ROLE OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract:

This study synthesizes the current knowledge between the community participation and the sustainable rural development. Community participation is a fora where people in the society take role in planning and management of their society. It aims at attracting coordination and promoting wellness of the people in the society. Active community participation is key to building an empowered community it helps to create partnership in respect to identify the problems in community and generate solution via proper planning, managing, controlling and accessing the collective actions. On the other hand sustainability of rural development is essential now a day because of persistent problems of unawareness regarding education and health care. As we know health and education is an important commodity not only at the individual level but also in terms of the micro- and macroeconomic scale of a country.
This study is structured as follows; first section deals with the meaning, definition and obstacles of community participation. Next section reflects about the sustainable development. Third section deals with the role of community participation in rural health and education. After this, study shows the relationship between community participation and sustainable rural development. Suggestion and conclusion come in final section.

Keywords- community participation, sustainable rural development, health care, education

1. INTRODUCTION

“Sustainable development”, a concept introduced in the late 1980s, is a far-reaching approach to repair and avoid problems that we have created. The requirements and means of applying sustainability to various concerns, including community planning and development, have been the focus of a host of articles, books and research endeavours over the past years. It is not our intention here to detail community development findings and recommendations that can be found elsewhere. It is important to highlight, however, that the pursuit of sustainability has introduced new issues and objectives and has triggered a shift in thinking about community planning and development.
A more participatory approach to development begins with the assumption that "sustainable development ultimately depends on enhancing people's capacities as individuals and groups to improve their own lives and to take greater control over their own destinies" (Ogun, 1982). This assumption may seem self-evident, but, in fact, it is really quite radical in implication. A participatory approach to development represents a considerable change in the process of governance, in social and political relationships, and in who participates in, controls, and is empowered by the development process.
Health is an important commodity not only at the individual level but also in terms of the micro- and macroeconomic scale of a country. Improvement of health status is therefore on the political agenda of every government. In India health has been a major policy issue since independence. The development of rural health infrastructure, immunization programmes and the extension of water supply and sanitation led to health gains. Major achievements include the rise of life expectancy, decline of infant mortality and crude birth rate as well as eradication of smallpox. Nevertheless, the health situation in the country is not satisfying for several reasons. First of all targets set in the five-year plans and in the National Health Policy 1983 have not been met. Although India has established national health programmes for special diseases like tuberculosis or malaria, the responsibility for the health system lies in the hands of the federal states themselves. Therefore, economical performance of the respective state and the priority level health has within the state government are the decisive factors for health care spending.
On the other hand community participation plays important role in primary education "Because basic learning needs are complex and diverse, meeting them requires multi-sectoral strategies and actions which are integral to overall development efforts. Many partners must join with the education authorities, teachers, and other educational personnel in developing basic education if it is to be seen, once again, as the responsibility of the entire society. This implies the active involvement of a wide range of partners - families, teachers, communities, private enterprises (including those involved in information and communication), government and non-governmental organizations, institutions, etc. – in planning, managing and evaluating the many forms of basic education"(WCEFA, 1990).

2. KEY ELEMENTS OF STUDY

Rural development: is multi-dimensional and much broader than poverty alleviation through social programmes and transfers; it places emphasis on changing environments to enable poor people to earn more, invest in themselves and their communities and contribute toward maintenance of key infrastructure; a successful strategy will make people less poor, rather than more comfortable in their poverty. Sustainability: sustainability is derived from increased local growth, and rural people care about success and are able to access resources to keep the strategy going. Community participation: Participation is a rich concept that varies with its application and definition. The way participation is defined also depends on the context in which it occurs. For some, it is a matter of principle; for others, practice; for still others, an end in itself (World Bank, 1995).

3. MEANING AND DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

Community is in the centre of all the activities, yet it is ignored by the decision makers and made to merely wait and watch and ultimately what people get in hand is what they do not want or what is not in their priority. This creates a void between the administrators and those administered and an atmosphere of apathy is created which distances people from government initiatives. Public awareness, effective community participation, transparent and clean administration, introduction of citizen charters and accountability at all levels can only bridge this gap.

3.1 Definition of Community Participation

A community may vary from a small cluster of families with common needs and interests to larger groups joined together by occupation, class, caste and religion in a geographic unit as in a village or urban neighbourhood. The community structure can both be formal and non-formal. In the non-formal groups rigid structuring is not found.

