In the natural world, chances of survival improve when organisms are well adapted and responsive to local conditions around them. Similarly, after decades of policy experimentation and experience, sustainable development strategists have learned that the most appropriate prescriptions for human development in any given region are attuned and adapted to local context.
In the conventional bank credit system innovations in system design are templated first at the global level and make their way down to national level implementation thereafter, often without further adaptation to the contexts of individual communities.
Some measures have shown strong correlations with good econometric outcomes across the board, such as investments in health, education and women. However, some experiences of standardised policy prescriptions applied to countries irrespective of local context have also been catastrophic.
For example after the 2008 financial crisis, a committee in Basel required that banks to increase their capital requirements, which lead to a wave of debt-related suicides amongst farmers in India. The credit commons starts with local innovation by communities themselves, attuned and adapted to their particular context and needs.