Book RClIi«ws 77
came from government and NGOs throughout the world. from staff at various international
agencies. and from the World Bank's departments of urban development, population,
health. nutrition and rural development. Twenty two papers wereprese:nted at the workshop.
The Report of the workshop, which was published in 1988, contains a summary of the
proceedings.
Although it is commendable that the Institute involved itself in issues of social
development and community participation, the report contains little that is new. Much of
what was said at the wOIkshop had been said previously in numerous United Nations reports
and other documents. Indeed. given the anti-poverty em~is of the MacNamara years, it
is somewhat surprising that the Institute awoke (in 1986) to the realisation that it needed to
be more sensitive to the social development perspective. It is almost as if the organisers of
the workshop had never heard of the efforts of the United Nations to promote integrated
socioeconomic developmentpIanning in the late 196Os,or of the WorldBIlIIk's sponsorship
of the redistribution with growth ideal in the mid-1970s. Similarly, discussions at the
workshop on the definition of community participation, the need, benefits, and feasibility
of community participation, etc, will be familiar to most social workers who have a
knowledge of the issues ..
Nevertheless, the fact that economists are interested in social development issues such
as communityparticipationis very important. Theharshausteritypolicies being implemented
in many Third World countries today, by economists under International Monetary Food
conditionality policies, is having a devastating effect on the welfare of millions of ordinary
people. Sensitising economists to these realities may mitigate the Darwinistic themes
implicit in current economic development policies. More contact between economists and
social development professionals is urgently needed. The Economic Deve10pmentInstitute
is to be congratulated for initiating a dialogueofthis kind. Hopefully, it will undertake many
more similar ventures in the future.
Reviewed by James Midgley, School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton
Rouge. USA.
Successful Development in Africa. Case Studies or Projects, Programmes and
Policies, Economic Development Institute of the Third World, World Bank, Washington
DC, 1989 (222pp, US$II,95).
This publication focuses on the COootriesof SubSaharan Africa. It is basically a collection
of case studies of a variety of development projects, programmes and policies undertaken
in selected countries. The common denominator, in the eyes of the authors, appears to be
that all the case studies are based on activities that have been deemed successful. In Part I
the case studies covered include an Agroforestry Project in Burkina Faso, an Ochorerciasis
Control Programme in West Africa, a Gravity-Fed Piped Water System in Malawi, and the
production and export of horticultural commodities in Kenya. In Part 2 the following
activities are covered: a case study of the Export Processing Zone in Mauritius, the
Economic Recovery Progranune in Ghana, and the Macroeconomic Management of
Commodity Booms, 1975-86, in Botswana.
78 BookRevie~
The question that inevitably comes to the mind of the reader is: What is meant by the
term 'successful' in this publication'! The authors have, albeit with limited socc:aI,
attempted to explain what is meant by this term. They concede that success has mmy
dimensions, and also that there is always room for disagreement about how successfullfl'J
particular policy or project has been. They then proceed to say that by successful is meEt
(PV) "that the policies achieved their intended objectives md that the economic benefits
outweigh the costs".
This definition can be criticised from the point of view that it seems to look at lIUCCCJII
from the perspective of the authorities and mt from that of the intended benef'lCiaries. What
is also curious is the fact that the authors state that they selected successful prop for
inclusion, but they confess that m systematic measurement or analysis had been carriedoot
in some of the projects. For example, with theBmkina Faso project, the authors clearlysSlle
that (P14) "the clearest way to measure the economic success of the P AF would be accstbenefit
analysis that compared the total cost of research and development. training methods
and labour to the market value of any increases in yields" . Yet this was mt done. The
authors go on to say that, probably because the particular project is rather small, no one his
yet done this, and so the dearth of accurate cost data makes the analysis a rather aude
exercise. On the basis of this statement, it is unclear what criteria are used to declare
particular projects successful.
Another example of the lack of clarity over what constitutes success is to befound in the
West African case study ofOchorerciasis. The authors of this study also concede that (p38)
"no one has attempted a complete cost benefit of the OCP, although the issue of how to do
it (iehow to evaluate it)has sparked considerable discussion". It is clear from this stat.emenl
that the obvious method of evaluating the project was not employed. This lIdds c:redmce
to this reviewer's concem that what was really meant by success was not clear, at:least IS
far as choice of case studies was concerned.
