Empowering the impoverished

Yesterday, Chronicle columnist David Fiocco raised important questions about the strategy of Professor Jeffrey Sachs and the Millennium Village Project. These questions, however, are not new, nor are they unique to MVP: The developed world has actively been trying to "fix Africa" ever since the colonial ventures hundreds of years ago. In the last 60 years, however, three things have held true: 1) some development programs succeeded and most have failed, 2) researchers, scholars and policy makers have continually worked to learn from mistakes to create better development programs and strategies for the future and 3) in the meantime, poverty and famine have continued to rise.

Thus, it should be apparent that the entire field of development is a work in progress that heralds innovation. To categorize Sachs' plans as too ambitious to succeed is a moot point simply because no one has figured out how much ambition is needed for a successful development effort.

The Millennium Village Project is led by world-class experts in development who recognize that although money alone cannot solve the problem, it is necessary to have financial means to provide resources to counter a lack of primary education, disparities in women's rights, health epidemics, extreme hunger and increasing rates of child mortality.

It is important to note that none of these interventions is imposed on the villagers; everything is approved and agreed upon by committees of community members. The committees are not simply given resources for unsustainable ventures, but are encouraged to find lasting solutions, not palliatives. The expectation is that after five years of working with experts in the village, the community leaders will then be equipped to continue this process without direct outside control. After a second five years of monitoring by government partners and outside teams, the expectation is that the innovations brought to each village through MVP will become ingrained in the culture of the community.

MVP's first village in Sauri, Kenya is already showing great signs of success. In only one year of outside help and financing, the crop output more than tripled, and the village secondary school jumped from 167th in the district to seventh. This is an amazing feat and an example of what can happen in merely one year; who knows what can happen in five?

In terms of specific critiques, Fiocco noted that corruption has been one of the largest pitfalls of successful development. MVP strives to stave off any corruption as employees and partner organizations are carefully audited and monitored by independent advisory groups to guard against embezzlement. As for national governments, MVP will only begin to work in a country once the government has agreed to forego any control of the resources that come to MVP and must also agree to invest its own resources to build transportation, communications and electricity infrastructure using existing government employees in the area to help implement the project.

In the long run, corruption will only be defeated by citizens who have the power to hold their own nation accountable. Thus, empowering the impoverished through careful investments is part of the solution, and has already begun to happen. Take, for example, the percent of sub-Saharan women who hold parliament seats: In 1990, women comprised merely 7 percent of parliaments; today, 16 percent of seats are taken by women, which is not far behind the 21 percent that developed nations average. This is one area that has shown a dramatic change, but it is not the only area that will continue change to empower those who used to be marginalized.

We too admit the MVP plan is not perfect. We are part of a new generation of Millennium Development Goal activists who see the involvement of universities as essential parts of a long-term program in which students can hopefully work within the villages to encourage this grassroots effort. We fear, however, that since there is no perfect plan to ending extreme poverty if we follow Fiocco and merely dismiss Sachs' efforts, no action will take place and the problem will merely perpetuate. We will not merely abandon the Millennium Village plan but recognize its unique attributes and work daily to improve it. This is a revolutionary, exciting opportunity for students to lead a movement to end poverty in our time. We look forward to further conversations about these imperative issues.