A pandisciplinary approach to institution building in the third world : integrated rural development service centers at the regional level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop an institution-building model based on a pandisciplinary approach, which could serve as a process model for establishing viable integrated rural development service centers at the regional level in Third World countries. These centers focus on facilitating integration of sectors involved in development work by providing services of pandisciplinary research and evaluation; nonformal education methods and techniques; specialized information services on all facets of rural development; and development communications. Several stages were involved in the pandisciplinary approach to model building: (a) statement of the problem to be addressed in model building; (b) extraction of important concepts based on an initial survey of the development literature; (c) assessment of relevant disciplines (i.e., development planning, administration, politics, sociocultural dimensions, adult and nonformal education) with regard to development concepts, methods of measuring development including economic and life-quality indicators, and models used; (d) creation of a metaperspective to organize information and synthesize conflicts; and (e) restatement of problems in operational generic terms. A four-phased model was developed; (I) Feasibility study/needs assessment to obtain background information, identify key actors in rural development, identify critical constraints to institution building, and assess training/service needs; (II) Institutional design, in which the institutional setting is selected and the internal organizational design is developed; (III) Implementation, in which a pilot site is selected and the design implemented; and (IV) Evaluation, to assess the evaluability of the design, appraise its impact/institutionalization, analyze costs/benefits, identify bottlenecks/constraints, and modify the design for further application. This model was then evaluated using data from a specific Latin American country--Honduras. Data were collected by (a) surveying government officials working in development, planning and training, and (b) gathering information from government reports and other nonconventional documents in various specialized library collections at the different entities concerned. Application of the process model to Honduras is found in Chapter V. The final chapter synthesizes the researcher's findings with respect to (a) constraints to integrated rural development in the aforementioned disciplines/areas; (b) problems to be dealt with in Latin America; and (c) recommendations for implementing the process model in the Third World.