Why Is Community Development Needed in Central Asia?

- by Keith Carey

Why do the nations of Central Asia need community development? It would seem that they do not have need of such growth. After all, this region was fairly wealthy for centuries. It was in this part of the world where the middlemen traded luxury goods that made their way west from India and China, and in the process depleting the gold reserves of the Roman Empire. Later this region became known as the Silk Road, a route where precious silk from China made its way to western markets. Even in today's world, the countries that make up this region are awash with oil reserves.

To find the answer to the question of why Central Asia needs community development, we must look to recent history. The five countries that were part of the Soviet Union until 1991, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, were at the mercy of a world power that was mainly concerned with the needs of Russia. The Muslim peoples who lived in Central Asia had very little say concerning their own affairs. If they wanted any say in the Soviet system, they needed to agree to terms that would benefit Russia, the key Soviet Republic.

The Soviets provided community development, but it wasn't sustainable for the Central Asian peoples. In general terms, the Russians used Russian-made goods, Russian technology, and Russian staff members. This provided jobs for the people of this Moscow-based power. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Russians left the Central Asian nations to fend for themselves. Much of their technology for making water potable, for example, became useless as time went on.

In today's world, most of these countries have oil wealth. That gives them the opportunity to gain wealth that could benefit their nations. The bad news is that this wealth only benefits a small elite. People who live in rural areas do not benefit from the oil wealth at all. The peoples of this region are living with a Soviet-era infrastructure in a world that is passing them by. They need help in starting a new in the 21st century.

What is Community Development?
According to the textbook for the "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement" class, development is, "an intentional process of facilitating change, usually aiming at the transformation of an entire community or region."

There is a right way and a wrong way to do community development. First of all, the technology must be sustainable for the local community. Perhaps more importantly, they must use locally-available resources. If community development is done with complicated machinery brought in from the outside, like it was during the Soviet Era, the improvement will be as short-lived as the machinery or repairmen.

The tools and machinery must be easy to understand, operate, and maintain, or the local people will not be able to use them when the community development workers leave. The goods must be affordable, effective and sustainable. The technology and training must be culturally acceptable. Otherwise, the local people will reject what community development workers have to offer. For example, community development workers need to consider acceptable gender roles in the local culture.

One basic example of needed community development is creating potable water. Fresh water that is also drinkable is scarce in the developing world. Commonly, people will boil their water, using scarce fuel or wood. Instead, they are better off using dark-colored, locally produced containers. These containers can be left in the direct sunlight on a hot day, causing all the dangerous bacteria to die. The next day, the water is drinkable. The sun is also a good source of energy for other daily activities such as cooking. Simple solar panels can create the heat needed to cook meals.

The Need for Christians to Do Community Development
There is a special need for Christians to go as community development workers. Almost all of the peoples in Central Asia are culturally Muslim. Though many of the people are secularized from the Soviet Era, they are seldom willing to listen to the gospel. Very few of them have seen the Kingdom of God lived out in people's lives. A community development project gives these Muslims the chance to see how following Jesus affects someone's daily life. It also gives Christians the opportunity to share their faith with people in this physically and spiritually needy part of the world. As it stands, a good many of the community development efforts are Kingdom oriented. For security reasons, we will seldom give names of people doing this kind of work.