By Jørgen Dige Pedersen, Aarhus University, AU, and Søren Jeppesen, Copenhagen Business School, CBS.
The program was as follows:
Wednesday, March 17, 16.30-18.00: Session 1
Agenda: Welcome and 1st presentation - getting the debate framed Chair of session 1: Søren Jeppesen.
1. Welcome, by Søren Jeppesen and Jørgen Dige Pedersen & Round of presentations by all participants
2. Discussing 'Community Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development' - getting the debate framed: Søren Jeppesen, CBS
3. Be Fit for Change: Social Construction of Endogenous Technology in the South (paper): Jens Müller, Aalborg University, AAU
4. Discussion of Søren and Jens' presentations
Thursday, March 18, 09.30-12.00: Session 2
Agenda: Community Entrepreneurs and Influence of training on community development Chair of session 2: Jørgen Dige Pedersen
1. A Sense of Pride: How training courses in Japan inspire ties between business and community development (oral presentation): Annette Skovsted Hansen, AU
2. Discussion of Annette's presentation
3. Kisi girls: Assets or Marginalization? Commodity Production and Class Reproduction in rural Tanzania. A Case Study of Pottery Household Production (paper): Eginald Mihanjo, keynote presenter
4. Discussion of Eginald’s presentation
Thursday, March 18, 16.00-18.00: Session 3
Agenda: Commodity Production and Class reproduction in Africa & Wrap up.
Chair of session 3: Jens Müller
1. Follow up on Eginald Mihanjo's plenary presentation Wednesday evening: Short intro by Eginald Mihanjo, comments by participants and discussion of pertinent issues
2. Final discussion of 'Community Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development'
3. Wrap up and short oral evaluation on workshop sessions
Session 1
The conveners welcomed the participants to the workshop. Søren shortly presented the program and encouraged all to present themselves.
Søren then introduced the theme of the workshop. He highlighted the tendency to focus attention on economic development at macro issues (trade, the policies of the state, Foreign Direct Investment), while seemingly the local or micro issues tended to be overlooked or seen as a consequence of the development at the macro level. While obvious links between the two exist, he argued that many dynamics and processes at the local (village, firm, individual, entrepreneur) level play a significant role in economic development. However, bringing these dynamics to a wider attention takes other approaches than we use at macro level. Focusing on how and why (community) entrepreneurs set up their activities and enterprises, how the local economic, political and socio-cultural conditions enhance or restrict the opportunities for the community entrepreneurs - and, of course, how linkages to the surrounding areas as well as 'larger markets' in major cities or even abroad impact on the activities are among the range of analytical options we have.
He hoped that the discussions during the three sessions would touch upon these - and many other - issues and introduced Jens Müller (Aalborg University).
Jens introduced his paper and presentation by stressing that he had been working on community entrepreneurship issues since 1974 when he had travelled in the rural areas of Tanzania for the first time. The way that the blacksmiths handled their trade, adapted to changes etc. had fascinated him - and continued to do so more than 30 years later. The studies in Tanzania of local socio-technological transformations since the beginning of the 1970’s had initially focused on village blacksmiths, but were gradually expanded to encircle the rural artisan sector as such. Jens wanted to focus on the social problem, how we understand technological change and how adaption takes place in a particular local setting like rural Tanzania - which necessitates a reconceptualisation of our understanding of these processes.
He sketched the industrial transformation that had taken place the last 50 years with opening of markets, Multinationals coming in, local firms closing down and an expansion of the informal sector and micro and small enterprises (MSEs). He argued that our analytical perspective often was one of technological transfer, which led to the issue of local or endogenous generation of technological innovations in the South is often being ignored. A fundamental problem is that the micro-innovative strengths that really exist remain isolated and encapsulated.
He, accordingly, proposed to establish a different theoretical framework, which allowed for explication of the informal segments of the national technology systems by identifying their most important constituents. This necessitates a broader socio-technology outlook than conventional euro-centric conceptual frameworks in development studies normally allow for. He highlighted four key components (knowledge, organisation, product and technique).
The purpose is to highlight the innovation capability of endogenous technology change agents.
