The human factor perspective and development education

The relatively slow pace of the economic development process in Africa, compared to other developing regions of the world has generated immense interest in diagnosing causes from different perspectives and ideological studies. These could be classified into three broad groups, namely the conservative, liberal and radical (Ofori-Amoah, 1995). A new perspective has emerged in the past few years. This is called the Human Factor (HF) perspective (sec Adjibolosoo 1993, 1994, 1995a, 1995b 1996). The HF perspective argues that the primary reason for the failure of economic development processes in most African countries is lack of appropriate HF, where HF is defined as the ‘spectrum of personality characteristics and other human dimensions which allow political, economic and social institutions to function effectively and continue to do so over time’ (Adjibolosoo 1994:26).

A position paper on the crucial nature of the human factor ingredient in development education in Africa.