Development is the process in which something passes by degrees to a more advanced or a mature stage. Development is a process, a means to achieving an end and not an end in itself. Development is the act or process of growing, progressing or improvement over time. We often hear and talk about ‘development’ but we must be very careful of what we mean by it. Otherwise, we risk the chance of misinterpreting it for rampant materialism.
Development must be understood as a process that creates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical, economic, environmental, and social components. The purpose of development ought to be to ensure a rise in the level and quality of life of the people and the creation or expansion of income and employment opportunities, without damaging the resources of the environment. It has to be visible and useful, not necessarily immediately, and must include an aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a continuation of that change. It must be understood that economic growth does not necessarily lead to a rise in the level and quality of life of people across various layers of the population. People are the real wealth of nations, and the main goal of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, productive lives, to acquire knowledge, and to have access to resources needed for a decent standard of living. This is the simple truth. However, development efforts have often focused on creating financial wealth and improving material well-being but forgetting that development is about people. This preoccupation with economic growth has pushed people to the periphery of development policies when they should be at the center of such policies.
As postulated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), economic growth is necessary but it is insufficient for development. And the quality of growth, not just its quantity, is crucial for human well-being. Growth can be jobless, rather than job creating; ruthless, rather than poverty reducing; voiceless, rather than participatory; rootless, rather than culturally enshrined; and futureless, rather than environmentally friendly. Growth that is jobless, ruthless, voiceless, rootless and futureless is not conducive to human development. Development should mean creating job opportunities for all and not creating a wealthy few while the great mass of the people remain jobless. Development is not real unless it takes people out of poverty. The process of development must be democratic and the people as stakeholders must be allowed to participate in it. All development policies must be aligned with the cultural ethos of a people because a development model that is workable for a cultural group of people is not always so for another cultural group of people. Besides, a development model that uproots a people from its cultural base is not development but exploitation. More importantly, development must be sustainable. Growth and development in order to raise the quality of life of a people must be in relation to the needs of environmental resources and the coming generations of that people group. It has to be long term.