Reconsidering Development Assumptions

Last year was one for challenging long-held assumptions — a healthy practice, especially given the shifting sands of the world around us. For my part, I have been reflecting on a three-month sabbatical I was able to take in rural western Kenya. One thing I noticed was that development efforts in that particular village, located outside Matunda, were focused on a conception of prosperity that seeks to advance social cohesion and spiritual progress alongside material development. While such approaches are not unusual around the world, the lessons they produce rarely receive the same degree of attention in the wider discourse.

The community that my family and I lived with, in an agricultural heartland, has been pursuing for years both material and spiritual development — both the tangible (like livelihoods) and the intangible (like relationships) — built on the community's own capacity to determine and walk its own path to prosperity. They have done so through a learning approach of acting, reflecting, and refining through consultation.

Consider one example. The farmland around Matunda today suffers from soil erosion and water scarcity. Eucalyptus trees planted decades ago — as part of a well-intentioned reforestation effort—consume disproportionate amounts of water and have spread across the region, drying streams and reducing crop yields.

Rather than simply removing the trees immediately, which would undermine certain economies that have developed over time and on which many families depend, the community has been seeking alternatives that allow for locally driven, sustainable reforestation. One community elder and leader emphasized to me the importance of broad-based consultation to address a collective challenge: “We have an urgent problem — so we need to take two years to consult all the neighbors alongside the stream to determine what to do.” In other words: an urgent crisis requires a community-driven process to devise long-term solutions.

This example, and others like it, suggest that we have a lot to learn about our starting development assumptions.

• On urgency and timelines. Development practitioners often emphasize short-term results to demonstrate impact and address urgent concerns. Yet careful systemic approaches may unfold slowly through consultation and trust-building. Where urgency drives rapid implementation, there is a risk of dependency, unintended consequences, or fractured relationships. The question emerges: might our emphasis on demonstrable short-term outcomes sometimes compromise long-term sustainability?

• On expertise and capacity. International development often positions external actors as bringing necessary expertise, technology, and experience. In Matunda, the onus of the development process begins with local actors. They draw on deep contextual knowledge, innovative capacity, and established relationships to devise solutions suitable to their particular context. This raises questions about how we define expertise, who leads a development process, and whether reliance on external methodologies sometimes overlooks indigenous capacity for problem-solving.

• On motivation and resources. Development programs typically assume that material incentives drive action and that change requires financial resources. Yet enduring motivation arises from strong relationships—parents sacrificing for children, neighbors supporting each other—and connection to a larger purpose. People can give time and energy not only for payment, but for those they care about helping. This suggests that while resources matter, we may underestimate the motivating power of meaning, service, and social bonds.

• On competition and collaboration. In development discourse, competition is considered a driver of progress—the best ideas rising to the top in a competitive arena. However, shared endeavor generates knowledge and strengthens cohesion in ways that seem to enable more adaptive, context-appropriate solutions. Competition, by setting actors in opposition, can risk undermining the social fabric necessary for sustainable change.

• On scale and intimacy. "Scaling up" is frequently presented as the path to maximum impact, with small isolated projects viewed as insufficient. Yet meaningful change benefits from personal transformation within a wider context. This may begin with one person, one community, one endeavor at a time. This work, slow at first, gains organic momentum, involving individuals, communities, and the institutions of society. Perhaps the question isn't exclusively "how do we scale?" but also "how do we deepen?"

• On setbacks and learning. Development programs are often evaluated by their lack of difficulties, with setbacks interpreted as shortcomings. But, in fact, setbacks are a natural feature of a learning process. In an environment where difficulties could be consulted upon in community, challenges can become opportunities for new understanding and adaptive capacity. Perhaps there are times when our metrics for success—which often define achievement as the absence of problems—might actually limit a population’s ability to learn and strengthen resilience.

• On youth engagement. Young people are often included in development efforts to mitigate potential problems such as unemployment or unrest. But youth, when engaging alongside all other members of society, can be vital sources of transformation, bringing fresh perspectives less constrained by existing systems. Their keen sense of justice opens possibilities that might not have occurred to older generations. This reframes youth participation from problem prevention to possibility generation.

• On spirituality and development. International development often treats religion as a purely personal matter, separate from community advancement. Yet for many around the world, spiritual principles are a driving force for collective action — a source of motivation, hope, and cohesion that inspires engagement where other social forces might not. This raises questions about whether secularized development frameworks sometimes miss crucial motivators for change.

SOURCE: https://www.bic.org/perspectives/reconsidering-development-assumptions-…