Ensuring project plans include indigenous practices

Creating infrastructure for local conditions

Context

In practice, development activity is not limited within a single sphere of expertise (health or agriculture or education) or a single sector perspective (government, NGO or local). Single purpose projects find themselves working far afield of their expertise in order to be effective and single sponsored projects seek assistance and co-operation from others. The situation in villages is that any one aspect of life is inter-related to the other aspects of the community's life. The adequate addressing of a problem in one arena of the community's life necessitates the need to work in other aspects of the life of the community.

Implementation

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends that development should be promoted in accordance with indigenous practices and adopt technologies appropriate to local conditions.

Claim

I started to go where the squatter people were living. After I talked to the people it was quite obvious that even though they had health problems, they didn't think it important, because they are living in a situation where other things determine what is important. They said they should have jobs and food and education for their children. So the first thing was a pre-school because that is what they wanted. Soon we were dealing with immunization and malnutrition and hygiene. (Interview, Dr. K. Yusuf, Malaysia).