A rural support programme exit strategy: women filling vacated spaces and excelling in community development

Abstract

Rural support programmes in Pakistan are major players in rural development, with significant outreach. Owing to funding constraints, they are currently exploring an exit strategy whereby they facilitate the formation of multi-tier local support organisations (LSOs), including those exclusively run by women. The present article focuses on the impact of this exit strategy on rural women. The findings, based on survey research, show that women have fared well, been more effective in running the LSOs than men and, despite confronting a conservative culture, have effectively filled in spaces vacated by men.

Une stratégie de sortie pour un programme de soutien en milieu rural: lorsque des femmes remplissent les places libérées et excellent en développement communautaire

Les programmes de soutien en milieu rural menés au Pakistan constituent des éléments importants dans le développement rural et ont un rayon d'influence considérable. Du fait des contraintes de financement, ils explorent actuellement une stratégie de sortie dans le cadre de laquelle ils facilitent la formation d'organisations de soutien locales à plusieurs niveaux (OSL), dont certaines dirigées exclusivement par des femmes. Cet article traite principalement de l'impact de cette stratégie de sortie sur les femmes rurales. Les conclusions, basées sur des recherches menées par le biais de questionnaires, montrent que les femmes s'en sont bien sorties, qu'elles ont été plus efficaces que les hommes dans leur administration des OSL et que, bien qu'ayant affaire à une culture conservatrice, elles ont rempli les places libérées par les hommes de façon efficace.

Uma estratégia de saída do programa de apoio rural: mulheres preenchendo espaços vagos e destacando-se no desenvolvimento da comunidade

Programas de apoio rural no Paquistão são grandes parceiros no desenvolvimento rural, com significativo alcance. Devido às limitações de fundos, eles estão atualmente explorando uma estratégia de saída para promoverem a formação de organizações de apoio local (LSOs) em vários níveis, incluindo aquelas exclusivamente administradas por mulheres. Este artigo concentra-se no impacto desta estratégia de saída sobre as mulheres rurais. Os resultados, baseados em pesquisa de campo, mostram que as mulheres têm tido uma boa atuação, têm sido mais efetivas na administração de LSOs do que os homens e, apesar de enfrentarem uma cultura conservadora, têm efetivamente preenchido espaços vagos de homens.

Una estrategia de salida para un programa de apoyo rural: mujeres que ocupan vacantes y sobresalen en el desarrollo comunitario

Los programas de apoyo rural en Pakistán tienen una presencia importante y un alcance significativo en el desarrollo rural. Debido a restricciones de financiación, actualmente estos programas adoptan una estrategia de salida que facilita la creación de organizaciones de apoyo local (OAL) de muchos niveles, incluyendo OAL cuyas integrantes son sólo mujeres. Este ensayo se centra en las repercusiones de esta estrategia de salida en las mujeres del campo. Los resultados obtenidos en una investigación basada en encuestas muestran que las mujeres han obtenido buenos resultados dado que las OAL a cargo de mujeres han respondido mejor que las de los hombres y, a pesar de la cultura conservadora que prevalece, las mujeres han cubierto los espacios dejados por los hombres de una manera eficaz.

Keywords:

• Aid
• Civil society
• Gender and diversity
• South Asia

Acknowledgement

The present article is drawn from a larger report on this issue written for the Rural Support Program Network (RSPN). RSPN financial support for the survey is gratefully acknowledged. The very helpful referee comments are also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

These community organisations comprise anywhere from five to ten households and the number of community organisations in a village varies depending on its population. In peri-urban areas, the community organisations are essentially lane committees, comprising households in the neighbourhood.

See www.rspn.org/about_us/introduction.html. An average household size of 6.8 (www.pap.org.pk/statistics/population.htm#tab1.3) means an outreach to about 28 million people.

RSPs have received some initial government support for an endowment but are on their own beyond that.

Shoaib Sultan Khan, the first General Manager of the AKRSP, conceptualised these cluster organisations in the early 1980s.

Other RSPs, especially the National Rural Support Program and the Sarhad Rural Support Program also supported apex bodies of community organisations at the village, union council, and tehsil levels in relatively mature communities.

Revenue villages are defined for tax purposes and are much larger entities than a regular village. The latter represents more cohesive communities that social mobilisation is centred upon.

In 2002, mature community organisations also began to register themselves as Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) as envisioned in the Local Government Ordinance (Government of Pakistan 2000), but even these organisations relied heavily on the technical support of the local RSP.

For example, the Chitral Network of LSOs, Ghizer Network of LSOs, and Dargai Network of LSOs.

For a detailed literature review of social capital in the context of rural development refer to Khan et al. (2007: chapters 1 and 2). A detailed assessment of the LSOs as an exit strategy with the associated institutional detail is contained in a companion paper.

See www.uniteforsight.org/global-health-university/poverty-scorecards.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shaheen Rafi Khan

Shaheen Rafi Khan earned his PhD in economics from Columbia University. He engages in freelance multi-disciplinary consulting and in analysing programme and project implementation. His research includes: trade and environment; trade and security; climate change; poverty and environment; biodiversity conservation; joint forest management; water resource management, and microcredit.

Shahrukh Rafi Khan

Shahrukh Rafi Khan (corresponding author) is currently a visiting professor of economics at Mount Holyoke College. He has formerly taught at the University of Utah and Vassar College and served as Copeland Fellow at Amherst College. He has published extensively in refereed journals and authored and edited numerous books. He has engaged in academic consulting for several international organisations.