James R. Jennings
The Challenge of the Second Development Decade For the first time in history mo.-e than 11,0 nations have accepted the challen.qe of collectively building a bette.- world. AmeTican Catholics can play a significant role. INTRODUCTION
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In 1960, an assortment of planners under the auspices of the United Nations General Assembly kicked off a grand experiment caller the First Development Decade. Ten years later, the Second Decade of Development was launched. The Charter of the United Nations lists as objectives the creating of conditions of stability and well-being in the world, and the ensuring for all men a minimum standard of living consistent with human dignity .. Precisely to promote these goals, the Second Decade, like the First, set out a comprehensive and integrated program of national and international actions intended to achieve interrelated economic and social objectives. Unique, and especially notable, about this human experiment is its scope--it embraces the entire globe. For the first time in history, more than 140 nations have accepted the challenge of collectively building a better world. To document the need for such a global effort is to labor the obvious. The majority of the earth's inhabitants live in pitifully poor conditions: undernourished, illiterate, unem145