Ch. 3 Journal

'Understanding Famine and Hunger'

"Chronic hunger is rarely given international media coverage but it may kill more people globally than the acute crisis of famine does" (p.52).

My thoughts: chronic hunger is a very real problem that is still prevalent in the world today. We often hear news of famine through international media in its final stages, providing pictures of refugee camps and the needs from aid organizations. However this is only the end point of famine. It is important focus on the causes of famine to understand how to better cope, prepare for and avoid future famines as well as improve health conditions like crowding and the spread of diseases at refugee camps. Hunger is exacerbated by unstable governments and wars and this problem is usually restricted to developing countries. Chronic hunger seems irrelevant in the Western world, but other chronic diseases are emphasized like heart disease, diabetes, obesity etc. While hunger has less spotlight in the developed world, chronic diseases are still rampant worldwide. In connection to present day, the general public would not have known the plight of Haiti, or that the majority of the public live on less than $1/day unless something catastrophic happened and media covered it. There would not have been such a great response for aid in Haiti if there wasn't an earthquake.

"It has to be recognized that even when the prime mover in a famine is a natural occurrence such as a flash flood or a drought, what its impact will be on the population will depend on how society is organized" ( Dreze & Sen p.57).

My thoughts: Again, this quote reminded me of the earthquake in Haiti. The destruction was so bad not because it was a 7.0 earthquake, but it was catastrophic because Haiti did not have an established infrastructure to withstand the quake. Haiti lacked the money to respond quickly, safely and appropriately. If that earthquake were to happen in the United States, Europe or say Japan, the destruction and death toll would not have been so treat. The quake was so destructive as a result of poverty.

Trends from the text: women in South Asia are at a nutritional disadvantage because culturally, men have higher status over women, while women in Africa can be heads of their households, provide food for the family and work independently apart from their husbands. Landless wage laborers are most at risk to hunger due to changing food prices. Absolute numbers of people facing chronic hunger in sub-Saharan Africa has gone up in the past twenty years, whereas numbers in all other regions (East and South-East Asia, Latin America) have been decreasing.

Summary:

Famine in Wollo, Ethiopia from 1984-85 was caused by three factors, stagnant production, the rise in peasantry obligations for food, money and labor, and acute poverty. Production is an interaction between human and nature to transform natural products into goods for human use. Exchange involves the buying and selling of goods and enables specialization, concentration on a specific type of production. Sen's entitlement approach to analyzing famine includes endowment (owned assets to establish entitlements to food) and entitlement (relationships which allows people access to food). Direct means food through self production and consumption, exchange means selling labor to buy food, trade means the sale of produce to buy food.

The book states that there are 4 stages that lead to a famine crisis: 1) shortages immediately leading to a strict economy 2) temporary search of work or food and selling possessions and assets 3) social collapse, migration and dispersal 4) arrival at relief like refugee camps and food distribution centers.

• dearth
• privation
• dispersal
• camp-living

Ch. 2 Journal

'Meanings and Views of Development'

"Development implies an all-encompassing change, not just an improvement in one aspect. It also implies a process that builds on itself, meaning continuous change, and development is a matter of changes occurring at the social level and the individual level at the same time." (p.24)

My thoughts: Development is a simple word but has many implications. The text says that development (which strives for a distinct outcome) is different from progress, which is continuous improvement overall. However people call it, development to me means the efforts that contribute to bettering the economy, which is supposed to alleviate poverty and bridge the gap between rich and poor. The more money the government has, the better it can provide basic services for the people. It means improving technology, education, life expectancy, infrastructure and communication. Overall, the marks of development is seeking to improve life. The United States is a developed country. Our livelihoods has improved over the past few centuries. However, this took lots of time, we made a lot of mistakes, fought some wars, flourished from free slave labor etc. There is no quick fix. So whatever we call development, this process will always be take place because trade must go on. There is no perfect economy and there are always improvements to be made, research being done. Resources and power are shifting daily in the global economy which free some but restrict others, so development will be sticking around for a long time.

"The survival of our civilization, and perhaps our very lives, depends on committing ourselves to an alternative development practice guided by the three basic principles of authentic development: justice, sustainability and inclusiveness- each of which is routinely and systematically violated by current practice." - Korten, 1995 (pp. 32-33)

My thoughts: I agree with adopting an alternative development practice but currently many actions in the world do not reflect these principles. Smaller organizations and social movements have moved forward in advancing these themes, through networking and working outside of the government. It is hard to incorporate these basic principles because their efforts do not make money. Market interests, wealth and politics often overshadow these attempts for people-centered development. Saying that the survival of our civilization depends on alternative development is a bit forward and I sense the author's urgency, but our civilization has been surviving all this time without 'development' for centuries. It's like saying the world is going to end if we don't change our light bulbs to be green and drive hybrid cars. Justice, sustainability and inclusiveness is happening and improving, but perhaps the most difficult one to adopt is inclusiveness.

definitions:

• immanent development means a spontaneous and natural change, so an example of immanent development is capitalism
• intentional development means a deliberate effort, referring to policy reform, state action and development agencies
• empowerment: is when people are given the tools to take direct control of their lives. This is often the goal for NGOs that promote community involvement. This sounds great! However there is the danger that empowerment is linked with democratization, meaning someone has to redistribute power, resources, and teach, but this 'someone' who decides can have slanted views. We need to investigate the 'trusteeship' of organizations, whether they have legitimate interest and capacity.

Summary: This chapter talks about the various views of development from structuralism and neoliberalsim to pro-market and protectionism. There is always a constant struggle between capitalism versus anti-free market. Trusteeship and empowerment are important aspects of 'doing development.' The three main senses from which development is used are 1) as a vision or measure of being a desirable society 2) as a historical process of social change 3) as a deliberate effort aimed to improve governments, agencies, organizations and social movements.