But there's a pretty specific international development community built around the term. The label "development" is attached to a vast array of institutions, including the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), NEPAD (New Economic Partnership for African Development) and the non-profit I head (the World Faiths Development Dialogue, or WFDD). At its simplest, development can be understood as the path to a more prosperous life.
A visit to Cambodia last summer inspired me to rethink the term. The WFDD has embarked on a year-long exploration of development and faith in Cambodia, to paint as full a picture as we can of faith-inspired efforts to advance development. Two wonderful fellows from the Princeton in Asia Program (somewhat akin to the Peace Corps) are based in Phnom Penh to "map" what is happening and draw lessons from it. The purpose is to understand and build bridges among worlds that are separated by language and preconceptions, and thus achieve better development results.
We knew that we would face questions about how we defined faith. The answer is: broadly, the beliefs and institutions that focus on God, a higher power, or the spiritual dimensions of humankind. But we were surprised at the variety of responses to what constitutes development. As we did our first round of interviews it became clear that everyone had a different notion. In some cases, everything went into the development basket. Sex trafficking? Absolutely, it's a central development question. Concerns about land grabs? Of course. Traffic snarls in the city? Tuberculosis? Corruption? A new radio station? Climate change? Domestic violence? Pre-school education? Every single issue rightly belongs on the development agenda. (For an intriguing concept of development, listen to Swedish health specialist Hans Rosling on TED, the website that features Ideas Worth Spreading. He debunks the idea of a world divided into developed and developing countries).
This question of where development begins and ends is not abstract because it points to fundamental shifts in world realities that are not fully reflected in the way we talk and think about world affairs. Bringing faith and religion into the mix poses a raft of new questions, but the responses offer countless new insights. That's partly because people inspired by faith can approach development matters from a different perspective. Religion is so much at the core of people's lives that it offers a reality check on whether development addresses what people truly want. My mentor and former World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn was fond of saying that faith leaders and communities have no monopoly on ethics. I agree, but ethical thinking is part of their mandate and they are often more skilled than lay counterparts in articulating ethical choices. We need them beside us as we address the issues.
Our team is asking everyone we interview--Buddhist monks, Muslim leaders, Catholic nuns, World Vision officers, Latter-day Saints Elders, orphanage founders, government officials--what development means to them. We also ask what motivates them, why they care. Their answers are a goldmine of insight. But there's a strong common theme: development is above all about having choices, about being able to take ownership and determine what one thinks is best. And that leads to a passion for educating children, lifting the burden of discrimination against women, building roads so farmers can sell their crops and buy what they need, saving the forests from illegal cutting so future generations can enjoy them, and so on.
Searching the Declaration of Universal Human Rights for the word "development," I was interested to see the word coupled in the few cases where it appears with "of the human personality". That speaks to the same idea, of allowing each individual to flourish. Development is not about a single path, nor is it about material prosperity. Nor is it a separate segment of endeavor that applies only to certain countries. Today's development enterprise is about making it possible for all people everywhere to thrive. And it's about keeping ethics at the center as we navigate turbulent waters, where the fate of people far away affects us and our actions affect them, and where we recognize that development is not for the poorest people but for us all.
