DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE

Students who take this course unit have spent a whole year looking at development from different perspectives but generally using a purely theoretical approach. For long we have talked about development as a people centered concept. The positive change that is supposed to take place, starting with the people, unfortunately is repeated so often by development students making it sound like it is concerned with o ther people. It is as if we are doing what we can to bring about change in the lives of others. Remember that charity begins at home. The course unit is, therefore, based partly on the truism: Every man has to take care of and multiply not only the wealth without him, but even the wealth within him. ?The discovery of the riches within one?s own self is greater than the most acclaimed discovery of science. Development during this period is going to be referred to an ?I? centered concept. Here development refers to your development. This calls, among others, to know yourself and the world around you in order to make the best out of them. ?Learning to use what we are and already have is the most helpful learning for life. It gives us a chance to show what is in us.? Hence the course unit is going to hang on and keep swinging between two pillars: the I and what I can do with the available resources to bring about a positive change in my life and eventually in that of others. We shall therefore devote some time on the importance of, self-discovery, self-knowledge, self-affirmation and maximizing our potential and practical utilization of resources.