Draft 27/05/1997
Decentralization and Rural Development: FAO’s Experiences
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
Rural Development Division
IG-1: Public Rural Development Institutions
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Draft 27/05/1997
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Decentralization and Rural Development: FAO’s ExperiencesUnited Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation |
BACKGROUND TO THE DECENTRALIZATION PROCESSES
WARNING AGAINST THE RISKS OF DECENTRALIZATION
1. Substitution of a supply philosophy by a demand philosophy
2. Informational imbalances do not facilitate activity co-ordination
3. The legacy of paternalism may lead to a poorer supply of support services
4. The clientelist tradition creates the risk of appropriation
5. Institutional rigidity and the pace of decentralization
FAO’S KEY ADVANTAGES: KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
1. Focus on public institutions
A) The agricultural production systems approach: the role of surveys and typologies in dialogue between the State and rural populations
B) Decentralized planning and the role of training
C) Restructuring of agricultural support servicesA) Promotion of land management projects and contractual links between local communities and the State
B) Extension policy within the participatory approach
C) Popular participation programs and structuring peasant organizations3. Focus on local government levels
A) Local government levels in a decentralization process
B) The capacity of local government levels to become true poles or rural development
C) The building of interfaces between national and local levels of government
THE RED-IFO DECENTRALISATION MODEL
1. Decentralization methodology: demand regionalization and policy differentiation (RED)
2. Support policies: information, training and organization (IFO)A) The role of access to information in dialog with the State
B) Training as a means of avoiding institutional vacuums
C) Organization and mediation mechanisms
LINKS BETWEEN DECENTRALIZATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
1. Conclusions and recommendations
2. Directions for pursuing analysis of and research into decentralization and its links with rural development