Participation of Villagers in Governing Rural Development

1. Participation of Villagers in Governing Rural Development UpaliPannilage , Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Ruhuna pannila@hotmail.com, upalip@soci.ruh.ac.lk International Symposium on Community Governance Practices 4th- 06th July 2013

2. Introduction • This paper is based on a study conducted about systems and mechanisms for villagers’ participation in the process of making and implementing decisions on rural development in Sri Lanka. • The research problem of the study was ..the lack of people’s participation in governing rural development interventions. • Key research questions were: • What are the factors to ensure villagers participation in governing rural development? • Whether there is any intervention exist in Sri Lanka for village people to participate in governing rural development • How to get maximum participation of villagers in rural development?

3. Introduction……… • Historical governing systems of the Sri Lankan society goes back to thousands of years • These systems facilitated proper functioning of the management of available resources and addressing the needs of people in particular localities • Those self-governing systems were distracted during the British colonial period • The people’s self-governing systems were not restored even after the independence

4. Introduction…… • Since independence, the political power of the country has remained in the hands of few mainstream political parties and decision-making processes in the executive arms of government and administrative systems have remained very much politically motivated. • Village people were not getting opportunities to provide considerable inputs either on making or implementing decisions with regards to the development( except casting of votes) • Top-down development approach was implemented and it failed to ensure active contribution of the villagers • As a result, participation of villagers in decision-making processes of rural development interventions is largely limited

5. Objectives of the study The overall objective of this study was to; Examine the systems and mechanisms for achieving greater level of community governance in rural development Research had two specific objectives: • To review the community governance interventions that have been implemented in Sri Lanka in order to ensure participation of villagers in governing mechanisms. • To study the extent and ways of villagers participation in governing rural development in a selected development intervention.

6. Methodology • The study used qualitative research methods • As the first step, a literature review was conducted in order to understand the; • phenomenon on governance and community participation • Concepts and meanings of governance • People’s participation in development interventions Then, the community governance interventions that have been implemented in Sri Lanka were reviewed and one intervention was randomly selected to study in depth

7. Methodology….. Project:Community Governance for Rural Development project . Location:RasnayakapuraDivisional Secretariat area of the district of Kurunegala, North western Province in Sri Lanka. Goal: Needs and rights of the poor reflected in local development planning processes. Purpose: To strengthen the capacity of civil society to participate in local development planning.

8. Study Sample and Methods of Primary Data Collected

9. Methodology….. • The participants for the discussions were informed about the objectives of the study • Discussions were facilitated informal manner and questions were asked openly • A simple guideline was used for each of the categories of discussions • The data analysis and presentation was done through qualitative descriptions

10. Governance and Rural Development Term governance refers to a change in the meaning of government, referring to a new process of governing. There are many uses of governance: for example, it refers to the minimal state; corporate governance; and the new public management. So governance refers to self-organising, inter-organizational networks characterized by inter-dependence, resource exchange, rules of the game and significant autonomy from the state (Rhodes, 2003).

11. Governance…. The governance literature is slightly confusing in its conceptualization of governance. Governance has a dual meaning; on the one hand it refers to the empirical manifestations of state adaptation to its external environment as it emerges in the late twentieth century. On the other hand, governance also denotes a conceptual or theoretical representation of coordination of social systems and, for the most part, the role of the state in that process (Pierre, 2006)

12. Governance…. “The Concept of Governance can also be seen as a set of values, policies and instructions through which the society manages economic, political as well as social process at different levels, on the basis of interaction among the government, civil society and private sector” (Sahni and Medury, 2003)

13. Governance…. “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 control more of benefits of development”(Chambers, 1995).

14. Governance…. Accordingly, Rural development emphasizes what the poor men and women want and need and concentrate on the control of benefits of development. “Governance is broadly means the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented or not implemented” (Fernando, 2009). So, governance in rural development means process of decision making by rural people to address their own needs.

15. History of local governance system in Sri Lanka • According to the Mahavamsa the earliest settlements in Sri Lanka, dating to the 4th century BC, were village based, • These villages were used by the Sinhalese Kings as a unit of administration, • Each village was independently administered. Village Councils (Gam Sabhas) administered local affairs, addressed people's grievances and settled minor disputes. The village based administration continued for centuries in one form or the other.

