African philosophy and human factor development

Abstract

African countries, though independent, cannot develop as they see fit as long as they continue to function as clients of development organizations and social institutions which have their own economic and political agendas. The call is for Africa to analyse critically the human factor content of development proposals offered by foreign development organizations. Only then can Africa adopt and adapt those models which agree with her own developmental goals. In no way should Africa accept development proposals which compromise her vision and mission statements of development. Development in Africa should only take place in the context of Africa’s own organizations and institutions. And the main component of all organizations and institutions are people. Africa must, therefore, first develop the Human Factor (HF) content in all organizations and institutions before she can put in operation her developmental machinery. Foreign organizations which have operated and continue to operate in Africa have introduced and continue to introduce development interventions whose primary agendas are, first, to destroy the African HF content and, secondly, to damage organizational and institutional capacities, in order to finally put in place their own organizations and institutions. The task which Africa faces is how to clean the spoiled HF content and ensure that no further damage is done to her younger generations.