Robert A. White
in seminar on development communication
University of Tampere, Finland, 28 June 2004
Why building grass-roots organizations are
necessary for development….but not enough!
Introduction
Most recent textbooks on communication for development suggest that
“empowerment” of the people, that is, the capacity of people at the level of
local communities to initiate and control the development process, is the
single most important factor in development.
Is this true? Is it possible?
1. The major obstacle in development communication
1.1 Generally, development institutions do not exist in developing countries. The
State has been the instrument for initiating the development process.
Thus the process has been a matter of building a “national system” from the
top down, from the state bureaucracy located in the major city out into
hinterlands.
1.2 The starting point is the colonial government
The problem is that the logic of the colonial government has one of
maintaining control of the people in the hinterland and extracting as much
surplus as possible to maintain the colonial government and to generate
some profit for the home country…at least in the same of national goods.
1.3 A further problem is the logic of the modernization model of development
 The modernization model focused on increasing productivity—largely
agricultural productivity in the early stages of industrialization—by
introducing new technology from the developed countries to semisubsistence farmers through the national elites running new state
apparatus.
 In fact there had always been local initiatives in education, agricultural
improvement, formation of cooperatives in local communities and tribal
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groups in the colonial period. The colonial government had tended to
discourage this. The new development elites controlling the newly
formed governments continued this policy of ignoring or discouraging
independent local initiatives.
 The logic of modernization was that rural people were “traditional” and
that traditional technology had little to contribute to improving
productivity. Increased productivity was to come through the
introduction of “packages” of new technology wholly introduced from the
outside as part of campaigns to meet national productivity goals set in
national planning offices of the new governments. Production goals were
set without consultation of farmers and farmers were expected to simply
to “comply” with the guidelines of inexperienced and badly trained
extension agents.
 Finally, the native colonial elites prepared to take over the colonial
governments identified with the culture of the expatriate colonial
governing personnel. Just as expatriates looked outside to the mother
country, so also the colonial elites defined their role as occupying
positions of power, economic privilege, cultural supremacy and
identification with an expatriate culture.
 The elites running the new governments knew little of the people of the
interior and were more interested in their personal benefits than actually
helping the people of the interior to develop.
 The argument of Nyamjoh that the state in African countries is a
parasitical institution is true, but one must add that the reason is that the
governing social class is dominated by a parasitical culture inherited from
the colonial period.
 National budgets are directed mostly to services in the national capital,
not to services in the rural areas.
1.4 The dilemma of development
On the one hand, the state in Africa (and elsewhere) has not and will not, as
it is presently constituted, provide the services for national development.
On the other hand, empowerment—development of grassroots organizations
of the people—cannot develop without the support structure of the state.
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2. The “empowerment” strategy of development
2.1 What is it essentially?
 An organization of people at the local community level which
enables them to:
 Elect their own leadership
 Analyse their own problems and decide on the priority actions
 Design the activity they are going to carry out
 Outside technical advice responds and supports local decisions
 Be the administrative channel of the resources from the outside
(credit, technical inputs, marketing procedures, etc.)
Many programs of national and international development assistance
now operate with this approach of first helping people to decide what
they want to do and then form their own local organizations.
2.2 These local organizations are then “networked” at the district or regional
level and development assistance agencies deal with the local groups largely
through the district organization.
The longer-term goal is this district or regional organization become a
people-based NGO which is permanently in charge of their development
assistance. Such an NGO would hire their own technical personnel and deal
directly with government or international agencies.
2.3 This process of empowerment presupposes:
 A new type facilitative technical assistance agent
 A strong development training programme for the leadership in this
process
 A strong development communication education process through radio
or a multimedia process (radio + print media + interpersonal contact +
group media, etc.)
2.4 It is presupposed that the people-based NGO which emerges will also be a
political pressure group representing needs to the government.
2.5 The NGO may also develop into a regional/national marketing and technical
assistance organization with their own hired managers.
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3. People’s media such as community radio are an important part of
this empowerment strategy
3.1 In the local language or dialect
3.2 Run by local volunteers to reduce costs
3.3 With programmes locally produced to take advantage of local knowledge
3.4 Encouraging a dialogical interchange of information
3.5 Taking up power relations issues in local communities
3.6 Preserving and encouraging local pride and local culture
3.7 Promoting a culture hope and confidence in the local people
3.8 Representing the local communities or districts in disputes with government
or representing local interests in national level projects
4. Where does the motivation to form local organizations come from?
This mobilization requires:
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Motivation
Enormous courage, sacrifice of time and risk
Redefinition of identity to a people who can solve their own problems
Redefinition of the relation with the government and with other institutions
4.1 Motivation comes partly from the long-standing desire of local people to
run their own affairs.
4.2 From the frustration with the non-response from government agencies
4.3 From the frustration with oppression (taxes, economic exploitation, the
political exploitation from parties that seek support and cause conflict but
never deliver anything, etc.)
4.4 The desire to have the independence of their own leadership and cut loose
from the humiliating dependency on a clientelistic structure.
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4.5 Some motivation come from alliances with groups and institutions that can
help, provide organizational support, etc.
 The churches can be important…these are a religious people.
 Gender (women) and age (youth) movements
 Political economic movements
5. But grassroots organizations can’t work without government
support
5.1 The agreement to not repress independent organization with police action
5.2 Provide economic resources: credit, etc.
5.3 Provide marketing opportunities
5.4 Provide favourable legislation
5.5 Permissions for community radio, etc.
6. The real problem is dealing with the “parasitical culture”
of a parasitical social class
6.1 Urban-technical services are interested only as long as people’s
organizations are an instrument for their own path to power.
6.2 The inconstancies of the alliances
 Urban-technical elites move on to other jobs and other interests
that are lucrative…
6.3 The leaders of peoples organizations lose interest in their people
Once they become part of the managerial class.
6.4 Once people’s organization gain power, they forget about other
organizations struggling to get started.
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7. What is the answer?
7.1 A culture of service in government and in parastatal organizations
7.2 The development of the civil society to promote and enforce
responsibility on the part of government
7.3 A process of “cultural negotiation” in decision making which brings all
social groups, including rural organizations, into government decisionmaking and government councils
7.4 Seeking symbols of universal human rights and universal service
as the basis for national development culture
 This would replace the self-seeking culture of empowerment
 Would replace the culture of clientelistic dependency which
now exists