There are many different approaches a country may take towards developing. These may include top-down development, i.e. directed from the government down to the people. The opposite approach is the  bottom-up development, which is started at the very local level such as a household. investing in a sewing machine with which goods can be produced. Eventually such enterprises aide their community.  All development strives  towards more self-sufficiency or also international trade.

11.7.1 Top-Down Development

Top-down development may include projects initiated and funded at both large and small scales and involve individual or multiple organisations (global players such as Trans National Corporations (TNCs), IGOs (International Governmental Organisations) and governments.

• They are aimed more at an economic level and include large projects which hope to improve incomes for people through developing industry;
• They iusually need a high level of technical support with funding from foreign loans and IGOs such as the IMF and World Bank;
• Examples include:
  • Major roads, bridges, and railways;
  • New airports and ports;
  • Hydroelectric power dams.
• They can be an economic or holistic approach but both have advantages and disadvantages and aim to have a multiplier effect.

Such large-scale projects affect local people, of course, and the people most affected by such a project do not always agree with such project decisions. For example, one such famous example is the Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada River in central India  (Ramachandra 2006, Roy 1999).

After India achieved independence from Britain, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru hailed the dam project as a route out of poverty for the country. The dam was to regulate flooding on the river, supply a reliable year-round source of water for farmers in the dry state of Gujarat, and provide massive amounts of cheap electricity for industry. The dam would also be a source of national pride for the country — Nehru referred to big dams as “the temples of modern India.” Yet the dam attracted a huge amount of controversy, particularly from poor people living in the areas that would be flooded by it. Through a combination of civil disobedience and new engineering analyses, opponents convinced international funders such as the World Bank to withdraw their support from the project. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court of India sided with the government, which went ahead and built the dam, completing it in 2006.

11.7.2 Bottom-up Development

Bottom-up development may include projects such as infrastructural development, social aid programs, or educational initiatives that emerge from a group of people at the local level and are carried out from there.

From the many examples, we only will look at two here. The first deals with cow dung in a village in Tumkur, a city in southern India. The local people decided that all the cow dung from cattle in the village could be pooled together into a communal biogas plant.  The dung ferments in brick/clay/concrete pits to produce methane which is then piped into homes. Kitchens have become smoke-free and ash-free reducing eye and lung problems as fast as within six months after installation.  Women and children don’t have to gather firewood anymore, giving them more times for other things such as women earning incomes for their families.

Across India, 4 million cow dung biogas plants have been built which has created 200,000 permanent jobs, mainly in rural areas.  Cows are now kept in family compounds which prevent them from grazing in forests and destroying saplings (which prevents woodland from regenerating).

A noted disadvantage is that cultural practices can be affected by the decisions to use biogas, as using gas burners often means that the staple bread chapatti cannot be properly roasted and families may have to change their diet and potentially lose centuries of of their food history.

Another resource in water-rich countries can be the use of this water for the creation of electricity on the local scale. Check out this example in Nepal:

Taking a self-sufficiency path towards development means that a country places primacy on limiting/eliminating foreign influence in the domestic economy. Two ways this is typically done is by limiting the ownership of business by foreign companies and increasing tariffs (taxes) on imported foreign goods and services. Such import substitution[  refers to when domestically produced items come to replace foreign imports.

11.7.3 Funding for Development Projects

Countries that take the international trade path towards development, in contrast, focus on amplifying their production of a few key resources, products, or services, and competing on the international market. Foreign business presence in the country is not limited and the goal is not to eliminate foreign imports.

All paths and approaches to development require funding, which often comes through any combination of the following:

11.7.3.1 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Foreign direct investment occurs when a foreign country or company provides funds for a domestic project.

11.7.3.2 International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF provides loans to countries specifically to expand their presence within international trade.

11.7.3.3 World Bank

The World Bank provides loans to countries for development purposes.

11.7.3.4 Microcredit/microfinancing

A microcredit happens when banks provide tiny loans to individuals who would otherwise not qualify for traditional loans.

Check out this video which has clips from the documentary Life & Debt, which documents the on-the-ground impacts on everyday life of the IMF and World Bank loans to and programs in Jamaica.