Learning Package
in
Rural Social Institutions
(RD 818)
The Open University
CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY
Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija
Philippines
COURSE IDENTIFICATION
Catalogue Number : Rural Development 818
Course Title : Rural Social Institutions
Credit : 3 Units
Course Description:
Nature and structure pattern of rural institutions and their roles in nation building; features of community/rural development programs in the Third World countries and their interrelationships with local government units.
Importance of Course
It will help students gain more insights on the various institutions along with the community and rural development programs that drive the development and contribute to progress of the rural world. It will provide students opportunities to learn more concepts, role and functions of the institutions; knowledge of institution building; effects of global economy to the rural institutions and to the rural communities; the significant effect and contributions of the rural institutions to social, political and economic changes in the Third World countries; the function and interaction of institution and organizational mechanisms in the community and helps assess the institutional capacities and various institutional approaches to poverty alleviation.
This course will be useful to anyone who will be involved in future rural development projects and who may have the opportunity to become project manager, leader or administrator of rural development projects. Understanding of the context of the various institutions, their interrelationships with local government and their role in nation building will help gain insights in the implementation of selected Rural Development programs and projects to rural communities.
Learning Objectives
The objectives of this course are:
1. to identify rural social institutions and determine their role in nation building;
2. to understand the context of the institutions and their interrelationships with local government units;
3. to identify the unique aspects of poverty characterizing the poor people, factors contributing to rural poverty, the steps and resolutions that must be addressed or have been addressed by the institutions to alleviate the poor living conditions in rural communities;
4. to develop critical skill among students in evaluating the methodological approaches in study of rural social institutions.
Course Requirements and Basis of Grading
The basis for the final grade in this course is reflected in the course assessment: (1) Answer to tutor-marked assignments or assessment questions, 25% (2) a term paper, 25%; and (3) a final examination, 50%.
The assessment questions can be found at the end of the module. The term paper topic will be mutually agreed upon by the course tutor and student, but which should be related to your community or to the community of your choice. The final examination will be comprehensive in nature.
The study notes and topics contained in the course material will provide you with background and study materials to enhance your appreciation and understanding of the subject. Answering the preliminary questions in the tutor-marked assignments will help you prepare for your final examination.
Instruction to the Learner
You are encouraged to explore your own creativity in preparing your paper and requirements of the course. Do not just rely on the topics and the synthesis of the concept, theories and context of the materials that were presented in this module. You are advised to do further research on the topics, your answers to the questions and your final examination paper.
Other books and references that you may find useful supplements are listed in the reference section of the module. There are also several readings and related articles that you may find in the internet.
TOPICAL OUTLINE
Introduction
Various countries that have opened their economies to globalization have experienced faster growth and poverty reduction. However, this liberalization also tends to increase the opportunities for economic activity as well as the income inequality of a certain region. Globalization creates new markets and wealth and affects the social, political, economic and environmental conditions of the country. It has brought many benefits but created growing contention over how these benefits are shared and controlled. There is a serious concern that unless good institutions and sound policies are effectively developed, the poor rural region will draw little benefit from the changes and reform created by the progress.
The Context of Institutions
Institutions cover wide range of spectrum of activities and frameworks. They include economic, social and political organizations, rules, laws and regulations, assets, financial, technologies and markets. Institutions are also the rules of the game of a society, the compelling forces that structure human interaction.
Historical Lessons from the Past
There are lessons that are learned from the past history of institution building. Past experiences show that important factors were given too little attention that resulted into shortcomings and failures in rural development. Knowledge of these shortcomings can help us veer in the right direction and plan for a better approach in the decision making or program execution.
Institutions and Local Communities
The role of local institutions is becoming more important for sustainable rural development. Familiarizing with these roles will help us understand and will give us better insight in the implementation of effective poverty reduction policies, high level strategic planning, accessing of the nations’ resources, designing and developing effective plans.
Role of Central and Local Government Institutions, Non-government Organizations and Private Sector
Central and local government institutions play a critical role in the development of the rural areas most especially in the development and implementation of an effective poverty reduction policies and high and low level strategic planning. In the past, central government acted as the providers, owners and managers of rural development. The central institution has been protecting, preserving and developing the local communities, thus creating a dependency syndrome to the rural community and spoiling them and preventing them to develop their own human resources and to improve their own destiny. An effort to decentralize the central authority and responsibility for rural development has been implemented to various countries to enable the local government to create their own independence and to orient them more towards control of their own innovative and creative work.
With decentralization, non-government organizations (NGOs) and other private institutions are created to fill up the was generated in the transformation process. New activities, such as production of goods and services, are introduced. Many countries in the developing world are now seeking private sector involvement in developing rural infrastructure such as road construction, investment on farm supply, distribution of goods and marketing.
Roles of Rural Institutions in Third World Countries
This section examines some highlights of the rural institutions and their roles in the Third World countries. These are presented here to give sample pictures of the various institutions in the different part of the world, their historical background and the evolutionary development as each country’s struggle through the developmental activities.
PART I
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, countries that have opened their economies to globalization have experienced faster growth and an increase in poverty reduction. Countries like India, Vietnam, Uganda, and other developing countries have substantially increased their exports of manufactures, services and trading to many developing and developed countries (World Bank, 2002). Progress has been very impressive for a number of developing countries in Asia because they chose to participate in global trade, helping them to attract the bulk of foreign direct investment from developed countries.
