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April 21, 2002
REVIEW: How the rural poor work
PROFESSOR Mahmood Hasan Khan from Simon Fraser Univeristy in Burnaby (Canada) has written a book which is quite different from the usual printed material one comes across on development. It is not theoretical or academic. Hence it would attract quite a readership. Professor Khan’s contribution to an analysis of the agricultural and rural transformation in Pakistan is not just voluminous, but is seminal and has set standards for others to follow. No student of Pakistan’s social and economic transformation can ignore the agricultural/rural sector on which Professor Khan’s exceptional contribution rests.
In recent years, Professor Khan’s interests have shifted slightly from the larger agricultural sector, towards communities and organizations in the rural sector. The present book as well as his previous Climbing the development ladder with NGO support: experiences of rural people in Pakistan (OUP, 1998) reflect this new area of his study.
In some ways, Community organization and rural development seems to be a companion volume to Climbing the ladder. Yet, oddly, the latter is not even mentioned amongst the few references in the volume under review. Since there are some similarities between both volumes (and many differences), comparison is made essential.
Essentially, the earlier volume looks at some rural support programmes in Pakistan, including the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP). Since there are a number of programmes analyzed in the earlier volume, analysis is far more comparative. Moreover, one of the main features of Climbing the ladder was the inclusion of a couple of more interesting ‘theoretical’ chapters rather than the case-studies which were too much in a ‘Report’ form.
Compared to that, Community organizations focuses mainly on the NRSP and is an extensive and thorough evaluation of that organization. Once again, the two initial chapters in the book provide a useful overview of the situation in the rural areas with regard to poverty and provide a historical view of the state’s approach to the problems of the rural poor and of rural development, although one must concede that the overview chapters in the earlier volume were far more of a political-economy type than the two in this book. Unfortunately though, chapter 3 in both books, on an Organisational Model for Rural Development, is extremely similar. But that is where the similarity between both books ends.
Half of this book is devoted to an analysis of the NRSP where the author has spent considerable time and effort in trying to understand the workings of this rural development model. Professor Khan looks at how the human/management side of NRSP exists and functions and how the project is funded. The way the different actors in the NRSP interact with the community, how they make inroads and gain the trust of the community, is also documented. This is followed by a review of the activities of the programme, with a discussion on the savings and loan component, the development of physical infrastructure, the management of natural resources, skill formation, and the like.
Finally, there is an economic and social evaluation of the support programme on households. There are numerous tables in this chapter as elsewhere in this book which give very useful data taken from his field-work in 24 villages in the Punjab and Sindh where he collected data from 360 households.
Professor Khan concludes his book with findings which suggest that the NRSP model is successful, and that it has had a positive and marked impact on the social and economic wellbeing of the rural communities which have participated in this programme. He shows that this overall wellbeing has been brought about not simply through physical or financial interventions, but significantly, through community and social organizations in which women have also actively participated.
The book under review is essential reading for anyone interested in how an organization has made an impact on the lives of large numbers of ‘communities’. Professor Khan himself admits that since this is the first study in the context of rural support programmes in Pakistan, other studies are needed to support or question the conclusions reached here.
Community organizations and rural development: experience in Pakistan
By Mahmood Hasan Khan
Vanguard Books, 45 The Mall, Lahore Tel: 042-7243783
Email: vbl@brain.net.pk
ISBN 969-402-357-2 204pp. Rs595
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