Empowering The Poor Through Participatory Development

By Prahlad Shekhawat

Indicators of development like the gross national product and other purely economic criteria are increasingly seen as insufficient.GNP does not measure fair distribution, unpaid labor, social indicators and the impact on the environment. Processes of participation and genuine democracy have been neglected, wherein the excluded and the needy are able to decide in an informed manner what is important for them, Participation and democracy are both a means as well as ends of development and social progress.

Redefining development is urgently called for due to huge contradictions of India’s progress. India has recorded the second highest economic growth rate but more than half of the population is below the poverty line and it ranks very low at 128 on the Human Development Index 2010( UNDP Human Development Report 2010). It is lagging far behind in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. India is self sufficient in food production but it has the largest number of hungry and malnourished people in the world. India is the largest functioning democracy but the elections can be mostly won with the help of family lineage and by the rich; aided by caste and religious calculations. According to the International Democracy Index of the Economist Magazine India scores low at 45 because of poor participation.

A survey of literature on well-being and cross-cultural social indicators analyzed by the International Development Center at Oxford reveals that empowerment and democratic participation in decisions that shape one’s life are significant factors. Amartya Sen suggests new concepts and measures of human development which should lead to the capability to choose a valuable life that is worth living. Sen advocates economic growth not as an end but as a means to human development. In their book Hunger and Public Action, Sen and Jean Dreze have emphasized the need for public action or the mobilization of community and civil society action through more participation in order to put pressure on the government to carry out humanitarian and ethical policies.

The three requisites for enlarging choices in the Human Development Index are knowledge, a decent standard of income and a long and healthy life. The forthcoming Human Development Report 2010, will propose to include more indicators like equity, environmental sustainability and empowerment of the poor through their participation. The advantage of these measures is that they have a universal appeal and cross-cultural acceptance. Some other important measures which need to be included are absence of violence and positive peace and wellbeing, including subjective and objective wellbeing. Peace normally is defined as in the Global Peace Index in terms of external supportive conditions. There is also the peace within a person. The challenge is to provide information and encouraging conditions so that the poor can say what they consider to be their wellbeing and happiness and what gives them peace of mind.

Democracy for John Dewey, the philosopher of education, was both a means and an end to the building of a good and just society. He sought to develop strategies and methods for training students through learning and discipline to become socially responsible adults and conscientious citizens concerned with the rights of others and the common good. Successful democracies require the ordinary people to transcend narrow loyalties and to become more aware citizens and participate in decisions which affect one’s life. These qualities enhance the social and political capital, which play a significant role in the progress of society and a democratic nation.

Mahatma Gandhi also laid emphasis nonviolence and proposed decentralized and more or less self governing villages managed by the village ‘panchayat’ or council which could work more effectively in a small human scale in a democratic manner. Considering that inter-religious tensions and armed Maoist insurgency prevails in a large parts of India, it is necessary to bring the alienated into the fold of peaceful struggle and participation in a reformed and inclusive democracy.

The Alternative Development and Research Centre, Jaipur; a nonprofit charitable trust has initiated a Redefining Development and Social Progress Project, which includes scholars, government officials and members of the community foundations, to integrate, document and evolve priorities in terms of new approaches, concepts, measures and indicators relevant to India. Such efforts are expected to lead to a more coherent alternative, raise social awareness and influence policy.

It is important to consider what the prospects are for spreading the values of altruism, philanthropy and compassion for the poor and the needy and how their pain, fears and hopes can be shared with empathy. How in the process of participation, these values can be inculcated among the Community Foundations or NGOs and the government? How can such effort can be based on empathetic listening to the poor’s voice in a participatory and inclusive way, which can then help in proposing relevant alternatives in terms priorities for development and desirable social change. The Center for Participatory Research, Delhi carries out such research by creating supportive environment for the poor to be able to choose and voice their hopes and fears.

Participatory development relates to decision making at all the stages, in projects and programs. Participation needs to be connected in a mutually reinforcing manner with participation in the process of politics and electoral democracy as well as with a culture of a democratic ethic. The Majdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS) in Rajasthan State initiated the right to information (RTI) campaign and promotes the right to food campaign. Now they are trying to set up a school of democracy for rural citizens. They had set up committees to watch that the elections are free and fair. Insurgency movements in India can be brought back into the democratic process by electoral and other reforms which makes the democracy more participatory and inclusive.

In a significant evolving process, the right to information, the right to employment, the right to food and the right to education have been able to come on a common platform and make concerted efforts. Efforts to demand transparency through RTI by community action groups and by trained villagers, who have taken up the task of social audit and social accounting, has lead to lessening of corruption and more awareness and confidence among the poor villagers. This participatory awareness is to some extent being carried forward in electoral democracy as well
It could be productive to look at the practical steps that can be taken to develop synergy and partnership between the network of civil society, the government and administration as well with the academic scholars for better policy formulation, implementation and social audit. One example to consider is the partnership between the community action groups like the Suchna Evam Rojgar Adhikar Abhiyan and the district administration in Dungarpur, Rajasthan that took place during the introduction of the rural employment program. They partnered as social auditors. Complaints were promptly dealt with by the officer in charge of the district.

Lessons can be drawn from the experiences of the Center for Participatory Research, Delhi, the prospects of a school of democracy for rural citizens and the experience of social audit. The watch dog people’s committees set up in parts of the country to oversee elections is another remarkable example. The appointment of thoughtful members of the community action groups as members of the National Advisory Council marks the next phase of participatory development, that is likely empower and give more voice to the poor and the marginalised.

Prahlad Shekhawat is Director, Alternative Development and Research Center,Jaipur. He is the author of 2 books on Human Development, Culture and Well-being