Failure of public participation for sustainable development: A case study of a NGO's development projects in Chonburi province

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This paper investigates the importance of landscape analysis in designing the public participation process for rural sustainable development projects, using a case study of a non-governmental organization (NGO)'s development projects in Chonburi province.

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Nội dung Text: Failure of public participation for sustainable development: A case study of a NGO's development projects in Chonburi province

Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 38 (2017) 331e336 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/kjss Failure of public participation for sustainable development: A case study of a NGO's development projects in Chonburi province Thanawat Pimoljinda*, Ritthikorn Siriprasertchok Graduate School of Public Administration, Burapha University, Chonburi 20131, Thailand a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: This paper investigates the importance of landscape analysis in designing the public Received 15 March 2016 participation process for rural sustainable development projects, using a case study of a Received in revised form 4 August 2016 non-governmental organization (NGO)'s development projects in Chonburi province. Accepted 10 August 2016 Mixed methods were applied, using focus group and in-depth interview techniques with Available online 20 October 2017 the former members of a community-based organization and the NGO's staff members, and quantitative data derived from 250 questionnaires which were gathered from the Keywords: former targeted group of that NGO. The results of this research found that the lack of non-governmental organization, impact of landscape analysis on the spatial distribution or density of the target population physical landscape, had become a signiﬁcant intervening obstacle in promoting public participation. It has also public participation, resulted in a proportionate discontinuity of the process of the development projects. rural development, Speciﬁcally, the size of and the space between human groupings, together with the sustainable development different physical environments of each speciﬁc area, have resulted in some targets becoming marginalized from full participation in the development project. Additionally, some other target areas were not willing to join the project due mainly to their way of life and economic conditions, and these two factors are in turn the result of the geographical environment. © 2017 Kasetsart University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/). Introduction protection and natural resources management, whereby community engagement in the development processes is In the last few decades, balancing the dynamic inter- encouraged (Carlsson & Berkes, 2005; Lowe, Ray, Ward, action between rapid national economic growth and rural Wood, & Woodward, 1998; Oakley, 1995; Pieterse, 1998; community development has been increasingly and Tango International, 2009). considerably of concern to both governmental and non- In the case of Thailand, public participation in the governmental agencies. Their main purpose is to maintain development process was initially promoted around 1982, a state of sustainable development. This has become a during the launch of the 5th National Economic and Social substantial scheme of developing countries for their Development Plan (Ofﬁce of the National Economic and poverty reduction policies (Elliott, 2006; Kates, Parris, & Social Development Board [NESDB], 1982). Most of the Leiserowits, 2005) together with environmental targeted communities were poor and marginalized, and differed in landscape, natural resources, and socioeconomic conditions. Not only have government policies been put * Corresponding author. into practice, but there have also been many non- E-mail address: thanawatp@buu.ac.th (T. Pimoljinda). Peer review under responsibility of Kasetsart University. governmental organizations (NGOs) working closely with http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.kjss.2016.08.016 2452-3151/© 2017 Kasetsart University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
332 T. Pimoljinda, R. Siriprasertchok / Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 38 (2017) 331e336 rural people in these areas. A basic philosophy underlying been much in debate is to what extent each of the disci- the efforts towards sustainable development of such NGOs plines and approaches should be integrated for imple- is to promote community-driven development with the menting a development project in order to achieve the aim of empowering villagers to be able to control the re- objective of sustainable development (Lowe et al., 1998; sources needed for managing their own livelihoods. An Ramsey, Abrams, Clark, & Evans, 2013). With this initial ultimate goal is that the target population would be pro- argument, this section provides the analytical factors vided with a participation scheme in the development relating to sustainable development in the course of the process and thus achieves self-reliance (Suthinarakorn & intercalation of the nexus between physical landscape and Traimongkolkul, 2002). public participation in the development process. To make the development