Endogenous development going forward: learning and action

More than 50 years after independence Africa is yet to move from colonial to post-colonial identity – and to entitlement to determining its own destiny. Increasingly, however, African development thinkers and practitioners are questioning the dominance of externally driven, mostly Western models of development, which they believe have done little to date toward bringing about self-reliant sustainable development. We have observed successful patterns of endogenously led development in East Asia and Brazil. In Africa the papers included here suggest emerging new patterns of local leadership and of resurrecting and renewing cultural and traditional strengths to support modern development. Endogenous development, while a sometimes awkward term, is a concept increasingly informing practice.