Socio Economic Development

Taking a comparative and multidisciplinary approach, this textbook offers a non-technical introduction to the dynamics of socio-economic development and stagnation. Why are poor countries poor and rich countries rich? How are wealth and poverty related to changes in health, life expectancy, education, population growth and politics? This non-technical introduction to development studies explores the dynamics of socio-economic development and stagnation in developing countries. Thoroughly updated and revised, this second edition includes new material on the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, the emergence of the BRICS economies, the role of institutions in development and the accelerated growth of economies in Africa and Asia. Taking a comparative approach, Szirmai places contemporary debates within their broader contexts and combines insights and theories from economics, economic history, political science, anthropology and sociology. Each chapter includes comparative statistics and time series for thirty-one developing countries. Assuming no prior knowledge of economics, this book is well-suited for students in interdisciplinary development studies and development economics, for policy-makers and for practitioners pursuing careers in developing countries. Visit for additional resources.

The presence of weak local government structures in terms of infrastructure, human and financial resources have rendered them unresponsive to people's suffering in much of Africa and Uganda in particular. This phenomenon has culminated into poor socioeconomic welfare of citizens as manifested in poor health and education provision, unemployment and poverty especially in rural areas of eastern Uganda which has the second highest poverty rate of all the regions of Uganda and to be specific Bugiri district in which this study was done. The interesting question here is, how do citizens cope with such poor socioeconomic welfare? The answer to this question seems to lie in Community initiatives in form of NGOs. However, recent studies by The World Bank have pointed out weakness in NGOs development work in regard to impact and sustainability. This was the basis upon which this study was conducted to prove or disapprove the above studies. Finally, this book makes some recommendations based on the findings and the critical one being how NGOs can raise finances locally if they are to save themselves from the challenges associated with financial dependency.