March 21, 2006
Twenty-nine undergraduate Abilene Christian University students and Dr. Monty Lynn, Professor of Management Sciences, are exploring the development of poverty-stricken countries through the “Poverty and Development” course.
Lynn developed the course because so many students have an interest in poverty and development because of mission trips or Spring Break campaigns or perhaps they come from a developing country and have an interest in taking their business skills back to their home countries.
The class provides an opportunity for students to explore economic and business applications in developing countries. The discussions center on poverty from a human and business development perspective.
About midway through the course, Dr. Lynn wanted to focus on one country to come to a better understanding of how the economy, crime, infrastructure, labor, famine, gender roles, and government interact as one economic, political and human system.
Dr. Lynn recently had three guests speak in his class via teleconference to discuss the economic development of Afghanistan.
Kerry Saner of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (Madisonville, Virginia) has focused his studies in the areas of conflict management, non-violence and comparative theology in Islam and Christianity. In January 2004, Saner traveled to Afghanistan where he served as Field Representative on a health and violence reduction project for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Institute for Resource and Security Studies. Saner lived for a year in Amman, Jordan studying classical Arabic and spent considerable time in Pakistan as well prior to graduate work at Harvard Theological Seminary. Saner talked to students about the Christian world’s understanding of Islam and how to work in a post-conflict environment.
Nilofar Sakhi, an Afghanistan citizen who has lived most of her life in Herat, was the second class speaker. Prior to pursuing graduate study at Eastern Mennonite University, Sakhi directed a non-profit organization in Afghanistan focused on democracy and gender. In her remarks, she addressed women’s roles in Afghanistan. She described how liberated Afghanistan was before the Taliban came into power in 1994.
Douglas Climan, Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, was the third speaker, addressing the class from his apartment in Kabul, Afghanistan. Climan holds masters degrees from Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania and has enjoyed a career with the U.S. Foreign Service following work as an investment banker.
Climan described the enormous challenge of rebuilding an economy in contemporary Afghanistan. They face many challenges such as having to hire many armed guards just to protect workers building a road and how difficult it is to convince farmers whose livelihood has always depended on the production of opium to consider planting other crops. Currently, 90% of the world opium trade comes out of Afghanistan. Climan further described all the things which must be put into place so a lively private sector may flourish - commercial legislation, labor law, civil aviation, capital markets, monetary policy, and the list goes on and on.
Climan ended his talk with optimism about the progress in economic development Afghanistan is making despite the challenges the country faces. He encouraged students to consider the U.S. Foreign Service as a career.
