Globalization and Human Ecology

Globalization and Human Ecology
Excerpt from my Day 1 of Comprehensive Examination
for Post-Graduate Diploma in Community Development

by Alexey Rola Cajilig


The Global Village Phenomenon

Globalization – a new world concept. Globalization as a concept brings countries closer, unifying each country within a common economic, security/military, political and cultural policies and understanding. Although this concept has been in existence for decades, especially through the United Nations, it is only now that a more vivid picture of globalization can be seen. Europe implemented a single currency policy, the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) was signed, anti-money laundering and terrorism bills were introduced, human resource outsourcing is widely implemented, multinational companies play a major role in local economies, international issues are affecting local political stances, cultures are widely influenced by global media and even environmental issues are now being discussed in a paradigm of interrelatedness. Globalization is likewise characterized by an open market economy where investments, goods and services can be accessed to and from nations. In hindsight, the trend of globalization is towards a systematic standardization of policies and processes to foster equal access to opportunities and resources.

The Millennium Development Goals. As an example of a concrete outcome of globalization, a common goal was agreed through the MDG. It is a unified declaration where governments commit to achieve by integrating the goals to their short and long term development objectives. Among these goals include poverty eradication and environmental protection.

Development Issues

Development is the presence of alternative actions towards emerging cultural, political, economic and environmental issues, and the capacity of individuals and societies to take specific actions to address these concerns in a truly participatory, empowering and sustainable manner, taking into consideration the carrying capacity of the environment. Currently, the key global development issues include poverty, culture, pollution and environmental degradation.

Poverty. In this age of globalization, poverty remains a formidable issue of every nation. While there are many parameters on poverty, I choose to define it as the absence of alternative actions to address an individual’s compounded political, cultural, economic and environmental concerns. At first glance, the glaring issue is on economic poverty, or on the capacity of an individual to feed him/herself and his/her family (basic needs). This individual/family needs will eventually impact society, especially on a collective sense. It must be noted that low/no income will lead to low standard of living, which will lead to low/no productivity (Circular and Cumulative Causation by Gunnar Myrdal). Eventually, it will lead to a vicious cycle that will breed crime, exploitation and unrest, affecting other development components.

Culture. There is a two-pronged issue concerning culture in a global context. The first one is on a pervading culture of inequity and inequality. With the control and management of the political and economic structures of society still strongly with the oligarchs, only limited access to opportunities and resources are available for the grassroots. In this context, the rich will continue to amass wealth while the poor will remain poor. This situation is however not limited to social classes but also involves gender and age biases.

The other concern is based on the Theory of Diffusionism where the dominant class (oligarchs) imposes their conception of reality to the subordinate class (grassroots). This culture of hegemony will further exploit people as they blindly accept both the covertly and overtly oppressive systems imposed on society. This exploitative system will cause people to submit to the former cultural conception of societal dominance and accept their fate as second or third class citizens. Worse, effective indigenous approaches used in addressing development concerns may also be lost as a result of cultural diffusion.

These cultural concerns are not limited to the micro situation of nations but are also visible in the relationships of nation-states.

Pollution and Environmental Degradation. Apart from poverty and social injustice, pollution and environmental degradation are issues causing increasing alarm to various nation-states. Smoke emissions and unabated environmental destruction caused global warming, health issues, natural and man-made disasters, and lower agricultural productivity, among other things.

It is interesting to note that during the industrial revolution until recent years, the use of cars, and smoke-emitting factories, coal mines and aggressive use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture were used as parameters for development. To date, these parameters are actually affecting the “development of development.”

Pivotal Point

Climate Change - A Global Concern. Development discussions usually point towards poverty alleviation as the key issue. Since the purpose of development is to do better (Robert Chambers), the position of addressing poverty will always hold water. However, in recent times, it became apparent that directly addressing poverty may not be the effective solution. The burning issue of this day is climate change. This is a phenomenon brought by decades of global warming, which drastically changed the sea/ocean’s temperature due to the melting of ice glaciers and the drying out of natural inland water systems.

