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Progress certainly needs to be thought of in the context of local social and cultural values. "Progress" itself needs to be rethought, since it always seems to be synonymous with Western capitalism.
I remember reading about the "Bovine mystique" of Lesotho in James Ferguson' Anti-Politics Machine. The way farmers didn't were reluctant to sell livestock even in times of drought does make "economic" sense, and yet Ferguson shows how farmers' actions make perfect sense in the context of cultural attitudes towards cattle and their owners in Lesotho. Lacking this understanding, development agencies in Lesotho were misguided in their goals. Not strictly relevant, but the book is a good read. Ferguson explains how Lesotho has, from the beginning, acted as a labor reserve dependent on South Africa, and how understanding a nation as some kind of single, bounded economy doesn't make sense, especially in the case of Lesotho.