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Local
Level Planning
The world economy has gone through radical changes since 1980s with
introduction of structural adjustment. This process has emphasised
economic liberalisation through deregulation of prices and foreign
capital controls decreasing state budget deficits through cuts in
subsidies, devaluation of national currencies and privatisation of
inefficient public enterprises. The primary aim of these polices and
instruments have been to bring about improvements in the market for
production and services by removing trade barriers and rigidities.
However, many developing countries have been ill equipped to take
part in and benefit from the increased international trade. The
consequences have been reflected in an increase in unemployment,
vicious cycle of poverty, social tension over scarce resources and
insecurity in many developing countries.
In response to the global economic trends and changes at national
levels, decentralisation policies have been pursued and accelerated
in many developing countries. This has led to an increased vested
responsibility in the regional and local level institutions for
economic development and employment creation - though not
necessarily with the means to carry this out. Subsequently, the need
for building the local capacity for planning, implementation and
monitoring is critical if decentralisation is to effectively enable
a more rational allocation of scarce resources according to real
priorities.
Relevant to serious problems of unemployment and poverty in developing countries,
the ASIST programme has been involved in activities that contribute to improvement
of access to basic and socio-economic goods, services and facilities as a means
through which it can contribute to reduction of poverty in rural areas. There is an
inherent relationship between lack of access to basic and socio-economic needs and
poverty. Goods, facilities and services are often not easily accessible to the rural
population in many areas in many countries depriving them from employment
opportunities, education, health care, safe water, markets, etc. Unless a community
has access to these facilities and services, it has limited chance of getting itself out of
poverty. You may have a look at further publications on the subject under the Rural
Accessibility Technical Papers of the EIIP including the publications "Accessibility
Planning and Local Development" and "Wasted Time".
To improve rural access effectively, an appropriate (simple and
relatively cheap) local level planning tool has been evolved, with
the ILO technical assistance, through pilot projects in Asia and
Africa. This planning tool, Integrated
Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP), complements the existing
local level planning structure in directing investment resources,
among other priorities, to those that improve rural access. IRAP
involves communities, local governments and local civic
organisations to identify their access problems and to propose
solutions (access interventions) for improved access to goods, services and
facilities.
IRAP focuses on the households and measures the difficulty of
access in terms of the time and effort a community needs to spend to
get access to goods, services and facilities. Rural households spend
a lot of time and effort on transporting themselves and their goods
in order to meet their needs. The main objective of IRAP therefore
is to plan for improved accessibility. Improving access will
complement other poverty reduction initiatives. In addition,
reducing the time spent on achieving access, and hence, having more
time available for other social and economic activities will have an
additional positive effect on living conditions.
The ILO presently has ongoing programmes in Africa and Asia
developing, promoting, implementing and mainstreaming the different
IRAP tools which are assisting national and local governments,
donors and NGOs in improving rural accessibility.
You may read more about the policy environment for community
development and accessibility planning under the ILO's Employment-Intensive
Investment Programme (EIIP) web page on Community
Development and Accessibility Planning.
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