The recent lack of posts reflects the time of the year, I think, both for Kurt and me. Things are more busy than last time this semester for both of us and we are feeling the crunch of our Master's programs/courses. But we are committed to this blog and want to get back on track. Thanks to those who've posted comments. I want to apologize for not responding to more of your comments. Thanks to those who continue to read what we write.
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Values and Development (I know - boring title, but it's late)
Throughout the posts on this blog is an undercurrent of values, Kurt's values (or value framework), my value's, values of particular currents in development studies and in development practice. In this post, I want to reflect explicitly on the relationship between values frameworks and development.
By values framework, I mean a set of values within which we understand the world, or more specifically, human society, human relationships and human decisions. Within our own values framework we determine for ourselves what is right and wrong, what is better and what is worse, what is constructive and what is destructive. The question for all of us is, how does our value framework impact on the work we do? In my last job as a design engineer working in the automotive industry, for example, how did my value framework impact the way I designed buses? There may be different levels to that question. For example, I can say that my value framework did impact on the way I conducted myself with my colleagues. But it did not impact as much on how I ran meetings. And in terms of how I worked on solving design problems, it impacted very little. The value framework I operated on with regard to bus design was primarily my company's. My company valued above all, making a profit and, linked directly to that, safety (both in bus design and in operating procedures) and then customer satisfaction, innovation, etc.
But in development, where we are always talking about people's standard of living and their well-being, then our own value frameworks come into play. We must operate within a value framework with respect to what kind of life is good and what is bad, what practices are constructive and which are destructive, what kinds of aspirations are good and which are not. This necessarily introduces a tension between our desire to help people achieve a better quality of life and our desire not to impose our worldview on the people we are trying to help. But without someone, somewhere taking a stand on what they view as a better quality of life, development is meaningless. That's what I'm arguing and I realize I have not fleshed out that argument very well, so ask questions for clarification or challenge what I'm saying.
My question, for myself and for you (the faithful blog reader) is this: how could development workers effectively articulate and then refine the value framework in which they operate? And secondly, are there universal values (such as human rights, some would argue) and if so, should these form the basis for carrying out development interventions? I leave these questions open for debate.
Jordan (Manchester)
I agree. I think the value framework is sometimes as/more important than how fast the work gets done.
ReplyDeleteKurt can respond to this better than I can, (and I'm not sure your relationship with MCC, Jordan), but I think that one thing that MCC does that other NGO's don't do is make the local's values our values, or at least we try harder than some. And I think that's important.
You talk about universal values. I think the real thing to think about is how connected you are to the people you are helping. When you have a relationship with them then they can respond better to how the work is being carried out.
Of course there are some situations where they won't respond (one of the reasons being an inferiority complex), and in those we need to try harder to understand their situation.
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