Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 August 2021
I would like to share an anomaly I observed in Kigoma Region of Tanzania. It is an anomaly because of its incompatibility with many of the decision-making models implicitly used to assess development aid programs. Such models are, of course, based primarily on the assumptions and observations made by economists, sociologists and anthropologists about the already developed countries. Implicitly, they assume a certain type of rationality which is taken for granted by both expatriate planners, and local planners trained in Western tradition. However, as I think that this example demonstrates, rational behavior in rural Third World communities may be predicated on assumptions outside the unspoken parameters of the social sciences.
Tony Waters implemented development and refugee assistance projects in rural areas of Thailand and Tanzania from 1980-87. There he was involved in the technical aspects of project delivery. He is currently interested in the development of practical social science techniques for use in the description of rural Third World societies. He has written about development and relief issues for publications such as Water International, Disasters, and VITA News. He is currently completing an M.A. in Development Studies at California State University, Sacramento.
1. Green, Edward C., “A Short-term Consultancy in Bangladesh,” American Anthropologist, vol. 88, March 1986, pp. 176–181 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.