China and India and other higher-income countries in Asia- like Korea and Singapore, have embraced trade liberalization and other market-oriented reforms. There are considerable evidence that more outward-oriented countries that have opened their economies to the global world tend consistently to grow faster than ones that are inward-looking (IMF, 1997). Developing countries that are integrated with world markets have experienced an increase of their average incomes. Liberalization tends to increase the opportunities for economic activity and can very easily increase income inequality while at the same time reducing poverty. Openness to trade investment flows is a key factor in lifting economic growth.
Globalization creates new markets and wealth and in some cases may cause widespread disorder and suffering if not properly controlled due to the unstable, deregulated global economy. Globalization encompasses a range of social, political and economic changes and may pose cultural challenges because of the introduction of diversified foreign cultures and people into the system, threatens to displace local culture and societies as well as the environment. Some pollution issues require local regulation and environmental standards need to be established.
Technology, ideas, human resources, products and finances are among those that move more freely and swiftly across national borders. As a result, economies, social movement and international laws are forming at the international level. For the politicians, entrepreneurs, economists, educators and other disciplines and of the world’s population, these trends are inevitable and shall be accepted. For some, this business-driven globalization means uprooting old ways of life and threatening livelihoods and cultures.
Globalization has brought many benefits but there is growing contention over how these benefits are shared and controlled. There has been an increasing recognition of the need for institutions and global governance: lowering trade and investment barriers is not enough to guarantee progressive growth, equitable stable and prosperous global economy. Good national policies, sound institutions and domestic political stability are also important in generating national income growth and reducing poverty. The poor in particular suffer the consequences of bad macroeconomic management and incompetent, incoherent and dysfunctional institution. This institutional problem is currently seen as one of the most challenging hurdles to development. With the right institutions, economic incentives will be created and the market will function properly.
Competent, credible and well established institutions are vital for creating, managing, implementing and monitoring sound policies. There is a serious risk that unless market and other institutions are effectively developed and made more responsive to the needs of poor rural producers and consumers, the poor will draw little benefit from the reforms and could even be further impoverished. Openness to the world is also not enough. Most of the world’s poorest countries are persistently troubled by corruption, poor governance and internal conflict. What used to be poor countries that have successfully got out of the poverty are typically those that are governed by effective institutions, good governance and outward-looking economic policies.
PART II
THE CONTEXT OF INSTITUTIONS
Institutions in this context mean economic, social and political organizations, together with the rules, laws and regulations that govern their interaction. The institutional framework mediates the access of the poor to assets, to financial and other services, to technologies and markets. It determines the extent to which poor groups benefit from the production generated by these assets and services. Public institutions and their rules of the game also determine resource allocation and impose regulatory frameworks that have great impact on the lives of the poor.
Institutions are defined as “rules by which agents interact and the organizations that implement rules to achieve desired outcomes” (World Bank: World Development Report, 2002). Under this definition, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) covers both formal and informal organizations and institutional arrangements involving Producer Organizations (PO)s and others to achieve common objectives. These include:
· Organizations or “groups of individuals bound by some common purpose to achieve objectives” (North, D., 1990). Organizations include groups of individuals working together and jointly managing common resources toward a shared goal, ranging from informal rural producer groups (self-help groups, networks, etc.), to formal Producer Organizations (cooperatives, unions, and federations of POs).
· Institutional arrangements or inter-agent coordination between small POs and other social and economic actors, such as stakeholder committees, networks, forums, platforms, public-private partnerships, and contracts.
North (1990) clarifies the difference between institutions and organizations. Institutions are the rules of the game of a society, the compelling forces that structure human interaction. They are composed of formal rules (statute law, common law, regulations), informal constraints (conventions, norms of behavior and self-imposed modes of conduct), and the enforcement characteristics of both. On the other hand, organizations are the players: groups of individuals bound by a common purpose to achieve objectives. They include political bodies; economic bodies; social bodies (churches, clubs, and associations) and educational bodies.
Institutions, then, are the formal and informal ties that bind collectives. Formal institutions are the explicit rules that govern social behavior (established in written law, created by conscious, recorded decisions with established precedents (Swift, J., 1994). As such they have come to depend on recognition from the modern state. Informal institutions, by contrast, imply the habitual ways in which a society manages its everyday affairs. Examples include customs relating to kinship and marriage and the way these institutions affect access to land and labor in a specific cultural setting (Johnson, C.,1996).
It is of fundamental importance to assess the endowment, functioning and interaction of institution and organizational mechanisms in the community. This step helps assess the institutional capacities of the supported society and also serves as an institutional approach to poverty alleviation by (Bass, S.):
· An examination of the mechanisms that govern the poor’s access to assets, services and markets, since improved access and services is the basic fundamental for the creation of wealth. Assets include productive resources such as land, water, finances, farm equipment and off-farm employment opportunities.
· Access to services that include education, credit, extension and public health services and markets.
· Provision of an institution that helps provide an active participation of the disadvantaged, the poor and their representative bodies in decision-making process. They must be provided with an enabling environment that encourages collective self-help action, personal investments and accumulation. Programs need to be designed on a demand-driven basis rather than be imposed from the outside.
· A Government institutions that are accountable to the general public and responsive to the needs of the poor. Decentralization and privatization of government services and administration can assist in the process, and the NGO and private sectors have crucial role to play.
Without access to such assets and services, participation and empowerment of the poor is meaningless. These interaction mechanisms which, when taken together, can help improve people’s access to assets and services, to increase their active participation in the organization, and to increase their negotiation capacity which will lead to their economic and political empowerment.