Effective transforming investment has a very hard edge

Most of us who have been there know that changing the situation of poor rural people can be almost impossible. education ,health care and clean water etc can help, but the real issue is hope and whether you can sustain it,,. In many really poor areas you can't simply sustain the way they do things -so how in the world do you find a way back to resiliance.
There is a lot of  careless talk about resilience-the only way to wrest people near the edge is not to rely on their toughness, but to rely on your own -mental toughness.
The advantage I always had was an objective understanding of the depth of the eco and market risks ( participants often hold a blinkered view- including a too positive view ).
it meant I had something they didn't have -which means your view was not always welcome (hard options take time and toughness to sell)
BUT you have  something they don't have ;some  idea where to take their ag ecosystems and market opportunities -----where to go -- all you need is a little incentive in a poor community and the power to wrestle with the questions of hope control trust.

Like all humans they usually think they know - but if desperate enough - who knows how little it takes to take the lead. The problem always was - there was so few of us !


If only we were still training young people to do this - like we had the chance to do in the 1970's .