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Community Based (and Driven) Development: A Critical Review
Abstract
Community-based (and driven) development (CBD/CDD) projects have become an important form of development assistance, with the World Bank's portfolio alone approximating 7 billion dollars. The authors review the conceptual foundations of CBD/CDD initiatives. Given the importance of the topic, there are, unfortunately, a dearth of well-designed evaluations of such projects. But there is enough quantitative and qualitative evidence from studies that have either been published in peer-reviewed publications or have been conducted by independent researchers to glean some instructive lessons. The authors find that projects that rely on community participation have not been particularly effective at targeting the poor. There is some evidence that CBD/CDD projects create effective community infrastructure, but not a single study establishes a causal relationship between any outcome and participatory elements of a CBD project. Most CBD projects are dominated by elites and, in general, the targeting of poor communities as well as project quality tend to be markedly worse in more unequal communities. However, a number of studies find a U-shaped relationship between inequality and project outcomes. The authors also find that a distinction between potentially"benevolent"forms of elite domination and more pernicious types of"capture"is likely to be important for understanding project dynamics and outcomes. Several qualitative studies indicate that the sustainability of CBD initiatives depends crucially on an enabling institutional environment, which requires upward commitment. Equally, the literature indicates that community leaders need to be downwardly accountable to avoid a variant of"supply-driven demand-driven development."Qualitative evidence also suggests that external agents strongly influence project success. However, facilitators are often poorly trained and inexperienced, particularly when programsare rapidly scaled up. Overall, a naive application of complex contextual concepts like"participation,""social capital,"and"empowerment"is endemic among project implementers and contributes to poor design and implementation. In sum, the evidence suggests that CBD/CDD is best done in a context-specific manner, with a long time-horizon, and with careful and well-designed monitoring and evaluation systems.
... Addressing complex social-ecological problems requires the participation and agency of diverse groups of stakeholders, including households and communities (Marshall et al., 2018;Norström et al., 2020). Agency refers to the ability that people have to take action, or to choose which action to take (Mansuri & Rao, 2004). Over the years, various attempts have been made to strengthen local participation and agency in development programming through the use of tools such as participatory rural appraisal in the planning of development interventions (Chambers, 1992). ...
... However, these efforts have been extensively critiqued for failing to engage with issues of power and politics, for institutionalizing technocratic and tokenistic approaches to participation in development processes and for putting too much emphasis on the local level (Cooke & Kothari, 2001;Hickey & Mohan, 2005). As a result, the impact of participatory development programmes on poverty reduction and citizen empowerment has been weak (Mansuri & Rao, 2004). Hickey and Mohan (2005, p. 4) argue that participation should be understood as "the exercise of popular agency in development processes", which requires multi-scale approaches that encompass structural and institutional as well as local and individual actors and processes. ...
... Hickey and Mohan (2005, p. 4) argue that participation should be understood as "the exercise of popular agency in development processes", which requires multi-scale approaches that encompass structural and institutional as well as local and individual actors and processes. However, development programme structures are often too inflexible to incorporate citizens' perspectives and needs (Gaventa & McGee, 2013;Mansuri & Rao, 2004). ...
... The implementation of community participation in development through village development plan deliberation mechanism (Musrenbangdes) currently faces various challenges, especially for vulnerable groups. Several studies have shown that social and cultural barriers are still quite significant for vulnerable communities to participate in, mainly because culture and social structures have not changed, which continue to perpetuate dominance and inequality between elites and non-elite (Fikri et al., 2020;Hanadi et al., 2020;Lund & Saito-Jensen, 2013;Mansuri, G., & Rao, 2004;Susetiawan et al., 2018). Research on power relations and elite dominance, which contriute to social exclusion perpetuate it, dominates current academic discussions. ...
... Regarding specifically the barriers to the participation of vulnerable groups in development, existing studies (Awortwi, 2012;Chambers, 1983;Lund & Saito-Jensen, 2013;Mansuri, G., & Rao, 2004;Thomas, 1992) identified several critical factors. One of them is the dominance of elite group control in the development process and community empowerment work. ...
The Indonesian village Law No. 6/2014 has set the tone for empowering local development, establishing village as a local democratic institution with the ability to manage its own development. It is explicitly stated in the law that one of its goals is to establish the village community as a subject instead of an object of development. Therefore, the law highly encourages civic participation. While the mechanism is in place to ensure the participation of village inhabitants, the participation of marginalized groups such as women, people with disabilities, and eldery remain unexplored. Using interviews with the marginalized groups in four villages in Indonesia, the aim of this paper seeks to capture the dynamic participation of this population and to examine the barriers to their participation in the development process. In this study, it was found that meaningful participation has not yet been achieved, thus, there is still a need to advocate for empowerment for this population. In addition, marginalized groups continued to experience challenges and barriers in to their participation, primarily due to the absence of a structure and mechanisms that specifically address their need. These include the absence of disability or women organizations or forums, the inaccessibility of information, and the lack of awareness of village government to include marginal groups.
... This is because, firstly, the attitude of the local community determines how people will perceive the areas that have been developed for tourism; secondly, the experience that will be enjoyed by the tourists will highly be influenced by the participation model followed by the local community; and lastly, the entire community will be affected by the development planning of such tourism projects. As much as this kind of community participation can occur at different levels, the main focus should therefore be the incorporation of the local community in the decision making process of the project (Mansuri and Rao, 2004). In this way, community participation is expected to ensure that projects are supported by the locals and their benefits are more equitably distributed. ...
... This is shown by the 71% of community members interviewed who agreed that they have heard about the proposed tourism project, implying that others might have heard about it through the word of mouth from those who attended the meetings. In line with Mansuri and Rao (2004), this effort of involving the local community in the decision making process through their representatives, who also report back to the community, is crucial since it ensures that the project will be supported by local residents. ...
It is believed that Lesotho has a potential for nature based and community tourism development projects due to its largely mountainous and ragged landscape. However, for the country to tap into its immense tourism potential, a well-informed understanding of Basotho’s attitudes towards the establishment of such projects is necessary. This study explores the public perceptions regarding the development of one proposed community and nature based tourism project in Lesotho. The survey results from the administered semi-structured questionnaire reveal that issues concerning tourism development are relevant to rural residents and adequate consultations through community meetings increases public awareness about community projects. The findings also demonstrate that a relatively high willingness for involvement from local residents is driven by the expectation that the project will address community‟s immediate needs. Nonetheless, it is important for the decision makers of community projects to note that local residents tend to put much emphasis on how the project is implemented than on what it is actually developing.
... This approach has revived interest in community-driven and participatory development strategies. The World Bank has increasingly incorporated these principles into its funding programs (Mansuri and Rao, 2004) [29] . However, past challenges-such as elite capture of benefits-remain a concern (Bardhan and Mokherjee, 2016) [30] . ...
... This approach has revived interest in community-driven and participatory development strategies. The World Bank has increasingly incorporated these principles into its funding programs (Mansuri and Rao, 2004) [29] . However, past challenges-such as elite capture of benefits-remain a concern (Bardhan and Mokherjee, 2016) [30] . ...
... However, studies examining CDD programs' operations and impacts have pointed toward the weakness of evidence to support claims that they build social capital, empower communities, or improve local governance. As early as the mid-2000s, successive reviews conducted by World Bank staff and consultants noted that the effects of CDD programs were unclear, partly due to a lack of well-designed evaluations (Mansuri and Rao 2004;Wassenich and Whiteside 2004;OED 2005a;Mansuri and Rao 2007). This created a dissonance between the operational growth Wong and Guggenheim (2019, 9) Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...
... Neither of these articles presented evidence of CDD program effects. The third suggested reading highlighted the lack of evidence on CDD programs (Mansuri and Rao 2004). No copy of the fourth reading, Wassenich and Whiteside's unpublished CDD Evaluation Study (2003), could be found. ...
The World Bank’s community-driven development (CDD) interventions have outwardly been presented as powerful instruments of good governance, social cohesion, and empowerment. However, their far-reaching expansion has taken place in the absence of conclusive empirical evidence on their operations and effects. To make sense of this paradox at the core of CDD, this paper situates these programs in the Bank’s institutional context. It proposes that CDD operations have effectively served the Bank’s imperative to lend. Their expansion has been supported by an assertive discourse of success and reform, which has further helped confirm the Bank’s identity as a “knowledge bank” with social development expertise. In parallel, mounting evidence of CDD’s ineffectiveness in terms of empowerment, governance, and social capital has largely been handled by fostering ignorance. Inconvenient findings have been avoided, stifled, mitigated, or removed from the CDD narrative to protect and promote programs. However, tensions and contradictions have occasionally arisen from the CDD paradox. They have been assuaged by systematically reframing problems and shortcomings as signals that programs require tailoring, improvement, and expansion. In so doing, CDD discourse has generated momentum for the survival, persistence, and growth of interventions, regardless of their effects on the localities that have experienced them.
