THE country’s slow pace of socio-economic development can be attributed to political instability, unsatisfactory governance and development models that are incompatible with ground realities. Hence, there is a need to develop a people- oriented community development model.

Such a socio-economic development model should be people-centred and democratically organized. It should be rooted in the cultural milieu and be responsive to political, social and spiritual environment.

The traditional development models so far practiced such as the one based on the trickle down effect theory and donor-depended policies have largely proved ineffective. In some cases, they were found counter-productive.

The irony about Pakistan is that people in power do not learn from the experiences of the past. Our policy makers have failed to provide relief to the people. The only exception is the devolution plan implemented by the present government.

It is in infancy stage and raising expectations from this stage of devolution would be frustrating because of the new systems’ politicisation and tampering. From 2001 to 2005, which is one complete term of power-devolved local government, 20,0000 citizen community boards (CCBs) have been established. How many of them are functional and active is not known or at least no significant activities are on record of these CCBs.

No doubt, the idea of CCB’s and neighborhood councils is excellent but they have not been directed towards a national socio-economic goal. To make them effective, there is a need to identify business and trade-related joint ventures for the prosperity of the masses. Without having an effective development model, CCBs would be directionless and will remain sans impact. The best one would be a people-centered development model having the following characteristics: demand orientation, community participation and building of social capital.

Demand orientation: In order to be a successful project in community, it must be asked for and desired by its people. When communities identify their priorities, act as the initiators of action, choose from options and contribute to the completion of a project, they own and are committed to making it work.

Community participation: The actions and decisions described earlier do not become effective, if they are not taken by the representative of the community. The voice of traditionally overlooked groups, such as women and children, should be heard because the policies that work to disenfranchise and marginalize two-third of the population cannot be sustainable in the long run.

Social Capital: While the demand orientation and community participation are strong forces for change, the decentralization of planning to the local level by itself is not a sufficient condition to guarantee effective popular participation in the development process.

Community participation must be cultivated through the building of the third characteristic of people centered development model that is social capital.

Social capital, in a developing society, refers to existence of community self-determination and local responsibility for projects; increased technical skills of rural people; less physical burden on women and children; and improved health of poor people, especially the children.

The criteria for selecting and prioritizing projects are that local people must initiate the project and provide the volunteer labour to carry it out; and the technology of the project must be appropriate, i.e. simple and repairable by locals.

The people centered-development model addresses many of the shortcomings of the traditional model as it is demand-oriented and ensures that projects are appropriate to the needs of the community. It does not require that borrowing countries take on huge amounts of debt. If there is a genuine need of the loan felt by the community, all proposed loans are acceptable to and monitored by the community themselves. Also the degree of environmental damage can be controlled because the stakeholders — the community — must live with the results.

Many broader issues of human development are also addressed by community participation and its contribution to the satisfaction of important non-material needs of human well-being such as equity, social justice, basic human rights, and related freedom. The very idea of popular participation ensures democratic process. The corrupt, elitist decision-making policies of traditional development can more easily be avoided when many people from many different social groups are allowed to participate.

Application: People-centred development model can be applied mainly for rural development and for urban peripheries in collaboration with community, local government and funding agencies.

Following four areas have been identified for the application of this model for sustainable politico-socio-economic development at the grass root level:

Agriculture: Pakistan, being an agricultural country, should focus on agro-based industries at medium and micro level. At the community level, fruit production takes significant place among the agricultural products. The yield of the fruits in general can be increased by community training and involvement in fruit producing areas. For training, facilities can be established by the local government in collaboration with communities and funding agencies. Besides, at the village and tehsil levels, dry and citrus fruit-packaging small industries can be established by the groups of local communities under the patronage of the local government.

The local government needs to provide assistance to the community in the areas, such as capacity building, storage facilities, loans for the small plant for packaging and preservation of juices and pulps and identifying market for the products. However, it must be ensured that the government should have purely facilitative role, not monitoring or dictating roles.

If the fruit businesses become a success, full-fledged food and diary industries can be established at the tehsil and village levels. Community led Amul dairy industries in Indian Gujarat are an example to follow. In other crop farming sector, local governments should assist in the revitalization of the seeds and selling of the seeds and fertilizers to the small farmers by forming community businesses. The local community groups can also install mini tube wells in the farming areas and taking care of the water for the small farmers on appropriate charges.

Tourism: We have a rich cultural heritage. We should start promoting the culture of tourism and sightseeing targeting the home crowd. In this process, reflections of local heritages, local culture, sights and sounds and local hospitality should be presented in the national media initially and then to the international media gradually. Besides, the local government should facilitate the communities in forming their groups as per the tourism sights/areas.

These local groups could be responsible for the law and order and extending local facilities to the tourists. Within two years time period, the same systems can start targeting international tourists. The system should operate by the help of a tourism marketing officer with a package holidays and tourist information offices in each community. They should market the area through brochures, representation at trade fairs and through contact with tour operators.

Micro/medium enterprises: The Khushali Bank (KB) and Small Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) should establish enterprise centres to provide business advice and services to existing and potential entrepreneurs. They should go a step forward from extending credits and giving trainings to the communities.

They should further assist the community with the preparation of business and marketing plans; stimulate enterprise initiatives, and assist local communities and individuals in finding the areas of small business. KB and SMEDA should work with local authorities, state agencies and financial institutions on behalf of community based entrepreneurs.

Community policing: Pakistani society is still a traditional society. Seventy percent of total population lives in villages and still they have their own codes and conduct along with the national legal systems. The British systems of policing have created a distance between communities and the administration. Due to mutual conflict, disbelief and misunderstanding of the community and the administration, there are unsatisfactory law and order conditions which act as a deterrent for socio-economic activity.

However, it is observed that where people share their happiness, sorrows and leisure times, they also protect each other. In the far flung areas where administrative machinery hardly exists, the people themselves jointly through the ‘Mohalla Committees’ and ‘Chowkidari’ systems protect their lives and property.

The police are more effective when they can depend on residents for help. Community policing calls for commitment to improving the neighbourhood. Community Resource Officers look to residents for help in solving neighbourhood problems. Community policing gives citizens more control over the quality of life in their community.

The system can be established by constituting police force, community members and members of the local bodies at union level. The nature of its function should not be on the basis of the punishment under the criminal penal code but on the basis of self and community accountability under the supervision of community policing system. Filing the case in the court should be the last option to the community policing system. Moreover, they would work on self-respect, arbitrations and social justice.

Conclusion: Pakistan’s economic indicators are getting better without changing the people’s life. The country has tried various development models dictated by the international funding agencies but they failed to change the quality of life for the masses.

There is exceptionally good idea of devolution of power at the grass root levels having the concept of CCBs and neighborhood councils but without the much needed people- centered development mechanism in place.