process sustainable, based on social development principles, public participation is a Public Participation prime requirement, and the establishment of a community-based organization for the sake of improving In a literal interpretation of “Our Common Future”, a the rural people's livelihoods is usually a primary choice World Commission on Environment and Development (Kates et al., 2005; Leeuwis, 2000; Lowe et al., 1998; report in 1987, the aim was to reduce some kinds of human Oakley, 1995). Nevertheless, there are several examples activity to the extent where they might not affect the sur- showing the abolition of community-based organizations rounding environment and natural recourses. Since then, due to the lack of public participation in development the concept and its meaning as well as a possible mecha- projects. The lack of people's interest due to their ways of nism for promoting sustainable development and the life, economic conditions, and occupations has always been forms of indicators for measuring sustainability have proposed by many rural development researchers as an repeatedly been deliberated upon, both at national and important factor (Jaisue, 2014; Mala, Wongpreedee, international levels, from universities to national govern- Thumkosit, & Dhirathiti, 2012; Shigetomi, 2006; ments and on the international stage (Elliott, 2006; Kemp, Usavagovitwong, Jirawatthvee, & Chairattananondha, Parto, & Gibson, 2005; United Nations, 2010). Evidence for 2013). However, as observed, these researchers did not this could be perceived at the Rio conference in 2012, pay enough attention to the essential determinant factors focusing on institutional arrangements and their capacity which resulted in such problems. With this argument in to balance economic growth and natural resources, for mind and applying the landscape analytical approach, the instance (Clemencon, 2012; Leggett & Carter, 2012). ﬁndings of our research on an NGO's rural development These debates are directly and indirectly claimed to be project which covers three sub-districts located in Chon- the result of non-linear dynamic changes in global and buri province, Thailand, discovered a new factor which has national socioeconomic conditions, as well as globalizing become a signiﬁcant intervening obstacle in promoting environmental problems and increasing inequalities and public participation. It is that the inﬂuence of geographic poverty (Clemencon, 2012; Department of Economic and conditions has affected not only the settlement patterns of Social Affairs, 2013). These changes are unpredictable and the people, but also determines the degree of public uncontrollable, and the effects would become a barrier to participation in the development processes which has the development process at the local level and of course resulted in the discontinuity of the development projects. sustainability as a result. In this regard, an alternative Thus, the objective of this paper was to investigate the development has thus been promoted by various agencies, importance of landscape analysis in designing the public especially by local governments and NGOs. Local participation process for rural sustainable development community-based organizations, such as community co- projects. Importantly, due to the interdisciplinary approach ops, occupational groups, and savings groups, are such in- of the research, this paper could be useful to both NGOs struments, aiming at decreasing the impacts that might and government agencies in their efforts to develop other result from the mainstream globalized world. development projects in the future. This concept has widely been adopted in less-developed and developing societies, from Sub-Saharan Africa to Latin Theoretical Principles America and to Asian societies (Lowe et al., 1998). A fundamental concept in this is based on the assumption There seems to be a dichotomy between the two disci- that a top-down approach is not suitable with development plines when we compare the theoretical foundations and constructed from below, as it is emphasizes a bottom-up principles of social development with that of geography, approach with multi-stakeholder decision-making pro- even though academics in these two disciplines put enor- cesses. Public participation, as many scholars have argued, mous effort into studying the interaction between human is an essential requirement in realizing this concept activities and their environment, or vice versa. In the cur- (Carlsson & Berkes, 2005; Leeuwis, 2000; Lowe et al., 1998; rent state of socioeconomic conditions, which can be seen Pieterse, 1998). This is because participation from below as much more complex and dynamic in ways that were not would not only loan legitimacy to projects in the eyes of the evident in the past, interdisciplinary approaches to study- people who would be affected by the results of such ing and implementing development projects are widely development, but it is also assumed that the results of discussed in both ﬁelds (Elliott, 2006; Kates et al., 2005; development projects would more or less meet the needs Pearce & Atkinson, 1998). of them all. With this in mind, projects which involve Apart from considering the relevant ﬁelds to a devel- participation and gain willingness from the people may opment area and putting such ideas into practice, what has possibly be sustained.