... Consistent with Ostrom's (2000) advice, interventions to promote economic development have increasingly focused on community-based or community-driven development, constituting seven billion dollars of World Bank lending in 2003 (Mansuri and Rao 2004). Mansuri and Rao (2004), based on their review of empirical assessments of these programs, including Rao and Ibáñez (2005) and Araujo, et al. (2008), conclude that local elites generally drive program decision making. ...
... Consistent with Ostrom's (2000) advice, interventions to promote economic development have increasingly focused on community-based or community-driven development, constituting seven billion dollars of World Bank lending in 2003 (Mansuri and Rao 2004). Mansuri and Rao (2004), based on their review of empirical assessments of these programs, including Rao and Ibáñez (2005) and Araujo, et al. (2008), conclude that local elites generally drive program decision making. Success (e.g., in targeting resources to the poor) depends largely on the degree to which elites act benevolently or to which their own interests are served by targeting. ...
Broad consensus exists that the ability of political actors to make credible commitments is key to development. An important and little-explored determinant of the credibility of political commitments is the existence of organizations that facilitate citizen collective action to sanction political actors who renege. This paper focuses on one essential organization, the political party. Three measures of political parties are used to assess cross-country differences in the degree to which politicians facilitate the ability of citizens to act in their collective interest. Each of these measures is associated with superior development outcomes, above and beyond the effects of competitive elections. These results have implications for understanding the extraordinary economic success of some East Asian countries and notable lags among others. East Asian nondemocracies exhibit more institutionalized ruling parties than other nondemocracies, while East Asian democracies exhibit equally or less institutionalized parties. The evidence suggests that greater research and policy emphasis be placed on the organizational characteristics of countries that allow citizens to hold leaders accountable.
... The objectives of this study were (1) to compare the characteristics of the CIAL program members to non-members; (2) to examine how the CIAL program contributed to changes in sustainable land management use among small-scale farmers in the hillsides of rural Honduras; and (3) to describe how the changes facilitated through farmer participation within the CIAL program connect to broader efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty alleviation, food security, and sustainable land management. The study responds to calls for evidence of what actually happens in development practice [13,14], particularly in the field of participatory development where claims are often inconsistent with what is supported by research [15]. ...
Background
This study describes a long-term farmer innovation project (local farmer research committees (Spanish acronym: CIALs)) in a remote hillside region of Honduras that has succeeded in intensifying land use under annual food crops towards sustainable food and agroforestry production. The findings add to evidence of what actually happens in long term participatory development and also suggest how some of the Sustainable Development Goals are being met in practice. The objectives of this study were (1) to compare the characteristics of the CIAL program members to non-members; (2) to examine how the CIAL program contributed to changes in sustainable land use practices among small-scale farmers in the hillsides of rural Honduras; and (3) to describe how the changes facilitated through farmer participation within the CIAL program connect to broader efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty alleviation, food security, and sustainable land management. Data for the study were drawn from two household surveys (2013 and 2017) conducted in the three rural municipalities of Yorito, Sulaco, and Victoria, Honduras. Survey data were complemented by ongoing, long-term ethnographic research and engagement.
Results
Comparisons were made between old CIAL members (5 or more years of membership), new CIAL members (less than 5 years of membership), and non-members (no participation in CIALs). In 2013, benefits of CIAL membership appeared primarily concentrated among CIAL members. Of note, 88.2% of old CIAL members and 73.6% of new CIAL members reported that their income had improved because of CIAL membership. CIAL members were also more likely to invest in household resources and agricultural activities as well as hold savings than non-members. Over time, participatory bean breeding conducted through the CIALs has made improved bean seed available to all three study groups, which has translated into improved bean yields across households. Furthermore, data suggest that sustainable agricultural practices have scaled across study locations.
Conclusions
Farmer participatory research and plant breeding have succeeded in increasing yields of maize and beans, helping to alleviate food insecurity among hillside farmers, as well as providing a source of income, primarily through bean sales. Furthermore, land previously held under extensive food cultivation has been converted to coffee production, mostly in conjunction with agroforestry, supporting additional income and savings. Scaling this initiative to small scale farmers through distribution of improved maize and bean seed is underway across Honduras. The experience from the Honduran hillsides provides evidence of the impacts of long-term participatory development and, simultaneously, of a possible route towards achievement of some of the Sustainable Development Goals.
... However, due to top-down approaches to tourism development and other factors, local community development has slowed down and communities have hence been excluded from participating fully in CBT planning and development. Institutions such as the World Bank have advocated the involvement of community members in development initiatives (Mansuri & Rao, 2003). Therefore, local residents are a key resource in sustaining CBT projects; their inclusion and participation is often regarded as one of the most essential tools "to readjust the balance of power and to reassert local community views against those of the developers or the local authority" (Sebele, 2010:136). ...
Tourism is a modern-day engine for growth and one of the largest industries globally. Being a labour intensive industry with a supply chain that links many sectors, tourism is a priority sector in the national government's planning and policy framework. To understand the impact of community based tourism (CBT) projects in KwaZulu-Natal, the research used a multi-pronged approach by applying naturalistic enquiry principles. Two case studies were selected for this study, namely Ugu District Municipality and eThekwini Municipality. The former was chosen because of its potential to provide best practices in CBT whilst the later provided a broader perspective due to the considerable number of tourists received by the City annually. A mixed method research design was used. The qualitative method involved semi-structured interviews, while the quantitative component comprised survey questionnaires. Access to participants for the in-depth-interviews was achieved through snowball sampling, whilst survey questionnaires were distributed to the members of the community using a convenience sampling technique. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and researcher-administered questionnaires formed the core of the data collection. In total 179 people participated in the study, of which 160 were community members, 3 representatives from Municipalities and 16 CBT representatives. The results of the study show that CBT projects have a potential to uplift the community's livelihoods. Although a number of community benefits were realised, the viability of CBT is affected by various factors. Despite increasing the community's standard of living and creating employment opportunities, collective benefits are usually not enough to cater for all the needs of the community members. CBT projects however cannot be a panacea to solving unemployment and poverty problems in the surrounding local communities but should be used as an alternative livelihood option to complement other sectors. The study notes the challenges of CBT and recommendations are made on their future direction.
... Managing diversity can be complex, posing implementation difficulties that compromise the achievement of the objectives sought through the process [21]. Furthermore, participatory processes require more commitment and energy from participants than traditional approaches, where participants are more passive [22]. The quality of the methodology adopted and the ability of the facilitation team to implement it are therefore key determinants of the success of a participatory process [15,18]. ...
The One Health approach calls for collaboration across various sectors and different scales to improve understanding of complex health issues. Regarding epidemiological surveillance, this implies the development of integrated systems that link several surveillance components operating in different domains (human, domestic animals, environment) and involving several actor networks. However, surveillance continues to operate in a very compartmentalized way, with little interaction between sectoral institutions and with the community for the governance and operation of surveillance activities. This is partly explained by the insufficient consideration of the local context and the late involvement of national stakeholders when developing programmes that aimed at strengthening the integration of surveillance. In low- and middle-income countries in particular, there is a strong influence of external partners on the development of intersectoral programmes, including surveillance systems. In this context, we developed and implemented a participatory planning process to support stakeholders of the surveillance system of anthrax in Burkina Faso, in the definition of the One Health surveillance system they wish for and of the pathway to reach it. The workshop produced an action plan that reflects the views and perspectives of representatives of the different categories of stakeholders and beneficiaries of surveillance. In addition, the participation of stakeholders in this participatory co-construction process has also improved their knowledge and mutual understanding, fostering a climate of trust conducive to further collaboration for surveillance activities. However, the quality of the participation raises some questions over the results, and contextual factors may have influenced the process. This underlines the need to include a monitoring and evaluation plan in the process to assess its implementation and ability to produce One Health surveillance modalities that are appropriate, accepted and applied over the long term.
... childhood mortality in the world. For example, the world average for deaths of children aged less than 5 as a percentage of overall deaths is 8 percent [8]. In Pakistan, this number is as high as 81% [9]. ...
This article discusses the history of vaccines, the Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO), and Pakistan's own EPI, as well as the challenges Pakistan faces in its immunization efforts. Despite notable improvements in healthcare and living standards, Pakistan still has the third highest burden of childhood mortality in the world, with 70% of childhood deaths caused by infectious diseases. Pakistan's predominantly rural society, lack of education, limited healthcare infrastructure, and cultural resistance to vaccination are all challenges to effective immunization. The 2022 floods, which affected up to 100,000 km² of land, exacerbated these problems, leading to an increase in vaccine-preventable diseases in the affected provinces. Data analysis showed an increase in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases, with the greatest increase being seen in the cases of mumps with almost a 1000% increase in its cases year on year.
