MIDTERMS

• Many assistance organizations emphasize poverty reduction as an important international assistance goal
• The number of organizations which focus on rural development as a way to reduce poverty has grown with the realization that most impoverished groups live in rural areas
• The World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen declared the goal to reduce absolute poverty in the world by half through people-centered social development


  1995
• The goal of reducing the ratio of the poor by half between 1990 to 2015 was adopted at the DAC High Level Meeting of OECD


  1996
• The UN General Assembly (Millennium Summit) promoted this effort as one of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

  2000
• As a result of this international trends towards poverty reduction, the number of organizations engaging in rural development has increased
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is shifting its development assistance focus to fighting poverty and the World Bank is developing a new strategy for rural development in addition to the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP)
• The Department for International Development (DFID) in the United Kingdom adopted the Sustainable Livelihood concept as an alternative development approach to existing rural development and for effective anti-poverty programs
• Most NGOs regard rural development as effective in reducing poverty and have expanded their activities to include remote rural areas such as areas in Southeast Asia
• Community participation has been recognized as an essential asset in the promotion of the independence of local people with many organizations implementing multi-sectoral activities based on local conditions, such as activities in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries as well as in non-agricultural income generation, education, health care and hygiene or infrastructure improvement
• Rural development strategies


  • Amenity-based development
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Cluster development
  • Regionalism
• Amenity-based development


  • Historically, rural areas have been dependent on industries involved in extracting natural resources (e.g, agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining)
  • Natural resources are viewed increasingly in terms of their consumption rather than their production value
  • Environmental protection of natural resources can potentially add more value to the rural communities than extraction of the resources
• Amenity-based development

  Strategies focusing on the consumptive aspects of natural resources
• Amenity-based development not only provides new opportunities, it also protects the natural environment that is so critical to the quality of life in rural communities
• Participatory Upland Development Program in Dampalit Watershed of the Makiling Forest Reserve


  Objectives: Determine the current state of and gather benchmark information on the resources, farming systems and socio-economic; Provide knowledge and skills in designing, planning and developing upland farming systems; Establish demonstration farms showcasing appropriate upland farming techniques in partnership with farmer groups; Strengthen the capabilities of the farmers' organization in upland development
• Entrepreneurship


  • Promoting entrepreneurship is considered an important rural development strategy because it opens up opportunities for residents and builds on local assets and resources
  • Entrepreneurship opportunities can fit into the local cultural context rather than imposing on the community from the outside
  • Entrepreneurship is an especially valuable strategy for enhancing the opportunities for minorities
  • Entrepreneurship provides minorities with new means of expressing their values and for residents to support those values
  • Establishing an entrepreneurial climate can also contribute to the success of non-profit and community-based organizations
• Cluster development


  • Many states, regions and municipalities have recently adopted cluster strategies in order to promote rural development
  • Clusters refer to closely associated businesses and institutions that are linked by commonalities and complementarities
  • Clusters are a more effective strategy than traditional approaches for regions to compete in a global economy
  • Clusters cultivate cooperative arrangements among economic actors in a region
  • Clusters can be an important rural development strategy because they provide new opportunities for high-wage employment, as well as offer more long-term sustainability to communities
  • Cluster development builds on local social relationships and offers opportunity for indigenous, rather than absentee, ownership
• Regionalism


  • Regional approaches to rural development can improve the efficiency of organizations and institutions without the loss of accountability and participation
  • Regionalism provides rural areas with the ability to address social, economic and environmental issues at the appropriate level and increase the availability of resources as well
  • Regional approaches may be the most appropriate response to the limitations of many rural areas that are related to low population density
  • Regionalism improves the scale of operation to provide additional resources
  • There are good models of regionalism that maintain grassroots public participation and involvement in decisions
• Endogenous development


  • To emphasize comprehensive local development for human rights advocacy, human development and qualitative progress of living standards based on environmental conservation and sustainable social development
  • To adopt a development approach that promotes inter-industrial relationships through the comprehensive utilization of local resources, techniques, industries, human resources, cultures, and networks placing value on mixed economic working situations
  • To facilitate community participation in policy-making
  • To establish local autonomy through community participation, decentralization and resident self-governance
• Participatory development


  • The promotion of the development of human and physical resources in rural areas requires recognizing the fact that local people themselves are the main implementers of development projects
  • If the people participate passively in projects, they become inactive and will depend on external inputs
  • Local decision-making in project planning and implementation is important
  • A project that the local people themselves plan and implement is given priority as local materials and human resources are utilized effectively by the local people's initiative and responsibility
  • Local independence and sustainable development of project outcomes are enhanced by the effective use of local resources
• Development


