3.3.8

Top-Down & Bottom-Up Development

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Bottom-Up vs Top-Down Strategies

Bottom-up strategies usually give small amounts of funding to individuals or communities. Top-down strategies usually involve governments or NGOs (like the IMF or World Bank) doing large-scale projects.

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Top-down strategies

  • Advantages:
    • Governments have lots of money to invest in big infrastructure projects.
    • Governments can play for long time periods and know they have enough money.
    • Governments don't have to invest purely focused on profit.
  • Disadvantages:
    • If public officials are corrupt, the money may not be spent on the project.
    • Government organisations are famously bureaucratic and slow. They do not have incentives to deliver cost-efficient projects quickly.
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Bottom-up strategies

  • Advantages:
    • It uses the wisdom of the crowds and anyone with an idea can pursue it.
    • Local communities and individuals find it easier to build up a lot of support.
    • New platforms like JIBU, SEAP, and KIVA support people getting funding.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Poor people who have ideas and need help are least likely to be able to get funding.
    • Cannot plan a project with insecure funding for a long time period.
    • It is hard to co-ordinate lots of different individuals and NGOs.

Jump to other topics

1Physical Geography

1.1River Environments

1.2Coastal Environments

1.3Hazardous Environments - Tropical Cyclones

1.4Hazardous Environments - Earthquakes & Volcanoes

2Human Geography

3Global Issues

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