There are various views about the definition of community participation and it may be difficult to find any agreement among these. Nevertheless, one comprehensive and widely acceptable definition may be as follows:-
"Community participation is an educational and empowering process in which the people, in partnership with those who are able to assist them, identify the problems and the needs and increasingly assumes responsibilities themselves to plan, manage, control and assess the collective actions that are proved necessary."
Ideally, true or active participation means that the people should be knowledgeable about their own health problems and they should identify the needs for their solution or reduction, draw out plans of actions according to the priority and the resources available; organise and implement the programmes, and monitor and control their progress; periodically evaluate for getting the feedback, and do the reprogramming. However, under poor social and economic conditions, it may be hard to expect spontaneous participation from the people. People have to be mobilized and encouraged to take greater interest and responsibilities for the maintenance of their own health. Initially, the involvement may be passive, and this has to be gradually and progressively made more active participation.

3.2 Effective Community Participation
Effective community participation requires:-

3.2.1 Strong national commitment
The presence of a strong national commitment to meeting the people's needs, with high degree of decentralization of the planning, management and operational decisions to regional and community levels, ensures strong community involvement, as is observed in many socialist countries. In the absence of such an over-riding national commitment, genuine community involvement can be generally found only in small scale programmes, in specific locations, guided by highly dedicated individuals with charismatic leadership quality.

3.2.2 Mobilization of community resources

Substantial financial and human resources can be mobilized from the community; some of these, such as the enthusiasm and the energy of the youth and women for community action, otherwise may be found unused. The community may contribute in the form of providing accommodation, building and lands for functioning of health centres; or it may provide voluntary labour. Communities with institutional structures such as a local body or council, a cooperative etc., tan mobilize resources for the community purpose more easily than those relying on individual and voluntary contributions.>
In some voluntary projects small regular contributions by rural families have served as a kind of Group Insurance Schemes and have covered up to 50 per cent of the total cost of primary health care in the community. Such an approach may bring out a radical improvement in the quality and coverage of health care of rural people

3.2.3. Strong local participatory institutions and inter-sectoral activities

Community participation may be seen in various dimensions in situations where local organizations have wider developmental responsibilities, rather than one or more aspects of health care alone - though special local communities or groups may be formed for health related activities under the aegis of the parent organisation. Many small scale non-governmental programmes might have started with health focus, but soon expanded the scope of activities into agricultural production, basic education, basic minimum needs, women's programme etc. This not only brings to focus the relationship between health and other basic needs but also underlines the importance of undertaking integrated development programmes for generating and sustaining interests for community participation and action.

3.2.4. Problems of multiplying impacts of small scale projects

In many developing countries the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played an important role in initiating or introducing participatory processes and in establishing institutions in the context of their own health care and rural development programme. However, their impacts are usually limited because of the absence of favourable political and economic structures that would support vigorous national efforts to pursue the primary health care strategy in conjunction with the basic-needs-oriented national developmental policy. For such successful developments, the role of dedicated and able leadership becomes invariably crucial. But they also experience the problems of how to transfer the lessons of their successful experience to the large scale public programmes and how to multiply the impact. Nevertheless, these small scale programmes have succeeded in making national and international impact by bringing an increasing awareness and by demonstrating the potentialities of the community-based primary health care approach.

3.3 Barriers to Community Participation

In the initiation and organization of community participation and in the maintenance of sustained interest, a variety of obstacles may be encountered as enumerated below:

3.3.1. Diverse interests and priorities due to social stratification

There is often lack of group cohesion and similarity of interests and perceptions to behave as a homogenous group or community. There is highly uneven access of the people to productive resources in the community such as land, water, capital etc. Furthermore, the traditional social stratification and separation based on caste, ethnic origin, religion, sex, etc. often act as barriers. The political and economic institutions and practices reinforce the existing privilege groups or create new privilege groups. Even the selection of health workers from the community may
Pose a serious problem, if the innovation calls for democratic participation by all people. The interests, priorities and perceptions of the problems of different interest groups in a village may not be similar and may cause serious conflicts. Because of highly unequal social and economic relationships among the people, creation of community spirit, articulation of community aspirations and people's participation in planning and management of community programmes can progress falteringly and in limited ways. Even in the cases of available successful examples of community participation where barriers have not been removed by broad national policy framing, the community participation may merely mean giving vocal support to the local influential and getting a small share of the services and benefits by the weakest and neediest.

3.3.2. Resistance to decentralization and distribution of benefits

In spite of the accepted general principles of primary health care and community participation, the traditional bureaucratic machinery often stand in the way of their translation into concrete actions. There is unwillingness to decentralize the administrative structure and to make the government programme and personnel accountable to the people. As a result, real community participation does not take any root, and the benefits of the health care programmes are not properly distributed and remain accessible only to the privileged few.