Applying the social construction of technology – as against the technology construction of society – outlook, he stated that local knowledge systems and organizational forms make up unique production systems, which indicate the formation of another and different evolutionary path or trajectory than "the" technological evolution experienced in the North.
Jens suggested 'a localised, artisanal putting-out system' as the term for the technological system in the South, including Tanzania.
In order to mobilize the local technological dynamism in the South, a much closer link than exists to day needs to be established between the formal/exogenous and the informal/endogenous sectors of the national systems of innovation. A first condition for such links to be established is that the informal MSEs are recognized and their conditions of operations fully understood and appreciated. This would enable us to reformulate our understanding of the current processes. He proposed that we should be open to address the 'formalisation of the informal sector' and 'the informalisation of the formal sector'.
Discussion
In the discussion that followed the presentation by Jens a number of issues came up for discussion. The first question that came up was who had actually benefitted from the technological adaptations and advancements that could be observed over the years? Jens answered that this was a difficult question as obviously the blacksmiths had benefitted as they were still very much in business, but it was less clear who precisely their buyers were as the tools manufactured by the blacksmiths were often sold in faraway places, often replacing cheap imported but inferior Chinese tools. He did, however, see a potential for changes in both technologies and in the local societies if the work of the blacksmiths were better recognized.
Another issue was what could be done to support the blacksmiths, and by whom? Jens answered that a precondition would be recognition of the blacksmiths as innovative entrepreneurs by both donor agencies, local authorities and the government at large. But it was also a problem that recognition and ‘formalization’ might lead to a demand for tax payment – and that could constitute a problem for the blacksmiths. Here Mihanjo commented that one should remember that Tanzania is still 70 % rural and that government policy is not favourable to blacksmiths and there are demand constraints also.
In terms of markets the blacksmiths still seemed to depend on the local (Tanzanian) economy and export has not been tried although the successful competition against Chinese tools did indicate a potential for South-South transfers of technology.
Session 2
Jørgen presented the program for the session and gave the word to Annette Skovsted-Hansen who gave the first presentation entitled 'A Sense of Pride: How training courses in Japan inspire ties between business and community development.'
Annette started by providing some background to the presentation and how training courses in Japan had been inspiring participants from developing countries to take knowledge back home and initiate various changes. An approach which also had been quite prominent in Danish Development Assistance and for many years handled by the Danida Fellowship Centre (DFC). She viewed this as a 'network issue' in a conceptual/theoretical sense. In Japan it was understood much in line with Human Resource Development.
Since the inauguration, more than 300.000 individuals from developing countries had been on the Japanese training courses. About half of them in Japan and about half of them in the developing countries. Already in 1965, a newsletter had been established, now reaching more that 160.000 former participants. Furthermore, a number of national Alumni Societies had been established, 70 in total, covering 43 countries.
She focused on one of the numerous programmes that undertook such training courses. It had been in place for 50 years, where a total of more than 160.000 individuals from a broad range of developing countries had participated in courses in Japan. Of these participants 70.000 were part of the alumni organization which the Japanese Association of Overseas Technical Scholarships ran. Annette had the opportunity to interview 52 former participants during the 50th years' anniversary being a four day event in October 2009.
Based on the interviews, Annette presented two cases of alumni from courses held by the Japanese Association of Overseas Technical Scholarships (AOTS) and financed partially by Japanese ODA. Each case shows how the course participant has chosen to implement changes in his or her community and company as inspired by the course content. Mr.
Kwabena Dankyi Darfoor, Program Manager for Micro projects Management Unit, from Ghana and Mrs. Amira Dali from Nepal, Japanese company employee and founder and President of the NGO 'Love Green Nepal'. After returning from a management training course in 2003 in Japan, Mr. Darfoor made the government and donor supported Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS) project into an almost self-sufficient GRATIS Foundation by instituting a series of changes beginning with a redefinition of the corporate objective from 'transfer of appropriate technologies to small-scale industrialists through training, manufacturing and the supply of tools, plant and equipment' to 'devote ourselves to the progress and development of society and the well-being of people through the development, promotion and technologies to SME's on a sustainable basis.'