Climate change has drastic impacts on nation-states and the global economy as a whole. Rainfall seasons became erratic, thus adversely affecting established cropping patterns/calendars and more importantly farm yield and income. Flooding became more frequent which often results to landslides thus compounding the housing, education and economic concerns of local communities. Beyond poverty, climate change exposed people to vulnerabilities, where governments may not be able to readily address due to its unexpected and unforeseen impacts.

At a glance, climate change may be perceived as a purely environmental issue. However, in looking at the causes of global warming more closely, it actually stemmed from our economic and cultural activities driven towards our endeavor to achieve development. In this regard, the underlying causes of climate change must be recognized within the economic (especially on the mode of production), political (government policies on industries vis-à-vis its environmental impacts), cultural and environmental components of development.

More importantly, climate change may not be dealt with on a per nation-state basis, but rather on a holistic approach using a paradigm of interrelatedness.

A Step towards Equilibrium – a Human Ecological Perspective. The growing awareness and concern on climate change should gear societies towards sustainable development – direction towards progress which puts emphasis on the carrying capacity of the environment to support the population and the industries around it. As mentioned earlier, addressing climate change will involve a holistic and multi-pronged approach of interrelated programs implemented in all nation-states, at a simultaneous and sustained manner. The economic activities will likewise need to revolve around the environment’s carrying capacity, thus changing the political and cultural face of societies globally (loosely based on the Equilibrium Theory of Odum).

Key Players in Development

Conventional Players – A Structural Analysis. At the macro level, the key players in globalization are the so-called first-worlds – the industrialized and highly-industrialized countries – the global oligarchs. They basically call the shots since investments, regulating bodies and multinational companies come from these nation-states. The economic interests of these nations dictate the local development strategies, which affects the political and cultural dynamics of global economies. Clearly, this is also the case in the micro setting of nation-states, where the sub-structure (economics and mode of production) affects the superstructure (politics and culture).

Active Involvement of Grassroots – Radical Change in the Sub-structure. There has to be a genuine participation of the smaller nation-states in the planning and implementation of development programs. Beyond mere representation, these nation-states must be able to choose their desired development directions based on their capacities and aspirations. To standardize processes and policies for all under a globalized system will only lead to exploitation since the technical, economic and military capacities of smaller nation-states are of no equal to the global oligarchs.

The same is true within the micro environment, as in the case of the Philippines. The grassroots must be given genuine opportunity to participate in the planning and implementation of development programs. They are the ones who are experiencing poverty, and are the ones most vulnerable to climate change, hence are in the best position to identify concrete solutions and alternative actions to address felt development issues.

Challenges of Contemporary Development

Moderating the Greed. A major challenge in contemporary development is in moderating the greed of people. How do we limit our own insatiability? How do we sustain adherence to such limits? This greed leads to exploitation and oppression. It is a pervasive character which may also haunt the grassroots should they succeed in taking the helm of power. This goes beyond culture, politics and economics, since there is also a need to achieve a balance between economic and environmental concerns. We also need to look deeply into the carrying capacity of the environment to provide for the population and the industries that supports it.

Globalization as A Model of Linear Development, Dualism and Dependency. Another challenge is the development models embraced in globalization. We are trapped in a formula of western solutions fostering a system that will only breed dependency and economic bankruptcy.

Structural Adjustments. In the Philippine context, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended several structural adjustments in order for us to gain a favorable rating from the agency. We may opt not to operationalize these recommendations, however, by not acting on it, we will not be eligible for foreign investments cum loans, and may not be entertained in the arena of the global oligarchs. These structural adjustments were mostly based on western economic standards which are not entirely applicable to local situations. As a result, our local oligarchs gain more profit while we are burdened with more loans.

