ABSTRACT
National information management and learning define the level of autonomy in decision-making or self-reliance. The task of changing the institutions in which the 'thinking of individuals' finds expression' is part of institutional capacity-building. Within the conceptual framework of development as change, institutional, societal and cultural transformations are expected to occur. The institutions require the orientation and capacity to draw up and implement intelligent decisions based on all available information and experiences. G. Hyden notes an emerging synthesis in the literature on development which is conceptually broader than development economics. The synthesis 'recognizes traditional culture as intrinsic to development, as something development should enhance rather than as a nuisance to be ignored analytically or brushed aside politically'. Change and instability are accepted as an integral part of the competitive nature of industrial operations in developed countries. The development process needs to be reconceptualized to include the information element in the development equation.
