The Vicious Cycle of Poverty -- the elusive bottom

So, I've been using an old, unused Starbucks planner for my DEVC 202 Journal. We're required to keep a journal where we would record our thoughts on development and our answers to the activities in our course modules. This journal is our "pass" for the final exams. (Although, by now, our professor has generously agreed to consider this blog as my pass... uh-oh, pressure!) But I still use my planner anyway ;-)

When scientist Daniel Lerner coined the phrase "vicious cycle of poverty" for the development world, he eventually came to the conclusion that the root cause of poverty is excessive population growth. The point was no matter what we do, population growth will always "counter" or "cancel out" our achievements. One step forward, pop'n growth = 2 steps backwards.

I actually sort of agree with him, as stated in my MDG discussion here, I talked about our fast growth rate as a hindrance to achieving goals. How can we multiply the number of classrooms to catch up with the exponential population growth rate of students? Too much, too fast, too soon.

But I would also point out that lack of education and awareness can also be a root cause (this is why I consider myself as a DevCom advocate, because I believe equipping people with information is a powerful strategy against poverty).

Ah, but this is just my opinion. As what our textbook highlighted,  If the Phils experience zero population growth, will we solve all our problems? If all Filipinos were well-educated, will we solve all our problems? Tough to "get to the bottom of things" !!! Hmmm... this is why I did not become a politician and am  thoroughly enjoying my work in the private sector.

Our course module then took us to understanding the problematique method, a technique of doing a diagram and mind map to help identify the root cause of problems. We were asked to pick a problem in our community and ask ourselves, "Why?" until the question can no longer be answered.

I picked the problem "crowded and chaotic streets in Binan, Laguna"

Let's see if my diagram makes sense:

Why are there crowded and chaotic streets in Binan, Laguna? OMG, I can get emotional on this because it really is a big issue, and I can't understand how our mayor can withstand this problem. My parent's house is very near the town proper and we deal with too much tricycle, blocked roads, street vendors, traffic, illegal parking, everyday!

Two things contribute to this chaos, there is simply too much commercial activity (Binan is a major trading center of all sorts of goods) and a general lack of discipline of both citizens and visitors.

This is a normal view in front of our house. Our street is an extension of the town proper , and we get spillover of the trade activities.

Again, why? There are no allocated spaces for these trade activities. They happen everywhere ..our market spills over to the streets, each vacant space is taken over by delivery vans, etc. There should be laws or zoning guidelines somewhere, but authorities are not implementing them.

This eventually leads me to two related core problems: Is it just poor government planning? Or are they really smart, but lack the political will to implement?

Coming up with solutions to problems is difficult especially if people all have different opinions, and it is only human to try and please everybody.Just to share with you, I got into arguments with my mom and my uncle (who are both involved with different civil society groups in Binan) while drafting this Binan problematique map because we all had different opinions on why stuff happens!  :-)

How about you? Do you agree with my line of thinking? Can you think of your own issue where you can differentiate the "symptoms" from the "solutions"?