Agricultural – Industrial Economies / Small Nation – Big Nation Economic Exchanges. The globalization process is a merger of agricultural (from small nation-states) and industrial (global oligarchs) economies. Based on the Dualism Theory, the stronger industry will eventually prevail at the expense of the weaker ones. In our case, the resulting trade relations we have with industrialized nations will eventually dry us out. To elaborate this point, let’s look at the agricultural context of the Philippines and China. Traditionally, we import rice and other agricultural commodities to other countries. However, along with the advent of globalization came cheap agricultural commodities from China, way below the farm gate prices in the Philippines. As a result, and because of practicality, we patronize Chinese goods, impacting heavily on the capacity of local farmers to sustain production. With a decreased profitability, farm lots are now converted to residential lots and other commercial purposes. Prices from China are still low, however, we may be looking at a future situation where we may be held hostage to higher prices of the same agricultural commodities simply because of our local incapacity to produce our population’s food requirements.

Center-Periphery Relationship. In contemporary development, we are faced with a textbook dependency situation where we obtain loans, grants and investments from industrialized nations, and in return, export our goods and services. Our government often announces these loan agreements as if these were manna from heaven, and an answer to our development woes. However, we have seen in recent months that being a periphery of another nation breeds corruption (based on our structural set-up) among other things. It also plunges us into debts, the presence of which (as well as the need for it) puts us in a compromising position of accommodation and compromise, as in the case of our recent Spratly Islands agreements with China and Vietnam.

Terrorism. This is a side effect of globalization. As the new world economic order was established, the battle for ideologies was also elevated into the global arena. Perhaps to effectively address terrorism is to address the equality and equity issues along with other cultural concerns like religion and political perspectives.

Putting Our Acts Together. The challenge of contemporary development is in the implementation of an integrated solution (global action). There is a need to agree initially on a principle of global environmental protection, then on poverty alleviation based on the principles of equity and equality.

Addressing Poverty Towards a New World

It is now clear that in order to effectively address poverty, we also need to address the global issue on climate change. In moving forward, we need to change institutions as Myrdal suggested. In order to cope with the present carrying capacity of the environment, policies on population, spatial allocations, economic activities, cultural practices and governmental policies should undergo changes.

Likewise, since the development of human beings may lead to economic development (Psychological Theory of Development), programs paving the way for well-being and eventually for self-actualization must be put in place. In doing this, we also need to consider the humanization of the oppressed which includes both the oligarchs and the grassroots (Freire).

This will be a long process of breaking the mindset of poverty by influencing the sub-structure through the active participation of the grassroots in the planning and implementation of solutions to poverty.

The process may perhaps take a Taoist approach of going back to nature, which when taken collectively, will influence a global renewal movement through globalism – a cooperation among nations to sustain a global economy based on equality, equity and environmentally-sound economic programs and policies.

The Development Dictionary

I would like to include the followign words in the Development Dictionary.

Community Development Artists - Community development is the attainment of responsible well-being. It is an interaction of various factors such as equity, capacities, livelihood security and management, and sustainability, among other things. The achievement of this has no definite structure or formula, and will rely largely on the context and actions of people. It is an art work. If community development is an art work, facilitators may then be referred to as community development artists. S/he will combine different social colors and behavioral shades, with the use of several contextual canvasses and organizing strokes, as inspired by a participatory landscape. Every piece of art work is unique and relevant as it mirrors the real situational needs and directions. I am a Community Development Artist.

Paradigm-shift Facilitators - The challenge in doing participatory processes is in enjoyning the community to adopt such an approach. The buy-in process becomes even more tedious especially when community leaders are used to top-down approaches. In these instances, the task of facilitators is geared towards changing paradigms. To effectively accomplish this, there may be a need to down-shift the role of CD facilitators, with the community taking the helm of community developement work. So in participatory approaches, we need paradigm-shift facilitators.

