Book RWieW8 77
separating out the causes and effects of these different dimensions of differentiation are not addressed.
Not until Part illof the book does Low begin to hint at this dynamic. Specifically he advocates a broader
implementation of farming systems research which wouldJllOl"e fully account for gender and on and offfarm
activities in assessment of the production and distribution impacts of technological developments.
Reviewed by Jeremy Jackson, Department of Rural and Urban Planning, University of Zimbabwe,
Harare.
Popular Participation in Planning for Basic Needs. Concepts, Methods and Practices. Franklyn
Lisk (ed), (ll.,O-WEP), Gower Publishing, Aldershot, 1985 (271pp, no price quoted).
Those readers familiar with the Basic Needs Approach (BNS) to development will be aware of the fact
that this approach divides basic human needs into such categories as consumption goods, service goods,
employment and mass participation. Thus the Basic Needs Approach to development, as endorsed by
the International Labour Organisation (ll.,O) 's World Employment Conference held in Geneva in 1976,
assigns a key role to popular participation as ameans of action for improving the human condition. This
book is about the concept: of popular participation within the general context of the Basic Needs
Approach as endorsed by the International Labour Organisation. The publication is the outcome of a
World Employment Programme (WEP) project and is based on research undertaken within the
framework of the n..o - a major proponent of the idea.
The book is in three parts. Part one looks at defmitions, concepts and typology. Judging by the tone
of the book, there is no doubting that the authors are very much in favour of popular participation as a
tool for development. Hence they argue, for instance, that popular participation is an important
condition for achieving sustained economic growth and social progress and a fundatnental goal of
development in its own right. Thus, in a sense, they see popular participation not only as a means to an
end but as an end in itself. As the authors put it, "Popular participation is therefore an end goal of
development as well as a means of attaining more equitable development" (p17).
In this section of the book attempts are made to defme various relevant words - terms salient in
people-orienteddevelopment endeavours. The concept of participation is defined, as are other concepts
such as employment, consultation, self reliance, decentraIised planning, and decision making, to name
the major ones. The concept of cooperation is also mentioned, and on this score the authors argue that
popular participation can include cooperation between decision-makers and those affected by their
actions, without any formal surrender of power to participants. although they may be allowed to modify
decisions in order to retain their cooperation.
Part 2 of the publication is entitled 'Participatory Development: National Experiences' and itlooks
at specific country experiences in terms of efforts to incoIJlOrale popular participation in development
activities. Countries looked at include China, Tanzania and Kenya, in that order. The China case study
attempts, inter alia, to show how popular participation can be used to promote economic and social
development among the entire population and bow the Chinese government actually makes use of mass
participation to achieve basic needs and other related socioeconomic objectives of developnent. The
authors maintain that popular participation must be complemented by the provision of an appropriate
institutional/administrative structure as well as a political system and socioeconomic framework that
allows for the active involvement of the people in the decision-making process at all levels (p97).
Tanzania serves as an appropriate example since aspects of its experience are borrowed from the
Chinese model. In Kenya, the Harambee (Self Help) movement is looked at, and provides some very
useful lessons. The Kenyan experience, in anutshell, shows that when there is arnismatcb between the
wider political system on the one hand and the administrative and institutional structures of the planning
system on the other, serious problems are bound to occur.
78 Book Rev~W8
What is interesting about the choice of case studies is that they represent, broadly speaking, two
different political persuasions, with China and Tanzania (socialist) on the one extreme and Kenya
(capitalist) on the other. The authors seem to suggest that the political ideology of a country isimportant
for popular participation to be successfully effected. For the overall development process, the political
dimension of popular participation is equally importantfor facilitating the attainment of socioeconomic
objectives (p16). However, if the examples looked at are anything to go by, then it might not be far
fetched to suggest that the application of popular participation as a method transcends political
ideologies. What should be viewed as paramount is the government's commitment to the idea.
Part 3 addresses the topic 'Participatory Practice: Local-level Experiences'. This is concerned with
attempts to translate the concept of popular participation into practice focusing on the participation of
disadvantaged groups in specific development programmes and projects as a means of improving their
well-being. In this section, experiences from different comers of the world, particularly Latin America
and Asia are highlighted. Perhaps an interesting lesson to emerge from the Latin American case study
is that the desire and demand for participation bydisadvantaged and oppressed groups could unfortunately
eventually be expressed in rather violent forms, especially when confronted with fierce opposition by
the elite who dominate the decision-making structures.
Another case study is that of China. In this case study, participation of Chinese women in the
development process is looked at. One of the main conclusions drawn from the case is that women in
China had to struggle to overcome discrimination based on traditional biases and prescriptive
, behaviomal norms in order to defend their rights.
Finally, participation is looked at vis-a-vis planning, and Bangladesh is used as a case study. A self-
I help canal digging project is selected for scrutiny and the experience here seems to show that without
, a significant degree of popular influence on decision-making it becomes extremely difficult to motivate
the poor to take an interest in such projects. Indeed, the poor, natmally, want to know what is in it for
them before they can be 'lmed' into participating in such projects as canal digging.
Perhaps the greatest contribution of the is book is that it dermes quite clearly not only the roles of
the state, the politicians and the administrators (and other technocrats) in effective mass participation
but that of the prospective beneficiaries, the peasantry, as well. On this score, the book urges that
vertically meaningful consultations be held between national, regional and local authorities and that
horizontal communication takes place between communities with regard to the identification of basic
needs, particularly where needs and interests might coincide. This will allow for the coordination of
development efforts with implications for the saving of scarce resources.
This book is a must for those interested in the topic of popular participation, empowerment and
capacity building among underprivileged groups. It is a well-thought out, focused, informative and
fairly well-balanced wor1c. It is good value for money.
Reviewed by R S Mupedziswa. School of Social Work, Harare.
Five Hundred Million Children. Poverty and Child Welfare in the Third World, Stewart
MacPherson, Wheatsheaf Books, Sussex, 1987 (226pp, £32,50 hbk).
"Four comma three million African children die every year", with little hope for improvement over the
next decade; "98% of the deaths of children under five are in the poorest countries"; "99% of allmatemal
deaths are in developing countries"; "there are between 100 and 200 million abandoned and street
children in the world".
These and other statistics aboundin Stewart MacPherson's book, Five Hundred MUllon Children.
Not that the book is a statistical dossier, but that such statistics constitute a question to which there are