Sri Aurobindo explores the cycles of human development with an eye toward showing the underlying trend and impulsion in that development. He shows how humanity moves successively through various stages whereby different powers are developed and highlighted towards an ultimate integration and fulfillment of human destiny in an outflowing of our hidden spiritual nature in the diversity and vibrancy of our physical, vital and mental life.

Pick and Sirkin show how IMIFAP, a Mexican NGO, has employed a development strategy to encourage the establishment of a participatory, healthy and educated citizenry. The program strategy is grounded in Amartya Sen's approach to sustainable development through expanding individual's capabilities and freedoms. It presents the Framework for Enabling Empowerment (FrEE) and the step by step strategy "Programming for Choice," based on the practical experience and evaluation of IMIFAP's programs. The end goal is to achieve sustainable community and individual development that can be expanded across a variety of life domains (social, economic, political, education, health and psychological). The book shows how community development can be enhanced if people are enabled to make accountable choices and expand their alternatives. International development efforts will not be sustainable if we continue to build schools without quality teachers; health clinics without enhancing logistical and psychological access and improving quality of care; and laws that are not enforced. Institutions will only flourish if their leaders and bureaucrats enhance their personal capabilities. The central premise of the book is that enhancing skills, knowledge and reducing psychological and contextual barriers to change are central (and often neglected) aspects of sustainable development. IMIFAP was founded in 1984. Through its health promotion and poverty reduction work it has reached over 19 million people in 14 countries through over 40 different programs and over 280 educational materials with support from over 300 funding agencies and government and private institutions. Its mission is to enable society's poor and vulnerable to take charge of their lives through helping them develop their potential. We have found that through the IMIFAP "I want to, I can" programs people take the control of their lives in their own hands. Examples of these results are presented including numerous testimonies.

A retrospective review of the course of one's life is apt to reveal that most of the past events of one's life, including those which seemed to be the outcome of one's conscious choice, were unplanned and due to some unforeseen happenings or chance events such as meeting somebody, receiving a suggestion from somebody or somewhere, coming across a book, visiting a certain place, etc. A good deal of mystery and unpredictability also surrounds what happens to one's life internally from day to day or even from hour to hour—the alternation of moods, the upsurges of impulses, the kindling of emotions, etc. According to those who can see behind the external appearance of things, the key to such mystery behind the internal as well as external events and vicissitudes of our lives consists in the fact that all life is a play of hidden forces; we live and move in a world of forces of which we are almost totally unaware. This book is a compilation from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on the hidden forces of life which act on us influencing our thoughts, feelings and actions and determining the course of events in life.

More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

We see around us an ever-deepening crisis for humanity. We are out of balance with our own inner psychology, with our society, with our environment and with the other beings who share the earth. At the same time, more people are seeking solutions through yoga, through inner contemplation and meditation, and through concious inner growth and development. These are encouraging signs of the spiritual evolution of man in the subjective age. This book explores Sri Aurobindo's writings in The Human Cycle, the Psychology of Social Development, which holds relevance and insights for the world we live in today, while revealing our potential for restoring balance and establishing harmony.