... Meanwhile, long-term and sustainable rural development requires the emergence of local leaders who can effectively encompass the potential of ICT to create e-commerce businesses and further-reaching impacts (Pan and Zhang, 2020;Cui et al., 2019;Ersing, 2003). Hence, the other approach is proposed and acknowledged whereby rural development is led by local e-commerce enterprises (Leong et al., 2015;Mansuri and Rao, 2004). The emergence of e-commerce in China's rural area is considered a typical epitome of this approach. ...
... This way, watershed project planning could be made less abstract and more strategic for direct impact and clearly defined project goals, preferably with community involvement. This is crucial because local participation is proposed to achieve various goals, including sharpening poverty targeting, improving service delivery, expanding livelihood opportunities, and strengthening demand for good governance [37]. ...
Any watershed project is a multi-stakeholder endeavour incorporating diverse socio-hydrological dimensions of a region. The project’s worth is correlated with the stakeholders’ willingness to continue. Identifying the most desirable watershed parameters is challenging for watershed managers. This research aims to explore critical parameters and construct a watershed project desirability indexing framework to examine the congruence of stakeholders’ perceptions on a hypothetical watershed parameter list. It contains 31 critical operational areas (or sub-domains) in eight domains incorporating different management mechanisms and socio-economic and environmental activities covering diverse watershed inventories based on watershed management protocols, including the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), Integrated Water Resource Management Programme (IWRM), World Bank directives and government guidelines, and relevant literature. Stakeholders’ agreeability was recorded from two stratified stakeholder groups at the Satpokholi watershed project in the Brahmaputra Valley, India, using a structured questionnaire based on a 5-point Likert Scale. Subsequently, the degree of alignment of the perception of stakeholder groups regarding the sub-domains and domains and the relative desirability are evaluated by applying statistical and mathematical operations. Results reveal that this watershed project desirability indexing (WPDI) would help identify the congruency of views regarding adopted watershed domains and sub-domains. Applying the same WPDI, stakeholders’ desirability in two other adjacent watershed projects (Kaldia and Turkunijan) was evaluated. Findings were validated by a series of expert interviews, which shows the potential of this WPDI to assess different watershed projects operating in an analogous environment. This indexing method might be modified to manage and reengineer multi-stakeholder projects where incongruent perceptions exist.
... This finding highlights the crucial importance of strong leadership in driving successful development projects at the village level, when considering the broader notions of leadership and development. The consensus on Village Development indicates that the community views the implementation of development initiatives and strategies as both effective and in line with their needs and goals (Kartika, 2012;Mansuri & Rao, 2003). ...
This study aims to analyze the influence of women's political leadership styles on the effectiveness of development in Parangloe Village, Bantaeng Regency. The research design employed is a quantitative method, utilizing a questionnaire as the main instrument. The population under study comprises the residents of Parangloe Village, Bantaeng Regency, and the sample size determination utilized the Slovin technique due to the large and challenging-to-reach population. The study selected 90 respondents as samples. Data collection methods involved both observation and the distribution of questionnaires. The data analysis technique employed in this study is regression analysis. Validity and reliability of the data were ensured through validity testing. The findings of this study indicate that the influence of women's political leadership styles on the effectiveness of development in Parangloe Village, Bantaeng Regency, is positive. This is supported by the average score of 168.8 or 84%, suggesting a very favorable position for the impact of women's leadership style. Furthermore, the research also reveals a positive effect of women's leadership on development in Parangloe Village, Bantaeng Regency, with a percentage of 69.1%, while the remaining 30.9% is attributed to other factors.
... When the villagers authorized the village cadres to carry out the acts of information liaison, external negotiation, and contract signing for the land transfer, these cadres actually gained a decisive role in controlling the land consolidation work in Jin'an Village [72]. This situation raises concerns regarding a potential divide between village cadres and villagers, where elites in positions of power could unequally distribute the benefits of rural reform to themselves [82,83]. The survey results from Jin'an Village revealed that while there were no conflicts regarding benefit distribution, there were substantial differences in perspectives between villagers and village cadres in the face of the failure of land consolidation. ...
With the changing relationship between urban and rural areas in China, the rural areas are experiencing rapid social transformation. To ensure successful implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, land consolidation has become a major measure of rural economic reform. Existing research focuses on quantitative studies exploring the relationship between land consolidation and rural economic development, but there is a lack of studies on the relationship between land consolidation and social change. In this study, we utilized Rocha’s conceptual framework for community empowerment and selected Jin’an Village as our study area, using semi-structured interviews and semi-participatory observation to obtain original materials, with the aim of providing a detailed description of the specific practice of land consolidation and analyzing the impact of land consolidation on the transformation of rural social consciousness. The study found that the participatory practices of Chinese rural villagers in the land consolidation process are consistent with the development process of community empowerment. Rural land consolidation involves villagers in the land consolidation process, which can effectively stimulate villagers’ participation in public affairs. Concurrently, the interaction between villagers and outside investors disrupts the conventional socialization model in rural areas and motivates villagers to act in accordance with contractual agreements. The conclusion is that land consolidation in rural areas can enhance the political democracy and legal consciousness of local villagers, which can lead to a change in local social consciousness. Our findings also emphasize the crucial necessity of providing rural villagers with improved accessibility to professional services and information, coupled with the continued promotion of land consolidation to advance modernization in these areas.
... Some American researchers pointed out that by the 1960s it had become obvious to many people in an increasingly diverse American society that their interests were not being addressed adequately by elected officials (Cooper et.al, 2006: 77). However, though there was a debate on the emergence of people`s participation in development program, in the 1980s, it attracted wide popularity worldwide (Khwaja, 2004;Mansuri and Rao, 2004), and in the 1990s it became an important vehicle for rural development (Carley, 2006). Practically, now people`s participation gets the centre stage in development discourse, particularly in local development programs, as elected representatives in democratic governments have been seen by some analysts to have failed to represent grassroots in local development programs (Leighninger, 2005;Tosun, 2000). ...
This purpose of this article is to assess the extent and impact of citizen's participation in policy making at the local government in southwestern Nigeria. The paper is based on survey questionnaire carried out among 210 career officers on GL. 07 and above, and interviews conducted among 18 political functionaries and 27 executive members of some civil society's in selected local government in southwestern Nigeria. The findings showed that policy making processes in the local governments provided too little for citizen's participation but howeverc participation had significant impact on policy making in southwestern Nigeria local governments. Therefore, in this case it could be concluded that if more citizen's participation is encouraged, the southwestern Nigeria and the country would be better for it.
... The program, rooted in positive psychology, underscores the importance of building strengths and resilience. Mansuri, G., & Rao(2003) conducted a thorough literature analysis to establish the effectiveness of community-based treatments in supporting successful reintegration of prisoners into society. The authors highlight a range of initiatives aimed at reducing recidivism rates, addressing substance addiction, enhancing economic opportunities, and improving mental health outcomes. ...
This study focuses on evaluating community involvement in rehabilitating and caring for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) at the Iriga District Jail in Camarines Sur's Fifth District, Philippines. The research employed a quantitative-methods of survey questionnaire, utilizing purposive and random sampling techniques to select participants of total 100 however 89 respondents replied considered and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that community involvement activities were partially implemented, encompassing work and livelihood programs, moral and spiritual programs, education and training programs, sports and recreation programs, behavior modification programs, and health and welfare programs. Challenges identified included limited funds, inadequate physical facilities, limited government and community support, insufficient staff training, and organizational issues. To strengthen community involvement in prisoner rehabilitation, this study recommends psychological evaluations, job placement or referral, community service programs, client self-help organizations, environmental awareness programs, volunteer probation aides, and involving the client's family in the rehabilitation process. These findings offer insights into the current state of community involvement in prisoner rehabilitation and propose measures for improvement in Camarines Sur's Fifth District.
... The dynamics described in this paper could simply be understood as a form of elite capture or elite control (Bierschenk et al., 2002;Mansuri & Rao, 2004). Elite capture occurs when programmes are dominated by elites who appropriate their material benefits and ensure they reach their supporters. ...
Using ethnographic research from Pakistan, this paper argues that social accountability programmes that overlook the role of intermediaries in clientelistic states risk undermining the wider democratising projects they seek to support. It proposes a theory of ‘isomorphic activism’ that describes how these public authorities appropriate others' opportunities to participate in politics and, in the process, undermine democratic norms. Isomorphic activism is shown to be more likely when programmes are based on ideals of civil society that render activism a technical exercise, depoliticise it and blind donors to power inequalities. The challenges the paper highlights are important given calls for development programmes to change by whom and how politics is done, whilst granting local ownership to participants and demonstrating value for money. They should also be of interest to those concerned by the spread of reductive views of civil society activism within donor organisations.
