Nathalie Murphy, executive manager of the Dominican branch of the NGO ‘Channel Cross Disability’, 2009.

© Hegel Goutier

Her face lights up, breaking into a dazzling smile that alters her expression completely, when she is asked how her life is different now. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she tells you, “My entire life’s been changed”. The utter beauty, the pure joy that she radiates is like an unexpected gift. You see, Nathalie Murphy was born partially sighted, but her condition continued to deteriorate so that by the time she reached adolescence she could not see at all.

Today, she is the executive manager of the Dominican branch of the NGO ‘Channel Cross Disability’. Her life-changing experience was the information and communication training scheme that got underway five years ago with the help of grants from various sources, including the European Union (EU). Now, thanks to the scheme, she is able to use the Internet using specially adapted computers and a sophisticated piece of software known as ‘Job activation with speech’ (JAWS). As Nathalie explains, “my entire daily existence has changed. Yes! Before, I was dependent on other people. Now I can do everything by myself. Oh God! It really is a wonderful new life”.

Much more than the aura of happiness that surrounds Nathalie is the joy she conveys. A joy she shares with everyone she meets. That’s what’s so impressive. And, of course, this raises the question that given the current economic climate, what is the value of this aid that has brought so much happiness and pure joy into a person’s life? The answer to this question should be somewhere in the conclusions of the G20 summit (see separate article in this issue of The Courier), as one of the objectives the G20 members decided upon was the creation of new development indicators. However, for that we will just have to wait and see.

As you will read in the report on Dominica in this issue, the country is in the upper level of the UNDP human development index. This nation is one of the few countries boasting the biggest number of people to attain 100 years of age. Indeed, it would seem that both rich and poor alike can look forward to a comparatively long life. Logically, this is indicative of effective social and development practices. But what about GDP?

With regards to GDP, one of the myriad arguments the French economist Jean Gadrey puts forward to challenge GDP’s status as an indicator of “progress” may strike people as being somewhat curious if not specious: that GDP is a male-gendered phenomenon. His explanation is that first of all, when it was adopted during the 1930s, the people who took the decision were all men. Second, it was a reflection solely of wealth and power, because the key aim, according to François Fourquet, was to give the powers-that-be some idea of what resources could be called upon in the event of war. Third, the domestic production of goods, such as car repairs, was included – even at a later date   but domestic services were not. In other words, men fixing and making things count, women doing housework do not.

Sweden (see the separate article on this country elsewhere in this issue) may have something to teach us about the status of women since the time of the Vikings and particularly regarding its focus on non-market services.

Equally, Sweden can be seen as a source of inspiration in the struggle against climate change, particularly in Africa, according to on-the-ground experts. Organisations such as the German NGO Misereor are calling for a better form of what is termed “climate justice”. New facts about climate change have emerged at just the right time, appearing as they do in the countdown to the next UN Convention on this subject in Copenhagen this December. However, for the people living in these impoverished nations, the day-to-day reality of dealing with climate change means simply making adjustments to their way of life and their relationship with the environment. Something that is hardly likely to have any value in terms of measuring their country’s GDP!

Recommended reading:

Jean Gadrey, “Nouveaux indicateurs de richesse" (“New Indicators of Wealth”, two volumes), La Découverte, coll. Repères 2009.
Jean Gadray “En finir avec les inégalités” (“Enough of Inequality”),  Mango, 2006.
François Fourquet, “Les comptes de la puissance” (“The Accounts of Power”), Encres Editions Recherches, 1980.
Françoise Héritier “Masculin/Féminin II” (“ Masculine/Feminine II”), Odile Jacob, 2002.

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