Chapter One

Introduction
Introduction

Distance students, rural development is a subset of development. Development is a broader

phenomenon. Development is a universally acknowledged goal of individuals, families,
communities, societies and nations all over the world. Development is also natural in the sense
that all forms of life on earth are inherently imperative to survive and develop. This glimpse of
notes on rural development is prepared with the aim of highlighting the core concepts and
perspectives of rural development and introducing major development aspects including policies
and strategies, human capital, technology, and institutions to students who take Rural
Development as a course.

Then why do we need to study specifically rura1 development?

The larger part of the society of the developing countries such as Ethiopia has been and will
remain in the foreseeable future of rural society. The predominantly rural character of the
developing world can be illustrated in terms of the size of the population residing in the rural
area, the contribution of the rural economy to GDP and employment of the labour force of these
countries. For instance, in countries like Ethiopia, more than 85% of the population is still
residing and engaged in the rural area contributing not less than 45 % of the GDP. Hence, no
strategy of socio-economic development for the country that neglects rural people and rural areas
can be successful. Rural development is, therefore, an absolute necessity now, and will continue
to be so in future. Rural development is the sine qua non of the overall development of the
country. Thus, as rural development is subset of the overall development process of a country,
we have to be clear about the concept of development at the outset.

Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you will be able to
 explain the meaning of development in general and rural development in particular.
 state the values of development
 identify the components of rural development
 demonstrate the objectives of rural development.

1.1 The concept of development

Our first concern is to define the whole meaning of development. Development is a value-laden
and subjective concept with different definitions as given by different professionals. The term is
used differently in diverse contexts and hence it is not an easy job to reach at a consensus as to
its meaning. We shall, therefore, discuss some of the definitions and their interpretations below.

As a desirable change

For instance, development is defined as a change that is desirable. But since what is desirable at
a particular time, place and in a particular culture or context may not be desirable at other places,
or at other times in the same place and in the same cultural setting, it is impossible to think of a
universally acceptable definition of development. However, at best, development in the context
of society could be conceptualized as a set of desirable societal objectives which society seeks to
achieve. Thus defined, development is cherished by all individuals, communities and nations,
irrespective of their culture, religion and spatial location.

As development of human beings

Development should not be understood as to develop things but to develop human beings.
Human beings have basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, health and education. Any process
of growth that does not lead to the fulfillment of these needs or - even worse disrupts them- is a
travesty of the idea of development. Development means basically unfolding or opening up
something, which is latent, and with people it means opening-up or unfolding their potential
powers. Development is a multidimensional process, and as process development is not
synonymous with growth, for unlike the former, the latter does not consider distribution of
progresses among members of a society. Development involves multiple dimensions including
economic, social, political, institutional, cultural, environmental, and technological aspects.

As an improvement of a set of values of a multidimensional process

Development is a process of improvement with respect to a set of values. It is a multidimensional

process or a set of objectives with economic, social, political and cultural dimensions.
Development can also be conceived as a multidimensional process involving changes in
structures, attitudes and institutions as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction
of inequality and eradication of absolute poverty and unemployment within a growing economy.

As sustainable development

These days, sustainable development has become a buzzword. According to the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED 1987: 43), 'sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.’ In simple words, sustainable development is a process in
which the set of desirable societal objectives, or the development index, does not decrease over
time. Constancy of natural capital stock, including natural resources and the environment, is a
necessary condition for sustainable development. The set of ‘sufficient conditions’ includes an
appropriate institutional framework and governance system for implementation of sustainable
development policy.

As social learning

Social learning is the process through which people and governments gain knowledge of
economic and social processes and how to influence them so as to better achieve human
objectives. Social, economic and agricultural developments are processes that societies
increasingly learn to influence more effectively in order to obtain desired goals. Social learning
has been going on since man first learned to communicate. But the pace has increased greatly
since the scientific-industrial transition began overtaking developing countries.

Social learning is achieved in several ways:

(1) by informal, careful, unstructured observation of the results of the economic and social
actions;
(2) by learning from increasingly accurate scientific studies of the resources, the technology,
and the economic and social conditions; and
(3) by the elaboration of ever more powerful economic and social theory tools that
illuminate how social systems operate and how they be changed to improve social
outcomes.

Whatever the geographic location, culture and historical stage of development of a society, there
are at least three basic elements which are considered to constitute 'true' meaning of
development. They are discussed below.