... CDD projects spend 3-12 months (and a third of project budgets) 'training' the community to make inclusive decisions and manage resources transparently, and condition CDD funds on the communities adopting these management practices (Fritzen 2007;Casey 2011Casey , 2018Lawson 2011). This approach to CDD has inspired the second main criticism of CDD projects: NGO training coupled with the community's experience of CDD do not sustainably impact local institutions and even hinder the capacity of local governance systems (Mansuri and Rao 2003;Kumar et al. 2005;Magumula 2006;Casey 2018;White et al. 2018;Anderson 2019). The World Bank's review of their own CDD programs claims they have positive/mixed impact on governance outcomes (Wong 2012). ...
Community-Driven Development (CDD) empowers target communities with control over development resources but is criticized for exogenously establishing parallel governance structures that fade away when the intervention ends. Could an unconditional direct transfer to a whole community catalyze endogenous institutional change by creating ‘a distinctive social space’ where actors draw upon modern and traditional discourses in the struggle over resources, institutions, and meanings? In this ethnographic study, we provided a Malian village with $10,000 for a ‘development project’ and used the Actor-Oriented Approach to investigate how the project was socially constructed. The results reveal the local elites (customary authorities) taking early control over the project funds, and countervailing powers (young men and a “righteous” elder) constraining the customary authorities after they had sufficient time to mobilize opposition. Our findings suggest that issuing unconditional direct transfers could enable CDD to positively impact governance outcomes in other West African villages as well.
... There are, however, those who believe that social capital is not worth the attention it is given. They claim that there is no conclusive evidence that social capital promoted material household welfare even through participatory or community-based framework (Mansuri & Rao, 2004, Van Domelen, 2006. In spite of this, critics and advocates of social capital seem to agree that social capital is a useful tool for poverty alleviation and in promoting human welfare (USAID, 2011, World Bank 2005. ...
The book describes how 'communal values create obligations' which constrain the appropriation of resources embedded in informal networks and social relations among a homogenous people in a rural setting in Nigeria, a country with over 60% of its population especially households, living in poverty, in the midst of plenty. Using a unique non-econometric, conceptual and methodological approach, ethnographic and cross-sectional survey data, the study demonstrated how households get 'drawn back' by their stock of social capital, which become an encumbrance of a kind and thus reinforce rather than alleviate rural household poverty. It concludes that the design and implementation of rural development policies should incorporate such 'resourced' informal networks and relations as 'enablers', to help 'remove the drawbacks' and optimise their capacity for mobilising rural households for effective participation in government's pro-poor schemes to enhance the chances of success and unleash the potential for a 'bottom-up led' sustainable, community social development process.
... The results indicate that CBDRR in Malawi is often blind to the complexity of power relations and local Table 2 Example quotes from research participants on the obstacles in current community-based disaster risk reduction for the use of local knowledge. level politics and leads to 'elite capture', a problem that is affecting the delivery of benefits of community-based projects [107,108]. What this suggests in relation to LK is that in current CBDRR in Malawi, one must ask a question of whose knowledge counts, as it becomes apparent that the dismissal of the influence of village level politics and local level power relations creates differentiated opportunities for people to contribute with their LK in the process. Taking into account the heterogeneity of LK this becomes problematic. ...
It is often taken as given that community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) serves as a mechanism for the inclusion of local knowledge (LK) in disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this paper, through in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical data from Malawi, we investigate the extent to which CBDRR in practice really takes into account LK. This research argues that LK is underutilised in CBDRR and finds that current practice provides a limited opportunity for the inclusion of LK, due to five prime obstacles: i) current approach to community participation, ii) financial constraints and capacity of external stakeholders, iii) the donor landscape, iv) information consolidation and sharing, and v) external stakeholders attitudes towards LK. In CBDRR, a strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge is maintained, and further re-examination of community-based approaches in practice is needed to make them truly transformative.
... Community-based forms of development have a long history. Mansuri & Rao (2004), highlighting cooperative movements, Gandhian notions of village self-reliance, small-scale development and Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, say that these concepts led to a first wave of participatory development in the 1950s. They argue that one of the main difficulties in CDD programs lies in their vulnerability to capture by local elites (Platteau & Gaspart, 2003). ...
The goal of this chapter is to propose a matrix of common good dynamics allowing us to measure the quality of the nexus achieved at the local level.1 It builds on the previous chapter, which laid out the foundation for this matrix of common good dynamics. Most importantly, we decided to focus on a metric of the nexus. Other measures or proxies for specific common goods such as health, education, or associative life already exist, while measures for the universal common good remain elusive. What is lacking is a metric of how specific common goods build up—along a common good dynamic—into a nexus of common goods. We are thus interested in processes: the conditions required for a positive dynamic to build up within a nexus of common goods. The descriptive and normative dimensions of this dynamic make up our matrix of the nexus. The metric itself, which will be presented in the next chapter, is intended as a diagnostic tool aimed at assessing local-level development priorities.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan pengelolaan wisata berbasis masyarakat di kawasan Danau Atas, Alahan Panjang. Penelitian ini menarik untuk dikaji karena pengelolaan berbasis pariwisata masyarakat masih jarang diterapkan secara optimal sehingga berdampak kepada pengelolaan pariwisata berkelanjutan. Penelitian ini dianalisis menggunakan teori AGIL oleh Talcott Parsons. Metode yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif dengan jenis studi kasus. Teknik pengambilan informan dilakukan secara purposive sampling dengan jumlah informan sebanyak lima orang yang terdiri dari pengelola wisata, pedagang, wisatawan, dan petugas kebersihan. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dalam bentuk observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi. Observasi yang diamati adalah kegiatan di kawasan wisata Danau Atas, termasuk interaksi antara pengunjung, pedagang, pengelola, dan petugas kebersihan, serta upaya masyarakat dalam menjaga kebersihan dan kelestarian lingkungan. Wawancara dilakukan dengan pengelola wisata, pedagang, wisatawan, dan petugas kebersihan untuk menggali pandangan mereka tentang peran dalam pengelolaan wisata, dampaknya terhadap ekonomi lokal, dan upaya menjaga lingkungan. Dokumentasi yang dikumpulkan mencakup foto-foto kegiatan wisata, kondisi kawasan, serta catatan dari observasi dan wawancara yang mendukung temuan dalam penelitian. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa partisipasi masyarakat dalam pengembangan pariwisata di Kawasan danau atas Alahan Panjang yang pertama, Peran Aktif Dalam Pengelolaan Wisata. Kedua, Partisipasi Masyarakat Dalam Kegiatan Ekonomi Lokal. Ketiga, Kolaborasi Dalam Menjaga Keseimbangan Lingkungan.
Local empowerment movement is a core element of development research and policy agendas. I conducted ethnographies of unconditional Community-Driven Development (CDD) projects in Mali while simultaneously exploring how power struggles shape the concepts and knowledge that we use to consider local empowerment and elite capture. I found that the elite capture critique is a form of symbolic power that legitimizes top-down control over development resources. Unconditional CDD can catalyze endogenous institutional change by creating ‘a distinct social space’ where actors draw upon modern and traditional discourses in the struggle over resources, institutions, and meanings. CDD could achieve enduring forms of social change when it builds off local women’s practical knowledge and supports them in the struggles they are willing to fight. Rather than imposing social organization, development institutions should shift to allow and study local empowerment. This knowledge could legitimize the devolution of development resources because this is how durable social change is produced.
This paper examines whether citizens participate in the planning processes initiated by the local government and whether citizen’s voices were heard in the preparation of development projects in the specific context of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In this wage employment programme, citizens can access the benefits as a matter of right or entitlements. Participation by citizens is a key mechanism to ensure the accountability of the local government in the delivery of benefits to the people demanding for work under MGNREGS. In this regard, participatory planning gains lots of importance. Decentralised planning ensuring citizens′ participation will have greater success in undertaking need-based activities and successful implementation of the programme. By analysing primary data collected from a district in a South Indian state of Karnataka, this paper shows that people’s participation in the planning process varied across the villages. An important enabling factor for people to participate in the preparation of development plans is demand for the work. The paper finds positive association between people’s participation in the planning process of the programme and the demand for work. It is shown that when there is an adequate demand for work, people automatically participate and exercise their rights. The demand for work found to be high in backward region and among socially disadvantaged households.
This study examines the effectiveness of China's National Poor Counties (NPC) program, a decentralized anti‐poverty initiative, by analyzing five rounds of individual‐level panel data from 1988 to 2008. The impact of two waves of the NPC program (1994 and 2001) is evaluated utilizing a panel fixed‐effects regression model. The results indicate substantial positive effects, with residents in NPC counties experiencing a 47 percent income increase, 3.1 percent higher employment rates, and a 5.7 percent rise in household expenditure from 1988 to 2008, in comparison with non‐NPC counties. Notably, the program benefited vulnerable populations, dispelling concerns about “elite capture.” The study also reveals that evolving policy focus has played a pivotal role in sustaining the effects of the program over time. The 1994 round prioritized low‐skilled employment, and the 2001 wave emphasized productivity enhancement through skills development. These findings highlight the continued efficacy of decentralized anti‐poverty efforts.