Four of the case studies analysed development programmes, while the other Ihrce
analysed micro-economic programmes or policies. 'The fmal chapter suggests some wider
implications emerging from the case studies. TIle fact that micro studies have been included
with macro studies is also cause for concern. TIle publication could have concentrated
wholly on micro projects. TIle authors say that the case studies are intended for use in
courses and seminars offered by the EDI, and that they should be of interest to officialJ and
scholars concerned with effectively promoting ecommic programmes in other deve10ping
countries. However, the calibre of personnel identified as the target group would probably
benefit more from lessons drawn from micro projects than macro projects. For example, it
would be fairly easy for them to identify with a piped water project from Malawi, but not
with Ghana's Ecommic Recovery Programme. 'The fohnel" is likely to bemore in Ji:n8 with
their day to day activities, and the latter would be viewed as being the responsibililyofthose
in the top echelons of government, the policy makers. Inthis view, the macro studies dJOUld
have been omitted from the publication infavour of further micro studies.
The ~blication is, however, well laid out. Each study starts by looking at a panicuIar
activity in the context of experiences in carrying out the IICtivity, the degree of lIIJaltllIS, IIId
implications for similar activities in other settings. An important thread running the gllllUl
of the ~blicationis thatoflearning from experience and adapting in order to IIChievedesUed
objectives. The inclusion, in the Introduction. of summaries of III seven case studies is most
useful. This will make life easier for readers who are not really interested in the minute
details of each project but do want a broad overview.
To enhance clarity, annexes have been included. Howev~, with some of these lII\tlexes
only those readers who are literate in statistics will frod them useful. Useful references are
also included at the end of each case study. Notwithstanding the flaws mentioned, the
publication is a useful practicll contribution to the 1I[e& of developmmt studies.
Reviewed by R Mupedziswa, School of Socill Work, HII[II[e.
Agricultural Extension in Africa, Nigel Roberts (ed), World Bank, WashingtonOC, 1989
(1l4pp, US$1l,95).
This monograph has been compiled from papers presented at two workshops on agricu1tur1l
extension in Africa. The fmt was held at Eldoret, Kenya, in June 1984. It is focused on
Extension and Resell[ch. The second seminar, on Agriculturll Extension and its link with
ResearchinRural Development, was held at Yamoussokro, Coted'lvoire, in Febnuuy 1985.
The articles in this volume deal with the practicll applications of the different methods of
agricultUral extension in Africa.
The book is another addition to the debate on the extension strategies that are most
appropriate for the diverse conditions of African agriculture, lIIld discusses the relative
merits of the various extension methodologies of the developing world. The editor's
defence of the training and visit system is very informative. Other issues discussed include
the cost-effectiveness of extension; the weaknesses of African systems in genel"ating
technology; the tendencyof govemmentSel"Vices torespondmoreto bureaucraticimpel"atives
than to farmers' needs; the difficulties in forging more productive partnerships between
researchers, extensionists, andfarmers; thelimitedparticipationoffarmersin themanagcmmt
of extension; the ineffectiveness of public services; and the fragility of institutions and
infrastructure in most of SubSaharan Africa.
Teachers, lecturers and students of agriculture, extension pnctitionel'S, policy mak~
in rural development, and aid administrators who want to invest in rurll deve10pnent and
extension, will find this book interesting and informative. It is a good guide to the more
effective extension approaches in Africa, where one approach can not be talren as the
answer.
Chapter 1, an appraisal of the extensionmethodoiogies most commonly found in Africa,
lays the foundation for the papers that follow. The strengths and weaknesses of the four
major approaches to extension: the commodity-based apJIOach, the training and visit
system. and farmer participator)' extension, are each illustrated with speciflC case studies.
This makes the monograph down-to-earth and very diffel"entfrom otberrecords oftec1micll
wOIkshops. Instead of just describing the diversity of the approaches to extension in Africa,
the papers in this book give theperspective or conditions in which thac approaches opente.
The examples enable people, who may be using different names for the same approach
elsewhere in Africa, to understand and identify with the st:ratcgies being discussed.