  • Rise
  • Growth
  • Progress
  • Ends State
  • Social Change
• Definitions of development


  • Desired goal or end state (Ongkiko & Flor)
  • Progress; economic efficiency; total process (Muhi et al.)
  • Process of improving the quality of all human lives and capabilities (Todaro & Smith)
  • Realization of the potential of the human personality (Seers)
• Definition of development


  • Process
  • Outcome
  • Timeline

  
• Definition of rural


  • The definition of "rural" differs by country, though it is usually used in contrast to "urban"
  • The concept of "rural" varies from Asia to Africa, it is difficult to define it uniformly
  • The use of "rural" (including fishing and mountain villages) as a relative concept to "urban", based on social, economical, and natural conditions in each country may be most adequate
  • Areas that have a relatively low population density compared to cities
  • Areas where agriculture and related activities usually dominate the landscape and economy
  • Places where transport and communications need to cover relatively large distances making travel and service provision relatively difficult and costly
• Theory of rural-urban continuum


  • Assumes that there are geographic differences in values, attitudes and social relationships that lead to differences in the quality of life between rural and urban regions
  • These differences are alleged to be due largely to the lower levels of population density and distance from large cities
• Definitions of rural development

  • A process which aims at improving the well being and self-realization of people living outside the urbanized areas through collective process (Agarwal, 1989)
  • A strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of rural poor (Agarwal, 1989)
  • Involves efforts that are economic and social in nature intended to encourage concepts of retention, growth, and expansion in areas outside cities, including improving quality of life for rural residents through such activity (Atkinson, 2017)
  • As a method, it seeks people's involvement in all programmes; as a process, it seeks to modernize, through the application of science and technology, the traditionally-oriented rural cultures; denotes overall development of rural areas with a view to improving the quality of life of the rural people (Sundaram, 2019)
  • Refers to a distinct approach to interventions by the state in the economies of underdeveloped countries, and one which is at once broader and more specific than 'agricultural development' (Stockridge, 2015)
  • A state-led activity and a focus for development policy; a broader process of change in rural societies, which may or may not involve state intervention (Harriss, 1982)

  
• Rural development


  • As a process. Implies the engagement of individuals, communities and nations in pursuit of their cherished goals over time
  • As a phenomenon. End result of interactions between various physical, technological, economic, sociocultural and institutional factors
  • As a strategy. Designed to improve the economic and social well-being of a specific group of people, that is, the rural poor
  • As a discipline. Multidisciplinary in nature, representing an intersection of agricultural, social, behavioral, engineering and management sciences

  
• Chambers, 1983: 'Rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of rural development. The group includes small scale farmers, tenants and the landless.'
• Difference between rural development and other similar concepts

  • Agricultural Development: Mainly aims at increasing agricultural products such as crops, livestock, fish, etc. Human beings, land and capital are simply regarded as production goods and means.
  • Regional Development: "Regional" has a wide meaning to describe "area" (i.e. a certain area in country) or "region" (i.e. continent of countries). The Rural Planning Association, for example, considers regional development as a regional plan including rural and urban development.
  • Rural Development: Mainly targets on people and institutions. Rural development includes agricultural development activities, however it is one of the means of economic revitalization for active farmers and targeted rural villages.
• Basic necessities of rural development

  • Basic necessities of life (food, clothes, shelter, basic literacy, primary health care, and security of life and property)
  • Freedom (political or ideological freedom, economic freedom and freedom from social servitude)
  • Self-respect
• Growth and development


  • Economic growth is an essential component of development, but it is not the only one, as development is not a purely economic phenomenon
  • Development must encompass more than the material and financial aspects of people's lives
  • Development should be perceived as a multidimensional process, involving the reorganization and reorientation of both economic and social systems
  • Development also involves radical changes in institutional, social and administrative structures, and values and ethos of individuals and communities
• Change and development


  • Development is both a cause and a consequence of change
  • There is a two-way relationship between them, that is, development influences and is influenced by change
  • The change implies a physical, technological, economic, social, cultural, attitudinal, organizational or political change
  • All manifestations of development involve change
• Every person and every nation seeks some sort of self-respect, dignity or honor. Absence or denial of self respect indicates lack of development.
• Economic growth


  An essential component of development, but not the only one as development is not a purely economic phenomenon
• Development


  A multidimensional process, involving the reorganization and reorientation of both economic and social systems
• Development also involves radical changes in institutional, social and administrative structures, and values and ethos of individuals and communities.
• Development


  Both a cause and a consequence of change
• Change

  A physical, technological, economic, social, cultural, attitudinal, organizational or political change
• All manifestations of development can be traced to some change somewhere, but not all changes lead to development.
• A change may be either for better (development) or for worse (retrogression).