The utilisation of information and communication technology (ICT) has a profound impact on e‐governance across countries, albeit, with limited attention to rural areas. The existing literature on this topic either examines the positive effects of ICT use on e‐governance at the individual level or from the urban–rural dichotomy perspective. Meanwhile, the majority of studies are conducted within an urban context, but they scarcely focus on identifying the challenges in developing rural e‐governance. As such, we contend that an ecology perspective is necessary to identify the specific distinctions of ICT use on e‐governance in various rural ecosystems. To this end, we employ various empirical specifications, namely a fixed‐effects model and an instrumental variable approach, to provide evidence of distinct influences of ICT use on e‐governance. As follows, we adopt a qualitative research approach to gather evidence on the differentiations of ICT use on rural e‐governance within diverse ecosystems. Subsequently, we have identified five crucial obstacles encountered by rural ecosystems in Western China while attempting to develop e‐governance. Furthermore, we delineate an all‐encompassing internal‐external strategy to overcome these challenges.
A randomized controlled trial in Pakistan tests whether one-on-one engagement with community religious leaders can encourage them to instruct congregants to follow government regulations. Treated religious leaders are 25 percent more likely to comply with government requirements to tell congregants they should wear a mask to prevent COVID transmission when attending prayers. Treatment effects do not depend on the religious content of the message. Effects are driven by respondents who already understand the mechanics of COVID transmission at baseline, suggesting the treatment does not work by correcting basic knowledge about the disease, but rather through a mechanism of persuasion.
This study evaluates the effects of the Cambodia Rural Development Program, specifically focusing on income generation and social capital. By employing a difference- in-differences framework and propensity score matching, the study finds a statistically significant positive impact on income, primarily driven by increased engagement in regular income-generating activities. However, the study also finds that the program has a limited effect on village-level collective actions, social cohesion, and perceived safety while inadvertently discouraging financial contributions to community projects. Additionally, trust between villagers and government officials remains unchanged. Heterogeneous analyses reveal the ineffective participation of trauma-experienced subgroups, highlighting the need for tailored approaches in conflict-affected regions.
Based on data from the China Labor‐force Dynamics Survey (CLDS), our study examines how geographical remoteness impacts farmers' gift expense burden. Farmers' gift expense burden increases significantly as the distance from the village to the county‐level city increases. Two key mechanisms for more remote rural areas exacerbate farmers' gift expense burden: stronger reliance on neighbours and relatives for assistance and more concentrated authority among local officials. Our research offers new perspectives on disparities in gift expense burden among farmers in developing countries and suggests viable avenues to alleviate their financial strain.
Efforts to improve the welfare of community are an important agenda for rural development. The community-based development (CBD) has been applied in rural development models such as the model of Integrated Agriculture Development (IAD), the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM), and Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). However, the models have revealed certain weaknesses, to achieve resilience and sustainable growth in village’s community. We evaluated the current practices of CBD in rural Indonesian by applying proper governance and social innovation as a conceptual framework at village development level. Field work was applied in 15 villages in Indonesia to collect qualitative data from the key persons. The qualitative analysis was undertaken to actualizing the proper governance and social innovation dimensions based on the data gathered from 15 villages in Indonesia. It is observed that the CBD practices vary in three different rural’s typology namely farming, forest, and coastal villages. The CBD practices can enhance developmental resilience and sustainability in rural areas, if the current practices can add more attention in four key factors namely institutional setting, financial strategy, program’s sustainability, and post-program mentoring.
The introduction of fire suppression policies and expansion of exclusionary protected areas in East and Southern African savannas have engendered a wildfire paradox. Outside protected areas, livestock have replaced fire as the dominant fuel consumer. Inside their boundaries, wildfire intensity has increased due to accumulating flammable biomass. Community‐Based Fire Management (CBFiM) is recognized as an alternative fire management strategy to address the wildfire paradox and promote equitable fire governance across conservation landscapes. Yet, there has been little investigation into the implementation and effectiveness of CBFiM across East and Southern Africa's savanna‐protected areas. Here we employ a social‐ecological systems framework to develop a systematic map of the published literature on the framing and features of CBFiM in this context. We characterize the challenges and opportunities for their design and implementation, focusing on the relationship between governance systems and community participation in fire management. We find that CBFiM projects are commonly governed by the state and international non‐governmental organisations who retain decision‐making power and determine access to savanna resources and fire use. Existing CBFiM projects are limited to communal rangelands and are developed within existing Community‐Based Natural Resource Management programs prioritizing fire prevention and suppression. Planned CBFiM projects propose an exclusive early‐dry season patch mosaic burning regime to incorporate indigenous fire knowledge into modern management frameworks, but evidence of indigenous and local peoples' involvement is scarce. To provide equitable fire management, CBFiM projects need to address inequalities embedded in protected area governance and centralized suppression policies, and account for changing state‐society and intra‐society relations across the region.
This research explores local drivers regarding the principles of Community-Based Tourism (CBT) as well as analyzes their role in participatory CBT development from local community’s perspective. The study is based on applied research; however, the descriptive-analytical research methodology is used accordingly. An integrated qualitative-quantitative method using Delphi technique with three rounds duration is undertaken to identify and analyze the CBT development drivers. Based on the preliminary researcher’s presence in the study area and with regard to the capacity building as well as empowerment issue, local community’s characteristics including gender, education level and the capability of the key and influential rural trustees and their corresponding influence on decision-taking need particular attention as far as CBT development issue is concerned. This study suggests that from the local community stand point, the economic drivers ranked as the most important ones as opposed to socio-cultural drivers from CBT development point of view and sustainable livelihood consideration. It further indicates that more educated village fellow would better be able to respond to CBT development. Moreover, in terms of gender, women and men have an almost identical understanding of the CBT development drivers. Last but not the least, it is argued that key influential trustees are more capable of smoothing the CBT development path.
Poverty, lack of volunteering culture, and low level of literacy are some of the problems that challenge the true engagement of local communities in decision-making processes in developing countries. For effective engagement of communities in local projects, the World Bank has initiated the community-driven development (CDD) approach in Afghanistan. One of the CDD’s programs was the Citizens Charter National Priority Program (CNPP) that reached the end of its first phase in 2020. Throughout the program, the World Bank has provided the basic services to urban and rural communities across Afghanistan. This research tends to assess to what extent people participated in the community-driven development projects in Afghanistan with special focus on Herat city, a city located in western Afghanistan. Applying a qualitative research approach, we conducted 61 semi-structured in-depth interviews with community development experts, urban managers, and members of community development councils in Herat city. Although citizens have participated in some aspects of the program, e.g., elections, establishment of community development councils (CDCs), prioritization, and implementation of infrastructure projects, this research has questioned the sustainability of CNPP. Despite the effectiveness of the program—economically speaking—CNPP has failed to truly engage women and underserved communities in decision-making process. Added to this, the program has been considered unsuccessful in empowering local communities and in institutionalizing the concept of “citizen participation.” Moreover, it was also revealed that CCNPP prioritizes service delivery over social issues (e.g., empowerment, active participation of the citizens, institutionalization of CDCs, sustainable and continuous performance of CDCs, and public awareness). For sustainable operation of CDCs, the Afghan government should recognize CDCs as integral parts of the Afghan political system.
Is there any possibility that foreign aid may negatively affect African social ties? To answer such a question, this paper examines the impact of local Chinese aid projects on social capital in Africa. China or Chinese contractors directly control or operate Chinese projects in Africa. This feature may disengage Africans from participating in their own local development activities. Likewise, China gives unconditional aid, which may nurture corruption. By creating losers and winners, corruption may make people unhappy. Because of these features, Chinese aid projects may hinder the formation of social capital. This paper puts this claim to an empirical test using data from the Afrobarometer surveys and AidData. Conditional on a set of controls, I find several interesting results. First, Chinese aid is negatively associated with generalized trust. Second, Chinese aid projects are related to disengagement from associational life. Third, no similar pattern is found when the main analysis is replicated on aid from the World Bank. Finally, neither the Chinese nor the World Bank’s aid is related to subjective wellbeing. The results suggest that Chinese aid may wither local social ties through social disengagement. Overall, the findings imply that it is vital to engage local citizens in the design and implementation of Chinese aid projects.
OBJECTIVE To determine the immunization status and its involved challenges among hospitalized children. Material and Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in the pediatrics department of Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar from February 2017 to September 2017. All children less than 5 years admitted via the outpatient department were included in the study. Their guardians were explained the purpose of the study and informed consent was obtained. A complete medical record of each individual including name, age, gender, detailed history, and examination was recorded in a predesigned Proforma. It also included details of immunization (fully immunized, partially immunized, or not immunized at all), Parental education (less than Primary and above Primary), socioeconomic status (poor, middle, and upper middle), and residential status (urban/rural). RESULTS: A total of 497 children were included in the study, out of which 422 were males (85%). A total of 419 (84.30%) were completely immunized, 65 (13.07%) were partially immunized and only 13 (02.61%) were not immunized. Among 84.30% of children who were completely immunized, their parents had an education status above primary schools. Thirty-six percent of fully immunized children belonged to poor socioeconomic status. Two third of the participants belonged to an urban community. CONCLUSIONS: Ninety-seven percent of study participants were found to be completely/partially immunized. Most of the parents of immunized children had education status beyond primary school and were of upper and middle socioeconomic background. Most of them belonged to urban areas of the province.