Participatory Journey - This is the journey or the processes that a community or individual may undergo to fully grasp and understand the concept and dynamism of participation. The processes may involve the following stages: unlearning, experiencing, appreciating, understanding, learning and doing.

Responsible Well-Being - A Personal Agenda for Development... A Reflection

Alexey Rola Cajilig (alexey.cajilig@gmail.com)

My reflection will focus on Robert Chambers' concept of responsible well-being and Corporate Social Responsibility.

I have a special interest on Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR. In fact I used to manage the national CSR campaigns of a multi-national pesticides company a few years back.

In the course of CSR implementation, I began to question our company's intentions when I realized that it was mostly public relations and sales-driven. The programs we painstakingly developed with communities (and "whole-heartedly" supported by top company executives) were abruptly put to a halt whenever shifts in buying patterns occur, and as public opinions improve. I feared that the unsustainable nature of such interventions, not to mention the co-opted strategies applied in hurried fashion, will have a negative impact on people especially i terms of genuine participation and commitment. At that time, I felt ill-equipped to face higher company personalities in debate over the issue. So I left the company in search for the real R in CSR.

CSR should adhere to the concept of responsible well-being. The value of giving more because you have more should be highlighted. More than that, CSR programs should ensure sustainable community livelihoods through participatory development and management.

CSR campaigns should not be geared primarily to gain customer loyalty and bottom-line sales. Instead, it must move towards the build-up of appropriate social services, complimentary with those provided by other organizations and the government.

After four years of searching, I am ready to answer the question - What is the R in CSR? The missing R in CSR is responsible well-being. With responsible well-being, grassroots programs will not result i the furtherance of a pervasive culture of dependence. Instead, it will eventaully result to real empowerment and considerable degree of economic independence. As a start, corporations may have to embrace the fact that they need to train CSR personnel in responsible well-being, and re-align programs towards this direction. In similar manner, community development institutions may have to unlearn certain biases towards business, and likewise embrace the role of paradigm-shift facilitators, consciously influencing corporate behaviours to help achieve a CSR with a real R.

Reflection on Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Development

By Rosel A Isidro (roselski@yahoo.com)

I believe that there is a thin line that separates Public Relations from Corporate Social Responsibility. While PR deals with internal and external publics of an organization, CSR mainly looks at the external public. PR and CSR projects are both conceived to create a good public image of a business organization, which, in the first place, was created to make profit.

In a presentation of the CSR Institute during the CSR Expo last month, they identified the benefits of CSR on the profit side, which includes: brand loyalty/brand recall; improved shareholder relations; improved stakeholder relations; sharper anticipation and management of risk; learning and innovation; a good CSR reputation reflects on the values and principles inherent in the company; and CSR influences products and services in the minds of customers and consumers.

Thus, competitive advantage and CSR was linked by Porter and Kramer (2006: also cited by CSR Institute in their presentation).
“If corporations were to analyze their prospects for social responsibility using the same frameworks that guide their core business choices, they would discover that CSR ca be much more than a cost, constraint or a charitable deed—it can be s source of opportunity, innovation and competitive advantage.”

This is to say that a CSR project is always conceived with the intention to create a good public image of the company, which in the long-term could spell opportunity to make more profit. This is where a tension area between CSR and CD comes in. In the project identification process, what weighs heavier? the need of the community, or the prospects of a better profit in return?

A more basic tension area, however, is the question of who participates in the project identification and conceptualization of a CSR program?

There is no doubt, however, that people benefit from the CSR projects being done by several companies in the Philippines today. The likes of Mirant Philippines, Andres Soriano Foundation, Ayala Foundation, Shell Philippines Foundation, Holcim, to name a few. These corporate foundations have registered a number of program beneficiaries. The very good publications reflect this. From a community development point of view, however, their first hand account is worth digging. What are the impacts of these projects on their lives? What are their stories? How do they look at the future now? I just wish to look beyond the numbers.

