The ‘year of expectation’, as 2024 has been dubbed by His Excellency Dr Hage Geingob, is upon us. Consequently, expectations are high, from the grassroots level to the highest authorities, from the rural areas to the urban areas. People wait to see change and tangible development.
There are varying perceptions and approaches today on what development as a concept is. In real life situations, development entails an increase in material well-being of a nation. A nation registering an increase in input of goods and services as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), was previously seen as being on the path of development.
Welfare economics were, however, quick to add that such a country is only experiencing economic growth of the benefits from growth accrued to a few people. From these two perspectives, economic growth, coupled with distribution of benefits, constitute development.
To many politicians and laymen in Africa, construction of roads, airports, railway lines, schools, hospitals, supermarkets, sky rise buildings etc., equals development. Hence it is common to hear the number of cattle dips, kilometres of roads tarmacked and growth in the number of university students being cited as indications of development delivered by a government to a particular locality at a given period.
To the traditional anthropologist, development is perceived as a transition from the so-called small scale societies with emphasis on particularistic principles, to more complex societies where emphasis is on universalistic principles.
To Marxist sociologists, development is when man stops exploiting fellow man in the process of production and distribution of economic gains. Society must overcome discrimination and other socio-economic injustices for it to claim having experienced development.
For the Christian, development is seeking first the Kingdom of Heaven, as opposed to Nkrumah, who asserted that seek ye first the economic kingdom. There can be no doubt that spiritual dimension is an important element in the development process.
So is there a precise definition of development that cuts across the board? From the 1980s to the 1990s, a search for such a definition has been going on. Economic, social, cultural, political and environmental variables have been included in the definition of development.
Development is now viewed in terms of increased participation by all in the process of democratic governance as well as production of goods and services. In the wake of multiparty democracy in Africa, development is also being gauged against the yardstick of human rights. Freedom of speech, assembly and the press are now concepts closely linked to development.
Definition aside, development entails structural changes in economic, social, political and cultural aspects of a people. When the whole person is transformed economically, socially, politically and spiritually, integral development is said to have occurred.
In conclusion, the popular singer/writer John Mayer once sang: “Waiting on the world to change”. My take is that sitting around waiting on the world to change will not get us anywhere, but we must be the change we want to see in the world, therefore, let us be the change agents.
* Reverend Jan A. Scholtz is the former Chairperson of ||Kharas Regional and former !Nami#nus Constituency Regional Councillor and is a holder of Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA