Development for Whom?

three scenarios on globalization and rural life

(source:  Center for Women's Global Leadership, Local Action, Global Change, 1999) 

Cast of characters

John and Anna, who live on a small farm in a small village somewhere in the world.  John works in the fields part-time and drives for a trucking company part-time, sometimes staying away from home for a week at a time.  Anna spends her days raising the food they eat, preparing meals, cleaning house, and taking care of their children.

John and Anna's four children:  Betsy, age 14, and Ellen, age 12, who go to school half days, work with their mother in the fields, take surplus crops to market to sell, and help care for the younger children;  John Jr., age 8, who goes to school full-time; and Kitsi, age 2

Mr. Medicin, representative of the Village Health Council, which provides free medical check-ups and immunizations

Mr. Growmore, representative of the Bigger Better Crops Association, which provides tractors to rural workers

Mr. Pockets, representative of the Rural MicroBank, which offers revolving credit

Mr. Bootstraps, principal of the local school

Mr. Wagelabor, recruitment agent for jobs in Technocity, the urban center of the district (two days' travel from the village)

SCENARIO #1

Mr. Medicin, Mr. Growmore, and Mr. Pockets all approach John to try to persuade him to use their programs.  He's suspicious of outsiders and needs convincing.  He tells Anna about the offers, and while she has her own ideas, he makes the decision on his own. 

John decides to take the tractor.  Because he can plough more, he adds a new field for cotton--a field that Anna and her daughters will have to weed and harvest. 

SCENARIO #2

The family has now had the tractor for a year.  Mr. Harvester returns to evaluate their progress, and interviews both John and Anna.  He discovers that they have different perspectives.

John's view:

• Cash crops like cotton are the best way to improve income.
• The extra income from cotton his his, to be spent as he sees fit.  He wants a bicycle and a radio.
• The father is the family decision maker and it is natural for him to make decisions about income and expenditures on his own.

Anna's view:

• With cultivating the new cotton field added to her responsibilities, Anna and her older daughters have more work than ever.  They have to take Kitsi into the field with them for hours a day, rather than leaving her at home in the care of one of the daughters.
• There isn't time or land any more to produce extra vegetables to sell at the market, so Anna has no cash to buy things she has always bought for the family, like soap, oil, and clothing.
• She is so tired at the end of the day that she can barely prepare a meal, and the children are so tired they don't eat much before they fall asleep.  She and the children have become malnourished.

SCENARIO #3

One by one, Mr. Medicin, Mr. Growmor, and Mr. Pockets come to the family and tell them that their country has borrowed a lot of money from the International Financial Organization to help make life better for everybody.  Unfortunately, the country has to pay a lot of interest, so they can't support the programs that the three agents represent.  Mr. Growmor has to take the tractor back.

Then Mr. Bootstraps arrives to say that school will no longer be free.  The fees for Betsy, Ellen, and John Jr. will amount to about 15% of the family's annual income from the cotton field.

Now Mr. Wagelabor arrives.  He's looking for young women to go to work in the city.  He promises them handsome pay--enough to live on and send money home. 

John and Anna and their older children have some decisions to make....