Seven Theses in Support of Successful Rural Development

Abstract

"During the last decade, the economic, political, and institutional context for rural development has changed markedly in most developing countries with the general achievements of economic recovery following implementation of adjustment policies, transition to more representative forms of governance, and consolidation of a thick web of civil society organizations. This context creates new perspectives to address the urgent problem of extensive rural poverty and to put into place successful programs of rural development. There has also been considerable experimentation with a new participatory and decentralized approach to rural development, grounded on the role of organizations in civil society and decentralized governance, that departs radically from the previous state-led integrated approach to rural development. These experiences were pursued in a dispersed and all too often loosely rationalized fashion by a number of NGOs and international organizations, most particularly IFAD (the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a member of the United Nations). While every country and, in fact, every particular social group needs specific programs, there are a number of broad principles that can be derived from these experiences. Cautioning against facile generalizations and stressing at the outset that adaptation to every particular situation is essential, we explore in this note seven broad theses for successful rural development following this approach in the economic, political, and institutional context that currently characterizes most developing countries."