Development values

Distance student, development is defined above as an improvement of a set of values. What does
it mean by values? In short, values are desired conditions in a society (e.g. health, fame, long
life, high income, etc. are valued by any society). Todaro (2000) quoted from Gullet and
classified development values into three categories: (i) life sustenance; (ii) self-esteem, and (iii)
freedom.

Life sustenance

It is a basic value that life be sustained through fulfilling the basic needs of human beings. The
basic needs include food, shelter, clothing, health and protection. Economic activities
characterized with growth are necessary to attain this value. Economic growth is a necessary but
not sufficient condition of development. Raising per capita income, elimination of absolute
poverty, greater employment opportunities and lessening income inequalities are as well
necessary.

Without improving the levels of living (life sustenance) the prospect for development is non-
existent. The first priority of moving from a chronic state of underdevelopment to one of
development must be raising people's level of living in terms of food, shelter, clothing, footwear,
education, health, employment and other social services.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is an inherent value of human beings. Self-esteem features in the sense of worth and
self respect. It is a sense of not to be used by others for their own ends. It is difficult to feel self-
esteem without development which includes better material welfare. From this natural value of
human beings, development is legitimized as a goal of gaining self-esteem.

Freedom

Freedom here is a broad value. It encompasses freedom from social servitudes of men to nature,
ignorance, other men, misery, institutions and dogmatic and harmful beliefs. Freedom is having
choices and minimization of constraints. Development is expected to endow people with the
ability of choosing. Development in wealth increases happiness, control over nature and physical
environment.

Objectives of development
From the general development conception and values, broad objectives of development are
derived as follows.
 Increasing availability and widening the distribution of basic life sustaining goods and
services to members of society;
 Improved family income of an adequate level for subsistence package of food, shelter,
clothing, footwear and other expenditures;
 Providing of more jobs (employment). Job or employment, in addition to its role of
 distribution of income to assure consumption, it plays an important role in developing
personality of individuals;
 Improved conditions of production and work;
 Improving access to education that also serves not only to enhance material wellbeing,
but also to generate greater individual and national self-esteem.
 Improving social and economic equality;
 Providing or opening opportunities to the people to participate in governance at all and
grassroots levels;
 Promoting cultural and humanistic values and social discipline (positive attitude to
work);
 Expanding the range of economic and social choice of individuals and nations by freeing
them from servitude and dependence not only in relation to other people and nation but
also to forces of ignorance and human misery;
 Keeping-up national independence, consolidation and sovereignty without interference
from other foreign governments

Concepts and Objectives of Rural Development

The Concept of Rural Development

The term rural development connotes overall development of rural areas with a view to improve
the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it is a comprehensive and multidimensional
concept, and encompasses the development of agriculture and allied activities, village and
cottage industries and crafts, socio-economic infrastructure, community services and facilities,
and, above all, the human resources in rural areas.
Rural development as a system involves technological and environmental factors and
relationships as well as social and cultural ones. A wide range of process affects such system and
may contribute to bringing about changes within them. Components of rural system thus include:

i. Natural environment: It comprises all natural components like land/soil, vegetation,

animals, minerals, water, air etc.
ii. Technologies, that are employed to in order to make use of natural resources and other
resources to achieve development purposes.
iii. Population or demographic factors, comprising density of population and trends of
population growth.
iv. Economic factors, involving production, markets, and connection of rural economy to the
rest of the national economy and world markets.
v. Social structures of rural society and producers along with values or culture (e.g. tenants,
landless, landowners etc.).

Hence, rural development can be understood in different perspectives

 as a phenomenon, rural development is the end-result of interactions between various

physical, technological, economic, socio cultural and institutional factors.
 as a strategy, it is designed to improve the economic and social well-being of a specific
group of people-the rural poor.
 as a discipline, it is multi-disciplinary in nature, representing an intersection of
agricultural, social, behavioural, engineering and management sciences.

In the words of Robert Chambers (1983: 147): Rural Development is a strategy to enable a
specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children
more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a
livelihood in the rural areas to demand and use more of the benefits of rural development.

Thus the term rural development may be used to imply anyone of the above-mentioned
connotations. To avoid ineffective floundering among the myriad definitions, we shall define
rural development as: 'A process leading to sustainable improvement in the quality of life of rural
people, especially the poor.'

