A bottom-up approach

Conventionally, development has been approached top-down, starting in urban areas and then expanding to the hinterlands. There has also been those advocates of a bottom-up approach.

I got a chance to discuss about economic development with my professor a week ago. In one of his statements he mentioned that “perhaps development should be approached bottom-up.” I wanted to fully understand what he meant and its practicality.

Today I got three similes upon which to ponder:

In (cell) biology, cell division, the process in which a parent cell divides and gives rise to two daughter cells which can themselves grow and divide leading to a large population of cells, is an important process in the growth and reproduction of a cell and hence of a (uni- or multi-cellular) organism. Cell division explains where all organisms including human beings derive their life from. DNA replication and cell growth are two major processes that take place during cell division. During DNA replication, which occurs right before the parent cell divides, allows (exact) information transfer from the parent cell to the daughter cell…  This process must, however, be well coordinated for a correct cell division and copying of hereditary information.

Any lessons?

A gigantic dam for water works was erected in the south of Germany. The best engineers had planned and supervised the building of this dam; the structure was flawless, but it was erected on crumbling stone, and with this stone the dam gave way.

And a rather more distant simile which also sends a message:

Suribachi Mountain is a cone-shaped dormant volcanic mountain found in an uninhabited island of Iwo Jima in Japan. During the second world war, between February and March 1945, an army of about 22,000 Japanese soldiers gave themselves up to fight and defend the island against 25,000 American soldiers possessing an enormous and superior arms. The Japanese hid in bunkers mainly beneath Suribachi with their artillery ready to fight off attacking US soldiers.

For about 46 days men fought at and for this island – the US for they wanted to set an army base to attack mainland Japan, and the Japanese for they wanted to protect their land, which ‘no foreign army in Japan’s 5000 year history had successfully trod on Japanese soil.’

Japanese never attacked but employed a defensive approach.

Hidden in 18km long underground tunnels the Japanese never attacked. They employed a defensive approach such as ‘One Japanese soldier should kill 10 American soldiers’ and ‘do not expect my return.’

This was their mistake, because for example they never gave themselves a chance to drive the enemy away from their soil. Of course we can find other reasons to explain their defeat but it’s sufficient to underline that the approach was a failure in itself.

Like cell division, should economic development of a nation be approached from the grassroots and like DNA replication for each experience and lesson learnt from the smallest entity used to benefit other entities?

Learning from the mistakes made at Iwo Jima in 1945 and mistakes made by the engineers who built the gigantic dam, as a nation, we must give ourselves a chance to attack our problems. We must create an able and skilled working class and provide better working environments for them. We must also aim at erecting our nation on a non-crumbling stone by developing people leaving in rural areas in a bottom-up approach and pioneering long lasting solutions to our challenges.

Where we are today (only a few things)

We are a nation whose citizens’ income is largely dependent on agriculture that is practiced only once in a year, limiting the variety of cultivated crops and productivity, health service provision in off-grid areas is limited to during the day only, and occasionally, in extreme cases, the use of oil lamps is used.

This has crippled the employment of modern treatment that make use of electricity to better the health provision. Schools, both primary and secondary, have no access to modern assistive teaching tools such as beamers and computers while universities, for obvious reasons, cannot be established in rural or semi-rural areas. To get such services as printing educators and students alike, have to travel for long distances to towns where those services can be found. Provision of electricity will encourage the use of these modern teaching and health tools and building a pond to store water when it rains, and pump the water out for watering crops, for drinking and other uses when there is no rain will be one solution to food security and clean water provision.

What we want

A citizen of Tanzania wants to see tangible implications on their land, their children’s education, and their health and food security. This is however hardened by, for example, a dependent and defeatist development mindset, a lack of a sense of ownership of development plans developed by the state for they are somewhat inactionable, and have not clear direction for which to follow and act on. The creation of a developed Tanzanian nation must resonate with addressing the needs of its citizens whose economic activities contribute the largest in her GDP. Empowering those living in rural areas in a bottom-up approach is central to the creation of a developed Tanzanian nation.

Where we wish to get.

Where we are going… Do we know?

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Bihemo is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Konstanz (Germany) where he researches on the dynamics of firms and labor markets. The views contained in his articles are his own and do not represent the opinions of his past, present, or future affiliations. Ideas expressed therein are for general information purposes alone and do not constitute any professional advice or services.

This post has 2 Comments

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  1. This is solid. Bottom up means working with the common man. But we (me and you) are guilty of attempting to build something here (online) when the common Tanzanian is in those very fields you talk about.

    Since we’re here now, how do we get them involved? Or, how do we get involved with them?

  2. In China, the government has invested in a production that targets the poorest Chinese refusing to import expensive Western products. Today it is famous for its “cheap products”. Producing products that can be afforded by the common citizen makes a lot of sense to me, as, for example, what does it benefit a nation if it produces what cannot be afforded by its poorest citizen?

    This is one way a Tanzanian common man can get involved i.e by targeting his fundamental needs. This therefore involves a deep understanding by the government of the most pressing issues such a citizen faces, and coming up with “affordable” solutions such as electricity for a minimum US $10 a month, and farmers by encouraging formation of unions to help them meet their buyers to determine what quality of agricultural products is most needed in the current market, talks with agricultural specialists, discuss price issues and so on; a student be provided with solid education that would enable him/her meet the challenges of the current and future world by first investing in instructors and down to establishment of modern libraries. Those are some of the ways we could get them involved.

    About how we could get involved with them? First of all we should not forget that we have a government. So the government must address those challenges. You and I must push the government to provide bolder and long lasting solutions to the ordinary citizen. If necessary hold them accountable for their actions while in power. And perhaps more importantly is to provide motivations to those who are growing up that we are prepared to solve our problems ourselves.

    Jack D, thanks for your interesting questions.

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