T. Pimoljinda, R. Siriprasertchok / Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 38 (2017) 331e336 333 The Physical Landscape landscape. Quantitative data were also used to support the qualitative analysis. In doing so, multiple sources of data As noted earlier, a number of studies have proposed and information were systematically gathered and analyses on how to manage local community-based orga- synthesized. nizations (Shigetomi, 2006; Suthinarakorn & The focus group technique was conducted with 10 Traimongkolkul, 2002; Tango International, 2009). In- former members of the community-based organizations vestigations of institutional models and mechanisms, as supported by that NGO. Purposive sampling was used to well as management approaches to capacity building, and select the informants. Three informal community leaders ways to build cooperation among members of such orga- from each sub-district were selected, while the other seven nizations, is deliberately taken into account. However, a informants were selected from households in which their signiﬁcant underlying problem for this study is that even if main occupations were different and their houses were development concepts focus on how to balance the dy- situated in different areas. Semi-structured interviews namic interaction between human activities and ecological were conducted with 10 NGO staff members, who had systems, they rarely analyze the physical contexts of the worked in such development projects. The data derived target areas, as is implied in the works of Elliott (2006), from both focus group techniques and the in-depth in- Lowe et al. (1998), and Ramsey et al. (2013). terviews were analyzed using content analysis. As stated by Liu (2008), “the relationship between Quantitative data were derived from 250 questionnaires human society and natural environment is a kind of eternal out of approximately 650 former targeted households in basic relation in which the origin of relations between the three sub-districts. Based on Yamane (1960), the data human and geography is geography at ﬁrst, and then the were determined at 95% reliability. Proportional stratiﬁed human follows”. The interpretation of this statement can random sampling was used to calculate the sample for each cover not only the relationship between humans and the area, while a random selection technique was used to physical environment in general, but also includes the dy- collect the data thereafter. With the questionnaire, the namic interaction between human socioeconomic activity item-objective congruence (IOC) was calculated, which the and available natural resources in particular. The evolution overall IOC scores were 0.830. The reliability of the ques- of human societies is thus adaptive to natural environ- tionnaire was also calculated using Cronbach's alpha coef- ments in a dynamic pattern. At the same time, geographic ﬁcient, which the alpha level was 0.935. Quantitative data environments have shaped the size of, and the space be- were analyzed in the form of number, percentage, mean, tween, human societies, and have imposed degrees of re- and standard deviation. striction on the connectivity between them (Linard, Gilbert, Snow, Noor, & Tatem, 2012; Ramsey et al., 2013; Results and Discussion Silbernagel, Martin, Gale, & Chen, 1997). Consequently, the physical landscape, which has resul- In general, the physical landscape of the three sub- ted partly in the spatial distribution or density of the district areas is a river basin suitable for cropping and population, has shaped the particular needs of the people, livestock agriculture. There are also some industrial fac- and has determined socioeconomic activities in such areas. tories and warehouses located nearby the project sites. Apart from households' economic activities and occupa- Some residents work on their farms, while others work in tions, it has also been an underlying determinant factor in factories. However, economic circumstances and the way of shaping the aspirations and intentions of people to life are still considered to be poor, with most residents participate in development projects promoted by govern- living below the national poverty line. ment agencies or activists accordingly. Therefore, it can be At the onset, in accordance with the core value and argued that the physical landscape is a signiﬁcant factor strategy of this NGO in helping the vulnerable people and which affects not only the settlement patterns of the peo- their family, the target population was selected based on ple, but also determines the pattern of development pro- their income and living conditions. They were then invited jects which should be designed for it. to join the development project from problem diagnosis to activity designation, and then from project implementation Methodology to project evaluation and reﬂection on the development results, respectively. A sense of belonging was embedded This investigation contains mainly qualitative research along with the development processes, with the aim of conducted by means of a case study: an NGO's rural self-reliance and sustainable development. Nevertheless, development projects, covering approximately 650 tar- according to the results of a reﬂection meeting after the geted households in three sub-districts (Mabpong, Non- withdrawal of this NGO in 2013, it was revealed that most ghong, and Nongkakha) located in Chonburi province, of the target populations are still living under poor condi- Thailand. Signiﬁcantly, in the ﬁrst two years after the end of tions. For example, the data revealed that 72.23 percent of a 10-year development period in 2013, almost all of the respondents earned a monthly income of less than development projects were at a standstill, while some 20,000 baht and 80.95 percent of respondents had more community-based organizations had been abolished. than four household members in their families. Speciﬁcally, Therefore, this case study approach was deployed analyti- the development projects which were conducted cally to analyze the principal factors which affected the throughout the 10-year period were at a standstill. process of bolstering public participation in sustainable In addition, a signiﬁcant problem that was revealed was development, particularly the inﬂuence of the physical that numbers of those of the target populations who had