16. History of local governance system in Sri Lanka…… • During the period of colonial government from 1815 onwards, government from the center covering the whole island was established through Chief and Minor Headmen, with the Government Agents as the apex of the system in the Provinces • 1928, DonoughmoreCommission made the first significant study of the problem of decentralization • The Commission made certain recommendations on decentralization in order to facilitate its consideration under the new constitution itself.

17. History of local governance system in Sri Lanka…… “Tracing briefly the history of the evolution of local government in the country, it can be said that local government system existed in Sri Lanka in one form or another since the time of ancient Kings. However, present form of local government structure introduced during the colonial rule of British with the establishment of Colombo and Kandy Municipal Councils by Ordinance No.17 of 1865. ….

18. …. Since then there had been several changes and improvements in the form structure and functions of Local Authorities. Establishment of Village Committees in 1871, Sanitary Board in 1892, and Town Councils in 1946 can be considered as important milestones during this period. At the time of independence in 1948, systems of Local Authorities in operation were Municipal Councils, Town Councils, and Village Committees” (Dainis, 2008).

19. History of local governance system in Sri Lanka…… “Under the District Development Councils Act No. 35 of 1980 District Development Councils (DDCs) were established…After the district development councils were elected, 83 Town Councils (TCs) and 549 Village Councils (VCs) that were in existence were abolished and their functions were transferred to the DDCs. Abolition of TCs and VCs which functioned as democratic and participatory form of local governance over 100 years created a huge vacuum in the democratic system of governance” (Ranasinghe, 2001).

20. History of local governance system in Sri Lanka…… • At present there are three types of local authorities in Sri Lanka • Municipal Councils • Urban Councils • PradeshiyaSabhas ( Village level authorities) • They are responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, libraries, public parks and recreational facilities. • As of January 2011 there were 335 local authorities (23 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 271 PradeshiyaSabhas)

21. Non-governmental interventions on community governance in Sri Lanka • Participatory Integrated Area Development Strategy (PIADS) • Programme implemented by National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation (NAFSO) in partnership with DS of Karuwalagaswewa of Puttalam district of North Western Province. • The programme has been based on experiences gained through the implementation of Participatory Integrated Area Development Strategy in the Municipality of Irosin in Sorsogon province in Philippines.

22. Non-governmental interventions…. • Local efforts for Empowerment and Development (LEaD) • This project is based on an understanding of the importance and necessity of community participation in their development . • The significant feature of this approach is the space provided for rural communities to engage in determining their own development priorities, to workout solutions and the implementation of same. • The LEaD project played the role of facilitator, making community groups work together to address their development needs. • The project extends support for the community groups in building their capacities in areas crucial to sustaining their development efforts. • This project has been implemented by Care international( Sri Lanka)

23. Non-governmental interventions…. • Building Bridges: Community Governance for Rural Development • This project has been implemented by Practical Action in Rasnayakapura DS of the Kurunegala district in the North Western province in Sri Lanka. • A key feature of this was the evolution of an institutional framework where by the participation of local communities is actively facilitated. • Engagement of local communities with counterpart service providing organizations in decision-making processes (in relation to needs identification, planning, resource allocation, project implementation and monitoring and evaluation) was established.

24. Non-governmental interventions…. • Community Governance in Infrastructure Services • The overall objective of this project is to strengthen the capacities of governance systems in South Asia, to Non-State actors including marginalized and vulnerable communities to actively involved in decision making processes on infrastructure and services • The project operates at ground level in Ampara, Colombo, Galle and Kurunegala districts in Sri Lanka, and Nayagarh, Puri and Khorda districts in the state of Orissa in India. • Project mobilizes the target communities to involve in participatory decision making process to improve their access to energy, water & sanitation, transport and waste management services • Implemented by Practical Action and project partners

25. Non-governmental interventions…. • Transparent Accountable Local Governance (TALG) Programme • The Asia Foundation implemented this Programme from January 2005 - September 2007 in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils and the Sri Lanka Institute of Local Governance • The programme has helped 35 local authorities make key political institutions more responsive to citizen input, improve the delivery of services to citizens, provide post-tsunami emergency recovery assistance, and increase the rule of law to protect and empower vulnerable groups.

