Plan 331:

Rural Development Planning

Ms. Nawshin Tabassum, Assistant Professor, URP, BUET

LECTURE 1:
BASIC CONCEPTS & SUSTAINABLE RURAL LIVELIHOODS
(SRL)
Basic Concepts
‘According to 2011 Census, city corporations, paurashavas,
upazila headquarters and cantonment area were considered
as urban areas’
Geographic, administrative or revenue units of Rural Areas in
Bangladesh:
i)Union: Smallest administrative rural geographic unit
comprising of mauzas and villages and having union parishad
institution.
ii)Mauza: Smallest revenue geographic unit having Jurisdiction
List (JL) number.
iii)Village: Lowest rural geographic unit either equivalent to a
mauza or part of a mauza.
Basic Problems of Rural Life
-Poverty;
-Unemployment;
-Illiteracy;
-Poor living condition;
-Poor health care;
-Also there are inadequate: Road network, Electricity
supply, Water supply, Sanitation, Rural industries,
Homestead and other basic necessities of life.
 Rural Development
-An important aspect of development intervention.
According to World Bank, “Rural development is a strategy designed
to improve the economic and social life of a specific group of
people. It involves extending benefits of development to the
groups who seek a livelihood in the rural areas. The group includes
small scale farmers, tenants and landless.”
-Rural development is known as a planned change towards the
improvement of the economic and social lifestyle of the rural poor
through increased production, equitable distribution of resources
and empowerment.
-
Rural Development
Planned change can be two major kinds-

1. Rural institution building

2. Advancement in technology
Dimensions of Rural
Development
1.Rural development as Poverty Improvement
2.Rural development as Agriculture Development
3.Rural development as Ruralization of Development
4.Rural development as Peasantization of Development
Key Elements of Rural
Development in Bangladesh
1. Poverty alleviation and raising the living standards of the
rural poor
2. Equitable distribution of income and wealth
3. Wider employment opportunities
4. Participation of local people in planning, decision
making, implementation process, benefit sharing and
evaluation of rural development programs
5. ‘Empowerment’ or more economic and political power
to the rural masses to control the use and distribution of
scarce resources
Necessity of Rural Development
in Bangladesh
▪In1960, 68% of Bangladesh was agricultural land.
▪In 2010, the percentage of agricultural land reduced to
50%.
▪But with the increase of population, resource become
scarce, fund availability becomes constrained,
unemployment becomes larger and larger.
▪As a result, quality and living standard deteriorates.

Thus, planning becomes necessary for fixing priority of

development and resource allocation.
What is a Livelihood?
“A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including
both material and social resources) and activities required
for a means of living”
(Chambers & Conway, 1992)
Sustainable Livelihoods
▪The term ‘sustainable livelihoods’ relates to a wide set of
issues which encompass much of the broader debate about
the relationships between poverty and environment.
(Scoones, 1998)

▪“A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and

recover from stresses and shocks, maintain or enhance its
capabilities and assets, while not undermining the natural
resource base”
(Chambers and Conway, 1992)
Sustainable Livelihood
Framework
Definition of 5 Capitals
1. Social capital - The social resources (networks,
membership, relationships of trust, access to wider
institutions of society) upon which people draw in
pursuit of livelihoods
Definition of 5 Capitals
2. Natural capital – The natural resource stocks from
which resource flows useful for livelihoods are derived
(e.g. land, water, wildlife, biodiversity, environmental
resources)
3. Physical capital - The basic infrastructure (transport,
shelter, water, energy, and communications) and the
production equipment and means that enable people
to pursue their livelihoods.
Definition of 5 Capitals
4. Human capital - The skills, knowledge, ability to labor and
good health important to the ability to pursue different
livelihood strategies
Other related categories of capital that some scholars also use:
◦ Personal capital - The intangible inner resources of an individual,
such as self-perception, self-confidence, self-esteem, commitment,
motivation, hope, and emotional wellbeing

5. Financial capital - The financial resources which are

available to people (whether savings, supplies of credit or
regular remittances or pensions) and which provide them
with different livelihood options.
Example of Asset Status
Differences
Asset status differences, based on poverty
levels, from an FAO case study in Mali:
Livelihood Strategies
Three clusters of livelihood strategies are
identified:
▪ Agricultural intensification/ extensification – capital-
led and/or labor-led intensification; or using more
land/resources.
▪ Livelihood diversification – choices to invest for
accumulation and reinvestment, and coping with
temporary adversity;
▪ Migration – different migration causes, effects and
movement patterns.
Policies, Institutions and
Processes
“Institutions are the social cement which link
stakeholders to access to capital of different
kinds to the means of exercising power and
so define the gateways through which they
pass on the route to positive or negative
[livelihood] adaptation”
(Davies, 1997; in Scoones, 1998)
 Sustainable Livelihood
Outcome
Working days/employment increased

Livelihood Poverty reduced/income generation

Wellbeing and capability improved

Adaptation, vulnerability reduced

Sustainability
Sustainable NR management
 References
1. Bennetta, Nathan J. and P. Dearden. 2014. Why local people do not support
conservation: Community perceptions of marine protected area livelihood impacts,
governance and management in Thailand. Marine Policy 44: 107–116.
2. Carney, D. 1998. Sustainable Livelihoods. In Sustainable Livelihoods: What
contribution can we make? Edited by D. Carney, London, DFID.
3. Chambers, R. and G.R. Conway. 1992. Sustainable rural livelihoods: Practical concepts
for the 21st century. IDS Discussion Paper 296.
4. Ellis, Frank. 2000. Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries. Oxford
University Press.
5. Harvey, D. “Introduction to Sustainable Livelihoods”, online resource.
(http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/david.harvey/AEF806/Intro.html#Framework)
6. Jagger, P., E. Sills, K. Lawlor, and W. Sunderlin. 2010. A Guide to Learning about
Livelihood Impacts of REDD+ Projects. CIFOR Occasional Paper 56.
7. Radel, C. 2012. Gendered livelihoods and the politics of socio-environmental identity:
Women’s participation in conservation projects in Calakmul, Mexico. Gender, Place,
and Culture 19(1): 61–82.
 References
8. Radel, C. and L Coppock. 2013. The world’s gender gap in agriculture and natural
resources: Evidence and explanations. Rangelands. 35(6): 7-14.
9. Rakodi, C. 1999. A capital assets framework for analyzing household livelihood
strategies: Implications for policy. Development Policy Review 17: 315–42.
10. Scoones, I. 1998. Sustainable rural livelihoods: A framework for analysis.
Working Paper 72, Institute for Development Studies, Brighton, UK
11. Scoones, I. 2009. Livelihoods perspectives and rural development. Journal of
Peasant Studies 36(1):171-196.
12. Solebury, W. 2003. Sustainable Livelihoods: A Case Study of the Evolution of DFID
Policy. Working paper 217, Overseas Development Institutute, London, UK
13. Springate-Baginski, O., Wollenberg, E., (eds.) 2010. REDD, forest governance and
rural livelihoods: The emerging agenda. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.