It is now seventh month since I am employed in a brand new industry - agricultural research for development. I have joined the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) Tashkent office in June 2008 as the Assistant Executive Secretary to the Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricutlural Research Institutions (CACAARI). Even though my current position is more a secretarial and managerial one, having plenty time for self-reflection and thoughts about development, I have become much more informed about applied development management and about the issues underpinning the development research and practice.
The first and most important pillar of development and especially rural development is food. I have been taught about the importance of democracy, liberty, freedom and entrepreneurship for development, but for millions of people around the globe, dying in poverty and hunger the issue seems to be much, much more "primitive" - readily available, adequately nutritious, stably provided food - sorghum (still have no idea what the heck this is, never ate it, it seems), wheat and rice, livestock, fish and suprisingly (for me, who always thought of this stuff as "dessert") - fruits and vegetables. While cool dudes have shown how politics affects food (most notably Amartya Sen with groundbreaking work on the linkage of hunger and democracy) the issue, at least in this region is more about researching on food and policies that make that food available to those who need it most and get it the least.
Researchers, policy makers and the private sector are the most important actors in delivering that food. But all three need to listen to their clients - either individually or mobilized and represented by grassroots (I stress that again, grassroots, not up-down) institutions - NGOs, farmer associations etc. This is relevant not only to hard sciences, but also to us - why ask a Dean about a research topic - go and talk to the local mob leader, marshrutka driver or pensioner - they will give the research topics that really matter - not the effects of congressional districting on voter outcomes (no offence, voting guys, but the outcomes of such research are for the rich guys that need to divide the districts property go win posts spending less).
In line with the Freakonomics sequel, I realized again that best things come out of the small-profit motives. One of the causes of unemployment in my region has been lack of information, say, about the jobs. Non-profits can spend zillions trying to put up an information exchange platform, but the wide array of successful newspapers and websites that link jobs and candidates and make profit (not huge profits, by the way) is an indication of the fact that it is best to outsourc virtuous acts to the profit sector, when and where appropriate. part-time students and the greedy will work much harder to sell their virtuous product than a fat guy at the development agency who does not even have to sell it, but spend the project money on half-way efforts.
Stop giving out Nobel Peace Prize to politicians - they get rewarded by being reelected and writing memoirs and being studied in history books. From now on, Nobel has to be given to people like Normal Borlaugh - who have researched, educated, organized and voiced, saving millions of lives around the world by doing their ordinary jobs. For more people like this see:
http://www.worldfoodprize.org/laureates/Laureates.htm This is for food, but there are also people like Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, who "discovered" AIDS, working in medicine etc.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
SOS: Kyrgyz primary education in deep koma!
Contributed an analytical article to Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (Johns Hopkins)'s Analyst. The article is about the catastrophic state of Kyrgyz school education as illustrated by PISA, an international educational attainment survey conducted in 2006 and by NOODU, national program for educational evaluation, last conducted and published in 2008. Having participated as an administrator of the program I came across some shocking obervations that could not be put in the article due to space limitations. (the article itself is at http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5087 )
There were children who did not know what Internet was - not only in the fourth, but also in the eighth grade.
Some of the more advanced Bishkek ninth-graders did not know what Odnoklassniki.ru is, let alone Wikipedia or anything like that.
Students in villages simply do not comprehend what they read. they need an external authority to tell them what to do, in simple and "vernacular' terms. The latter was vivid when I would read out loud detailed instructions in literary Uzbek and kids would then look, quite surprised, at their teacher, who would reformulate my statement using elements of local Kyrgyzo-Uzbeko-Tajik esperanto.
Disparities in the level of educational attainment are wide indeed. What makes everything worse is that the gap is not between very smart and stupid, but between average or a-bit-higher-than-average and really really challenged kids, challenged in reading comprehension and science knowledge sense.
Equipment at schools is of course, long gone. Recently conducted PISA survey at the outskirst of capital Bishkek, in what turned out to be physics room, and the only relevant piece of equipment available to demonstrate to students were several pieces of magnet.
There were children who did not know what Internet was - not only in the fourth, but also in the eighth grade.
Some of the more advanced Bishkek ninth-graders did not know what Odnoklassniki.ru is, let alone Wikipedia or anything like that.
Students in villages simply do not comprehend what they read. they need an external authority to tell them what to do, in simple and "vernacular' terms. The latter was vivid when I would read out loud detailed instructions in literary Uzbek and kids would then look, quite surprised, at their teacher, who would reformulate my statement using elements of local Kyrgyzo-Uzbeko-Tajik esperanto.
