World Partnership Walk
Ottawa ON
What Walt Rostow, the Aga Khan and Hernando de Soto Teach us about Bringing People Everywhere out of Poverty
A) One of the things I like most about Ottawa is how everyone from all nations get along in peace here in this city.
B) When I was a boy I had the opportunity to meet Walt Rostow, the pioneering development economist of the 1950s and 1960s and the Aga Khan, the great philanthropist. Later on, as an adult, I had the privilege of meeting Hernando de Soto, perhaps the foremost living development economist.
Walt Whitman Rostow, October 7th, 1968
The Aga Khan Foundation is a non-denominational, international development agency established in 1967 by His Highness the Aga Khan. Its mission is to develop and promote creative solutions to problems that impede social development, primarily in Asia and East Africa. Created as a private, non-profit foundation under Swiss law, it has branches and independent affiliates in 15 countries.
C) Walt said that nations would develop because they had peace, civic order, good government, decent education and health systems, adequate infrastructure, access to capital and efficient and free markets.
D) And today, we would add to this, encouragement for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs as well as a modern communications system and high speed Internet. It wasn’t until China and India unleashed their entrepreneurs that their economies really took off.
E) The Aga Khan has dedicated his foundation to furthering the cause of a better life for all.
F) You have heard the expression: “Give a person a fishing rod, not a fish.”
G) And to me, as a teacher at both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, that means that people everywhere need access to education—it is through education that people can create value for themselves and work for those around them.
H) Another key to development turns out to be respect for not only human rights but also property rights. The two are intimately connected. You can not have respect for human rights if governments have an unbridled right to take away your property without recourse.
I) Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau understood this when he introduced the Canadian Charter of Rights. It was the Prime Minister’s intentions to include property rights in the Charter but he was unable to do so at the time because of opposition from some of the Provinces who were concerned that this would impact on their ability to control natural resources in their jurisdictions.
J) Hernando de Soto discovered in his research that property ownership, and more particularly, home ownership, are also one key to bringing people everywhere out of poverty.
K) Guess what is the number one source of startup capital for entrepreneurs? That’s right—it is home equity.
L) Whether that is a $2,500 USD home in Tanzania or a $250,000 home in Tallahassee, many great businesses started from such modest beginnings.
M) Without a permanent address, you can not create any value for yourself or the others that depend on you—you can’t get a loan of any type without a fixed address. And without a fixed abode, you are bound to suffer many indignities that come from being rootless and homeless.
N) Humans were meant to work and without work, there can be no human dignity. To that end, we dedicate this walk today.
Thank you,
Dr. Bruce M. Firestone, B. Eng. (Civil), M. Eng.-Sci., Ph.D., Entrepreneur-in-Residence, University of Ottawa, Adjunct Research Professor, School of Architecture, Carleton University, Founder, Ottawa Senators. June 4, 2006
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