334 T. Pimoljinda, R. Siriprasertchok / Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 38 (2017) 331e336 joined the projects had declined after a few years of oper- distribution or density of the population, even if it is a ation, and, in some others, the degree of member's partic- signiﬁcant factor in the eyes of geographers (Dorling & ipation was similarly in decline. After synthesizing the data Shaw, 2002; Linard et al., 2012; Ramsey et al., 2013). This derived from the focus group, it was found that geographic was also reﬂected by the results of the case study. Refer- conditions have played a signiﬁcant role in impeding the ence to the data derived from the focus group technique target populations' participation in the projects, and have with the former members of a community-based organi- shaped the socio-economic conditions, the way of life, and zation indicated that there were two interrelated issues sequentially affected the perception of target populations hindering them from joining the NGO's development ac- on the importance of the NGO's development activities. tivities at the project sites. The ﬁrst was the distance be- According to the data, there were three interrelated tween their houses while the second was their main factors affecting the process of public participation in sus- occupation, as reﬂected in Figure 1. These two issues were tainable development, namely: (1) the conditions of the related to their occupations, with the intercalation of eco- area and the dispersed settlement pattern which inhibited nomic conditions being subject to the topographic envi- communication and caused inconvenience for the people ronment they live in, and this signiﬁcantly affected their in engaging in development activities supported by the ability and availability to participate in the project site. NGO; (2) the diversity of settled areas caused difﬁculty in These observations can be explained by the data establishing suitable activities needed for responding to the collected from the ﬁeldwork. According to the data derived targeted groups in diverse but speciﬁc areas, and; (3) the from questionnaires, 22 percent of the respondents were imbalance between development activities needed for full time agriculturists of whom some had their own development and the number of NGO staff led to ineffective farmland while others did not, but rented land. Another 65 engagement of the staff with the community for project percent of the respondents worked in industrial factories monitoring and evaluation, as well as for the process of and warehouses close to their houses. This was due to the project improvement. At the same time, the lack of people's lack of productive land. The remainder worked as em- interest due to their ways of life, economic conditions, and ployees in small enterprises. An analytical explanation occupations also affected the degree of public participation obtained from the ﬁeldwork suggested that those who in development activities. The results and discussion are worked on farms lived in a dispersed pattern quite far from presented in three parts, as follows. the development project site. This, together with their better economic conditions than those who worked in Settlement Patterns and Economic Conditions factories and warehouses, made them unwilling to join the development projects. As discussed above, the human and physical environ- In contrast, the settlement pattern of those who worked ments impact each other. However, as observed, many so- in factories was nucleated. Even if their houses were close cial development researchers, including social together and close to project sites, working conditions still development activists, have not paid much direct attention left them unavailable to participate in development pro- to the impact of the physical landscape on the spatial jects. Considering these circumstances, in regard to the Figure 1 Context of development area
T. Pimoljinda, R. Siriprasertchok / Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences 38 (2017) 331e336 335 development process, even if the data on the problems and action among the target population must be encouraged. needs of the target populations had been available for This is similar to what Shigetomi (2006) stated, namely, project design, ways to conduct projects would still be in “such projects malfunction after the outside agencies doubt as would the best way to promote group building, retreat from the project site, suggesting that making or- which may have paved the way to bolstering public ganizations is not the same as making a system of making participation in the sustainable development projects. organizations”. Based on the results of the research, it is suggested that Project Design for Public Participation the settlement patterns inﬂuenced connectivity between the target population and the project site, and, in some It is a fact that rural development activity would not cases, imposed the type of activity that should be promoted exist and continue without public participation. The people in a speciﬁc area. Another problem which resulted from the can participate in, or be willing to join, development ac- settlement pattern was that the staff of the NGO could not tivity if such activity is accessible for them (Shigetomi, regularly monitor the project sites and activities due to a 2006). In view of this circumstance, not only do lack of sufﬁcient staff at all project sites. geographic conditions affect people's occupations and their households' incomes, but they are also an important pre- Conclusion requisite condition for analyzing the design of develop- ment projects for a speciﬁc area (Dorling & Shaw, 2002). In the case of community development, there are Also related to this is that such development activity can be multifaceted inﬂuences of socioeconomic changes which continued if it is designed to correspond with individuals' affect, to greater or lesser extents, development's progress and households' needs. This is related to what Leeuwis and sustainability. More importantly, suitable solutions in (2000) suggested, namely, each participatory approach is coping with such dynamic changes cannot depend solely deemed suitable for a speciﬁc type of problem situation, in on instinct and experience, but require knowledge relevant relation to which it aims to generate certain contributions. to the context of a speciﬁc area with an interdisciplinary Continuing from the above discussion, project design approach to project design and implementation. As dis- which can respond to people's ways of life is an important cussed in this article, socioeconomic conditions in each issue for development activists to take into consideration. area varied from each other which is due partly to the This is explicitly manifested through cases in which differences in physical landscapes and environments. This development project designs were quite limited in variety has also been a signiﬁcant determining factor for devel- and did not thoroughly respond to the needs of the target opment activists to take into consideration during the population, especially in generating household income. The process of project development and implementation, and it main reason found was that, as limited by physical land- somewhat inﬂuences the continuity and sustainability of scape, each area differed from others in both the environ- the development as a result. mental and natural resources available. Insofar as there are such differences between areas, promoting the full partic- Conﬂict of Interest ipation of the population in development processes must be upheld, especially in the ﬁrst phase of the process, There is no conﬂict of interest. namely, the analysis of social contexts and economic con- ditions. 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