Disparities in the level of educational attainment are wide indeed. What makes everything worse is that the gap is not between very smart and stupid, but between average or a-bit-higher-than-average and really really challenged kids, challenged in reading comprehension and science knowledge sense.
Equipment at schools is of course, long gone. Recently conducted PISA survey at the outskirst of capital Bishkek, in what turned out to be physics room, and the only relevant piece of equipment available to demonstrate to students were several pieces of magnet.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Legacy of Soviet "colonialism"
Last two weeks of March and first two weeks of April, extensively travelled throughout Kyrgyzstan, from Batken’s Kizilkia and the city of Osh to Jalalabad’s Aksy and Nooken rayons and Bishkek mikrorayons. The primary objective was the administration of assessment program in primary education, however, the secondary objective was to see more of such diverse Kyrgyzstan. Impressions boiled down to the following:
Corruption seems to be the primary ill this country has to access. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a clean-hands public administration would immediately cure Kyrgyz society of myriad of contemporary ills. To cite several examples, in this country producing twice as much electricity as it needs (14.5 against 7 million mW), electricity cuts are still endemic in faraway places, while officially close to 40% (!!!) of electricity is lost. A local TV station aired a story today of cases of corruption in using foreign-provided grants for school repair.
USSR with all its ills and savageries and “colonial” domination of Kyrgyzstan executed a feat that hardly other great Kyrgyz patron will be able to repeat – brought railway, paved road, highly educated professionals and resources to the most faraway regions of this country. Such faraway places like KizilKia, practically a nowhere of great Soviet heartland used to enjoy such state of the art infrastructure as underground telephone cables, German-Jewish teacher passionaries sent directly from Moscow and a mining school that is still respected in Central Asia.
On Bishkek-Osh road, driving by numerous gigantic hydro-power dams and through several tunnels, all accomplishments of Soviet-time engineering thought and construction might, I could not but sadly realize that such intellectual potential that nowadays only economically mighty states can afford has left Kyrgyzstan for long, if not forever. For if you think about it, public engineering system is but a luxury not every state can afford.
Nowadays it is clear that with the above mentioned corruption state-of-the-art engineering project would have to be outsourced to Russian companies and cottage-house tiny school like the one I visited in Dostuk village of Nooken rayon would never enjoy a metropolis-trained intellectual and an adequate library in all three languages people around speak.
The saddest thing for this country is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The current political system would most likely continue to engage in myopic rent-seeking and exhaustive strip-off of national resources, as well as stealing from budget and inhibiting normal development of medium and small enterprises, while the country would be deeper engulfied into the slough of social problems.
Corruption seems to be the primary ill this country has to access. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a clean-hands public administration would immediately cure Kyrgyz society of myriad of contemporary ills. To cite several examples, in this country producing twice as much electricity as it needs (14.5 against 7 million mW), electricity cuts are still endemic in faraway places, while officially close to 40% (!!!) of electricity is lost. A local TV station aired a story today of cases of corruption in using foreign-provided grants for school repair.
USSR with all its ills and savageries and “colonial” domination of Kyrgyzstan executed a feat that hardly other great Kyrgyz patron will be able to repeat – brought railway, paved road, highly educated professionals and resources to the most faraway regions of this country. Such faraway places like KizilKia, practically a nowhere of great Soviet heartland used to enjoy such state of the art infrastructure as underground telephone cables, German-Jewish teacher passionaries sent directly from Moscow and a mining school that is still respected in Central Asia.
On Bishkek-Osh road, driving by numerous gigantic hydro-power dams and through several tunnels, all accomplishments of Soviet-time engineering thought and construction might, I could not but sadly realize that such intellectual potential that nowadays only economically mighty states can afford has left Kyrgyzstan for long, if not forever. For if you think about it, public engineering system is but a luxury not every state can afford.
Nowadays it is clear that with the above mentioned corruption state-of-the-art engineering project would have to be outsourced to Russian companies and cottage-house tiny school like the one I visited in Dostuk village of Nooken rayon would never enjoy a metropolis-trained intellectual and an adequate library in all three languages people around speak.
The saddest thing for this country is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The current political system would most likely continue to engage in myopic rent-seeking and exhaustive strip-off of national resources, as well as stealing from budget and inhibiting normal development of medium and small enterprises, while the country would be deeper engulfied into the slough of social problems.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Drop Deutsche Bank account if you have one
According to an international transparency watchdog Global Witness, Deutsche Bank used to and still does keep foreign currency accounts of Turkmen leaders where the latter store proceeds from gas sales. The fact that gas proceeds are stored there means:
1. That monies are not part of the budget and consequently that
2. proceed amounts are not transparent and finally that
3. only the leader of the country has access to it and can potentially use it for his own purposes.