Mrs. Dali attended a technical training course in 1981 after graduating college in Japan.
She returned to Nepal to work in the private sector and ten years later she founded an NGO drawing on private sector practices of management and output to address her concerns with gender equality and depletion of trees in Nepal. The 'Love Green Nepal' organisation aims “to uplift rural communities in Nepal with the primary focus on the development of women through an integrated approach by utilizing locally available resources in a sustainable manner. The two cases plausibly demonstrated the effects that the training programs might have on participants motivation and capability to initiate development oriented activities – promoting business for development and one of the mechanisms that Annette had noted during her interviews was how the courses and the
a ‘sense of pride’ that motivated them to start development oriented work at home. The participants that travel to Japan establish contacts to the Japanese business and organisations and to other participants. Through the Alumni Societies the contacts are maintained and the societies further provide new participants a link to former participants and information of experiences.
From a network perspective, Annette outlined that this perceived the 'strong person' in the network as the one which had the opportunity to travel. This person is the one that chooses which information to use, how to dissolve and translate the information to their own (home country) environment.
Discussion
The discussion of the presentation raised a number of questions. One question concerned the best way to organize training courses. Should they take place in the donor country (here: Japan) or in the different recipient countries? And what about the risk of trainees staying in Japan? Annette answered that according to this specific program it had clearly had a positive effect to let the trainees who came from many different countries travel and be inspired by the Japanese way of doing things, especially the constant emphasis on what they called ‘quality management’. This had been a constant feature throughout the courses and was mentioned by many participants. As for the risk of trainees staying in Japan, the chances of this happening had been very limited due to the general rules that make it difficult for foreigners to stay in Japan.
The training program had been organized by AOTS with ODA financing from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and had its focus on the private sector. This has possibly made the program and its effects different from a similar program run by the Foreign Ministry. The participants had been selected by AOTS after an initial screening by the AOTS alumni societies and many participants were already working for Japanese companies or organizations in their home countries.
Another issue concerned the possible effect of the training program on South-South links between the different participants and their businesses. Annette answered that she had found a lot of personal networking between participants, but that she did not know about possible business ties.
The second presentation was by Eginald Mihanjo based on his paper on the 'Kisi girls' discussing the pottery industry at Lake Nyasa, in the north-west part of Tanzania, which is an activity exclusively undertaken by local girls belonging to the Kisi tribe. Eginald thanked both the organizers and in particular Jens for inviting him and for inspiring research collaboration over many years.
Eginald explained that due to poverty and due to poor subsistence economy, the people in rural Tanzania live by making delicate choices between household survival and their children’s education. Children, in particular girls, are the most affected in this regard. Girls are also the key in household survival. They are therefore overworked, overburdened, and are sometime forced to drop out of school or compromise their performance and are sometime forced into early marriage. This practice is widely condemned as 'child abuse' and denial of 'education right' for the girl child. For this reason the rural poor communities are described as irrational, and socially biased against the girl child. But do the poor
households have choices to make? Are the parents so irrational and illogical in their attitude towards girl child education?
He then pointed to the transformation of the pottery industry that had taken place during history. While the pottery production historically had been a localised activity, though used for exchange with other regions and countries, the 1980s meant a major change. The economy collapsed, which opened up the market along with opportunities to sell. Along the lakes, the male dominated fisheries industry experienced decreasing income, which in turn made the pots more important. Furthermore, the hilly area is not suitable for agriculture. In the local area, transportation led to steel pots being introduced in 1985-86. The pottery industry eventually was transformed to a kind of rural enterprise and commoditised. New types of pots have materialised, including metal pots, different sizes, increased use of decorative elements and options to sell in Tanzania and Malawi emerged.
In the family, the number of female is key and in particular the number of girls. The girls’
participation in commodity production has an influence on household survival, which means that the families have to balance the room for school attendance and the girls' education. Eginald emphasised that age is an essential factor in household survival strategy, as the girls are able to make other types of pots compared to the older women.
'Girls' were understood as being from 6-28-29 years of age where they tended to be married.