Communities often face numerous challenges and opportunities—situations that may be reduced to specific domains by researchers, policy makers and interventionists. This study informs and animates a new “flourishing community” model that seeks to build collective capacity to respond to challenges and opportunities. Our work is a response to children living on the streets, whose families face myriad challenges. The Sustainable Development Goals make explicit the need for new, integrative models that acknowledge the interplay of challenges and opportunities within communities through the flow of everyday life. Flourishing communities are generative, supportive, resilient, compassionate, curious, responsive and self‐determined, and they build resources across economic, social, educational, and health domains. Integrating theoretical models—specifically, community‐led development, multi‐systemic resilience, and the “broaden and build” cycle of attachment—provides a testable framework to understand and explore hypothesised relationships between survey‐collected, cross‐sectional variables with 335 participants. Higher collective efficacy, a common byproduct of group‐based microlending activities, was correlated with higher sociopolitical control. This correlation was mediated by higher positive emotion, meaning in life, spirituality, curiosity, and compassion. Further research is required to understand replicability, cross‐sectoral impact, mechanisms of integrating health and development domains, and implementation challenges of the flourishing community model. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.
What makes bureaucracy work for the least advantaged? Across the world, countries have adopted policies for universal primary education. Yet, policy implementation is uneven and not well understood. Making Bureaucracy Work investigates when and how public agencies deliver primary education across rural India. Through a multi-level comparative analysis and more than two years of ethnographic field research, Mangla opens the 'black box' of Indian bureaucracy to demonstrate how differences in bureaucratic norms - informal rules that guide public officials and their everyday relations with citizens - generate divergent implementation patterns and outcomes. While some public agencies operate in a legalistic manner and promote compliance with policy rules, others engage in deliberation and encourage flexible problem-solving with local communities, thereby enhancing the quality of education services. This book reveals the complex ways bureaucratic norms interact with socioeconomic inequalities on the ground, illuminating the possibilities and obstacles for bureaucracy to promote inclusive development.
This paper aims to clarify the relationship between fiscal decentralization and poverty using Indonesian provincial-level data from 2001-2018 by way of panel data estimation. This paper circumvents the potential endogeneity problem between the interest variable to provide an unbiased estimated impact of the critical variables. The results provide robust evidence that the implementation of Indonesian fiscal decentralization contributes to poverty reduction outcomes. This paper also proposes a policy set based on the estimation result to the central government in handling the non-linear relationship between fiscal decentralization and poverty.
THIS IS A CONSTRIBUTING PAPER TO THE 2022 UNDRR GLOBAL RISK ASSESSMENT REPORT (GAR 2022)
ABSTRACT: It is often taken as given that community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) serves as a mechanism for the inclusion of local knowledge (LK) in disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this paper, through in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical data from Malawi, we investigate the extent to which CBDRR in practice really takes into account LK. This research argues that LK is underutilised in CBDRR and finds that current practice provides a limited opportunity for the inclusion of LK, due to five prime obstacles: i) current approach to community participation, ii) financial constraints and capacity of external stakeholders, iii) the donor landscape, iv) information consolidation and sharing, and v) external stakeholders attitudes towards LK. In CBDRR, a strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge is maintained, and further re-examination of community-based approaches in practice is needed to make them truly transformative.
This edited collection proposes a common good approach to development theory and practice. Rather than focusing on the outcomes or conditions of development, the contributors concentrate on the quality of development processes, suggesting that a common good dynamic is key in order to trigger development.
Resulting from more than three years of research by an international group of over fifty scholars, the volume advocates for a modern understanding of the common good—rather than a theological or metaphysical good—in societies by emphasising the social practice of ‘commoning’ at its core. It suggests that the dynamic equilibrium of common goods in a society should be at the centre of development efforts. For this purpose, it develops a matrix of common good dynamics, accounting for how institutions, social norms and common practices interconnect by identifying five key drivers not only of development, but human development (agency, governance, justice, stability, humanity). Based on this matrix, the contributors suggest a possible metric for measuring the quality of these dynamics. The last section of the book highlights the possibilities enabled by this approach through a series of case studies.
The concept of the common good has recently enjoyed a revival and inspired practitioners keen to look beyond the shortcomings of political and economic liberalism. This book builds on those efforts to think beyond the agenda of twentieth-century development policies, and will be of interest to those working in the fields of development, economics, sociology, philosophy and political science.
This edited collection proposes a common good approach to development theory and practice. Rather than focusing on the outcomes or conditions of development, the contributors concentrate on the quality of development processes, suggesting that a common good dynamic is key in order to trigger development.
Resulting from more than three years of research by an international group of over fifty scholars, the volume advocates for a modern understanding of the common good—rather than a theological or metaphysical good—in societies by emphasising the social practice of ‘commoning’ at its core. It suggests that the dynamic equilibrium of common goods in a society should be at the centre of development efforts. For this purpose, it develops a matrix of common good dynamics, accounting for how institutions, social norms and common practices interconnect by identifying five key drivers not only of development, but human development (agency, governance, justice, stability, humanity). Based on this matrix, the contributors suggest a possible metric for measuring the quality of these dynamics. The last section of the book highlights the possibilities enabled by this approach through a series of case studies.
The concept of the common good has recently enjoyed a revival and inspired practitioners keen to look beyond the shortcomings of political and economic liberalism. This book builds on those efforts to think beyond the agenda of twentieth-century development policies, and will be of interest to those working in the fields of development, economics, sociology, philosophy and political science.
Weakly institutionalized environments represent a fertile ground for conflicts and for the suboptimal exploitation of resources. This dissertation explores these themes using a combination of theory and field experiments. Chapter 1, joint with Francis Bloch, studies the phenomenon of information distortion with a simple model of communication in networks. Agents can influence the probability that the information they send is transmitted without distortion, by exerting a costly and continuous effort. We characterize the equilibria of the game in function of the timing of agents’ decisions and of communication costs. Chapter 2, joint with Juni Singh, looks into the endogenous demand of peer-monitoring institutions in rural Nepal and studies its effect on contributions to a public good. Socially sparse groups are more likely to elect a highly influential monitor compared to socially dense ones. Monitoring institutions that are democratically elected by groups increase cooperation compared to those that are externally imposed, but only in socially sparse groups. Chapter 3 offers a model of conflict delegation with adverse selection, where states employ local groups to fight on their behalf. In a setting with incomplete information, militias receive transfers that are smaller than in complete information but are left with higher political autonomy. Chapter 4 extends this framework investigating the tradeoffs of delegating conflict and studies the effect of competition between different sponsors willing to hire the same local group. The delegation of conflict is the unique equilibrium when local groups enjoy weak local support. When there is competition between two sponsors, the delegate can carve out higher rents compared to a situation of monopoly contracting.
Current theories of development are predominantly based on the presumption that the obstacles and temptations involved in the local collective-action problems related to the provision and maintenance of common-pool resources are so substantial that only national governments have the capacity to surmount them. The temptation to free ride that underlies collective-action problems is viewed as a major deterrent to development. As each person who uses a collective resource would be better off if everyone else contributed to the provision of joint benefits available to all in the community, whether or not that person contributed, it is presumed that each person would be tempted not to contribute. The difficulty of sustaining collective action over the long term, where contributions are obviously costly and benefits are both hard to measure and dispersed over time and space, deepens the pessimism about the likelihood of success of self-organized efforts. The presumed inability of individuals to undertake their own collective action is used as the foundation for a theory of governance that expounds the need for the State. And yet, farmer-managed irrigation systems in Nepal tend to achieve average performance levels above those operated by the State. This paper explores the puzzle raised by the anomaly of low-tech systems organized by farmers achieving higher levels of performance than the high-tech systems built largely with donor funding and operated by the national government.
Several studies have concluded that heterogeneity within a group facilitates the initiation of collective action. However, a recent analysis found that heterogeneity can either facilitate or impede collective action, depending on factors like the strength of the temptation to free-ride. Reconciling these conclusions is difficult because the earlier studies assumed that public goods are provided voluntarily, whereas the later analysis assumed that selective incentives like norms or laws can mandate cooperation. I examine the link between group heterogeneity and collective action in three regimes: "voluntary" systems, in which actors make unrestricted decisions to participate in collective action; "compliance" systems, in which actors create and enforce norms that compel others to participate in public goods production; and "balanced" systems, in which actors can create and enforce compliance norms or oppose such norms. The analysis reveals a complex link among group heterogeneity, collective action, and the type of regime. By fostering the organization of previously atomized groups and weakening the cohesion of high-solidarity groups, heterogeneity in contribution costs and valuation of the public good can reduce social power differentials.
