New
New
Year 8

Strategies to support development

I can explain different ways to support development and evaluate the effectiveness of top-down strategies.

New
New
Year 8

Strategies to support development

I can explain different ways to support development and evaluate the effectiveness of top-down strategies.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Strategies to support development can be top-down or bottom-up
  2. Investment, aid, debt relief and fairtrade are all strategies to reduce the development gap
  3. All strategies to reduce the development gap have strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords

  • Investment - where money is spent in a country to improve infrastructure or resources

  • Aid - help given by a group or country to support development in another country or for disaster relief

  • Debt relief - when debt is cancelled or reduced

  • Fairtrade - an organisation dedicated to improving the income and lives of farmers in lower income countries by making trade fairer

Common misconception

Development is always driven by governments and big international organisations.

While governments and organisations play a big role, development often happens through smaller, community-led projects where local people take charge.


To help you plan your year 8 geography lesson on: Strategies to support development, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The final practice activity can be developed so that pupils debate top-down aid from the perspective of different stakeholders.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is an example of a development indicator?

A country’s national anthem
The number of earthquakes it has
Correct answer: Its average life expectancy
The colour of its flag

Q2.
Which of these shows inequality between countries?

The same level of education for all
Equal access to clean water
Shared languages across nations
Correct answer: Differences in income and healthcare

Q3.
What is the Human Development Index (HDI) based on?

Correct answer: Income, education and life expectancy
Only how rich a country is
Size of the country’s army
Number of famous people from a country

Q4.
Some people have better life chances because of in development.

Correct Answer: inequality

Q5.
What is the main reason that life varies around the world?

People have different personalities
Correct answer: Resources and opportunities are not shared equally
Climates are identical everywhere
Everyone has the same needs

Q6.
Which of these countries is likely to have high development?

Correct answer: One with a high HDI and good infrastructure
One with poor schools and healthcare
One with no electricity or running water
One where most people farm to feed only themselves

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Match the keywords to their definitions.

Correct Answer:investment,where money is spent in a country to improve infrastructure

where money is spent in a country to improve infrastructure

Correct Answer:aid,help given by one country or group to another to support development

help given by one country or group to another to support development

Correct Answer:debt relief,when debt is cancelled or reduced

when debt is cancelled or reduced

Correct Answer:fairtrade,where farmers are guaranteed more money and better working conditions

where farmers are guaranteed more money and better working conditions

Q2.
What is the main aim of development strategies?

To increase pollution
To slow down globalisation
Correct answer: To improve quality of life
To expand military strength

Q3.
projects can allow people to take the lead in development.

Correct Answer: Community

Q4.
A student says “Only governments and big groups make development happen.” What’s a better understanding?

That’s correct, no one else is involved
Correct answer: Individuals and communities can lead successful projects
Development doesn’t need any people at all
Only banks have the power to develop an area