening and building community capacity are pivotal to ensuring lasting, substantive development, thereby increasing freedoms for both individuals and communities.
Understanding the criticality of autonomy, Roots of Development is committed to a holistic development approach, with the cardinal goal of augmenting freedom for both individuals and communities alike. The organization is strongly committed to a world in which communities are empowered to decide their own future and development path, shaping their territories toward their communally desired vision. This strategy of Community-Led Development (CLD) values freedom and choice as both ultimate goals as well as means to achieve that end.
Further demonstrating this commitment, Roots is dedicated to Development without Dependency®, a method of societal advancement that avoids toxic cycles of interdependence to ensure community sovereignty in the long run. This approach to self-determination centers the true goal of development and ensures communities maintain independence and authority over their process and progress.
When it comes to development, physical construction and increased purchasing power are two important priorities. But it’s imperative we avoid conflating such progress with development itself. If a community has a high GDP and advanced infrastructure but little accountability, efficiency, consistency, political transparency, or safety一 can we truly consider it “developed”?
We must prioritize more in our development strategies than mere wealth and construction. While important, these components frequently overshadow other significant considerations. The underlying motivation behind advancing infrastructure and increasing income levels is to ultimately increase freedom. But too often within the development field, these progress indicators become misinterpreted as the primary goal of development projects themselves, at the expense of truly substantive development.
Amartya Sen has long argued for a new understanding of poverty, urging us to view it as “…the deprivation of basic capabilities rather than merely as lowness of incomes…” (Sen 1999, pg 87). With this understanding, the imperative of poverty alleviation efforts is necessarily shifted from prioritizing wealth and infrastructural advancements toward embracing actions that increase opportunity and capability.
The purpose of development is not construction for its own sake. Within this field, we must question our norms and the very definition of what it means to be developed, realigning our efforts to match the true goal of societal advancement一 enhanced freedom.