Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 202
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 202 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 202
READING PASSAGE – 3
Growth Model
A. Shortly after World War II, ‘development’ as we now understand it had set in motion. Western governments and donors poured money into new agencies that set about trying to stimulate the economies of underdeveloped countries. Because of this emphasis, it has now widely regarded as the Growth Model.
Although we might expect poverty reduction to be the central objective, planners at this stage were primarily concerned with industrial development. It had hoped that the benefits of this would trickle down to poor people through raising incomes and providing employment opportunities, thereby indirectly lifting them above the ascribed poverty threshold of a dollar a day. The weaknesses of these assumptions had revealed, however, when poverty rates and economic growth were found to rise simultaneously in many countries.
IELTS General Reading Test
B. During the 1970s, a new trend took over – trickle-up development. Instead of focusing on macroeconomic policy and large-scale industrial projects, planners shifted attention to the core living requirements of individuals and communities. This became known as the Basic Needs Approach to development. It had hoped that through the provision of services such as community sanitation and literacy programmes, poverty could be eliminated from below. Economic growth was desirable but superfluous – Basic Needs redefined poverty from involving a lack of money to lacking the capability to attain full human potential. The trouble with Basic Needs programmes, however; was their expensive, resource-intensive nature that entailed continuous management and funding
C. Since the 1980s, development planners have moved towards a sustainable livelihoods approach, which emphasizes good livelihoods (materially and socially) that, most importantly, are independent and sustainable. ‘Sustainable’ in this sense means that people can recover from the shocks and stresses of daily life, absolving agencies of the need to persistently monitor their lives.
IELTS General Reading Test
This approach emphasizes a view of poverty that comes not from the rich but from the impoverished themselves. They have considered to be most suitably positioned to determine the poverty indicators that contribute to the multiple facets of their own deprivation. Although the sustainable livelihoods approach has been criticised for lacking an environmental platform strong enough to respond to climate change, and for disassociating aspects of power and societal status from being a contestable part of development, it is currently the preferred model for development projects.
D. Though there is some linearity to the trajectory of development practice, with paradigms shifting in and out of fashion, vigorous scholarly debate persists around all approaches. The Growth Model, for example, is still defended by many theorists, particularly economists. Those who believe in the Growth Model insist that nothing trumps economic development as a tool for poverty alleviation for the developing countries (although there is often less enthusiasm for its applicability to the postindustrial West).
IELTS General Reading Test
Many countries that have focused explicitly on growth have managed to make considerable inroads into reducing poverty, even in the absence of a development programme; Japan and Germany followed this route after World War II, as has China from the 1970s. On the other hand, some countries with massive inflows of funding for aid-based ‘development projects’ – particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa – have struggled to progress with meeting poverty reduction targets.
E. There is a good reason to be skeptical about the Growth Model, however, as has evidenced by the numerous societies that have partly imploded as a consequence of prioriticing economic growth above the work of human development. The experiences of many eastern European countries with health and employment crises in the early 1990s arc particularly traumatic examples of this.
IELTS General Reading Test
‘The Growth Model also suffers from an undemocratic, and ‘technocratic’, if not autocratic, method underdeveloped countries frequently make policy decisions based on consultation with Western economists and institutions on how to generate growth. This dissolves the autonomy of communities to make their own decisions about what matters to them, and what kind of society they would like to build. The move to the Sustainable livelihoods approach is a positive move in tills regard because by operating on a principle that decisions should be made by those who are affected by them, it introduces a role for localised decision-making.
F. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for any country in the near future to ignore economic growth as a development indicator while continuing to meet development targets. It is important, however, that we move away from seeing this type of growth as the prime objective for development. Development is ultimately about people, and human development must be placed at the forefront; economic growth is simply one tool out of many that can help us along the way.
IELTS General Reading Test
We also need to recognise that foreign advisers, whatever qualifications and knowledge they may possess, can sometimes be a hindrance; local autonomy must be respected for real development to occur. The Growth Model may have failed, but this does not render economic growth irrelevant. The Sustainable livelihoods Approach offers helpful and realistic alternatives. But it is folly to commit ourselves to a strictly defined, systematic programme – less constrictive mindsets will help us break the development fashion cycle.
Questions 27-33
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
| Growth Model | Basic Needs Approach | SustainableLivelihoods Approach |
| (27)………. was the main Goal | Typified by small-scale aid such as health and (29)………. | Tries to encourage ways of living that is more self-sufficient projects |
| Poverty described as living on less than a dollar a day… | Poverty is seen as an inability to reach (30)………. | Poor people identify their own (32)………. |
| It was discovered that poverty could increase in step with (28)………. | Projects costly and (31)………. requiring ongoing involvement | The problem of (33)………. not adequately addressed; ignores issues of social dominance and authority |
Questions 34-38
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 34-38 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE – if the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
34. The most favoured method of development is the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach.
35. While institutions often follow development trends, academic disputes are more timeless.
36. The Growth Model is more popular with Third World scholars than Western scholars.
37. It is not possible to reduce poverty without an explicit development policy.
38. The Growth Model takes some authority away from local forms of organisation.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 39 and 40
Choose TWO letters, A—E.
Write your answers in boxes 39 and 40 on your answer sheet.
Which TWO of the following statements form part of the author’s conclusion?
A. Economic growth is the primary development goal, but there are other factors to consider.
B. It is preferable not to think about development in rigid, structured terms.
C. Development projects are likely to fail in the absence of highly educated experts.
D. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach is more effective than the Growth Model.
E. Economic growth should only be considered as a means for development, not an endpoint.
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS ARE BELOW
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
27. DEVELOPMENT
28. ECONOMIC GROWTH
29. LITERACY
30. HUMAN POTENTIAL
31. RESOURCE-INTENSIVE
32. POVERTY INDICATORS
33. CLIMATE CHANGE
34. YES
35. YES
36. NOT GIVEN
37. NO
38. YES
39. B/E( IN ANY ORDER)
40. B/E( IN ANY ORDER)