A+-+Challenges+of+Development+-+Africa+Seeks+a+Better+Future

By Sara, Megan, and Bree __** The Challenges of Development **__

Dozens of new nations emerged in Africa and Asia in teh decades after WWII. A central goal in these regions, as well as in Latin America, was **development.** Development is the process of the building a stronger and more advanced economy and creating higher living standards. The nations working toward development in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are known collectively as the **Developing World**__.__ The developing world is aslso known as the global South becasue it is mostly south of the Tropic of Cancer.

Leaders in developing nations aimed to improve agriculture and industry. They built railroads, highways, and huge dams to produce electricity. Since a dtron economy requires well-trained workers, developing nations built schools to increase **literacy**, or the ability to read and write.
 * __**Developing Strong Economies**__

For centuries, most people in Asia, Latin America, and Africa had lived and worked in **traditional economies.** These are economies that rely on habit, custom, tradition and tend not to change over time. In traditional economies, properties is often owned in common by a family or a tribe.Tradition limits competition and the range of choices for consumers. European colonists had introduced market economies to these regions to promote the sale of European products. To pay for development, many countries procures large loans from banks and governments in the global North. They then had trouble paying off their loans. When people invest money, they put their money into something that will produce income for them.
 * __**Transforming Economies**__

Beginning in 1950's, commercially improved seeds, pesticides, and mechanical equipment such as tractors were introduced in many parts of the developing world. These new products involve new farming methods. Together these products and methods are known as the **Green Revolution.** The Green Revolution increased agriculture production in countries such as India and Brazil, feeding many more people. However, only the big landowners could afford these new tools and methods. Because they were able to farm more land, crops were grown more cheaply.
 * **__The Green Revolution__**[[image:triop8190013_jpg.jpg width="400" height="294" align="right"]]

Despite loans from the developed world and improvements brought by the Green Revolution, most nations in the global South have faced many challenges to development. Most have found it difficult to escape poverty and the problems associated with it.
 * __Obstacle to Development__**

Population has grown rapidly in the developing world for the past 100 years, Poor parents often have many children becasue children can provide the family with added income. each year, the populations of Nigeria and India increase by millions. In many traditional cultures, parents depend on the children to support then in their old age. Religious teachings often encourage large families as well.
 * **__Rising Populations Strain Resources__**

When people are force off their farms, they often move tro the cities and take ow-paying manufacturing jobs. In India today, around 44 million children work or pay. In Pakistan, children make up 10 percent of the workforce.
 * __**[[image:childlabor.jpg align="left"]]Depending On Child Labor**__

Some developing nations produce only one main export crop or commodity, such as sugar, cocoa, or copper. Their economies depend on global production for that one product. If prices drop, these economies suffer.
 * __**Economic Dependence**__

__ Patterns of Life Change __ The economic development had caused many changes across the developing world. When the Industrial Revolution disrupted traditional ways of life, the economic development also transformed life in the global South. As development around the world brought about a change from traditional ways of life, it also brought new opportunities for women. Constitutions were re-written to spell out equality for women and in in some countries such as Sri Lanka they were allowed to become political leaders. Although women were still less likely than men to have a good education, the gap narrowed. Women entered the workforce in larger numbers and contributed their skills to their nation.
 * __** Women's Roles Evolve **__

Recently religious revivals swept many regions that were developing. Some religious leaders were called **__fundamentalist__** because they waned to return to what they see as basic or fundamental values of their faith. Lots of them opposed political changes because they thought it undermined their religious traditions.
 * **__ Religion Influences Societies __**

People began to flood into cities to find jobs and get out of rural poverty in African, Asian, and Latin American nations. Cities offered more than just economic opportunities, it offered attractions such as stores, concerts, and sports. With the little money and few jobs, newcomers had to settle in slums of flimsy shacks that were crowed and dangerous called **__shantytowns__**, in Europe and North American. Those slums didn't have basic services such as electricity, sewers, and running water. There was always the constant threat there of crime, as well as drugs
 * __** Cities Rapidly Grow **__

__Africa Seeks a Better Future__ World War 2 caused nations in Africa to face many challenges such as changes to the economic and social welfare of their citizens, and many still do today. Although many tried to make the changes necessary few reached social stability and strong economic development.

In order for developing countries to build productive economies and raise the standard of living, they were goals they needed to achieve; Such as, establishing industries, building transportation systems, developing resources, increasing literacy, and solving problems of poverty. Few countries had what they need to invest in these projects so as a result they needed to find different ways to run their country.
 * __**Making Economic Choices**__

As nations became independent, many of them chose __**socialism**__, a system where the government controls parts of the economy. They wanted to end the influence that foreign countries had on their economies as well as the inequalities between rich and poor. The socialist governments created large bureaucracies that we often inefficient. Other nations used capitalism, or market economies with private ownership of property. The countries that chose capitalism over socialism often had more efficient economies but the downside was that it allowed more profit to be taken out of the country by foreign owners.
 * __**Socialism or Capitalism**__

Earlier governments tried to increase earnings by growing cash crops to export (like coffee and cotton), but the land they used for export crops couldn't be used to produce food crops. The result of that was countries who used to be able to grow food for their country now had to import it which was more costly. Mean while governments kept food prices low to prevent unrest amongthe urban poor. The low prices discouraged local farmers and the government then had to subsidize (support with government spending) part of the cost of imoporting food from overseas
 * __**Cash Crops or Food**__

__**Facing Obstacles to Well-Being**__
Developing African nations faced rapid population growth, disease, the migration of people form rural areas to cities, and damage to wild life.

