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.

A description of ASIST�s work on Rural Accessibility Planning and the Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP) tool is also included under these web pages.

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.

You may have a look at further EIIP publications on the subject under the Rural Accessibility Technical Papers including the publications "Accessibility Planning and Local Development" and "Wasted Time".