New arti­cle by Jamie Alissa Beck on Terralingua’s Bio­cul­tural Diver­sity Con­ser­va­tion Blog.

It is a nat­ural assump­tion that inter­na­tional devel­op­ment pro­grams lead to direct improve­ments in lives around the world.  Decreas­ing rates of under-five mor­tal­ity from malaria?  Absolutely.  Improv­ing lives in the wake of unimag­in­able destruc­tion from nat­ural dis­as­ters?  With­out ques­tion.  It was under these obvi­ous assump­tions that I worked for years on var­i­ous devel­op­ment pro­grams as part of a large gov­ern­ment agency.  How­ever, I quickly real­ized that this dom­i­nant model of devel­op­ment – one that often takes a West­ern approach to what progress looks like and applies it to peo­ple in all parts of the world regard­less of their own val­ues – does not fare so well in empow­er­ing cul­tures, lan­guages or local solu­tions. With time I saw clearly that in addi­tion to build­ing health clin­ics, schools, and green rev­o­lu­tions, I was in some cases unknow­ingly con­tribut­ing to the cre­ation of a West­ern mono­cul­ture and the destruc­tion of beau­ti­fully diverse cul­tures and lan­guages that hold immea­sur­able value.

What I learned and expe­ri­enced through that work led me to believe that deep and fun­da­men­tal change is needed to this West­ern led and strictly struc­tured devel­op­ment par­a­digm.  Along with many oth­ers, I now call for a new approach to inter­na­tional devel­op­ment that breaks with West­ern tra­di­tion to embrace local tra­di­tion: one that empow­ers local peo­ple to drive their own progress; one in which diverse approaches, prac­tices and ideas are heard, embraced and celebrated.

Read full arti­cle via Bio­cul­tural Diver­sity Conservation–>