3.3.3. Failure to reorient entire health services to primary health care approach

The desired reorientation and reorganization of health care delivery system have not yet occurred and all facilities are concentrated in urban areas. This dichotomy in health services structure might suggest, however wrongly, that the barefoot doctors' and self-help are for the villagers, while the hospitals and medical specialists are for the town-dwellers. Obviously, in such an approach there is reluctance for establishing equity, which is one of the basic principles for achieving health for all through primary health care approach. Under such circumstances, the community level activities may not be provided with adequate support in the form of supervision, training, essential supplies and effective referral arrangements. This would naturally dampen community enthusiasm and discredit the primary health care approach.

3.3.4. Difficulty in mobilizing uninvolved populations

In the absence of any local participatory institutions within the existing political and economic systems, there is no proper scope for active community roles in any local development programme. Since in such a situation initiation of community participation only to health care will be a pioneering effort with all its inherent constraints, it would be a slow and difficult process. For sustaining momentum and motivation, the organizers must make efforts to extend community participation beyond health care to other spheres of development particularly that would satisfy the basic needs of the people.

3.3.5. Problems of maintaining sustained efforts

The problems of maintaining active community involvement beyond the first stage of curiosity and enthusiasm are also widely recognized. If the health system takes adequate steps for decentralization of the authority and relies on decision-making and control by the community, this will not be a problem, since exercise of real power will encourage responsibility. On the other hand, if the participation is not accompanied by true responsibility and authority, the community will lose interest.

4. MEANING OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In 1972, the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi emphasized, at the UN Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm, that the removal of poverty is an integral part of the goal of an environmental strategy for the world. The concepts of interrelatedness, of a shared planet, of global citizenship, and of ‘spaceship earth’ cannot be restricted to environmental issues alone. They apply equally to the shared and inter-linked responsibilities of environmental protection and human development.
The concept of “sustainability” provides a framework for communities to explore and anticipate how their choices may affect the future. Setting sustainability as an intention for communities and then acting on that intention is a way to help ensure healthy, prosperous and enjoyable communities. Choosing to follow a path of sustainable community development means resetting the compass and directing attention to the integrated economic, ecological and equity issues important to building sustainable communities over the long term. Ensuring that choices are well-informed and well-considered in the light of these issues demands broad-based participation in planning and decision-making. In effect, sustainability calls for a shift in focus toward multiple objectives, more values-based decision-making and increased interaction with and among multiple “publics”.
On the other hand rural development generally refers to the process of improving the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Rural development has traditionally cantered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks and increased urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers. The need for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions. Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies.

5. ROLE OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN RURAL HEALTH

5.1. Educating People about Health Matters

Appropriate educational programmes are to be organized for different groups of people. Health education to the community should be a prime function of the health workers and village level functionaries. In this endeavour, functionaries of other sectors such as social and women's welfare, education, agriculture and animal husbandry, panchayats and voluntary agencies like 'mahila mandals' and youth clubs can contribute very significantly. Health education in schools and adult education sessions should incorporate various health problems. The members of the community, both individually and collectively can play a very important role in the promotion of these activities.

5.2. Promoting Food Supply and Proper Nutrition

The poor nutritional status of the people particularly of the pregnant and nursing mothers, and the infants and children can be substantially improved by organizing and conducting nutrition education programmes in the community and in the schools; by encouraging people to make kitchen gardens and community gardens, and by educating the people on food hygiene groups can play a very significant role.

5.3. Supply of Safe Water and Basic Sanitation Measures

Systematic approach should be made to survey and identify resources of safe water and to carry out analysis of water. Arrangements should be made for regular purification of water through chlorination etc., before using for drinking and other household purposes. People at all levels, including village leaders, women and school children should be educated on continuous basis about the importance of proper maintenance of water and the use of safe water.

5.4. Appropriate Treatment of Common Diseases and Injuries

People need to be educated about the availability of local remedies and other facilities to meet these needs. Other sectors such as education, social and women's welfare, panchayats. Voluntary organizations and other community level institutions can play an important role in educating the people, the school teachers etc.. and in the mobilization of resources.
Community participation also play important role in the maternal and child health care like infant care, care of young child and family planning which is utmost important to reduce rising population.

6. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN RURAL EDUCATION
6.1. Public Education
The communication material developed should be utilised in public awareness programmes through variety of approaches as under.

6.2. Group Education

This may be done through:

1. Group Meetings in the community
2. Workshops
3. Exhibitions
4. Lecture series
5. Panel Discussions, etc.