COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN UGANDA1
| Date | 01 April 1953 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1953.tb00978.x |
| Published date | 01 April 1953 |
50
JOURNAL
OF AFRICAN AD::VII2\iISTRATIO:\
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT IN 'UGANDAl
PART
General
Community
development is designed to secure the
support
and active
participation of the people in programmes for
their
social and economic
betterment.
For
centuries the African peasant has been deprived of the inflow of ideas
and
technical knowledge necessary to develop the natural resources and
subdue
the
pests
and
plagues of his country.
:\Tow
Western
civilisation has broken down this
barrier of isolation;
but
as yet Africans cannot play a full
part
in the technical
planning and execution of major development projects, while the benefits which
flow from these developments in the shape of education, health and
other
services
are slow to become
apparent
in rural areas. Meanwhile the new economic system,
with its cash crops, wage labour and money values is gradually
undermining
the
traditional
structure
of African society.
Nothing
could be
more
conducive to frustration and xenophobia
than
that
the
great mass of Africans
should
stand
aside while people from outside develop
their
country
and
raise
their
standards of living for them.
It
is imperative
that
the great
mass of Africans be convinced
that
with the new knowledge and assistance
brought
by Western civilisation
behind
them,
they
can themselves by
their
own efforts
improve
their
economic and social conditions. In this
context"
new
knowledge"
means the practical techniques, adapted to
suit
African conditions, derived from
the
physical and social sciences such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry,
health, education and economics.
The
Africans
must
be convinced
that
thev
can
assimilate and apply the new knowledge in
their
own homes.
They
must
be
brought
to realise
that
the new knowledge is not an enemy which will
disrupt
their
society
but
an ally which will help
them
to overcome and make the most of the
intractable environment of Africa.
In
Uganda to-day economic development
through
mining and industrial
enterprise and the
maximum
use of the natural resources of
the
country
is essential
if standards of living of
the
people are to be raised and the social
and
other
services
which
they
demand
provided. But African opinion views with mixed
wonder
and
dismay
the
portents
of economic development. Africans are
impatient
that
they
cannot participate
mere
actively, and suspect
that
the developments may
not
be
designed for the benefit of Africans.
It
is natural
that
the
ordinary
person should
not
be able to appeciate the direct advantages to him of a power scheme, a
trunk
road or a railway.
To
the ordinary African in the
country
or in a town, development
can only be fully understood if it brings direct visible benefits to him in the shape
of
improved
wealth or improved services.
Hence
community
development has an
important
political as well as practical function; to enlist the
support
of the mass
of the African populations, and of those who think in political
terms
in
the
programme
of economic development which is essential to the future prosperity
and
well-being of Uganda.
Community
development will
not
succeed unless African leaders are trained to
help direct the
programme
in each area and to secure the co-operation of the
people.
These
leaders will be drawn largely from the class of people produced by
our
own educating efforts.
This
class, as experience in every developing African
country
has shown, is either most for us or most against us. Given asatisfying
function to perform these people can be
our
most valuable allies in overcoming
inertia. Denied opportunities, they above all arc a prey to frustration and the
source from which
our
political opponents and the frustrators of
our
development
effort will be drawn. It is a most
important
advantage of
community
development
1
Issued
as a
circular
from the
Secretariat,
Entcbbc,
Uganda,
in
August
1952.
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