This paper takes an actor-oriented approach to understanding the significance for policy and practice of field-worker experience at the interface between project and people. It is set in the context of an Indian project which aims to reduce poverty through sustainable, participatory agricultural change, based on low-cost inputs, catalysed by village-based project staff. Diaries kept by such staff are analysed to reveal how the social position of field-workers enables and constrains their interactions within and without the project, and the ways in which ‘street level bureaucrats’ shape projects through their discretionary actions. They show the Village Motivators struggling to communicate project objectives, to establish their roles and distinguish themselves fromother village-level bureaucrats, to negotiate participation, to overcome hostility to Participatory Rural Appraisal, to arbitrate access to consultants and seniors, to interpret project objectives and lobby for changes in these without admission of failure, and finally to develop a shared vocabulary of participation and belief in success. Some of the implications for participatory approaches are that there may be significant contradictions between sustainability and participatory development.
Participatory methods are increasingly being used in development work at grassroots level in Africa. Western liberal concepts like 'one person one vote' underlie these methods. However, such concepts may not be easily compatible with a grassroots reality in which ethnicity (i.e. superior and subordinate ethnic identities) is an important factor shaping the social order. This article provides insights into the socio-political realities of ethnicity at village level in Botswana. The tension between participatory methods and the ethnically structured village reality are illustrated with examples from a project that tested the relevance of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in Botswana. The authors identify problems and opportunities of participatory methods in addressing the inequalities in ethnically divided communities.
Participation must be seen as political. There are always tensions underlying issues such as who is involved, how, and on whose terms. While participation has the potential to challenge patterns of dominance, it may also be the means through which existing power relations are entrenched and reproduced. The arenas in which people perceive their interests and judge whether they can express them are not neutral. Participation may take place for a whole range of unfree reasons. It is important to see participation as a dynamic process, and to understand that its own form and function can become a focus for struggle.
This book, the last volume in a three-part series, draws on a large-scale worldwide poverty study to present the views, experiences, and aspirations of poor people in 14 selected countries. In each country, interviews and discussion groups were held in 8-15 rural and urban communities that reflected the most prevalent poverty groups and the diversity of poverty in that country. The countries are Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Jamaica. The chapters bring to life the peculiarities of what it means to be poor in various communities, including the perceived global, local, and environmental causes of poverty; the contributions of governments, institutions, and community organizations to well-being or their lack; the struggle for education; poor health conditions; discrimination and violence against women; child welfare, child labor, and young people's loss of hope; and survival strategies. Despite very different regions and contexts, four major themes emerged: (1) the diversity of assets and capabilities needed by poor people to survive and overcome poverty; (2) the profound impact of economy-wide policies and shocks on poor people's lives; (3) the negative effects of the culture of mediating institutions on well-intended policies; and (4) the persistence of gender inequity in households and societies, and the acute vulnerability of children in struggling households. Policy recommendations focus on reversing state failure to reduce poverty and human suffering. Appendices present development indicators for the 14 countries, currency exchange rates, and an overview of study themes and methods. (SV)
L'A. etudie le lien entre capital social et developpement economique. Il analyse la notion de capital social et souligne que cette notion caracterise un reseau de relations sociales jouissant d'une certaine autonomie et d'un relatif enracinement dans la vie sociale. Il examine la place du capital social dans le cadre des politiques de developpement economique et met en lumiere un certain nombre de contraintes et de possibilites inherentes aux dilemmes propres aux strategies de developpement «bas-haut» et «haut-bas». Il envisage de facon critique les theories et les politiques concues en matiere de developpement
The Malawi rural piped scheme program exemplified the participatory approach to rural drinking water supply. Today, between three and 26 years after completion, the smallest schemes, and the newest one, are performing well, but about half the schemes are performing poorly, and a third of these are functioning abysmally. Two implementation decisions would have improved performance, namely cash contributions from consumers, and the construction of smaller schemes. The participatory approach sets up community organizations capable of managing very small rural piped gravity schemes, but it does not address the need of larger schemes for support from a competent external agency.
Festival expenditures amount to over 15 per cent of a household's annual expenditures in rural India. Yet they have never been studied by economists. This article uses both qualitative and quantitative data from a case study of three South Indian villages to show that festivals are important public goods in the village, but neither a pure entertainment motive nor an altruistic desire to contribute to a public event seems to explain their size. Households which spend money on festivals, everything else held equal, are able however, to generate tangible rewards - lower prices on food, higher social status and more invitations to meals from other families. This indicates that active participation in festivals generates private economic and social returns which help resolve a potential free-rider problem. The evidence is consistent with the notion that festivals serve as mechanisms by which communities build social networks.
Social funds are becoming an increasingly important lending instrument in the World Bank's efforts to reach the poor. As part of a social fund portfolio review of 51 projects at the end of fiscal 1996, this paper examines the extent to which social fund subprojects are designed to support community participation, demand orientation, and investment in local organizational capacity to achieve sustainability at the community level. Social funds, which were first designed to cushion the effects of a country's fiscal and institutional crisis, have shown considerable ability to adapt and evolve in response to a new focus on service delivery and local capacity building. There have been many innovations in the design of social funds, particularly in the past two years, involving the devolution of authority and control over decisions and financial resources to community groups. However, the demand orientation of most projects could be further strengthened and only a handful of funds invest systematically in local organizational capacity. This raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of subprojects at the community level. If social funds are to meet their potential as lending instruments for alleviating poverty on a sustainable basis, more attention will have to be focused on community participation, demand orientation, and investment in local organizational capacity. This paper offers a number of specific design recommendations for improving these features in social fund projects.
Why do Internet, financial service, and beer commercials dominate Super Bowl advertising? How do political ceremonies establish authority? Why does repetition characterize anthems and ritual speech? Why were circular forms favored for public festivals during the French Revolution? This book answers these questions using a single concept: common knowledge.Game theory shows that in order to coordinate its actions, a group of people must form "common knowledge." Each person wants to participate only if others also participate. Members must have knowledge of each other, knowledge of that knowledge, knowledge of the knowledge of that knowledge, and so on. Michael Chwe applies this insight, with striking erudition, to analyze a range of rituals across history and cultures. He shows that public ceremonies are powerful not simply because they transmit meaning from a central source to each audience member but because they let audience members know what other members know. For instance, people watching the Super Bowl know that many others are seeing precisely what they see and that those people know in turn that many others are also watching. This creates common knowledge, and advertisers selling products that depend on consensus are willing to pay large sums to gain access to it. Remarkably, a great variety of rituals and ceremonies, such as formal inaugurations, work in much the same way.By using a rational-choice argument to explain diverse cultural practices, Chwe argues for a close reciprocal relationship between the perspectives of rationality and culture. He illustrates how game theory can be applied to an unexpectedly broad spectrum of problems, while showing in an admirably clear way what game theory might hold for scholars in the social sciences and humanities who are not yet acquainted with it.
This brief summarizes the results of a gender impact evaluation study, entitled An impact evaluation of education, health, and water supply investments by the Bolivian social investment fund, conducted between 1994 and 1998 in Bolivia. The study observed the impact of small-scale rural infrastructure projects in health, water, and education financed by the Bolivian social investment fund on project beneficiaries and control or comparison groups on a school level, health clinic level, student level, and individual level. The social fund improved the quality of school infrastructure; however it has little impact on education outcomes. The fund's interventions in health clinics raised utilization rates and were associated with reduction in under-five mortality. Prenatal checkups significantly reduced under-age five mortality. Funding for the study derived from the Impact Evaluation of Social Funds.
A report on a visit to six Latin American countries, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, to study some 45 'grassroots' projects covering housing improvements. literacy, education, small scale industry, and agricultural production. Looks at group solidarity and public action that began out of cooperative action, and how collective endeavors arise out of outside aggression and aggression by society. Then examines cooperatives, their benefits and costs, and the organizations which help low income people to better their conditions through self-help and articulation of their demands and grievances. Concludes that with a network of 'grassroots', projects, associations, and movements, social relations can become more caring and less private and can change the traditional character of Latin American society.-P.Creese(CDS)
This article considers both structural and strategic influences on collective action. Each person in a group wants to participate only if the total number taking part is at least her threshold; people use a network to communicate their thresholds. People are strategically rational in that they are completely rational and also take into account that others are completely rational. The model shows first that network position is much more important in influencing the revolt of people with low thresholds than people with high thresholds. Second, it shows that strong links are better for revolt when thresholds are low, and weak links are better when thresholds are high. Finally, the model generalizes the threshold models of Schelling (1978) and Granovetter (1978) and shows that their findings that revolt is very sensitive to the thresholds of people "early" in the process depends heavily on the assumption that communication is never reciprocal.
