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Rudo Grace Gwata-Charamba Correspondent
The fundamental objective of social development is to beget sustained improvement in the well-being of individuals, groups, family, community and society at large.
It entails a perpetual increase in the standard of living of a population that is measured through major indicators that include GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, personal dignity, safety plus freedom among others.
Such development is achieved through the implementation of different projects and programmes, that belong to every stakeholder, and are aimed at solving problems that hinder improvements in the development or well-being of a population. Stakeholders are individuals, groups or entities with a role or interest in the aims and implementation of an initiative.
Accordingly, in the context of national development programmes, is a stakeholder who also ought to contribute positively to his or her environment through providing solutions to problems, thus contributing to improved lives or, simply, making a difference.
This is achieved through serving and giving back contributions that encompass time, ideas, material resources, constructive feedback, talent, attention and encouragement, towards the implementation of development initiatives.
The feeling of making such difference is often, ultimately, the most important element for one’s happiness and fulfilment. Because importance equals purpose, such action also proves to be a route towards absolute significance and through it, humans discover the meaning of their lives. The forms of contribution to development are, fortunately, so diverse that everyone can participate and make a difference with his or her life, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Relatedly, the field of development underscores the essence of such participation which is also a basic principle of Results Based Management (RBM), the contemporary approach for the efficient and effective implementation of programmes.
This is because participation promotes ownership and buy-in, among a wide range of stakeholders, thus fairly guaranteeing the success. Of the associated initiative. Besides, the contribution and active participation, notably that of beneficiaries, fosters sustainability of the results for future generations through enhanced motivation to safeguarded the outcome of their own efforts.
Moreover, both experiential evidence and literature show that most nations, Zimbabwe included, currently have more and very significant problems that can no longer be fixed by a few selected entities, as was assumed in the past.
Accordingly, every individual ought to keep values that are greater than their own pleasure or satisfaction, a practice that also eases the discovery of one’s “purpose” in life. This entails consistently looking out for and picking problems from areas that one cares about, from among plenty of them, and starting to contribute towards its solution, all in efforts to help save the world.
Such search for things that are bigger than oneself may not necessarily relate to some great achievement, but merely finding a way to be useful and helping to make the world a better place. That is, translating frustration with life’s problems to action.
A typical success story was reported by this publication on June 23, relating to the renovation of Wadzanai Stadium in Shamva, where a community mobilised its own resources and effected the change it desired change on a facility that was in an undesirable state.
Such action is highly commendable and worth emulating in other developmental, as well as geographical areas.
However, such selfless action signifies the opposite of the human natural inclination which is towards merely consuming resources from one’s environment namely eating and taking up space and waiting to be served, without giving anything back.
Desolately, many best-selling books and life coaches exacerbate the shortcoming through offering advice on how to “get” the most out of life, hence focusing on taking from it. This tends to mislead many in determining the purpose for which they are on this planet.
Consequently, most lives lack meaning and growth, a factor that drives frustration and anger about the delivery of poor service or lack of progress on development initiatives.
For example, there are many individuals and groups who complain about littered streets and cities when they never personally make efforts to clean the spots or avoid littering.
That is, they expect others to serve them without reciprocating in any way. Similarly, there are many stakeholders, who also make absolutely no contribution to development, but, instead, transform themselves into spectators and judges in the implementation of initiatives rather than being substantial parts of the associated processes.
They are almost always looking out for inadequate performance in implementers of development initiatives, and criticising, while waiting for value to be delivered to them. Such action ordinarily leads to more frustration and stagnation. Meaningfully participating by way of offering ideas, talent, encouragement or support as appropriate, can prove to be far more beneficial to both themselves and society at large.
The historic contrast between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea can help to clearly illustrate the concept of receiving and giving back. The Sea of Galilee is a beautiful fresh water lake fed from rain runoff from the mountains of Galilee and the Golan Heights and filled by the Jordan River, which then flows out and down to the Dead Sea.
The latter is much larger, full of riches, but is salty and does not have an outlet. The sweetness of the Sea of Galilee is attributed to its having both an inflow and outflow, receiving and giving, while the Dead Sea, only receives without giving nor does it have any form of life in it.
Arguably, the selfishness and corruption that are rife in society today could have their roots in this failure to embrace this primary purpose of life plus the associated inappropriate focus on getting things for oneself.
It is, therefore, imperative that all members of our society realise that everyone has a responsibility, and a role to play, in the implementation of socio-economic development initiatives.
This calls for refocus and shift towards consistently looking out for ways to meet the needs of society rather than personal ones.
Typical examples include saving the environment through the total elimination of litter, planting trees, modelling sound behaviour notably focusing on the positive aspects of the nation and consistently seeking to contribute towards solutions to socio-economic development challenges.
The Shamva stadium model clearly shows that collectively, the communities as well as the nation can collectively make a huge difference towards accelerated socioeconomic development.
Dr Rudo Grace Gwata-Charamba is an author, development project/ programme management consultant and researcher with a special interest in Results Based Management (RBM), Governance and Leadership. She can be contacted via email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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