Development Dynamics

More and more people in Africa, and elsewhere, are realizing that the African continent will only develop with home-grown solutions and not by blindly copying imported western development models.

This home grown model will probably be small scale, start locally and be based on the values of African society that thrives on communal values, responsibility and social cohesion.

There are already such "small islands of success" in the continent but few people know about them. If you want to read about some of them, we strongly recommend Dominique Hounkonnou’s book: “LISTEN TO THE CRADLE: Building from local dynamics for African Renaissance” (available from dhounk@intnet.bj)

In his book, Dr Hounkonnou states that local dynamics hold a substantial potential for development. These local development initiatives can be entirely locally born or introduced by some external agent but they must owned by local people without too much formalisation. These initiatives need to be supported by authentic partnerships.