Editing International development (section)

==Concepts==
International development is related to the concept of [[international aid]], but is distinct from, [[disaster relief]] and [[humanitarian aid]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=From Humanitarian to Development Aid |url=https://www.humanitariancoalition.ca/from-humanitarian-to-development-aid |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=Humanitarian Coalition |language=en}}</ref> While these two forms of international support seek to alleviate some of the problems associated with a lack of development, they are most often short term fixes – they are not necessarily long-term solutions.  International development, on the other hand, seeks to implement long-term solutions to problems by helping developing countries create the necessary capacity needed to provide such sustainable solutions to their problems. A truly [[sustainable development]] project is one which will be able to carry on indefinitely with no further international involvement or support, whether it be financial or otherwise.

International development projects may consist of a single, transformative project to address a specific problem or a series of projects targeted at several aspects of society. Promoted projects are ones which involve problem solving that reflects the unique culture, politics, geography, and economy of a region. More recently, the focus in this field has been projects that aim towards empowering women, building local economies, and caring for the environment.<ref>(2009). Retrieved from International Development Exchange: www.idex.org</ref>

In context of human development it usually encompasses [[foreign aid]], [[governance]], [[healthcare]], [[education]], [[poverty reduction]], [[gender equality]], [[disaster preparedness]], [[infrastructure]], [[economics]], [[human rights]], [[Environmentalism|environment]] and issues associated with these.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/research|title=Oxford Department of International Development|website=www.qeh.ox.ac.uk|access-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716080738/http://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/research|archive-date=16 July 2016}}</ref>

During recent decades, development thinking has shifted from modernization and [[structural adjustment programs]] to [[poverty reduction]]. Under the former system, poor countries were encouraged to undergo social and economical structural transformations as part of their development, creating [[industrialization]] and intentional industrial policy. Poverty reduction rejects this notion, consisting instead of direct budget support for social welfare programs that create macroeconomic stability leading to an increase in economic growth.

The concept of poverty can apply to different circumstances depending on context. Poverty is the condition of lacking economic access to fundamental human needs such as food, shelter and safe drinking water. While some define poverty primarily in economic terms, others consider social and political arrangements also to be intrinsic – often manifested in a lack of [[dignity]].

=== Theories ===
{{Expand section|date=November 2018}}
{{Main|Development theory}}

There are a number of theories about how desirable change in society is best achieved. Such theories draw on a variety of social scientific disciplines and approaches, and include historical theories such as:
* [[Modernization Theory]]
* [[Dependency Theory]]
* [[World Systems Theory]]
* [[Neoliberalism]]
* [[Good governance]]
* [[Capability approach]]
* [[Postdevelopment theory]]

=== International economic inequality ===
{{Main|Economic inequality|North–South divide in the World}}

{{see also|South-South cooperation}}
[[File:Countries by GDP (nominal) per capita in 2019.svg|thumb|249x249px|Countries by 2019 [[List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|GDP (nominal) per capita]]<ref>Data from the [[United Nations]] is used.</ref>]]
[[File:Global Wealth Distribution 2020 (Property).svg|thumb|250px|Global share of [[wealth]] by wealth group, Credit Suisse, 2021]]
[[File:Global-share-of-wealth-by-wealth-group-768x409.png|thumb|250px|Global share of [[wealth]] by wealth group, Credit Suisse, 2017]]
International development institutions and [[International organization|international organisations]] such as the UN promote the realisation of the fact that [[Economics|economic practices]] such as [[Globalisation|rapid globalisation]] and certain aspects of international [[capitalism]] can lead to, and, allegedly, have led to an economic divide between countries, sometimes called the north–south divide. Such organisations often make it a goal and to help reduce these divides by encouraging co-operation amongst the [[Global South]] and other practices and policies that can accomplish this.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/|title=United Nations Millennium Development Goals|website=www.un.org|access-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306020515/http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/|archive-date=6 March 2018}}</ref>

International development can also cause inequality between richer and poorer factions of one nation's society. For example, when economic growth boosts development and [[industrialisation]], it can create a [[class divide]] by creating demand for more educated people in order to maintain corporate and industrial profitability. Thus the popular demand for education, which in turn drives the cost of education higher through the principle of [[supply and demand]], as people would want to be part of the new economic elite. Higher costs for education lead to a situation where only the people with enough money to pay for education can receive sufficient education to qualify for the better-paying jobs that mass-development brings about. This restricts poorer people to lesser-paying jobs but technological development makes some of these jobs obsolete (for example, by introducing electronic machines to take over a job, such as creating a series of machines such as lawn mowers to make people such as gardeners obsolete). This leads to a situation where poorer people cannot improve their lives as easily as they could have in a less developed society.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} That is partially why institutions such as the [[Center for Global Development]] are searching for "pro-poor" economic policies.<ref name="cgdev.org" />

