Different players in the Development Gap

Explaining and evaluating the views of different stakeholders

Why would these players have contrasting views about the future priorities in bridging the development gap?

(10 marks)

Development has been defined as ‘a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process’ which leads to an improvement in the quality of life people based on ‘their active, free and meaningful participation’ (United Nations, 1986). The views in figure 5 clearly indicate that different people have varying perspectives about the root causes and key strategies to reduce the development gap which in themselves are an indication of how complex a process it is.

As a former Director General of the UN Kofi Annan, is bound to take a more global and holistic perspective. He clearly indicates that the development gap does not affect men and women equally - something that is borne out by a range of indicators and measures. Access to basic services such as education, health and the basic infrastructure to support human survival in many situations and cultures are not distributed equally between men and women. Annan’s suggestion is that tackling this inequality will go to the heart of the development gap as removing the barriers to a more equal distribution of access to these resources and services is would help to improve quality of life at a grass roots level and so tackle the development gap from the bottom up. In many situations at a lower level of development, women play a crucial role in the ongoing reproduction and survival of households, and are therefore ideally placed to have a direct and long-lasting impact on the quality of life people at a local level. A good example would be the impact of the Darfur Crisis in Sudan. This brings home the complex nature of development as a process - it is both multi-dimensional and multi-layered and improving people’s access to services and the means of basic survival at a grassroots level are a key area in which to take action.

A good answer will contain:- clear structure.- detailed explanation of the ‘point’ each stakeholder makes - AVOID simply repeating what they say, but EXPLAIN IT.

- good exemplification.- frequent use of technical vocabulary.- good spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Make clear you are explaining why the views of the different people are both different and similar.

Be careful not to just analysis how causes/symptoms of the development gap are complex.

Timing is a key issue.

15 minutes + 25% = 19 minutes40 minutes + 25% = 50 minutes