Research proposal on designing a socioeconomic development program for voltania

VOLTANIA

Executive Summary
Voltania is a landlocked country in Africa. The Voltanian economy mainly depends on the agricultural production. In another word, the country is one of the less developed countries in the African continent. The country’s agricultural production is the base production on that the government can develop an economic development program. Having based on the agricultural production is a big disadvantage for the country because of the fragility caused by the climate change. The country with a fragile economy does not produce enough income and new jobs for the people. Subsequently, the citizens face an unstable economy.
The unstable economy creates many economic and social problems such as poverty, income inequality, food insecurity, food inflation, malnutrition, inequality to access to clean water and public services. The social development is dependent on the economic development. The fragility in the economy is reflected the social structure. The country has some natural resources and human resources; however, for the desired high level of production, the economic environment needs to develop an efficiently working economic structure.
The Voltanian Economy depends on the agricultural production, and the agricultural production depends on the natural resources and the climate. The most important input for the agricultural production is water. The country does not have enough underground water reserves, and because of that the rain regime is an essential determinant in the agricultural production. The climate change is an important factor. Voltania needs to develop and implement an economic development program taking the climate change into consideration.

The climate change is expected to influence the social and economic environment in the country. The main production is agricultural production in the country, and, in the past, the economic development programs were based on the agricultural production. The climate change has caused a large loss in the agricultural production. The droughts were once a ten years in the previous decades. However, in the last decade, the country has faced the droughts more frequently due to the climate change. These droughts have decreased the agricultural production drastically.
The droughts have influenced the agricultural production negatively, and also it has caused a migration from the rural areas to the cities in the country. A large population left the rural area, and that meant a large loss of labor in agriculture.
The government needs to develop three programs for socioeconomic development: 1) Social development program, 2) Economic development program, and 3) Climate change adaptation and food security program.

Social Development

The social development program should aim at developing the human resources for the industries with the development potentials as well as for reaching social goals. The school attendance level is at very low levels in the country. The family structure leads the people to have a number of children for the agricultural production, and they do not send their children to school because the children start working at an early age. Many of the people work in the agricultural production. Subsequently, the country has a labor force not well-educated and not professional. Due to the low level of education and productivity, the workers’ wages are low.
The solution requires three main policies: 1) increasing the quality of the public education institutions, 2) increasing the level of school attendance in the country, and 3) increasing the professionalism through education in the sectors of the industry and agriculture.
There are not enough schools in the country. Because of that, many of the students in the rural area have to travel to the central cities to receive education, and the parents of the students in the rural areas are not willing to send their students to the cities. The parents consider their children as labor to work in the field for the family.
The increase in the number of the schools might help develop the positive influence of the education on the development. However, it is not enough to increase the number schools. The government needs to develop the quality of the education in the country. The teachers hired or the potential teachers need to develop their teaching skills. For reaching this aim, the ministry of education can develop a program of training for trainers.
Increasing the attendance to the public schools and the quality of the education system might help the country increase the labor productivity. Also, the education might help people develop relatively better lifestyles. The country is having more drought problems in the recent years. The people need to learn how to deal with the drought and use the water more efficiently. The education institutions can increase the awareness in this issue.
Considering that a large population from the rural areas has moved into the cities, there might exist an adaptation problem in the cities. The newcomers might have difficulty to find jobs and survive in the cities. For promoting a relatively faster adaptation processes, an education program for the adults can be provided by the schools.
Increasing the attendance to the schools is expected to increase the labor productivity and create some positive social influences; however, it might be difficult to convince the people to send their children to the school or the adults to attend the adult courses. If the appropriate promotion can be developed for increasing the attendance to the schools and an adult education programs, we might expect positive results from the education system.
Another essential issue is teaching different professions needed in the country to the people. Therefore, the people can have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs, and to find relatively better jobs. The profession teaching programs can be developed for the young people and the adults.
The education can transform the citizens into the people who are willing to take the role in the economic development story. The awareness and the motivation are the most essential parts of the socioeconomic development. If the government can make the citizens believe in the socioeconomic development, it might be relatively easier to develop and implement socioeconomic development policies.

