Non-Governmental Agencies and Their Role in Development in Africa: A Case Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the problems of development in Africa. The word “development” is used here in a much broader sense than in the accustomed meaning assigned to it by an economist seeing it narrowly as economic growth. It is used here to encompass social growth by which I mean not only the development of new social institutions and cultural forms in keeping with modernization and the development of a technological civilization in Africa, but also the development of social attitudes, skills, and, if you will, “mental sets” which will favor modernization in the economic field, in education, in politics, and in religion. In my view, the demands for modernization are such that they will challenge traditional cultural norms, values, and prejudices. I do not assume here that the adoption of modernity will necessarily condemn all traditional values and social forms. I only assume that the challenge of modernity will be so thorough-going that no area of African life will go unchallenged. The values and institutions which will show themselves adaptable will survive while those which fail to pass the test of usefulness and meaningfulness will be discarded. In my view, there is nothing to worry about in this, for, as I have had occasion to poinṭ out before (Vilakazi 1957), there is neither moral nor intellectual excellence in a people's sticking to the past merely because it belongs to their forefathers.