The concept and practice of CSR from the 60’s to the present has evolved from the stage of philanthropy to integration of CSR into the business practice. Looking at this evolution, I am sure that it still in the process of defining its direction. The fact that practitioners from several disciplines are looking at it very closely using their own lenses—such as business management, psychology, human ecology, etc., --the community development practitioners are in a better position to seek direction and maximize the potential of CSR in making positive changes in the lives of the people. A good grasp of community development theories and principles could very well be a firm foundation for people empowering CSR projects.

The next tension area arises in the above mentioned proposition. Are community development workers ready to embrace the concept of CSR, considering that it is a business strategy towards social investment?

How can the business side and the societal aspect be harmonized through CSR? In a sense, the framework below applies:

The framework above depicts the societal case vs. business case for CSR, part of the CSR Institute Presentation.

Community development workers have a standing bias towards the poor and the disempowered. Could CSR projects prioritize them? To what extent? This could be a challenge to CD practitioners, and also to the business community as well. How far can we go in terms of responding to the less fortunate communities? What if there is no promise of returns even in the long-term basis? How can the business side and the societal aspect be harmonized through CSR?

This could very well be the reason why it seems easier or less complex for companies to conceptualize CSR programs or projects responding to macro-issues such as the Millenium Development Goals. Like in the case of the League of Corporate Foundations, they launched the 57-75 Reverse the Education Crisis Program and Sustaining the Environment Program, in response to poverty reduction.

Rosel A. Isidro
roselski@yahoo.com

Corporate Social Responsibility VS Community Development??

Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Development... is there any conflict?
In a quick scanning, the answer to this question may be reflected on how some development activists (my purposes of BLOG discussions, we will refer to them as DevActs) view these two concepts: like water and oil - you can put them together yet you cannot form it into a mixture. I encountered a lot of DevActs in my journey towards CSR advocacy. It is quite easy to recognize them for they usually dwell on the following arguments:

• "CSR is both a tool and strategy employed by transnational corporations in order to mask their destructive impacts."
• "These programs are designed to increase their share in their customer's share of heart, which will eventually lead to an increase in their share of wallet."

Based on these points, the DevActs will usually advocate non-support for CSR initiatives, and instead look into genuine community development strategies as the real and lasting solution for poverty, gender-related issues, environmental degradation, and other social issues and concerns. DevActs are usually from the fields of social and natural sciences.
On the other hand, active CSR practitioners (we will refer to them as Corporate Activists or CorpActs) tend to co-opt social/community development concepts for their PR projects, and marketing programs. Through popular media, the CorpActs seem to pay great amounts of lip service to advocate for a new type of community development - the CSR. Based on western-influenced literatures on development, the CorpActs implement grassroots programs (sometimes integrated with "innovative" ideas and proven marketing strategies) with lots of fanfare and media attention. However, in a collective sense, these activities will help fight poverty, preserve the environment, and find solutions to all other emerging social issues and concerns.

But development is not a contest between DevActs and CorpActs!

The real issue is sustainability, patronage politics and cultural hegemony of dole-out mentality. The current trend for most CSR programs are geared towards short-term actions, and dependent on a company's capability to spend for "extra-curricular" activities. The financial allocation for projects are determined by the organization's sales performance. Hence a well-funded project this year may end up without any funding next year. In such a scenario, projects may discontinue. In a company's perspective, this is simply a change in direction.
Short-term efforts, may reflect as great accomplishments for corporations especially when scaled up in numbers. Scanning the impacts of these sporadic programs on the surface may also evoke positive reviews. However, looking deeply into the dynamics of community organizing and grassroots interactions, one may realize that these sporadic projects actually instills patronage politics and a cultural hegemony of dole-out mentality.

This MUST be corrected. The DevActs must begin to realize that attaining development also needs cooperation and acceptance. The fact that the business community is actively moving towards community development through CSR is for real. Accept this and move forward. Without compromising your critical thinking, extend a helping hand and show the way towards an effective participatory development process.

