Description
Paper in progress presented at Seed Panel 26: Capacity Building for Sustainable Development – foundations, significance and prospects of a concept in its thirtiesAbstract of the presented paper:
This case study analyzes the capacity development (CD) process and the effective elements in two rural development projects in China. Both projects, funded by the UNDP and a domestic GONGO respectively, have achieved sustainable growth in terms of individual and organizational capacity. The UNDP project, initiated in 1996 to provide micro-finance aid in the poverty-stricken, landlocked area of Yilong in southwestern China, has incorporated 21 villages and 80% of households into its capacity development program, resulting in the creation of 13 grassroots organizations. The Bonavilla project, a 9-year village development initiative founded by the Chinese Foundation of Poverty Alleviation, has reached 22 villages and facilitated sustainable livelihood transformation among the villagers.
In contrast to the prevalent international practice of following a linear "assess, plan, implement, and evaluate" model (Amstrong, 2013), both projects followed an upward spiral pattern in which the rural community played a major role in designing and implementing the projects. Many capacity development programs fail to generate sustainable changes (Sjöstedt, 2013) due to a lack of consideration for local context and the short-term focus on "tangible results" in results-based management. However, the Yilong and Bonavilla projects, which were not designed by external parties using the standard model, allowed the rural communities enough autonomy to create local farmers' cooperatives and other institutions dedicated to improving individual and organizational capacity. Through a process of negotiation and experimentation with other stakeholders, the projects were able to take into account the local context and the mentality of the population in shaping appropriate CD content and approaches.
Based on these experiences, I argue that an effective CD program must be shaped by a "fit" approach that is suited to the local mentality and action logic, rather than a one-size-fits-all set of policies (e.g., Helleiner, 1983). In the current cases, this was achieved through community platforms that followed the logic of learning by doing, and by utilizing the contextual factors of the rural communities to generate a suitable CD strategy. I propose the concept of "community rationality" to explain this context, similar to the concept of "villager rationality" which has been used to understand the basis of rural development and governance in China (Keister & Nee, 2001; Wen & Dong, 2010). Community rationality refers to the idea that the rural community acts as a whole to develop and transform (Li, 2012; Wen & Dong, 2010; Xu, 2006), aligning with a bottom-up approach to development.
However, the common assumption in CD program design that beneficiaries (villagers) follow the same modern rationality (e.g., the homo economicus hypothesis) as donors leads to a reductionist view of the interpretation and motivation system of locals. This individualistic perspective ignores the impact of culture, governance traditions, and norms on participants' mindsets. Drawing on psychology findings on rural communities, I aim to identify crucial contextual factors that enable sustainable CD in rural China, with the goal of informing more effective CD programs in the future.
In conclusion, the capacity development process in the Yilong and Bonavilla projects demonstrates the importance of considering local context and mentality in the design and implementation of CD programs. A bottom-up approach, in which the rural community is heavily engaged in the process, and a "fit" approach that takes into account the specific needs and realities of the target population, can lead to more effective and sustainable CD outcomes. It is important for CD programs to move beyond a reductionist, individualistic perspective and consider the impact of cultural context, governance traditions, and norms on the mentality and motivations of beneficiaries. By identifying and utilizing contextual factors, CD programs can better facilitate sustainable transformation in rural communities.
| Period | 13 Jul 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event title | EADI CEsA General Conference 2023: Towards New Rhythms of Development |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Lisbon, PortugalShow on map |