Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Senior 2 · Entrepreneurship
Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Lesson 3 of 4
20 min
Work builds a community, but some activities tear it down again. A bribe paid for a building permit, a truckload of smuggled goods, an evening of heavy drinking, a child kept home from school to sell groundnuts: each looks small, but each takes something away from a family, a business or the country. To protect development you first need to recognise what hinders it and why.
| Activity | How it hinders development |
|---|---|
| Idleness and dependency | People able to work produce nothing and live on others, so output and income stay low. |
| Corruption: abusing a position of trust for private gain, e.g. bribery and embezzlement | Public money is stolen, contracts go to the briber rather than the best supplier, and doing business costs more, so investors stay away. |
| Smuggling (contraband) and tax evasion | The government loses revenue for schools and roads, and honest traders are undercut by those who pay nothing. |
| Drug and alcohol abuse | Income is wasted, health suffers, workers are absent or unproductive, and violence at home rises. |
| Excessive betting and gambling | Money needed for food, fees and savings is lost on chance. |
| Child labour: work that keeps children from school or harms them | Children lose their education, so the next generation is less skilled and earns less. |
| Theft and fraud | Businesses lose stock and money; trust between buyers and sellers falls. |
| Environmental destruction: illegal mining, cutting trees without replanting, farming in protected wetlands | Soil, water and forests that future work depends on are destroyed; floods and landslides follow. |
| Poor work habits: lateness, absenteeism, careless work | Less is produced and customers are lost. |
| Conflict and divisionism | Insecurity stops trade and investment and destroys what work has built. |
This case is written by Ganzaa. Rukundo earns 90,000 Frw a month. He spends 1,500 Frw a day on beer.
Half of the household’s income disappears every month. The children’s fees go unpaid, nothing is saved, and his work suffers after late nights. One person’s habit has hindered a whole household’s development.
Suppose a trader brings 300 cartons of goods across the border without declaring them, avoiding a tax of 1,500 Frw per carton. The government loses 300 × 1,500 = 450,000 Frw, the cost of many school desks. Worse, the smuggler can now sell below the price of honest traders who paid the tax, so they lose customers and may close.
Tip
Exam technique. For each hindering activity, name who loses: the individual, the family, businesses or the government. “Smuggling hinders development” is weak; “smuggling deprives the government of tax revenue and puts honest traders out of business” is strong. For solutions, give one per activity: report corruption, register and pay taxes, join a youth sports club instead of drinking, keep children in school.
Solution: The child misses school, so as an adult he or she has fewer skills and lower earnings; across a whole generation this lowers the country’s productivity.
Solution: 2,000 × 3 × 4 = 24,000 Frw. Share = 24,000 ÷ 60,000 × 100 = 40%.
Solution: Bribes raise the cost of doing business and make results depend on who pays, not on who is best, so investors fear losing money and go elsewhere.
Solution: Enforce the protection rules and help farmers move to other land or to activities such as beekeeping or improved farming on hillside terraces.
Summary
Sources and credits
The table, the household and smuggling cases, the worked examples and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
