Rural development and community participation in Lesotho
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Authors
Monaheng, Tsitso
Issue Date
1995-11
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Rural development , Human development , Rural development strategies , Community participation , Community organisations , Community development , Integrated rural development , Basic needs approach , Learning process approach , Rural development projects , Rural development approaches , Bureaucratic reorientation , Nongovernmental organisations , Decentralisation , lesotho
Alternative Title
Abstract
Rural development efforts in Third World countries often fail to meet the needs of
the most disadvantaged members of society. The priviledged continue to get a
disproportionate share of the fruits of development. This is so in spite of the fact
that development thinking has changed from the days when the poor were
expected to benefit from development through the "trickle down" effect. It is now
widely recognised that development should be focused on people in their local
communities (human development) and not on the economy per se.
To achieve this type of development requires an appropriate strategy of
development, and people's/community participation is such a strategy. People's
participation in development takes place through community based organisations.
The organisations faciiitate the development of the human potential of members.
This study investigates the conditions under which rural community participation
takes place in lesotho. The Thabana-Morena Integrated Rural Development Project
is used as a case study.
The first objective is to determine the appropriateness of the organisations through
which community participation was promoted in the project.
The second objective is to isolate the political and administrative factors which
affected participation in the project.
Thirdly, the study tries to identify factors at the village level which influenced
participation in the project.
Fourthly, the study evaluates the effectiveness of the project in experimenting with
participatory approaches, given that development projects are basically
mechanisms for testing the appropriateness of national policies before applying
them on a wide scale.
Finally, a set of principles is developed on the basis of which participatory
development can be facilitated.
Description
Citation
Monaheng, Tsitso (1995) Rural development and community participation in Lesotho, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17496>