International Development Pages
Economic Development in Practice
Four years ago, we made a major change to the program. It had been almost exclusively rights awareness workshops. Now there are numeracy programs, classes in basic business topics, market-oriented vocational skills training, support for cooperatives, and nearly two dozen job creation projects & social enterprises.
The results are excellent. The average income of a woman entering our program is sixty-six cents a day. A year after graduation she is sustaining an income of $1.59 a day, and her assets have risen from $22.57 to $49.24.
In building this program-- designing, launching, and guiding implementation in eight countries-- I have drawn on twenty years' experience delivering international development assistance. That experience ranges from strategic planning for regional economic development to firm-level assistance, from program concept & design to micro-enterprise support in the poorest village. I have done a lot of work in a lot of countries.
I am quite serious about development work and have led projects in over twenty countries and from HQ. Focusing on economic development for the most part and with many years as a Chief of Party, I have a broad and deep interest in all aspects of international development, and the essays on these pages touch on a wide range of topics and lessons from my experience.
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Islamic Economics-- I lead the design and implementation of significant economic development programs in eight countries, six of which have significant Muslim populations. It is a serious, twelve month program which delivers sustained support to the poorest of the poor via market-oriented micro-enterprise support. It's all about entrepreneurship, rational decision makers, and self-interest-- based on liberal democracy and free market thinking. The economic principles inherent in Islam are quite different, however, so there are some basic issues to address. To make efforts like this more likely to succeed one must understand how people make decisions, and economics does that by examining exchanges. This well-received essay illuminates a number of the values and practices of Muslim societies in theory and practice.
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Credit in economic development -- One aspect of almost all economic development programs is "access to credit". I have sat on the board of directors of a bank and sat in association meetings, pleaded with central bank officials and heard the pleas of poor farmers. I started one lending operation, oversaw loan programs in a couple of places, and organized more bank fairs and borrower training than I can remember. Experience is a teacher, and some of my thoughts have gone into this examination of micro-credit. As a strong supporter of savings perhaps I come off as too critical in this essay, but I think we need to be as realistic as possible about development programming. |
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Community-based development -- Local economic development works best through broad community involvement. I've done it in three countries. It was particularly successful in Bosnia where we had good working groups, broad stakeholder groups, and support from local governments. A basic strategic planning process over about eight to ten months delivered plans so well received that the local governments changed their budgets and public hearing rules. A similar effort for an island in the Bahamas never took off because we couldn't overcome a general feeling that an idyllic island should "be developed" and never got the needed buy-in. You can read about the bad one in this introductory piece.
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Starting a project -- Before we can put the plan into action we need to get it organized. I've been the director of several projects and discovered that bringing a project plan to life and making it work is a demanding task in itself. This essay describes a dynamic, quick start approach to a complicated multi-task project you should consider.
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Several essays -- This is an assortment of short pieces visitors to the site seem to like-- a few of the columns I did for a Kiev newspaper, research results, travelogues, and some cross-cultural stuff. Reading -- Development assistance is a very complicated field, and I try to improve my understanding and knowledge continuously by reading everything I can find related to the subject. 15-18 titles are reviewed here. For fun, a fictional short story I wrote about what life as an expatriate development professional could be if you wanted it so, or if you weren't careful. And a few links to other sites I've found useful. |
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Showing over 25 years' experience in the field and HQ, my resume outlines work in over twenty countries on a wide range of programs with a focus on economic development.
For more on the program I lead now you can go here, and a major agribusiness project I led is described on this page. |
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Good fortune is not as blind as it is generally thought to be. It is often nothing more than the result of sound, consistent actions that go unnoticed by the crowd but nonetheless make a particular event possible. Still more often, it is the result of an individual's characteristics, nature, and behavior.
--Catherine the Great
Worldwide contact info:
jonthiele@global.t-bird.edu
skype: jonthiele
This site was updated on February 20, 2012, and is hosted by
