The international development agencies and the Chinese government have become increasingly more aware of the importance of bottom-up community-driven development. Some scholars argue that the problems for community-driven development in China are mainly because of the lack of favorable policy environment and effective monitoring mechanisms. The research in this dissertation does not intend to deny the importance of those factors. The goal of this work, however, is to offer perspectives that can help organizations at all levels and of different sectors to understand the importance of embracing and integrating the local culture into development policy making and program designing. To achieve effective community-driven development, the policy makers and practitioners should first understand and respect the culture and interests of the beneficiaries.
Instead of addressing institutaional and structural development issues as hardware, this research takes a cultural perspective as software to contribute to the existing literature of this field. To achieve effective community-driven development in China, partnership and cooperation between different players is crucial. Culture, both as means and ends of development, is an important factor that bonds them together. Emphasizing the significnace of gender roles and responsibilities, a gendered perspective of community development in China is presented in this research.
This research also refers to theories of Complex Adaptive Systems and Self-organization mechanisms, which explain how complex, adaptive macro behavior emerges from simple, local micro decisions and how simple agents collectively solve difficult problems. The roles of community, government, and NGOs [domestic and international] in this development process will be addressed here. During the authors field study in the rural areas of China in the summer of 2007, data was collected through participatory observation, interviews, and focus groups with multiple stakeholders involved in the community-driven development programs in China. This work highlights the opportunities and challenges for effective community-driven development in China. Based upon the analysis, this research also offers policy implications for different stakeholders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04142009-132209 |
| Date | 26 June 2009 |
| Creators | Xie, Huiping |
| Contributors | Louis A. Picard, Wenfang Tang, Paul Nelson, Phyllis Coontz |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04142009-132209/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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