On the other hand, CorpActs must begin to realize that community development through CSR needs to follow a process of participation, acceptance and community action in order to achieve real sustainable development.

There is no conflict between CSR and Community Development. An effective interface will bring synergy that will have lasting positive changes in people's lives.

Alexey Rola Cajilig (alexey.cajilig@gmail.com)

A Brief History on CSR

This is a brief history on CSR...

The United Nations, through the UN General Assembly's Millennium Declaration in September 2000, embarked on an initiative to "halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people whose income is less than one dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger and, by the same date, to halve the proportion of people who are unable to reach or afford safe drinking water." While the community of nations agreed on this, the United Nations still acknowledged the role of private sector and civil society organizations in attaining the millenium objective. This call for strong partnerships with the private sector evolved to what is now commonly referred to as corporate citizenship.

Although largely encouraged, the involvements of multinational corporations (MNC) in development initiatives were not triggered by the U.N. Millennium Declaration. Various programs were already implemented and geared towards poverty alleviation, education and health immediately following the Second World War until the late 1990s. However, these initiatives usually came in the form of philanthropic aid and did not actively involve local communities in the planning and implementation processes (Ciba-Geigy Public Relations, 1985: 19; Madeley, 2002: 35; Paul et. al., 2003: 1; World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2004: 13).

The introduction of CSR created a new approach in management where doing business with the poor was done "in ways that benefit the poor and benefit the company' (WBCSD, 2004: 14). As a result, major MNCs and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are now into the CSR arena to gain leverage over competition, and to provide services to communities within their sphere of corporate operations and employee competencies (Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Competitiveness, 2004: 1-3).

CSR Discussions

CSR Discussions... a free-wheeling take on community development through corporate citizenship

This Blog site is dedicated to all CSR enthusiasts who would like to update and get updated on the latest news about CSR. We would like to promote a venue for free-wheeling discussions on CSR in order to celebrate success stories, and challenge current practices that may still need improvement.

Share your CSR experiences! Post questions and share your views. Let's discuss how we can achieve community development through corporate citizenship.

CenTRe8 (thecentre8@gmail.com)

social responsibility... small steps

"Ang tao ay maituturing na isang butil ng buhangin lamang kung ihahalintulad sa laki ng mundo... subalit ang mundo ay ga-buhangin din sa lawak ng kalangitan... sino ngayon tayo upang magpalakihan at magpagalingan sa mundong ito?"

Like everyone else, I was not consulted prior to conception. And I can bet all my earthly possessions (which is not much, believe me!) that even my parents were not exactly thinking of me and my destined life while I was being conceived. Why are we here? Why am I here?

I am not a religious person, if being religious is synonymous to regularly attending mass and visiting the church. But I do believe that there is a Creator. And that we do have a purpose for living. For me, that purpose is SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Social Responsibililty... I never realized it, until recently, why I was so interested with social responsibility. I left my job at Syngenta a couple years ago so I can begin my life's journey. Yet I had no idea where and what this journey will lead me into. All I knew then was that I needed to pursue a dream... a life of fulfillment... a life. So here I am, doing social responsibility.

In my own definition, social responsibility is doing your share of preserving and upholding what is right within one's own capacities. Small steps! Smile and bring joy to others. Listen to your friends' and loved one's problems and opinions, and make them feel important. Give a hug and say I love you and how much you care. Say thank you. Greet your neighbors. Plant a tree. Play with your dog. Play fair yet play hard. Smell the flowers and appreciate the wonders of creation. Obey traffic rules. Vote. Count your blessings. Love. Find humour in all places. Do not despair. Social responsibility should not be a high-end solution. It is a simple solution to achieve "high-end" goals. Simple steps... small steps.

And that is why I created this blogsite. Let us all contribute to social responsibility and collectively provide something big for humanity, in what is otherwise a negligible existence on earth compared with its own existence in the universe... in our small ways... in our small steps...