Message-ID: <960322124955_253102372@mail06> Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 12:49:57 -0500 From: Guy-Maurille Massamba <mailto:GuyRille@AOL.COM> Subject: Re: Technology for Developing Nations To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
In a message dated 96-03-18 21:37:40 EST, Dr. F. Houle wrote:>Congratulations on your approach. Unfortunately, in sub-saharan Africa, I
>have rarely been witness to such a participative approach in the health and
>information technology fields (lots of talk but the actions don't match).
>I must admit however that the FAO and other organizations generally seem
>to be more user-oriented, thereby achieving a higher rate of success.
>
>Francine
I am tempted to attribute these deficiences to the overall political economy of some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. There seems to be a lack of bold policies to underlie technological orientations. The concept of technological orientations here implies not only the type of technology to be used. It also evokes the fact that the type of technology chosen should induce the bulk of the population to the whole process of choice and production.
There have been high priorities for industrialization in Sub-Saharan African countries, mainly after independence had been gained. Unfortunately, these ambitious development strategies tended to discriminate against important sectors of the economy instead of creating linkages among them, which linkages would have created connections between various actors of the economy. The link between the agricultural sector and the manufacturing industry can serve to illustrate this point. Until the appearance of alternative models of development which are more participative, Sub-Saharan African economies were (and perhaps are still ?) characterized by an exclusivist approach of development which gave almost no incentives to important components of development processes. This made it difficult to assess the potential for the dynamics that creates the link between economic development and the development of human resources.
This limitation indicates the dichotomies between decisionmaking processes and the settings (social and cultural, etc) in which economic decisions are meant to be implemented. In this context, the decisions concerning science and technology only reflect the necessity of allocating resources for academic purposes. They do not stimulate a linkage between various social institutions of the system.
The participative approach validates technology policies through their interaction with all levels of the social construct. It is a more systemic approch through which technological paradigms are integrated in the learning process and the shaping of skills as well as the modes of production and their everyday usefulness.
Guy-Maurille