22 pages, via online journal, Past explanations of why rural people respond as they do to external development interventions have emphasized the role of key limiting factors or critical characteristics (wealth, education, land tenure, etc.) which are thought to influence peoples' behavior in predictable ways. Efforts to promote tree planting and soil conservation in eight neighboring villages in the Philippines revealed that variation in participation did not reflect clear patterns based on existing household or village characteristics. Instead, specific responses to interventions reflected a complex, but interpretable interaction between existing socio-economic factors and historic trends or events. Characteristics like the degree of local knowledge, security of land tenure and community cohesion affected peoples' participation, in general, but their specific influence was neither predictable nor consistent between, and even within, individual villages. An appreciation of the specific historic context was often sufficient to explain these variations. The following historic trends and events were found to have important consequences for peoples' participation: migration and settlement history; family and group lineages; history of socio-political organization and conflict; history of physical isolation; labor history; economic–ecological history; environmental history; and past exposure to development agents. The paper concludes with a preliminary checklist of questions intended to assist researchers and development agents to discover relevant and interesting historical information about rural villages.
Dong, Youl-Mo (author / Chief of Community Development Division, Office of Rural Development, Suweon, South Korea) and Chief of Community Development Division, Office of Rural Development, Suweon, South Korea
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1977
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 44 Document Number: B05331
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, In: Gajendra Singh, J.H. de Goede, eds. Proceedings of the International Conference on Rural Development Technology : an Integrated Approach, June 21-24, 1977, Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: Asian Institute of Technology, 1977. p. 725-732., Rural development can be described as an integrated approach to improve the quality of life of the people in the rural community by means of not only physical development but also human resources development with a strong policy as a national program. In order to achieve rural development effectively, it is necessary to integrate every governmental agency and institution as well as civil organizations to focus their attention on all multi-dimensional elements for rural prosperity. In this point of view, the integrated rural development program in Korea called Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement), which is first priority of the national action program, will be suitable example for a case study to those who are interested in the field. (original).