Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

It is obvious that capability building and social mechanism strengthening are vital for
development. However, no single prototype approach can be applied for capability
building.
Any local society or community has its own particular capabilities, mechanisms, and
experiences that have been molded by its local history. These factors must be
considered during the process of development. To properly pursue the tasks of
capability building and social mechanism strengthening, it is necessary to consider
pre-existing elements as the basis of our development challenge.
In this chapter, the following basic concepts will be introduced as key viewpoints for
understanding a target group of people and its community or society:
(1) Three Development Elements
(2) Local Societal System
(3) Local Community System
(4) Socio-Geographical Unit.

Framework to Comprehend Local Society:

Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

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Three Development Elements-1

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

Have you ever encountered bitter
experiences such as the following?

After several years of a reforestation project,

no trees remain at the project site.
A water well was constructed in a village and
used for a while by the local people, but now it
is completely abandoned.
Microcredit activity was introduced as a
component of an agriculture project, but
because of poor repayment by clients, the
seed money itself was depleted, affecting the
operation of the entire activity.
All the projects introduced here were intended
and implemented with determination to solve
problems that local people faced. However, they
ended in failure, much to peoples
disappointments. What were the reasons behind
these failures?
The answer may lie in the concept of three
development elements.

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Three Development Elements-2

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

For any activity, resources are indispensable, without which no activity can be
undertaken. Funds, land, labor, materials, and technologies are all classified as
resources.
However, resources alone do not achieve goals. Organization is also necessary for
managing and utilizing resources. Examples of this include organized groups such as
farmersor fishermens associations, mutual help groups for ceremonial functions, and
development project organizations.
However, the two elements of resources and organization are still not sufficient for an
activity to be carried out in a sustainable manner. Another essential element is norm.
Norm regulates the direction of organizational activities and shapes the behaviors of
members to fit the roles and functions in an organization or activity. Examples of norm
are rules for organizational management and resource utilization and management.
When these three development elements, i.e., resources, organization, and norms, are
fulfilled and integrated with each other, an appropriate foundation is formed for a
development project to be carried out successfully.
Let us return to our previous examples and consider what went wrong with each
project, using the concept of the three development elements.

Three Development Elements

Funds, land, labor, materials,
and technologies.

Mutual help groups for

ceremonial functions,
and development
project organizations.

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Organizational management
and resource utilization
and management.

Three Development Elements-3

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

In the case of the reforestation project, seedlings and technical training for forest
maintenance were provided as resources to local people. However, peoples
organizations were not formed and appropriate values and norms for collective resource
management were not established. Thus, only resources were considered by the project
proponents, with little attention
to other important elements of
organization and norms. For this
reason, the project did not
attain its goal.

Likewise, in the case of the water well project, only resources were provided. Neither
organization nor appropriate norms for collective management of the facilities were
formed. In fact, no agreement was prepared among local people regarding maintenance
of the well and its cost. When we provide new, additional resources to a community, it is
necessary to work on the
formation of both organization
as well as norms to properly
manage the given resources in a
collective manner.

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Three Development Elements-4

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

In the microfinance scheme, loan funds were provided as resources, and credit unions
were formed with beneficiaries as recipient organizations. However, basic discipline for
the repayment of loan money was eventually neglected. The lack of appropriate norms
account for the failure in this case. If local peoples traditional behavior pattern
regarding money lending
practices were carefully studied
as one of the assumptions
during the project design, this
might have been avoided or
additional components might
have been introduced to bring
about necessary changes in
behavior upon project
implementation.

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Three Development Elements-5

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

Based on the discussion so far, development approaches can be classified into several
categories.

a) Resource supplement approach:

Resource supplement approach

to supply necessary resources to

households and communities for their
consumption and production
activities.

b) Organization development
approach:

Organization development approach

to organize people, improve an

organization, or enhance
organizational capability for realizing
proper resource utilization and
management.

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Three Development Elements-6

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

c) Norm formation approach:

Norm formation approach

to From new norms or create required

awareness among people to promote
desirable behaviors for achieving
development objectives.

Each of these approaches, which focuses on a particular element of development

activities, is functionally effective only when the other two are already sufficient. For
example, the resource supplement approach is only effective when appropriate
organization and norms already exist and function in a given community to utilize and
manage resources and to distribute benefits to people concerned. If either norms or
organization does not function, then it is difficult for a project to achieve the desired
outcome.
It cannot be over-emphasized that
development projects should consider,
improve, and enhance all three
development elementsresources,
organization, and normin their planning
and implementation.

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Three Development Elements-7

Participatory Local Social DevelopmentPLSD

IntroductionText Summary
.Framework to Comprehend Local Society:
Importance of Understanding the Local Societal System

Three Development Elements

d) Integrated approach:

Integrated approach

to supplement or reinforce either two

of the three or all three elements
simultaneously.
In the integrated approach, it is
necessary to form the norms and
organization prior to the actual
resource supplements. Consequently,
it is important to tactfully select an
appropriate approach for the
achievement of project objectives and
goals by considering the present
situation and endowment of the three
development elements in a target
local community.

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Three Development Elements-8