People Centered Development

That three decades of technical cooperation in Africa have not produced the desired development impact is a sad commentary. Several reasons can be adduced for this. This experience has however led UNDP to pursue a new strategy. UNDP’s developemnt strategy is now firmly anchored on the belief that development is a national responsibily. It must start from people’s perceptions and end by addressing their priority needs and concerns. From the experience of other countries, it could be surmised that development in Nigeria can only be meaningful when Nigerians take the leading role in deciding the content of their own programmes and in taking responsibilities for their implementation. Communities should be allowed to define their needs and set their own priorities. National or community objectives are best achieved when external assistance complements local investments in development. In such a situation, international cooperation has to be redefined and moved towards a more genuine partnership of all the stakeholders, contributors, recipients at all levels of government and the people. We need to replace old approaches with a new model that allows for direct targeting of the beneficiaries, building on the notion that people are able and willing to proffer solutions and contribute resources to tackle their priority needs.

This strategic shift in focus is guided by the following:

That Development only begins when people take charge of their own development efforts, which therefore guarantees the national ownership of the development process;
That the development process cannot be subcontracted. The responsibility does not lie with any outside agency. Developing a country is therefore the primary responsibility of the citizens of that country and should therefore be led and managed by the country itself.

That development is only sustainable when it builds on what exists. No matter how limited this capacity is, the development process must start off using the country’s own internal capacity. It is pointless therefore to design programmes which cannot draw on the countries' or communities' own endogenous capacity for its management.