Joseph Bornstein's blog

Development and Dynamic Ground

Joseph Bornstein — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:54:58 -0400

Editor's note: The following blog post was originally published as a comment by Joseph Bornstein, responding to the numerous reactions generated by his previous entry "What Is Called Development?: Exploring The Nexus of Economy"

"Where do we find ourselves? In a series of which we do not know the extremes, and believe that it has none." Emerson, paragraph one of "Experience"

This conversation has been truly exhilarating in that it has offered key themes for how we can perhaps answer the critique that I suggested as well as new criticisms in their own right. And like all good conversations, we now find ourselves in a series of thoughts and questions which illuminate our humility and lack of ultimate Knowledge.

Not one of us was able to offer a clear approach to development that navigated all of our concerns and could claim the title of being the final answer which we seek. If anything, we offered more questions than answers. I personally do not believe that this is a bad thing per se. Indeed, it seems to be a necessary aspect of our lives to be constant seekers and never completed finders. Socratic dialogues are famous in their aporetical nature, which is to say that they often do not end in a clear conclusion. Our inter-continental dialogue has many similarities in this regard. We sought to go to the deepest level of what we are dealing with in "BoP Development" and asked what it means and how we can do justice to the end that we seek to realize.

Though we did not perfectly determine a "how-to" guide for practicing our desire to help marginalized and impoverished peoples, and though we did not even perfectly define what "helping" really is, or the terminal for-the-sake-of-which, or value we which seek to promote-we have taken steps in a "series of which we do not know the extremes."

Below is a summary of the steps I believe that we have taken as a community in dialogue:

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What is Called Development?: Exploring the Nexus of Economy

Joseph Bornstein — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:03:04 -0400

I recently had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Al Hammond which detailed his plans for revolutionizing rural medicine and access to telecommunications in developing nations. Here is a condensed rendition of the picture he painted: The majority of rural communities in developing nations have no access to telecommunication systems, and this is a problem considering that telecommunications are an essential tool for offering the poor services and possibilities that they would otherwise not have access to. The communications gap can be bridged by installing wireless access hubs in remote communities and the hand of wireless technology could leapfrog reaching almost any community at a cheap price.

This innovation opens a whole new market for cell phone companies and offers yet another excellent pipeline for BoP development and for getting a share of the fortune at the base of the pyramid. This is what we in the BoP community would call a double bottom-line profit model because the business plan is not only economically profitable, but also reaps social benefits by providing the services of telecommunications to poor rural communities. In this model, social justice meets capitalism. They shake hands, and build a better tomorrow.

Like many bad things, the concept sounded fantastic at first. But then, I found myself stopped in my thinking's tracks when the presenter remarked that the natural progression of services provided by this newfound rural telecommunications industry would be as follows: First there would be mobile banking. Then, education services. Lastly, entertainment would inevitably enter the market. This progression, if we can all it "progress" invokes Henry D. Thoreau's critique of the technology boom that took place during the industrial revolution in US America.

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"Business and Poverty: Opening Markets to the Poor" - An Analysis of the Report

Joseph Bornstein — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:34:05 -0400

A key issue that the BoP development world currently faces is generating a tangible connection between markets, enterprise and the poor. After all, if we are going to alleviate poverty through enterprise, we require effective strategies that enable the BoP to participate in profitable business endeavors as well as markets that serve the BoP's needs sufficiently.

In light of this difficult obstacle, WBI has taken steps to provide insight into how BoP development can be engaged successfully through its release of the special report "Business and Poverty: Opening Markets to the Poor." The report's 18 chapters-each about eight pages long-analyzes various effective strategies, obstacles and prospects for NGOs, non-profit organizations, corporations, banks, MFIs, and local enterprises working to serve those who are most marginalized and impoverished-the BoP.

Though the World Bank report does not provide comprehensive statistical analysis explaining clear steps that can be taken in order to address barriers to serving the BoP, it does offer numerous case studies regarding successful business models. It also offers supplementary analysis, which details how and why each example project was effective, and outlines what will need to be overcome in future years.

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