===Dignity===
{{Main|Dignity}}

Modern poverty reduction and development programmes often have dignity as a central theme. Dignity is also a central theme of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]], the very first article of which starts with:

:"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

The concept of dignity in development has been extensively explored by many, and related to all of the development sectors. For example, in ''Development with Dignity'' Amit Bhaduri argues that full employment with dignity for all is both important and possible in India,<ref>Bhaduri (2005)</ref> while the UN Millennium Project's task force on Water and Sanitation links the sector directly to dignity in the report ''Health, Dignity and Development: What will it take?''.<ref>Stockholm International Water Institute (2005)</ref> The [[Asian Human Rights Commission]] released a statement in 2006 claiming that:

{{Cquote|Human dignity is the true measure of human development.|||Asian Human Rights Commission & People's Vigilance Committee for Human Rights press release<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/661/|title=India: Human dignity is the true measure of development|date=27 July 2006|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217222719/http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/661/|archive-date=17 February 2009}}</ref>
}}
* [http://www.ipc-undp.org/photo Humanizing Development Global Photography Campaign] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205155247/http://www.ipc-undp.org/photo |date=2012-02-05 }}

===Participation===
{{Main|Participation (decision making)}}

{{See also|Orality}}

The concept of participation is concerned with ensuring that the intended beneficiaries of development projects and programmes are themselves involved in the planning and execution of those projects and programmes. This is considered important as it empowers the recipients of development projects to influence and manage their own development – thereby removing any culture of [[Dependency theory|dependency]]. It is widely considered to be one of the most important concepts in modern development theory.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ids.ac.uk/team/participation-power-and-social-change|publisher=Institute for Development Studies|title=Participation, Power and Social Change research team – Overview|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328094300/http://www.ids.ac.uk/team/participation-power-and-social-change|archive-date=2013-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTPCENG/0,,menuPK:410312~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:410306,00.html|publisher=World Bank|title=Participation & Civic Engagement|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070106102827/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTPCENG/0,,menuPK:410312~pagePK:149018~piPK:149093~theSitePK:410306,00.html|archive-date=2007-01-06}}</ref> The ''UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security'' describes participation as:

{{Cquote|one of the ends as well as one of the means of development|||UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rdfs.net/themes/participation_en.htm|title=Participation|publisher=UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107132642/http://www.rdfs.net/themes/participation_en.htm|archive-date=2007-01-07}}</ref>
}}

Local participants in development projects are often products of [[orality|oral communities]].  This has led to efforts to design project planning and organizational development methods, such as [[participatory rural appraisal]], which are accessible to non-literate people.

===Appropriateness===
{{See also|Appropriate technology}}

The concept of something being appropriate is concerned with ensuring that a development project or programme is of the correct scale and technical level, and is culturally and socially suitable for its beneficiaries. This should not be confused with ensuring something is low-technology, cheap or basic – a project is appropriate if it is acceptable to its recipients and owners, economically affordable and sustainable in the context in which it is executed.

For example, in a rural sub-Saharan community it may not be appropriate to provide a chlorinated and pumped water system because it cannot be maintained or controlled adequately – simple hand pumps may be better; while in a big city in the same country it would be inappropriate to provide water with hand pumps, and the chlorinated system would be the correct response.

The economist [[E. F. Schumacher]] championed the cause of [[appropriate technology]] and founded the organization ITDG (Intermediate Technology Design Group), which develops and provides appropriate technologies for development (ITDG has now been renamed [[Practical Action]]).

The concept of right-financing has been developed to reflect the need for public and private financial support systems that foster and enable development, rather than hinder it.

===Sustainable development===
[[File:Northern Uganda Africa3 031.jpg|thumb|Sustainable business practices lead to economic growth and empowerment for farming communities in northern Uganda.]]
{{excerpt|Sustainable development|paragraphs=1-2}}

===Capacity building===

{{Excerpt|Capacity building|paragraphs=1,2|file=no}}

===Rights-based approach===
{{Main|Rights-based approach to development}}

[[Rights-based approach to development]] has been adopted by many [[nongovernmental organizations]] and the [[United Nations]] as the new approach to international development. Rights-based approach combines many different concepts of international development, such as [[capacity building]], [[human rights]], participation, and [[sustainability]]. The goal of the rights-based approach to development is to empower the rights-holders, or the group that does not exercise full rights, and strengthen the capacity of the duty-bearers, or the institution or government obligated to fill these rights.