CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

 




By:
Nyabalah Felix



Development and culture are two perspectives that always do conflict with each other, No development can take place when it disrespects a people's cultural practices while at the same time cultural practices must also give way to new development initiatives, however, with the increasing levels of development concern, these two aspects in light of development have been related using facts and opinions that do try to compare the two to go hand in hand.
Several research studies have been done to analyze the factors that determine the rate of development in a country including the Gross Domestic Product, Net National Product, political stability, peace and stability and an enabling environment for investments with good government support to the investors leaving behind an exemplary explanation on what culture has to do with development.
Regardless of the early ventures into this area by several development agencies which have tried to both theorize the concept of development and culture as two independent variables; it is important to understand that these two factors go hand in hand with an influence on each other. Therefore in order to get to understand what culture has to do with development, it is important to get to explain and understand what culture really is in regard to development and how these two concepts correlate while at the same time not leaving behind the aspects of culture that are pro-development and development aspects that are undermined by culture.
With the prior explanation accorded to development by UNESCO as an attempt to get to increase the human choosing variety, development goes beyond just economic and political advancement but tries to get deep into human psychographic development and the sociocultural advancement with an eye to aid the full and certified coexistence of humanity which shouldn't base itself on everyday discontent on what nature has to provide and a continued rush for the limited resources but in the broadest sense try to get to advance and civilize the human culture in support to development initiatives.
In trying to get to understand what role has to play in development, it is important to recognize the role played by UNESCO in her attempt to bring to the attention what culture has to do with the development which has been increasingly researched on by other international organizations including UNHCHR and UNDP which has both based their explanation on human rights to freely exercise their cultures while at the same time explaining the influence cultural diversity and cultural freedom practice on development.
The culture influence on development is a very including factor which gets a diversity of support from other fields of science including sociology anthropology and even political science. The cultural practices of a people is a real determinant on whether a people will get to support any development agenda set out by a development agency. The concept of development in the broadest sense deals with human beings in totality. It tries to explain the general welfare of the citizens in a country and takes into account the cultural and psychological aspects of human beings. It typically involves rapid changes in the cultural institutions and Administrative structures in the society. Not any development program can get the full support of people if it doesn't get to respect a people's culture.
People's cultural practices including the practice of extended families, polygamy in most parts of the third world countries is a major setback to development, much money which could have been used in development planning are used in the provision of basic needs for the people rather than in development. Polygamy as a cultural practice leads to high number of births which in the long run stresses the development planner on how to plan for development programs as much capital is used in the provision of basic health care services.
Some of the development objectives and incentives have received serious criticism from most cultures. This has been due to their disagreement with the local institutions in place including the religious groups. For any development program to succeed, the development planner must get to include the full participation of the target audience so as to gain their support. Development however has been seriously undermined by unenabling factors such as religious setbacks in the Arab nations where there is an abomination of the free mixing of men and women to get to share development ideas hence delaying the development process.
If development has to take course, the development agency must remember to assess the audience for which the information is meant, this include getting to understand their culture and their level of understanding by carrying out Practice Rapid Appraisal and a Knowledge Attitude Practice analysis to get to understand their attitude to support or reject a development project or incentive. This can be done by encouraging grassroot participation of the target groups to enable them have a sense of acceptance to the development ideas as they are the participants in their formulation. The target groups are allowed to participate in problem identification and basic problem analysis in the society. This will in the broadest sense eliminate the feeling of cultural imperialism by these development ideas posed bya the people by the development ideas as they are involved in the formulation of the agendas for development.
Development depends on the amount of information provided on the development idea. For this reason, the developer should put in place enough information on what the expected results of the initiative and the baseline of behavior practice of the audience and the expected behavior change all which should be in harmony with the people's culture. The developer should put in place enough resources to help facilitate the project and how he expects to accomplish the project.
Once the communicator has fully put into consideration the people's culture it is true that the people will get to support these ideas. While at the same time there are some development agendas that conflict culture, the communicator should recognize this and look for better ways to get to convince the people to accept the development objectives.