For agenda setting and policy design, public policies that involve or affect local communities are often negotiated in the field rather than the office, yet development literature has surprisingly neglected the characteristics, social conditions, perceptions and attitudes of field-level implementers of policy. In the context of Indian forestry for instance, forest guards are the representatives of the forest department in rural society, who interpret and explain forest policies to local people. Thus far, little literature has been devoted to their perceptions of forest policy and administration and the social context in which they function. This essay presents an ethnography of the social and professional life of forest guards in Himachal Pradesh with a view to understanding the pragmatic realities of implementing forest policies in India.
This article uses the concept of discourse to analyse an assessment of the impacts of a development project. Impact assessment can never achieve the objectivity that development practitioners seek. The truth is not something ‘out there’ waiting to be documented, but rather a story to be written by those performing the assessment. Moreover, the resistance and negotiation strategies used by both the ‘assessors’ and those being ‘assessed’ can have a profound influence on what is known about a project and its impacts.
1. Introduction and Overview 2. The Enigma and Fluidity of Capital 3. Bringing the Social Back In 4. Bourdieu's Social Capital: from distinction to extinction 5. Bringing Rational Choice Back In 6. Making the Benchmark Work for Social Theory 7. The Expanding Universe of Social Capital 8. Making the Post-Washington Consensus 9. World Banking on Social Capital 10. Measuring Social Capital: How long is a missing link 11. Social Capital Versus Political Economy
This is the final book in a three-part series entitled, " Voices of the Poor. " The series is based on an unprecedented effort to gather the views, experiences, and aspirations of more than 60,000 poor men and women from sixty countries. The work was undertaken for the " World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty. " This publication is organized as follows: Each country chapter opens up with a brief life story. These life stories were chosen because they highlight concerns raised not only by poor women and men living in that particular community, but because the same concerns were echoed in other parts of the country. The chapters then unfold around particular sets of issues that emerged repeatedly in group discussions and individual interviews. While the findings reported in the chapters cannot be generalized to represent poverty conditions for an entire nation, the chapters bring to life what it means to be poor in various communities, in fourteen countries, from the perspective of poor people. In the final chapter, four major patterns emerge: Poor people need a diverse set of assets and capabilities if they are to survive and overcome poverty. Economy-wide policies and shocks deplete poor people ' s assets and increase their insecurity. The culture of mediating institutions often negatively distorts the impact of well-intended policies and excludes the poor from gains. Gender inequity within households is persistent and children are acutely vulnerable.
Examines the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time. Institutions are separate from organizations, which are assemblages of people directed to strategically operating within institutional constraints. Institutions affect the economy by influencing, together with technology, transaction and production costs. They do this by reducing uncertainty in human interaction, albeit not always efficiently. Entrepreneurs accomplish incremental changes in institutions by perceiving opportunities to do better through altering the institutional framework of political and economic organizations. Importantly, the ability to perceive these opportunities depends on both the completeness of information and the mental constructs used to process that information. Thus, institutions and entrepreneurs stand in a symbiotic relationship where each gives feedback to the other. Neoclassical economics suggests that inefficient institutions ought to be rapidly replaced. This symbiotic relationship helps explain why this theoretical consequence is often not observed: while this relationship allows growth, it also allows inefficient institutions to persist. The author identifies changes in relative prices and prevailing ideas as the source of institutional alterations. Transaction costs, however, may keep relative price changes from being fully exploited. Transaction costs are influenced by institutions and institutional development is accordingly path-dependent. (CAR)
Many sociologists incorrectly believe that larger groups are less likely to support collective action than smaller ones. The effect of group size, in fact, depends on costs. If the costs of collective goods rise with the number who share in them, larger groups act less frequently than smaller ones. If the costs vary little with group size, larger groups should exhibit more collective action than smaller ones because larger groups have more resources and are more likely to have a critical mass of highly interested and resourceful actors. The positive effects of group size increase with group heterogeneity and nonrandom social ties. Paradoxically, when groups are heterogeneous, fewer contributors may be needed to provide a good to larger groups, making collective action less complex and less expensive.
The governance of natural resources used by many individuals in common is an issue of increasing concern to policy analysts. Both state control and privatization of resources have been advocated, but neither the state nor the market have been uniformly successful in solving common pool resource problems. After critiquing the foundations of policy analysis as applied to natural resources, Elinor Ostrom here provides a unique body of empirical data to explore conditions under which common pool resource problems have been satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily solved. Dr Ostrom uses institutional analysis to explore different ways - both successful and unsuccessful - of governing the commons. In contrast to the proposition of the 'tragedy of the commons' argument, common pool problems sometimes are solved by voluntary organizations rather than by a coercive state. Among the cases considered are communal tenure in meadows and forests, irrigation communities and other water rights, and fisheries.
The idea of “mutual assistance” (gotong royong) in Indonesia has been the basis for political discourse concerning the nature of authority, the characteristics of village society, and the legitimacy of demands for labor by the state. This article traces the way in which both changing political ideologies and state-village relations have been mediated by the term gotong royong, and suggests that its multiple meanings have been central to its semantic, political, and economic roles. Local interpretations of national doctrine and reactions to state policy are examined in two cases: East Java and Gayo (Aceh). The wide variety of local strategies is perceived as depending on preexisting political traditions and power relations vis-à-vis the state.
Today there is a pervasive policy consensus in favour of ‘community management’ approaches to common property resources such as forests and water. This is endorsed and legitimized by theories of collective action which, this article argues, produce distinctively ahistorical and apolitical constructions of ‘locality’, and impose a narrow definition of resources and economic interest. Through an historical and ethnographic exploration of indigenous tank irrigation systems in Tamil Nadu, the article challenges the economic-institutional modelling of common property systems in terms of sets of rules and co-operative equilibrium outcomes internally sustained by a structure of incentives. The article argues for a more historically and politically grounded understanding of resources, rights and entitlements and, using Bourdieu's notion of ‘symbolic capital’, argues for a reconception of common property which recognizes symbolic as well as material interests and resources. Tamil tank systems are viewed not only as sources of irrigation water, but as forming part of a village ‘public domain’ through which social relations are articulated, reproduced and challenged. But the symbolic ‘production of locality’ to which water systems contribute is also shaped by local ecology. The paper examines the historical and cultural production of two distinctive ‘cultural ecologies’. This serves to illustrate the fusion of ecology and social identity, place and person, in local conceptions, and to challenge a currently influential thesis on the ecological-economic determinants of collective action. In short, development discourse and local actors are seen to have very different methods and purposes in the ‘production of locality’. Finally, the article points to some practical implications of this for strategies of ‘local institutional development’ in irrigation.
To analyse the effect of asset inequality on co-operation within a group, we consider a two-player nonco-operative model of conservation of a common-pool resource. Overexploitation by one user affects another's payoff by reducing the next-period catch. We give necessary and sufficient conditions such that conservation is a Nash equilibrium, and show that increasing inequality does not, in general, favour full conservation. However, once inequality is sufficiently great, further inequality can raise efficiency. Thus, the relationship between inequality and economic efficiency is U-shaped. Finally, we analyse the implications for conservation if players have earning opportunities outside the commons.
Commodities and Capabilities presents a set of inter-related theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal well-being and advantage. The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, i.e. what a person can do or can be, questioning in the process the more standard emphasis on opulence or on utility. In fact, a person's motivation behind choice is treated here as a parametric variable which may or may not coincide with the pursuit of self-interest. Given the large number of practical problems arising from the roles and limitations of different concepts of interest and the judgement of advantage and well-being, this scholarly investigation is both of theoretical interest and practical import.
“Participation” has become overwhelmingly popular in recent years without sufficient attention paid to its ambiguities. This paper critically examines participatory development, first by presenting an overview of types and degrees of participation and then through the analysis of a case study of a non-formal education project in Burkina Faso. The intention is to articulate the difficulties in implementing the “genuine” participation which is espoused at academic and policy levels by presenting a case in which different stakeholders employ participation to their advantage and the realities of the field act as barriers to participatory development.
This paper explores two phenomena shaping processes of local institutional and organizational change in rural Africa. The first is the complexity of institutional layering and dissonance in which local organizations and institutions in rural Africa coexist. The second is the paradox often found in state local relations in Africa. Central governments encourage local communities to take on responsibilities which the center cannot manage. Should significant organizational strength emerge at the local level, however, central powers often move expeditiously to destroy it. Illustrative material comes primarily from Kenya and Zimbabwe and selectively from several other countries.We ask what new structures are emerging and what old ones are being adapted to new functions. We argue that local organizations are critical for addressing ecological decline and restoring the productivity and sustainability of rural Africa. Both localities and national governments have much to gain if the capacities of local organizations can become, themselves, a valued resource in the resource-scarce setting comprising much of rural Africa.