This is a study of the causes of the failure of the Community Development Program in India. The method used is a sample survey of all family heads in twenty-one villages in a rice producing area in West Bengal, combined with extensive qualitative interviewing of informants, government officials, and other relevant personnel. The study shows that a principal cause of the failure of the program is the steep system of stratification--in terms of economic resources, prestige, and power--that characterizes rural society in this area and the high degree of village fragmentation resulting, in part, from the caste system. The conclusion of the study is that the Community Development Program will be unable to attain its ends until a substantial redistribution of economic and political resources is carried out and a sustained attack on the caste system is made.

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Community participation has become an integral part of housing strategy for low income populations of the developing world. In the last three decades, it has gone beyond community involvement in cost recovery, sweat equity or participation in planning, to encompass a large agenda seeking simultaneous social, economic and physical community development. / Upgrading settlements of low income urban populations by in-situ infrastructure provision is aimed at bettering access to basic amenities and creation of sustainable living environments. However, evaluations of implemented projects indicate vast gaps between project aims and results, especially with regards to those components that are sensitive to local socioeconomic and political contexts, like community development. / Bearing this is in mind, an upgrading project in Indore, India, with a strong community development component was taken up for research. The study evaluated the effectiveness of community development in the improvement of living environments, by comparing project objectives with outcomes. Eight slums covered under the project were surveyed to determine community response to upgrading. The results indicated that inadequate attention was given to community development, despite its potential in improving living conditions in human settlements. Suggestions for improvement of future implementation and areas for further research have been identified.

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This thesis develops a general theory of choice behaviour which is applied to the analysis of response to development programmes in rural India. The theory focuses on the social processes which structure perceived choice parameters for individuals differentially situated within the village communities. It examines those mechanisms which influence the range of alternatives likely to be considered, appreciation of their varied consequences, or the likely outcome of new proposals, and their perceived and actual feasibility. A basic concept in the theory is "power", defined here as "the ability to influence the structuring of choice parameters of others", through control over critical mechanisms of information flow, persuasion, and access to input facilities. Ten hypotheses are derived from the basic theoretical axiom of rational action, concerned with how such control will be exercised, and the implications which this has for the scope of choices open to others. Rural development programmes in India provide the substantive context for testing the utility of these hypotheses. These programmes are directly concerned with promoting innovation among villagers, and they incorporate a wide range of specific choices. The theory predicts that within the highly stratified village communities, first hand access to new information, and further diffusion at second hand, will be concentrated among members of the same faction and* social stratum as initially privileged informants. Vertical diffusion of information across strata will be minimal, and its content strongly biased by the particular interests of initial informants. The theory further predicts that evaluation of the merits of any new proposals will be strongly influenced by the character of relations between informant and recipients. As information flows vertically between strata, its persuasive impact will decline, as a function of relatively poorer quality information, the extent of tensions and conflicting interests between strata, and perceived economic disparities. Lastly, the theory predicts that access to any input facilities will be concentrated among members of the same faction and social stratum as those persons responsible for their distribution. Access by members of other strata will decline with increasing social distance, and their preferences are progressively less likely to be considered in the investment of resources for community projects. The study succeeds in demonstrating the utility of these hypotheses in predicting response to development projects within the five village communities. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

The international campaign for housing rights focuses on the process of legislative change. Critics of the legislative change approach argue that this process is elitist insofar as such campaigns are fought on behalf of those people denied the right to housing by academics, lawyers and international non-governmental agencies, instead of in conjunction with the people. This approach, it is argued, excludes the people themselves from defining what housing rights mean to them, their culture and their community standards, placing such decisions in courts of law and legislatures. It is the position of this study that a more effective approach in the struggle for housing rights is one that recognizes that the problems of the poor and disenfranchized are not just their lack of rights per se, but also their lack of power to demand the legislative recognition and enforcement of those rights. This study explores a more inclusive approach to the housing rights struggle wherein the achievement of legislative rights represents only one peg in a more holistic strategy for change. This approach is represented by the theory and practice of Community Development — a process which empowers people to work collectively for change. Community Development provides the tools for people to understand, define and demand their rights, thus providing a bottom up and sustainable strategy in the struggle for housing rights. Community Development does not reject the role of legislative change, nor the responsibility of the state to recognize and enforce housing rights among its citizenry, but enhances the process to include all dimensions of the the housing struggle, most notably the community based sector which is currently excluded from the legislative change approach. The viability of a Community Development approach is built upon the premise that rights are norms or standards determined by the shared values of society and influenced by the dominant ideology. If people can articulate their values as well as organize to demand from the state the recognition and enforcement of their values, then they can work for change and begin to shape their housing rights. An indigenous non-governmental organisation using the methods of Community Development in the struggle for housing rights is the Society for the Promotion of Area Resources (SPARC). The work of SPARC focuses on a group of women pavement dwellers in Bombay India. In SPARC'S analysis, it is women who bear the brunt of poverty, yet are vested with virtually no powers of decision-making within (or outside) the family. SPARC uses the methods of Community Development to empower these women to demand the recognition and enforcement of their housing rights. Their work has resulted in such manifest outcomes as: challenging the Bombay Municipal Council in a court of law, building prototype houses, establishing a credit co-operative, undertaking a people's census and the creation of Mahila Milan — a community based organisation run entirely by the women themselves. Other latent, less measurable outcomes have also resulted from their work such as confidence building and solidarity among the women. SPARC'S use of Community Development methods on the streets of Bombay has important lessons for the international struggle for housing rights. Incorporating the community based sector in the struggle ensures that the process of defining and demanding housing rights remains democratic, culturally sensitive and sustainable. Community Development can be effectively facilitated by an indigenous non-governmental organisation which can gain the trust of the community and understand local customs, cultures, language and history. Essentially the debate over the right to housing comes down to a set of ethical questions, the answers to which form the philosophical and moral framework for the policy decisions that face a society. A Community Development approach ensures that all people have a voice in answering these questions and influencing the decisions that affect their lives, their housing and indeed their rights. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

Child rights, especially the right to health for children, is a concept of human development. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the obstacles to gender equality in the right to healthcare for children under five years in East Champaran, Bihar, North India. Ten key informant interviews and nine focus group discussions with mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers were conducted to research the barriers of guardians to accessing healthcare for their children, including their root beliefs and choices, which causes health inequalities. It was found that a strong patriarchal tradition predominates in these communities in North India, which favour sons and disadvantages daughters in healthcare provision. Despite the existing child rights and human rights policies that have been legislated, in India traditional practices that discriminate against female children remain dominant in the society, and limit development in East Champaran, Bihar, North India. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)