Saturation Approach to Development

Another important approach of certain projects in creating self sustaining CBOs (Community Based Institutions) is the saturation approach i.e. covering all the target households in an area to ensure that all households are beneficiaries of a particular scheme or project. The drawbacks of this approach are as follows:

1. When dealing with human capital one should remember that “small is beautiful”. Trying to scale up and register progress in numbers alone shows an approach that lays higher emphasis on quantity rather than quality. This can be detrimental when one is dealing with human beings as opposed to objects.

2. Demand driven development: Saturation approach is somehow in absolute contrast to participatory approach to development. No wonder it has failed to succeed - an apt example being Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna which aimed to promote self employment through SHGs but in reality the sole purpose became formation of SHGs and providing credit to them without any focus on their capacity building. It completely overrules an individual’s will to be part of a project, in other words it does not believe in demand driven approach in identifying its beneficiaries. It is to be assumed that all target HHs need to be taken into the fold of project whether they desire it or not and if that fails to happen then there must be something wrong in the entire implementation of the project. I believe that indifferent people, even if they fall in the target population segment, should not be included forcibly as they will hamper the entire objective of any project and not result in much value addition. The initial stage of any project should focus on nurturing a few, quality CBOs and saturation approach, should the need arise, must be brought in at a later, mature stage of the project.

3. Taking forward the above point, there needs to be a substantial case in favor of a particular project for saturation approach to be given the go-ahead. A thorough impact assessment – social as well as economical - must be conducted for the existing areas of operation. This shall serve two purposes. Firstly, it will provide authentic information regarding any left out beneficiary households who might have been left out in the first phase. Secondly, it will throw up any flaws while implementing the project in its first phase so that the same mistakes are not committed when the project is scaled up. Resorting to saturation approach from the word go leaves a huge scope for wastage of resources – be it money, time or manpower- as there is no opportunity to test it on a smaller sample population. A lot of seed fund given to CBOs in the hope that it will result in some form of asset creation and livelihood enhancement is wasted as a lot of it is used as nothing more than consumption loans.

-Prerna Rana

Prerna Rana can be contacted at prerna.rana03@gmail.com

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Participatory Development | Still a dream!!

Participatory model of development lays emphasis on involvement of community members to bring about development. Participation includes not just membership of CBOs (Community Based Organizations like Self Help Groups) or providing member contribution in activities, but also in important decision making processes and ultimately the smooth operation of activities. The aim behind this is to ensure such development which is brought about by taking into account the needs of the people and not to impose a top down approach of development.

The idea behind this is very noble but has its own drawbacks. For example, in a subsidy fuelled rural context the willingness of people to step up and take charge is not an easy thing. The habit of getting quick relief just because one qualifies as poor was a quick fix solution. This is one of the reasons why even financially well off families want to feature in the “BPL” list. The handouts and doles given to the poor might not have done much to improve their standard of living but it has sure spelt success for political parties come election season, quite a few times. But participatory development seeks to create a more empowered society for which the rural poor might not be ready. After all, they have never been active players in the development process before, only passive receivers. And the participation required of them is not of a rudimentary nature. For instance, women self help groups are created in the hope that it will lead to women centric participatory development, but attendance is the least of the requirements; what is required from these women is active participation in the day to day affairs of their SHGs (Self Help Groups), making important decisions, ensuring the smooth operation of daily activities as well as taking initiative and suggesting changes which will better their socioeconomic condition. To achieve this some hand holding support must be provided in the initial stage to encourage dialogue. But, it can take a really long time to achieve the desired result since what is being undertaken is very ambitious.  For a woman who rarely steps out of her house, who is hardly ever consulted by her family in any household decision, it is unthinkable to take vital decisions about her destiny at a community forum like an SHG. Decades of societal conditioning makes it difficult to actually realize this dream of participatory development. It might be easier in matriarchal societies of South India or north East India, but very difficult in patriarchal societies. Also, as mentioned earlier it seems cumbersome to the people themselves who are more used to getting instant subsidy benefits. The history of rural development initiatives as well as the cultural context makes participatory development a not so easy task.

 To cultivate a temperament of decisiveness and drive is a long drawn process. A number of failed government schemes has led to this dependence on participatory approach but the important question is – are the people themselves ready for such a change, are the people ready to become masters of their own destiny or do they want to remain passive receivers?

Prerna Rana (can be reached at: Prerna.rana03@gmail.com)

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