In the 1900's drought caused famine in parts of Africa. Livestock died, and farmland was turned to dust. They overgrazed and removed top soil therefor speeding up **desertification**, or the change from fertile land to desert. The loss of so much farm land led to food shortages even wit the international relief efforts.
 * __**Drought Brings Starvation**__

Starting in the 1980's AIDS has had a huge impact on Africans. AIDS is caused by HIV, which damages the body's ability to fight off infections. AIDS spread quickly and killed up to one third of the adults in South Africa and Botswana, It was estimated that more than 2 million died of AIDS each year. This led to many orphaned children and loss of skilled workers led to damaged economies.
 * __**AIDS kills millions**__

Africa is the most rural continent, but has a very high rate of **urbanization**, or movement of people from rural areas to cities. In west Africa this move has benefited the women greatly, it increased the opportunities as traders in the urban markets. Urbanization also brought many different ethnic groups together in cities,and helped replace ethnic loyalties with a bigger national identity. Urban life-styles weakened traditional cultures and undermined ethnic and kinship ties. Educated Africans took pride in traditions, but young urban dwellers scorned traditional ways. Urbanization, farming,and logging have destroyed 70 percent of Africans animals habitats, which causes **endangered species**, or species threatened with extinction. The Africans in poverty killed elephants for the ivory in the tusks, even though it is illegal. In Kenya the environmental activist **Wangari Maathai** challenged the policy's of theh government by starting the Green Belt movement. She worked on **sustainable development** or the economic development tha tprovides lasting wel-beingfor future generations.
 * __**People Move to Cities**__

Tanzania became independent in the 1960's and 50% of its population lived below the poverty line, the income is estimated at $290 per year. When Tanzania became independent most people were farmers or herders. To improve life they embraced "African Socialism" which was based off of an Africans village traditions of cooperation and shared responsibilities. The government took over banks and businesses and farmers were asked to move and farm collectively, so they could increase their out puts. This experiment failed and farmers refused to leave their land. Out put didn't rise,and this resulted in an inefficient government bureaucracy. The bureaucracy and costly all put Tanzania into debt. In 1955 reforms were introduced to cut governments size, promote market economy, and encourage foreign investment. Today Tanzania still is overwhelmingly agricultural. about 9 out of 10 of the people work in agriculture. 1/2 of their GDP comes from agriculture. The government tries to make more profits, and a mixed economy, but the country relies on loans from international lenders to avoid an economic crisis. Tanzania is still poor, but in the 2000s they opened up a huge gold mine. The government plans to use this along with foreign aid to reduce poverty and improve things like clean water, schools, and health care.
 * __**Tanzania A closer Look:[[image:apworldhistorywiki/map-of-africa-countries.gif width="330" height="346" align="left"]]**__

__**//Checkpoints//**__ __**Other Resources**__ http://databases.abc-clio.com/Multi African society is rapidly changing from rural to urban, with cities and towns expanding, not only in terms of population growth, but also spatially. They are taking up more space and moving on to rural and agriculturally productive land. Despite the negative affects of urbanization, these new and growing areas, which are located in coastal areas and the hinterland, have also become centers of education, culture, commerce and industry and technological innovation, providing opportunities for various manufacturing and service industries.
 * **Why did foreign lenders push developing nations to adopt market economies?**
 * So that foreign countries were able to pay off their loans
 * **What Factors trap people in developing world in a cycle of poverty?**
 * When people were forced off their land and pushed towards the cities and put them into poverty, forcing them to make their children work at young ages.
 * **Why have poeple moving to cities had to settle in shanytowns?**
 * People moving into cities had little money and their were few jobs available and cities were overcrowded from people flooding into them
 * **Why did governments promote the growth of cash crops?**
 * They wanted to grow cash crops to get increase the earnings from farmers so they could fund developmen
 * **What are some addvantages and disadvantages of urbanization in Africa?**
 * Many had hard ships, but women gained an increase in opportunities in the urban market. Also it brought together different ethnic groups. It weakened traditional cultures and undermined ethnic and kinship ties.
 * **What economic experiments did Tanzania try after Independence, and why?**
 * First they tried "African Socialism" because they wanted too be able to increase exports. Then they went to a bureaucracy because the African socialism failed. After that they tried promoting a market economy, because the new leaders wanted to get Tanzania out of debt and out of poverty