What comes first?

To become a truly self-sufficient province, which needs to change first: the environment within which we operate or our individual behaviours? Which has a greater impact on the rate of development?

When I first started working in Zambia, I think I had decided that the people needed to change. This was never truly a conscious decision, but one that I recognized so many years later. You have to remember, my exposure to realities different from my own had been limited until that time, and I naively believed that if people just worked hard enough, if they just had the right skills, the right level of motivation, they should succeed. I've since learned that this is not always the case, and that there are other factors that contribute toward a person's level of self-sufficiency. A book I read, 'Women Don't Ask', talks about the importance of women becoming more aware of their worth, and more assertive when demanding fair compensation for work they've performed. But that's only one side of the equation. The book proceeds to talk about the need for the environment to change, to be more conducive to a woman's way of doing things.

I think some parallels can be drawn to the situation here in NB. For instance, our youth can graduate from high school and then from college or university. They've invested in gaining skills and knowledge and should be poised to be productive members of society in NB. Only problem - there aren't enough jobs to keep them here. The opposite reality is true for places like Alberta. There are too many jobs and not enough people qualified to fill them. I feel that the first step to fixing this problem is recognizing that there is one. Once we admit to ourselves that the environment in NB has not yet reached its full potential in terms of being able to offer opportunities, then we can create some strategies to get us there. In the meantime, our people must continue to invest in their own personal development, and at times, create their own opportunities.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.