Assessment of Eritrean rural development projects and their impacts

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Development, a non-ceasing phenomenon as long as mankind has dwelt on this planet, IS acomplex matter which encompasses the three bottom-lines, i.e. social, economic andenvironmental aspects and aims at improving the quality of life. In fact, development issues arealways challenging countries and their leaders as they try to introduce strategies and projects tobenefit their rural sector which constitutes, especially in developing countries, most of thepopulation who are living in poverty and continuing to stagger in very destitute level.One of these countries is Eritrea, a nation of which more than 80% live in rural areas and whichis rated one of the lowest twenty nations on the human development index (measurement ofliteracy, health and life expectancy status) as well as the human poverty index of which 53% ofthe population lived below national poverty line during the period of 1987 to 2000 (UNDP,2002).This paper is an attempt to discuss rural development and how it is being implemented inrelation to Eritrea's reconstructions and rehabilitation efforts that took place after its freedomfrom foreign occupation. It is an assessment on the rural projects' planning and implementationprocess, and eventually also looks at the impacts they have on the life of the beneficiaries.As a whole, this research paper consists of an introduction and nine chapters. It can be classifiedinto five parts, i.e. the theoretical literature, the country's status in specific fields, the sampleresearch areas, an overall synthesis and lastly conclusions and recommendations as one part.The theoretical background revolves around rural areas and their reasons for poverty, differentdevelopment theories within which rural development could be seen as one ingredient, andfocuses on participatory rural development where projects can play vital roles in changing lifestyle especially when they are managed in an integrated way touching main areas of need.The second section of the paper is a general overview of the socio-economic status of Eritrea andsome of the efforts made by the government. These are mainly the health, education, watersupply, agriculture and darn construction projects, accomplished mainly by government inpartnership with domestic and foreign NGOs, whereas the same time people contributed mainlyin kind.In relation to these five projects the researcher has drawn up questionnaires and personally filledthem in five villages, namely Sheeb, Ade-awhi, Korbariaya, Azien and Wara, while at the sametime holding discussions with the beneficiaries. In this section the assessment of the people'sstate and their response in relation to the planning process as well as impacts of the projects on their lives have been made for every village. In other words, the chapter shows the practical dataanalysis of the research.The next is, in similar form, an overall synthesis of the research. The researcher weighs andanalyses the results in relation to planning issues, especially how far the people played a role inparticipation and the extent of their influence as well as their contentment with the end result incomparison to their expectations. Moreover, it investigates the projects' impact on theenvironment, and their influence on the socio-economic lives of the beneficiaries, and then seeshow the projects have been managed at institutional level and whether the policies that are ineffect have direct influence on initiating rural development projects.Finally some conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made that could be a benchmarkfor further studies and provide impetus to accelerate the present rural development planning andimplementation. The researcher may have overlooked some necessary elements or missed somebasic factors in dealing the current way of initiating development. But with the resources wereavailable and the time at his disposal, while faced by the limitations explained in the introductorysection of the paper, the researcher has made some efforts to highlight his convictions to the bestof his academic ability. The sole purpose of his final statements is based on his wish for morerural upliftment and long-term as well as sustainable benefit to the rural people of his country,Eritrea.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University