Problem: poverty in a rural area in the Less-developed-country (LDC) which is causing political and social unrest . Another example of fixes that fail.
Quick Fix: the government (often with USAID or the World
Bank) designs a development program for the poor farmers of the
region which often times involves making loans to farmers to implement
the "development" program -- to buy equipment, fertilizer,
seeds, whatever.
Unintended consequence: Because the program was designed
from the outside and did not involve local input, it is nearly
always inappropriate to the ecological and social conditions of
the region. As a result, the project fails and the people are
even more in debt to the banks and there has also been a significant
degradation of the natural landscape because of the introduction
of inappropriate technology. The people are unhappy and there
is even more social and political unrest which means we need another
FIX.
Many thanks to Kathleen Truman,
Environmental Studies Program, University of Nevada Las Vegas,
for submitting this example.