He pointed out that the young; both male and female are the most productive ones in Ukisi. Females, the study describes are more advantaged in both pot producing and non producing areas, because they do not move away from home as is the case for men who increasingly travel away from home in search for good fishing ground. He concluded that girls play an important role to household survival, and the increase in importance had led to improved social status of the girls, though they continued to have a status 'below' the boys. At the family or household level, the situation continued to be an act of a delicate balance between the income and possibilities of sending the girl to school - in order to survive.
Discussion
The first question raised was why boys were not active in pottery making? Eginald explained that boys/men only assist with transportation of the pots and that they still see themselves primarily as fishermen. It was thus mostly a question of social circumstances or social traditions.
Next, the discussion moved to the question of developmental prospects in the pottery sector and its possible development into a more prosperous business. Eginald answered by noting that only very few have expanded their business and that it was mostly the transporters, the truck owners, who had made a good business out of supplying non-local markets. The potters themselves remained mostly focused on household survival rather than business expansion.
What about the distribution of influence and money within the household, it was asked.
Has the position of the girls within households improved as a consequence of their increased importance for the total income? M. said that cultural elements are important
setting where subsistence is the primary goal. It is also still the priority that boys are being sent to schools and simply managing to pay the high school fees is important – a matter of avoiding shame.
Lastly, the discussion turned to the prospects for general advancement of women in rural Tanzania. Credit facilities were seen as quite important as credit is scarce, but it was also noted that although gender relations on the labour market were changing - and indeed improving – it was still too early to see a clear pattern.
Session 3
Søren introduced the agenda for the final session in the workshop. The main part addressed the interesting keynote presentation that Eginald Mihanjo had made Wednesday and a number of issues that the plenary discussion had not left room for, while the reminder of the session would focus on other issues of interest to the participants.
The short presentation by Eginald Mihanjo was this time of a general nature and he discussed the present situation in Tanzania. Briefly, he summarized it thus: High level of poverty that persists among the people and communities in Tanzania is indeed a challenging development issue. Since independence different economic development models have been put in place. They include the progressive farmer and modernization approach of the World Bank in early 1960s; the Ujamaa collectivization and villagization approach of the 1970s; the Structural Adjustment Programme and Economic Recovery Programme of the 1980s and early 1990s and the ongoing Liberalization and Privatization drive of late 1990s and 2000s. Among others the 2000s approach has ‘discovered’ the entrepreneurial and the credit facility ‘magic’ as a ‘vehicle’ to enhance local community development and eradicate rural poverty. In Tanzania, this new magic and prescription has been enshrined in the Government and Ruling Party Policy through National Poverty Policies – MKUKUTA, MKUZA, and MKURABITA. It has led to establishment of VICOBA and SACOOs (credit and saving community organisations) and a Presidential commitment of floating 21 billion for credit facility and an Agriculture First (Kilimo Kwanza) campaign aiming to modernize the rural poor communities. By 31 March 2009 over 41 billion Tanzania shillings has been disbursed to the general population as credit facility yet still
The short presentation by Eginald Mihanjo was this time of a general nature and he discussed the present situation in Tanzania. Briefly, he summarized it thus: High level of poverty that persists among the people and communities in Tanzania is indeed a challenging development issue. Since independence different economic development models have been put in place. They include the progressive farmer and modernization approach of the World Bank in early 1960s; the Ujamaa collectivization and villagization approach of the 1970s; the Structural Adjustment Programme and Economic Recovery Programme of the 1980s and early 1990s and the ongoing Liberalization and Privatization drive of late 1990s and 2000s. Among others the 2000s approach has ‘discovered’ the entrepreneurial and the credit facility ‘magic’ as a ‘vehicle’ to enhance local community development and eradicate rural poverty. In Tanzania, this new magic and prescription has been enshrined in the Government and Ruling Party Policy through National Poverty Policies – MKUKUTA, MKUZA, and MKURABITA. It has led to establishment of VICOBA and SACOOs (credit and saving community organisations) and a Presidential commitment of floating 21 billion for credit facility and an Agriculture First (Kilimo Kwanza) campaign aiming to modernize the rural poor communities. By 31 March 2009 over 41 billion Tanzania shillings has been disbursed to the general population as credit facility yet still