Economic Development

The economic development can provide enough financial resources for the social development. Because of that, we need to care the social and the economic development simultaneously. The Voltanian Economy should be able to grow at a certain level every other year; thus, the government can gather enough financial resources to start the industrial revolution, and increase the exports.
The Voltanian Economy depends on the agricultural production. Unfortunately, the agricultural production has many disadvantages in the international trade. Voltania imports many machineries, some semi-products, and finished products from the developed countries, and the imported machinery and products are relatively higher prices compared to the goods exported to the other countries.
The government needs to receive financial and technical assistance from the developed countries and the international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The financial and the technical assistance from outside the country need to be used in developing an infrastructure for the industrial and the agricultural production.
The agricultural production suffers from the droughts. The water resources, underground water reserves plus surface water reserves, are limited, and the drought is causing an important amount of decrease in the water resources. This situation creates a negative influence on the agricultural production. The agricultural production in the country uses very old technology, and there does not exist the agricultural infrastructure. Because of the use of the old technology, the agricultural production cannot use the water resources efficiently. Well-developed agricultural practices and a well-developed irrigation system might help the increase the productivity in the agricultural production.
Developing the agricultural production is one aspect in the economic development. At the same time, the Voltanian government should develop the industrial production. Because of the low quality labor forces and the lack of high-technology in the country, the government should start some government-owned businesses in the food sector and some other similar sectors that use the raw materials produced in the country. Processing the raw materials and the agricultural products in the country might help the government increase the contribution to the gross national product.
Consequently, developing the agricultural and the industrial production in the country will enable the government to increase the added value production in the country, and gather the required financial resources for the socioeconomic development. Considering that the economic structure is fragile, and the agricultural production is very sensitive to the droughts or the rain regime, the country has to develop a balanced economic development.
Fighting the Climate Change
The climate change creates many social and economic problems. Because the citizens make income on the agricultural production, the droughts create a big trouble for them. They lose the opportunity to survive for some years. Thus, the climate change is the most important issue that the country has to solve.
Solving the drought problem completely is impossible because the humankind cannot manage the rain regimes. A possible solution is to adapt the people to the changing climate conditions and droughts. The government needs to create a project on the climate changes and the droughts including the following strategies: 1) monitoring and comprehending the changing climate conditions, 2) changing the preferences in the agriculture, and 3) building the necessary agricultural infrastructures.
Monitoring the climate conditions is very essential for the agricultural production. If the producers are informed in time about the weather, it might be possible to create some precautions for the producers. The most importantly the producers can decrease the losses due to the unexpected weather. Also, well-developed dataset on the climate change might enable the scientists to make relatively better predictions about the future climate conditions. It is not possible to make the precise predictions about the future; however, relatively better information about the future might help the scientist to develop the appropriate agricultural production planning for the future. One of the most important aspects of planning is to develop a new agricultural crop pattern appropriate for the changing climate. Planting new kinds relatively more resistant to the droughts and the climate changes can help the producers get relatively better crops in the future.
The Voltanian farmers have an agricultural production tradition. This tradition was fine in the past when the country did not have very frequent droughts. However, in the recent years, the traditional way of agricultural production is causing very large losses in the agricultural production. The traditional agricultural production has to be transformed into a relatively more high-technological agricultural production. High-technological agricultural production does not mean only to use high-technological machineries, but also use of the modern knowledge in the production. The farmers have some preferences, and their preferences are an essential determinant in the agricultural productivity. Educating the farmers and teaching them about a relatively more appropriate way of doing agricultural production is an important policy to follow for the government.
The country has had an agricultural production infrastructure. However, it is not complete, and it is not enough for a modern agricultural production. Thus, the country has to make some investments to create modern irrigation systems and some other relevant infrastructures. Considering that the country does not have enough underground water reserves, collecting and storing the rain water for the next season is an important investment for the country. The government has to convince the developed countries to help the country finance the agricultural production infrastructure.

