• In the Morogoro region, a rich agricultural region not far from Dar es Salaam. Good soil and good roads mean ready access to markets for their produce — especially cash crops like sisal, cotton and sugarcane.
• In Nzega, where Nzega town was bustling thanks to employment provided by the nearby Golden Pride gold mine — which we visited, and about which I’ll have more later.
• In a town where a prominent politician had engaged in some good old-fashioned pork barrelling.

I also understand this transition has just happened incredibly quickly in a little Kenyan village which just happens to be the ancestral home of some bloke called Barack Hussein Obama.

@Archie Law: The “civil society” thing is key, yes — and it’s good to see a real explanation of what it means, rather than Senator Stephen Conroy using it in his catchphrase “I believe in a civil society” as a dog-whistle to reinforce his politically-convenient meme about the Internet being full of filth.

That is, though, a far longer-term and far less photogenic story to sell — and that’s going to be a challenge for ActionAid.

It’s very easy to zoom into a village, take a few photos of the generous white folk with the smiling black kiddies, poor but happy, then return later to show the success story of young Hassan who, thanks to our generosity, has gone on to become a doctor. That’s the standard narrative which assuages white middle-class guilt and doesn’t demand too much thought on behalf of the donor.

It’s a lot harder to sell the idea of funding a lawyer to investigate a politician’s property transactions, or an accountant to figure out exactly what that local road improvement grant was actually spent on. And it’s perhaps harder still to focus on those in the media.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that’s the question.

As Yewenyi would know China’s success in enabling people to escape poverty is largely due to large rates of equitable economic growth, which has enabled larger numbers of Chinese to share in the countries prosperity rather than a select few which tragically happens in most developing and under developed countries.

There are still massive social problems in China but in 25 words or less my take on the two major reasons for China’s success is the increased ability of the State to provide essential services to its people, for example health and education, whilst also providing the required level of regulatory oversight to enable a robust private sector to be the engine of economic growth.

As many have noted the key ingredient missing in China is a robust and active civil society, eg academia, NGOs, media, faith based organizations, which is able to lobby the government to be accountable to its people and provide the appropriate environment for people to claim their human rights.

For me, human rights has to include civil and political rights in addition to economic, social and cultural rights. This combination is essential for the development of a fair, just, equitable and prosperous society and this is the approach that we at ActionAid take in all of our work.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this debate goes and to Stil’s thoughts after he’s had time to digest everything that he’s seen in the last week or so.

Cheers,

Archie

Another thing is not to think of it as income earning, but change creating. If people can interact with the outside world, some will see beyond where they are and start making a change. It is these people you need to find and nurture.

Have a look at other places that are further along the transition. When we went to this village in China in 1992, there was no running water. The houses we went into had maybe two pieces of furniture in the lounge. The buildings were 99% mud brick. But now, they are less than 50% mud brick, they have better roads, electricity, TV, and little trucks and cars. That is in 17 years.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/378081886/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/381547477/