Using named examples, assess the advantages and disadvantages of top-down and bottom-up development strategies. (15)

Development strategies can be used to help bridge the development gap between the rich and poor. These strategies can be successful if they help improve the standard of living. Different strategies take different approaches, such as top-down e.g. high investment projects or bottom-up e.g. led by NGOs and communities. Every type of strategy has its advantages and disadvantages in helping reduce the development gap. Some strategies can have a top-down approach. This means that management and funding is imposed from the top such as by the national government. One example of a top-down strategy aiming the help bridge the development gap is debt relief. This can be done by countries or IGOs cutting or cancelling nation’s debt. Today, many countries have acquired unpayable debt due to the high interest rates on unstainable loans they took out in the 1970s and 80s. Currently 52 countries around the world are in a debt crisis, with the total debt of these counties equalling $375 billion. In sub-Saharan African, together the countries in debt crisis pay $27 million in debt repayments every day and this figure will increase and interest continues to push up the amount that has to be repaid. Currently, by repaying their debts, these undeveloped countries are unable to invest in public services such as healthcare and education. However by cutting the debt, these nations would hopefully be able to grow and develop. One method or debt relief, as managed by the IMF and World Bank is HIPC status and SAP plans. For example, in Uganda, through the HIPC debt relief initiative have had $1.5 billion of debt cancelled. As a result, government spending on public services has increase by 20% and free primary schooling has been introduced, both things that will help the country develop. Although this can clearly be helpful, may argue that in order to meet the conditions of HIPC status and help, these developing countries are accumulating even more debt which is making conditions and poverty worse. This also pushes up the cancellation cost to the developed world and IGOs as they are by this point owed more. Furthermore, another way that developing countries can help achieve debt relief is by following SAP plans. These structural adjustment plans are enforced by the IMF and have to be completed for a certain period of time before relief can be accessed. In Uganda, the SAP involved trade liberalisation, privatisation and cuts in government expenditure. Although in the long-run this meant that Uganda did have their debt cut, in the short-run it made poverty worse by small farmers being exploited, unemployment and unaffordable costs for schooling and healthcare. Overall, this shows how although debt relief can clearly have a positive effect on reducing the development gap, the actions and criteria that the IMF and World Bank force countries to impose only helps make the problems worse. Another example of top-down approaches included large-scale investment projects. For example, the Akosombo dam in Ghana built in the 1960s received investment from the World Bank and aid from the UK and USA. The dam provided electricity through a HEP plant for smelting bauxite into aluminium. By producing aluminium, Ghana have been able to increase and improve their international trade which has helped bring more money through the country, helping them to develop. However, the smelting plant is owned by an American company, Alcan meaning there is a leakage from Ghana’s economy and they don’t benefit as much as they would if the company was Ghanaian owned. Furthermore, the HEP plant aimed to be able to provide electricity for Ghana’s use and excess for export. This would have helped improve the standard of living as people would have been able to power electric good. However, much often electricity is unaffordable and much more for export. This has not helped benefit the Ghanaians or increase development. Finally, although the lake produced by the dam has helped increase tourism and therefore economic expenditure in the area, the dam has also disadvantaged many of the locals. For example, the damming has reduced the fish population, reducing food availability, reduced silt reaching downstream which has reduced the crop yield and has increased water-Bourne dises from the sitting water. Overall, the Akosombo dam has done little to benefit the many people in Ghana and instead has arguably help make them worse of. In comparison, bottom-up projects can also be helpful in bridging the development gap. Bottom-up projects are usually managed and funded by NGOs and help local communities, often using local skills and resources. An example of a bottom-up project is Barlonyo in Uganda. The Village of Barlonyo experiences a massacre where 300 where killed in 2004 but now a bottom-up initiative is helping the refugees return to the village. The project included that farmers linking up to form a democratically run cooperative that is supported by NGOs such as Action Aid. The cooperative helps the farmers take their crops to market by hiring a truck. This cuts out the middlemen, allowing the locals to increase their profits and their increase their standard of living. The cooperative has also helped by establishing as seed-bank ad food reserves which will help protect the villagers against hunger and also make them less reliant on aid form NGOs in ties of drought. The project has helped benefit the locals as they now more secure and also have money to send their children to school which will help benefit development and growth in the long-run. However, the problem with the project is that it only benefits one village meaning that it doesn’t help bring development on a large scale. Also many bottom-up approaches are not replicable and are only devised for that one community. Additionally, another example of a bottom-up strategy used to help bridge the development gap is the Kuapa Kokoo project in Ghana. The project is a cooperative of Ghanaian cocoa farmers that supply Fairtrade chocolate. By bring fair trade the farmers help ensure themselves a fair price for their beans meaning their standard of living will be higher, heling them to develop. The project has been led by the cooperative and Ghanaians with support from a range of NGOs. By the project being run themselves, they get to keep the profit and they also help educate themselves on how to run it meaning it is more sustainable and less reliant on international help. By being able to decide how they want to spend their profits, the farmers have been able to invest in education and clean water supplies, making them healthier and helping them to develop. Unlike the dam and many other bottom-up project, the Kuapa Kokoo project has been able to better a lot of people however it has taken over 20 years to do so. Also, as before, this bottom-up approach is place specific and is therefore unable to be replicated across developing nations. Clearly this is a limitation of the project. In conclusion, it is clear that the success of both top-down and bottom-up strategies can very. Although top-down projects can have the greatest impact in helping to increase development, this also mean that they can also have the biggest negative impact. However, although bottom-up can be very successful they are limited in capacity and may only help places develop so far. Overall, it could be argue that a combination of both top-down and bottom-up strategies are needed in order to bring the greatest benefit.