End of last year I watched the early screening of ‘The land of Blood and Honey‘. This is not a review of the movie you can read the reviews, criticism and more.
What stood out for me though in the movie and more recently in my new role is the question: Where do you stand international community?
We often argue that empowerment will free us from fear and want, which is also enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However when we engage with governments do we really make the provisions that would enable countries to free its citizens from fear and want? Or is it rather fixated on growth, on markets, on investments? A recent statement from Indian Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development, Krishna Tirath,
“Government is mulling over to bring a law under which husband would have to legally pay a definite amount to her wife from his salary and Ministry has started preparing a draft in this regard.”
This highlights the problem with the economic lens we are using in development work. If we resort to economic benefits of development as our primary argument for empowering communities, we pay increasingly little attention to equality, to civil, political, economic and social rights.
Rather, we need to focus on the degrees to which strategies and interventions satisfy the legitimate demands of the people for freedom from fear and want, for a voice in their own societies in a manner they deem fit, and for a life of dignity as opposed to that of an instrumentalist in economic growth. Don’t get me wrong, I don’ t propose we not focus on economics but rather as international development actors we balance it and hopefully tip the scales towards true progress for all.