According to GW's Tom Mayne, in 2009 the number might be as high as 12.5 billion USD. Since in 2007 5 billion gas proceeds made up half of the country's GDP, the current number should make up a similar share of the GDP.
Deutsche Bank seems to be very cosy with the fact. Germany corporate world overall has been very good with the late President Niyazov. There even were talks that Daimler sponsored the translation of his magnum opus Ruhnama into German as a gratitude to their VIP client. True, business is business and corporate world might not even give a damn about the nature of Turkmen political system and financial practices.
However, then why
1. Deutsche Bank refer to adherence to UN Global Compact, which, according to Mayne is pretty much an empty declaration?
2. Why does European democratic and anticorruption community not boycott Deutsche Bank or attempt to influence it somehow?
1. That monies are not part of the budget and consequently that
2. proceed amounts are not transparent and finally that
3. only the leader of the country has access to it and can potentially use it for his own purposes.
According to GW's Tom Mayne, in 2009 the number might be as high as 12.5 billion USD. Since in 2007 5 billion gas proceeds made up half of the country's GDP, the current number should make up a similar share of the GDP.
Deutsche Bank seems to be very cosy with the fact. Germany corporate world overall has been very good with the late President Niyazov. There even were talks that Daimler sponsored the translation of his magnum opus Ruhnama into German as a gratitude to their VIP client. True, business is business and corporate world might not even give a damn about the nature of Turkmen political system and financial practices.
However, then why
1. Deutsche Bank refer to adherence to UN Global Compact, which, according to Mayne is pretty much an empty declaration?
2. Why does European democratic and anticorruption community not boycott Deutsche Bank or attempt to influence it somehow?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Сюжет из "1984" Оруэлла
Цитирую статью Акипресс от 31 марта "День 31 марта: Две стройки-мечты – железная дорога из Китая и мусороперерабатывающий завод"
Тем временем Министерство внутренних дел республики решило бороться с кражами сотовых телефонов на новом технологическом уровне. В спешном порядке правительство приняло Положение о новых порядках взаимодействия сотовых операторов с органами внутренних дел. Теперь любой следователь может проверить передвижение любого гражданина по сотовому телефону стандарта GSM через imei-код. Раньше сотовые операторы время от времени для приличия требовали санкцию прокуратуры или суда. Теперь сотовые компании обязаны будут предоставлять эту информацию.
_________________________________________________________________
А если этот гражданин случайно окажется противником власти скрывающимся от нее? И если телефон он тот совсем не украл?
Тем временем Министерство внутренних дел республики решило бороться с кражами сотовых телефонов на новом технологическом уровне. В спешном порядке правительство приняло Положение о новых порядках взаимодействия сотовых операторов с органами внутренних дел. Теперь любой следователь может проверить передвижение любого гражданина по сотовому телефону стандарта GSM через imei-код. Раньше сотовые операторы время от времени для приличия требовали санкцию прокуратуры или суда. Теперь сотовые компании обязаны будут предоставлять эту информацию.
_________________________________________________________________
А если этот гражданин случайно окажется противником власти скрывающимся от нее? И если телефон он тот совсем не украл?
Политика национализма
Дэвид Леви, преподаватель курса «Государство и общество» в АУЦА говорит что Европа была колыбелью (частично и гражданского) национализма. В те далекие 1870-ые считалось нормальным, когда нормандцев, бургундцев, марсельцев и прочих заставляли учить парижский high French и ассимилироваться в единую нацию. А теперь пост-имперская Европа учит «новые государства» через ОБСЕ и прочих что мол меньшинства надо уважать, не пытаться ассимилировать, что надо спонсировать их радио, школы, литературу…Они нас учат что это возможно, финансируют исследования (своих институтов) в этой сфере.
Меньшинства конечно хорошо, надо из уважать, надо уважать их автономию и право на сохранение культурной самобытности. Просто обидно, что те, кто делают это в начале истории делают через кровь и сталь, а потом устами сердобольных европеек пихают что нам так делать нельзя…
Вообще европейское ханжество поражает своими масштабами….Не просто остров, а континент фарисеев.
Меньшинства конечно хорошо, надо из уважать, надо уважать их автономию и право на сохранение культурной самобытности. Просто обидно, что те, кто делают это в начале истории делают через кровь и сталь, а потом устами сердобольных европеек пихают что нам так делать нельзя…
Вообще европейское ханжество поражает своими масштабами….Не просто остров, а континент фарисеев.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
published in CACI
a field report on new Kyrgyz Tax Code, published by Johns Hopkin's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute is here;
http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5062
http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5062
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