In addition to economic growth, this process typically involves changes in popular attitudes,
institutions, and in many cases even in customs and beliefs. In a nutshell, the process of rural
development must represent the entire gamut of change by which a social system moves away
from a state of life perceived as 'unsatisfactory' towards a materially and spiritually better
condition of life.

The process of rural development may be compared with a train in which each coach pushes the
one ahead of it, and is in turn pushed by the one behind, but it takes a powerful engine to make
the whole train move. The secret of success in rural development lies in identifying, and, if
needed, developing a suitable engine to attach to the train. There are no universally valid
guidelines to identify appropriate engines of rural development, if at all they exist. It is a choice
that is influenced by time space and culture.

According to the World Bank, rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic
and social life of a specific group of people- the rural poor. It involves extending the benefits of
development to the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural area. The group
includes small scale farmers, tenants and the landless.

The World Bank and other international agencies place main emphasis on increasing:
 Production,
 Productivity,
 Employment, and
 Mobilizing where land labour and capital were available

However, there is recognition that poverty and inequality have to be reduced, that development
involves values and quality of life issues and that the poor should participate in activities and be
involved in decision making. This strategy came to be known as “growth with justice” or
“redistribution with growth”
This implies that redistribution of additional incomes and not a basic restructuring of the
production system or a redistribution of assets. The reliance of this strategy is on growth
generated through the market mechanism. Poverty alleviation had to be realized through
employment creation and increasing the value added shares in addition to productivity and
income. But a careful look at the rural economy of most LDCs reveals that:
 Disease is widespread
 Health services are poor
 Access to education is limited
 Agricultural out put is low
 Rural micro financial institutions are limited (where traditional money lenders are
exploiting farmers)
 Land ownership is skewed
 Administration is poor.

All the above problems are interconnected and there is a need to tackle them simultaneously.
Thus the term “Integrated rural development” is coined for these situations to address all the
interrelated problems cited above. Thus in brief, one can define rural development as a strategy
designed to improve the living standards of the rural population as a whole, which requires a
wholesome or integrated approach (this approach will be dealt in a separate forth coming
chapter)

Objectives of Rural Development

1. to improve the living standards or well-being of the mass of the people by ensuring that
they have security and their basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and employment
are met;
2. to make rural areas more productive and less vulnerable to natural hazards, poverty and
exploitation and to give them a mutually beneficial relationship with other parts of the
 regional, national and international economy;
3. to ensure that any development is sustainable (implying that it is not a one-time injection)
and involves the mass of the rural people (this includes, among other things encouraging
self-reliance and public participation in planning rural activities);
4. To ensure as much local autonomy and as little disruption to important traditional custom
as possible. The former usually means promoting administrative decentralization and
political self-government

Because the above objectives are interconnected, the term “integrated” is a prefix to “rural
development” to indicate a new multipurpose thrust of rural planning. In this context, rural
development is no longer solely concerned with agricultural matters, but with all aspects of rural
life and rural economy. Rural development is to be, at least, in theory “balanced” and the related
and reinforcing nature of different sub-sectors of the rural system necessitated formulation of
development policy and planning similar to that of national development planning.

The above explanation meant that integrated rural development planning had to involve the
target group which, in turn, means local participation and decentralization. It also means that
planning has to take place in defined areas but at many different scales and varying forms of
local communities, administrative districts or geographically defined regions such as river basin.

While not a nationwide programme, integrated rural development had to be symbiotically related
to nation wide development plans and programs. Integrated rural development must be viewed
as an organic integration which assesses properly in terms of the total human needs, values and
standards of the good life and the good society under going change rather than simply
understanding it, as in terms of provision of inputs and infrastructure required to raise outputs
and productivity.

Review Questions and Discussions

1. Define development in your own words:
a. as a change that is desired
b. as development of human beings not things
 c. as a process of social learning
d. in terms of sustainable development
2. Discuss the values that are accepted by all societies and cultures, and by internalizing
these values. Describe them briefly using examples.
3. Define rural development by a single sentence and list and discuss the components of
rural development
4. Describe the meaning of rural development explained as phenomena, strategy, and
discipline in the context of Ethiopian economy and the regional context in particular.
5. Identify the objective of rural development in relation to any specific rural development
activities in your locality.