Providing Food Security

Food security includes the availability and the access to the foods by the citizens. The Voltainian country has a large problem in the food security. Because of the droughts, there is not enough crops and animal products in the markets. Thus, even if the people have access to the markets the food is sold, the amount is not enough. In this case, the government has to provide food for the people. Because the country does not have enough, there are two alternatives to get food: 1) importing and 2) getting food donations from the developed countries and the international organizations.
Providing food through importing and receiving help from the other countries cannot be a sustainable strategy for the country. The country needs to develop a better understanding of the food security risks in the country. The Voltanian government should be able to develop a food industry for the future to cope with the possible droughts in the future. An increase in the agricultural production might help the country increase the amount of the food in the country; however, the droughts and the climate change might not allow the country to produce enough for the country. In this case, the country needs to be able to export some other products so the country can import food from the other countries in the future.
Food security will be harder to provide in the future because of the climate change and the environmental pollution. The scientists expect food inflation in the future. Considering that Voltania needs to develop green industrial and agricultural production. That might create very big advantage in the international arena for the country.

Monitoring the Results

The socioeconomic development program will help the country to recover from the negative results of the climate change. The government needs to observe and monitor the results of the development policies. Considering that the conditions will change in the future, the government might need to make new interventions in the future. In this case, what data does the government need to monitor?
There are three main subjects to follow: 1) Education results, 2) Developing agricultural production infrastructure, 3) Transformation of the traditional farming into modern farming, and 4) Food production. The government needs to observe some data on the results of education. For instance, the number of people attending the schools, the number of people receiving education on the agricultural and food production, and some other data relevant to the quality of the education are some essential data to be observed. Secondly, completing the infrastructure in the country is important. The government should make investments in the infrastructure, and follow the results from this infrastructure. Thirdly, the government needs to transform the farmers into the modern farmers. The statistics relevant to the modern agricultural applications has to be monitored. Finally, the government needs to watch the amount of the food available in the country; therefore, the necessary steps for the food security can be taken.

Some Hypothesis to Test

In every socioeconomic development program for the less developed countries, the education, transformation of the producers into modern producers, and increasing the opportunities for the people are included. Similar to many socioeconomic development programs, the Voltanian government needs to include them in the socioeconomic development program. The government needs to test the following hypothesis to confirm that the socioeconomic development program reaches its goals:
– Education system includes most of the population,
– Education system reaches a certain quality level,
– Education system contributes to the agricultural and the industrial production,
– The transformation of the traditional farming into the modern farming works,
– The agricultural crop pattern is developed as a result of the transformation,
– The farmers understand the importance of the transformation,
– The trends in the food production indicate an increase in the production in the following years.
These hypotheses are the most essential ones to test. If the government can confirm the positive results from these hypotheses, it will be possible to develop a sustainable socioeconomic development for the country.

Developing a Project for the Climate Change and Fight Food Security

The less developed countries governments have the financial resources problem. The Voltanian government also faces the financial resources problem as a small country in the continent of Africa. The donor countries are the developed economies in the world. When the donor countries make the decision of supporting the projects in the less developed countries, they control for the efficiency of their investments in these countries.
The radical view on the climate change suggests implementing very radical changes in the less developed countries including the many costly infrastructures; however, because we do not know if the climate change will be very effective on our lives, these investments might be inefficient and a big risk.
The developed countries mainly support developing the management structures in the less developed countries. The experiences in these countries indicate that many of the support programs failed because of the inefficient use of the financial resources through corruptive structures in these countries.
The donor countries might prefer developing a program in Voltania to strengthen the structure. Which structure should we develop in Voltania for creating an adaptation to the climate change and for food security in the country? The most of the population is living in the big cities; therefore, the most damage might happen to the population in the cities. Thus, the priority has to be the cities. Secondly, the climate change will threaten the agricultural production from which the country produces food.
The cities’ infrastructures and social environments need to be developed to resist against any negative influence from the climate change. In another word, the resilient cities have to be formed. The climate change will influence the water resources negatively, and even the cities might face some disasters. The infrastructure for droughts and some social services for the people who might suffer from the drought times can be developed through the support programs.
Another essential project should be developed on the adaptation of the agricultural production to the droughts and the other negative influences of the climate change. There might be three steps in this project: 1) developing social structure and social services for the farmers, 2) developing agricultural infrastructure for the drought times, and 3) developing an insurance system to compensate the losses during the future disasters.
Consequently, developing resilient cities, smart agricultural production, and preparing social structure for droughts might be solved through the financial and technical support programs financed by the developed donor countries.

Works Cited

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