IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/agreko/267848.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decentralization: Toward A Revitalized Strategy For Rural Development

Author

Listed:
  • Parker, Andrew N.
  • Kirsten, Johann

Abstract

Despite recognition of the need for special strategies to address the widespread incidence of rural poverty in developing countries, initiatives aimed at bringing about a transformation of the rural standard of living have not had a consistent impact on reducing poverty. The failure of the most recent of these interventions-integrated rural development-has left a policy vacuum as donors and countries struggle to find new ways to reduce rural poverty. Recent initiatives designed to put in place decentralized mechanisms for rural development offer possibilities for building on the essential principles of integrated rural development while avoiding problems associated with an over-centralization of functions and responsibilities. This paper examines the potential role for decentralization in designing improved rural development programs. Some of the recent efforts to implement programs of decentralized rural development are described and analyzed. The paper concludes that although decentralization initiatives have a long history, much more needs to be understood with respect to the various components of decentralization if sound advice is to be given to policy-makers. A conceptual model is suggested that incorporates the essential elements of decentralization processes and relates them to rural development outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Parker, Andrew N. & Kirsten, Johann, 1995. "Decentralization: Toward A Revitalized Strategy For Rural Development," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 34(4), December.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:267848
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.267848
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267848/files/19-Parker.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/267848/files/19-Parker.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.267848?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parker, Andrew N., 1995. "Decentralization : the way forward for rural development?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1475, The World Bank.
    2. Anwar Shah & Zia Qureshi & Amaresh Bagchi & Brian Binder & Heng-fu Zou, 1994. "Intergovernmental fiscal relations in Indonesia: issues and reform options," CEMA Working Papers 474, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    3. Feder, Gershon & Slade, Roger H, 1986. "The Impact of Agricultural Extension: The Training and Visit System in India," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 1(2), pages 139-161, July.
    4. van Zyl, Johan & Barbosa, Tulio & Parker, Andrew N. & Sonn, Loretta, 1995. "Decentralized rural development and enhanced community participation : a case study from Northeast Brazil," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1498, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Parker, A.N., 1997. "Participation and decentralisation in rural development: Lessons from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 36(4), pages 1-12, December.
    2. World Bank, 2003. "Decentralizing Indonesia : A Regional Public Expenditure Review Overview Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 14632, The World Bank Group.
    3. Dan Qiao & Shuting Xu & Tao Xu & Qinchuan Hao & Zhen Zhong, 2022. "Gap between Willingness and Behaviors: Understanding the Consistency of Farmers’ Green Production in Hainan, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Robinson D. BoyeBandie, 2015. "The Effects of the District Assemblies Common Fund on District Assemblies Internally Generated Revenue Mobilisation in Ghana: An Analysis of the Early Years of the Fund," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(9), pages 529-542, September.
    5. Bird, Richard M. & Smart, Michael, 2002. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers: International Lessons for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 899-912, June.
    6. Daniel Edevbaro, 1997. "Promoting Education within the Context of a Neo-Patrimonial State: The Case of Nigeria," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1997-123, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    7. Vijesh V Krishna & Lagesh M Aravalath & Surjit Vikraman, 2019. "Does caste determine farmer access to quality information?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-22, January.
    8. Pavlos Karanikolas & Sophia Hatzipanteli, 2008. "The Decentralization Process of Rural Development Policy in Greece," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 411-434, December.
    9. Nadiia Davydenko & Natalia Wasilewska & Svitlana Boiko & Mirosław Wasilewski, 2022. "Development of Rural Areas in Ukraine in the Context of Decentralization: An Empirical Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-26, May.
    10. Gertler, Paul J. & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Gračner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander D., 2024. "Road maintenance and local economic development: Evidence from Indonesia’s highways," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    11. Cecilia Ugaz, 1997. "Decentralization and the Provision and Financing of Social Services: Concepts and Issues," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1997-130, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Cetrángolo, Oscar & Goldschmit, Ariela, 2012. "Fiscal decentralization: increasing social cohesion among widely disparate territorial units," Copublicaciones, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 2029.
    13. Evenson, Robert E. & Mwabu, Germano, 1998. "The Effects of Agricultural Extension on Farm Yields in Kenya," Center Discussion Papers 28509, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    14. Binswanger, Hans P. & Aiyar, Swaminathan, 2003. "Scaling up community-driven development : theoretical underpinnings and program design implications," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3039, The World Bank.
    15. Wafaa Nasser & Myriam Donsimoni, 2012. "Local governance, decentralization and local economic development," Post-Print hal-00973763, HAL.
    16. Ter-Minassian, Teresa & Jiménez, Juan Pablo, 2012. "Macroeconomic challenges of fiscal decentralization," Copublicaciones, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 2032.
    17. Trent Brown, 2020. "Vocational Training, Extension, and the Changing Landscape of Agricultural Education in India," IEG Working Papers 407, Institute of Economic Growth.
    18. Gertler, Paul J & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Gracner, Tadeja & Rothenberg, Alexander, 2023. "Road Maintenance and Local Economic Development," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt38m633q0, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    19. Kimlong Chheng & Budy P. Resosudarmo, 2021. "Land property rights and food insecurity in rural Cambodia," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(6), pages 1911-1929, December.
    20. Anderson, Jock R. & Feder, Gershon & Ganguly, Sushma, 2006. "The rise and fall of training and visit extension : an Asian mini-drama with an African epilogue," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3928, The World Bank.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:agreko:267848. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeasaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.