Experts advocate people’s role in policy making
Sartaj Aziz stresses significance of community-driven development
PHOTO: ONLINE
ISLAMABAD:
Experts and government officials have underlined the importance of people’s role in policy making and implementation of development projects.
They expressed these view while speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day national conference on community-driven development here on Monday. The conference is being organised with the aim of strengthening rural support networks.
People will have to mobilise on their own to bring about the change, prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said.
He said that issues such as adaptation to climate change and disaster management were few of the many challenges that could be met through community-driven development.
“Families that are totally dependent on a piece of land cannot increase their income with each new generation, and in this scenario community-based development becomes [important], which enables the people to increase their income with education and capacity building,” he said.
Aziz said that inherent and chronic causes of poverty were supplemented by man-made policy factors and that was where community development could play a role in removing barriers, improving access and enabling the vulnerable communities to compete with labour in the product market.
“Since ’50s many rural development projects have been undertaken in Pakistan but they generally failed to achieve a transformative impact because they were not formulated on concrete principles of community-based development,” the adviser said.
The European Union (EU) Ambassador, Jean-François Cautain said that giving voice to the voiceless through effective democratic approaches was part of the agenda of the politico-economic union.
Development guru and Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN) Chairperson Shoaib Sultan Khan said that the whole idea of the conference was to make people aware of the importance of community-driven strategy, especially the policy makers and the practitioners.
“There are no two opinions on how successful this model is, as it has always shown positive results wherever applied,” he said.
BASIX Social Enterprise Group Founder and CEO Vijay Mahajan shared his experience of community-driven development in India.
He said that the model provided a bridge between government and communities, working as an effective poverty-reduction strategy.
Mahajan said that problems such as exhaustive bureaucratic procedures were also solved on the way wherever community-driven development model was adopted.
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Tariq Bajwa said that one of the major challenges of development in Pakistan was lack of ownership, adding “if development projects are not implemented on ownership basis, intended benefits cannot be achieved.”
He said that planners should stand back and consider needs of the people before making plans.
“Development schemes should be based on felt needs of the communities itself and the whole process from initiation, identification and implementation, should be done by the community and at the community-level,” Bajwa said.
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memon said that the BISP was providing sustenance to the poor people, particularly women.
She said that long-term difference could only be made through a community-driven development process.
The conference is being organised by the Rural Support Program Network in collaboration with the EU with the vision to realise people’s potential for social and economic development on policy level.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2015.
Experts and government officials have underlined the importance of people’s role in policy making and implementation of development projects.
They expressed these view while speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day national conference on community-driven development here on Monday. The conference is being organised with the aim of strengthening rural support networks.
People will have to mobilise on their own to bring about the change, prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said.
He said that issues such as adaptation to climate change and disaster management were few of the many challenges that could be met through community-driven development.
“Families that are totally dependent on a piece of land cannot increase their income with each new generation, and in this scenario community-based development becomes [important], which enables the people to increase their income with education and capacity building,” he said.
Aziz said that inherent and chronic causes of poverty were supplemented by man-made policy factors and that was where community development could play a role in removing barriers, improving access and enabling the vulnerable communities to compete with labour in the product market.
“Since ’50s many rural development projects have been undertaken in Pakistan but they generally failed to achieve a transformative impact because they were not formulated on concrete principles of community-based development,” the adviser said.
The European Union (EU) Ambassador, Jean-François Cautain said that giving voice to the voiceless through effective democratic approaches was part of the agenda of the politico-economic union.
Development guru and Rural Support Programme Network (RSPN) Chairperson Shoaib Sultan Khan said that the whole idea of the conference was to make people aware of the importance of community-driven strategy, especially the policy makers and the practitioners.
“There are no two opinions on how successful this model is, as it has always shown positive results wherever applied,” he said.
BASIX Social Enterprise Group Founder and CEO Vijay Mahajan shared his experience of community-driven development in India.
He said that the model provided a bridge between government and communities, working as an effective poverty-reduction strategy.
Mahajan said that problems such as exhaustive bureaucratic procedures were also solved on the way wherever community-driven development model was adopted.
Economic Affairs Division Secretary Tariq Bajwa said that one of the major challenges of development in Pakistan was lack of ownership, adding “if development projects are not implemented on ownership basis, intended benefits cannot be achieved.”
He said that planners should stand back and consider needs of the people before making plans.
“Development schemes should be based on felt needs of the communities itself and the whole process from initiation, identification and implementation, should be done by the community and at the community-level,” Bajwa said.
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Marvi Memon said that the BISP was providing sustenance to the poor people, particularly women.
She said that long-term difference could only be made through a community-driven development process.
The conference is being organised by the Rural Support Program Network in collaboration with the EU with the vision to realise people’s potential for social and economic development on policy level.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2015.