26. The Study Location • The RasnayakapuraDS division is located in the Kurunegala district of North Western Province • Theland area of 132 sqkms consists of 28 GramaNiladharies Divisions (GNs) & it is belongs to the NikaweratiyaPradeshiyaSabha( Local Government Authority). • Number of families of the division was 6245 and the population as at year 2001 was 18,763. • The area is in the dry zone of Sri Lanka with the average temperature around 27-30 C and the annual rain fall of 1200mm

27. The Study Location… • The primary economic activity is agriculture which is predominantly irrigated paddy cultivation. • Apart of Paddy the other main livelihood options in the study area are daily waged labour. • The majority of the community in Rasnayakapura DS area is Sinhalese Buddhist ( 85%). A relatively small percentage of Muslim (9%) and Tamil (1%) families are also live in the area.

28. Villagers participation in the planning process of rural development • As per the findings of the study, the community governance for rural development project which was selected to gather empirical data for this study has used an extensive planning process. • As per the discussions held with the villagers, it was revealed that the participation of villagers in the process of interventions can be understand when reviewing the participation of village people in the participatory planning process of the development intervention.

29. participation in the planning…. • The planning process has been conducted under six steps • Community awareness at GramaNiladari division level • Problem identification at GramaNiladari division level • Participatory planning process at cluster level ( six clusters) • Prioritization and analyzing of problems at cluster level • Preparing participatory plans at cluster level • Present and discuss the plans at village level

30. “Let us joint for the development of our village”. (Ape game sanwardanayasadahaekathuwemu). • It was found that the participation of communities at those awareness programmes at the initial stage around 20%-25% of a village population in average and most of them were women. • Participatory need assessment -An average around 40%-50% of villagers have been participated in the need identification exercises .

31. 28 GN divisions have been clustered in to six clusters in order to ease the participatory planning process • 20 community representatives have been participated from each GN divisions in the cluster level participatory planning process which have been done through Participatory Rural Appraisal.

32. The cluster level plans once drafted has been presented and discussed at GN level, large gatherings of community participation have been obtained for these discussions( 60%) • The participatory plans have been integrated in to one DS division plan in the Rasnayakapura divisional secretariat. This was the final stage of participatory planning process adopted by the community governance for rural development project.

33. Villagers participation in implementing and managing rural development interventions • The implementation process of the participatory plans has been done using various strategies such as; • Establishment of PrajaSabhas(Community Councils). 28 PrajaSabhashas been established in each of the GN areas and village level activities have been directly implemented by those PrajaSabhas. • Partnerships with civil society organisations, government and private sector institutions • Stakeholder analysis and their involvement

34. Villagers participation in implementing… “3240 out of 6049 families (53.5%) in the RasnayakapuraDS division were able to solve their accessibility problems which had long been neglected by the relevant authorities .Meanwhile 20.4% of families in the area were able to improve their livelihoods through the assistance of community governance for rural development project and the involvement of service providing organizations” (Practical Action, 2007).

35. Villagers participation in implementing… Stakeholder’s contribution in rural development interventions Source: Final evaluation of the community governance for rural development project, Practical Action, Colombo

36. Villagers participation in implementing….. • It was revealed from this study that a positive changes has taken place in the way of thinking and acting the community in terms of satisfying their priority needs • During the discussions with community representatives and village leaders, it was mentioned that the local government authority and the bureaucratic institutions should consult the community opinion when allocating resources to the development projects in the area • Also they have begun to think that the resources in the area are belongs to the community and thus the right to make use of those resources should be with the concerned community groups • This understanding can be analysed as a result of community empowerment for governing the rural development interventions.

37. Conclusion • As per the findings of this study it can be concluded that villagers’ participation in the governing process of rural development interventions is possible when proper mechanisms and systems are facilitated for them to participate. • The present bureaucratic governance mechanisms at administrative and local authority levels are far behind in term of ensuring participation of local communities in the planning, implementing and monitoring of rural development interventions. • The existing government systems could work closely with local communities when there is an external intervention to facilitate it.

38. There is a need for new strategies to introduce in order to increase the villagers participation in the decision making process of implementing and managing rural development interventions in order to achieve the governance in rural development. • A need for a bottom-up development approach for the governing rural development was revealed from this study.

39. Thank you….