Efficacy of Holistic Approach to Rural Development in Bangladesh: A Study of Comprehensive Village Development Programme (CVDP)

Abstract

Rural development is an organized activity which has been admired throughout the world for more than half a century. Bangladesh is a land of village communities; hence rural development has been a great priority here. In post-colonial period, Bangladesh has experienced many programmes along with various approaches dedicated for the improvement of the life and livelihood of rural people. Among them some are national innovations and some are diffusion from international experiments. But, unfortunately most of the rural people are yet very disadvantaged and living below poverty level. During the 1970s and onward of the last century, a global trend of making development effort more holistic was observed. ‘Holistic’ is a generic term having broader outlook that considers all aspects of development and includes all segments of people related to development activities. Various comparable terms such as integrated or sustainable or comprehensive approach etc. have been being used to refer to this idea. Comprehensive Village Development Programme (CVDP) is one such programme that claims to be holistic in approach. CVDP is based on an approach to rural development that integrates many other approaches such as the cooperative approach, integrated rural development approach, community development approach, participatory approach, sustainable livelihood approach etc., not haphazardly or unsystematically but in a very levelheaded and sensible manner. CVDP does not develop any artificial organization; rather it utilizes the village community, which is actually a natural entity. The programme endeavors to get the most out of the existing social bondage, which is known as social capital. This programme claims that it has the potentiality to be sustainable and effective for rural development in Bangladesh. The present study was conducted to know about the impact of the Comprehensive Village Development Programme and thereby assess the efficacy of the holistic approach to rural development in Bangladesh. A number of 210 respondents from the members of CVDP were selected from different areas of Bangladesh using a multi-stage sampling technique. Opinion of 30 officials and field staffs of the study area was also taken for this purpose. Data were collected through face to face interview and were analyzed and presented using tables, graphs and relevant statistical techniques. From the study it is found that the overall socio-economic conditions of the members of CVDP are good in Bangladesh. It is mentionable that the respondents of Comilla, Kushtia, Sylhet are slightly in better position compared to those in Gaibanda in terms of their socio-economic condition. The present study indicates that the members of CVDP are better in terms of age, occupation, marital status, monthly income, family size and family maintenance. On the basis of the present study, it is suggested that, necessary policy should be undertaken to expand the CVDP in all part of Bangladesh to uplift the socio-economic condition of the people. This study was conducted to verify the efficacy of CVDP as holistic approach. In order to verify the efficacy of CVDP as a holistic approach, I analyzed this programme from three perspectives such as a) basic needs fulfillment; b) organizational efficacy; and c) social efficacy. Findings indicate that most of the respondents were able to meet their basic needs such as food (85.71 percent), clothing (90.48 percent), treatment (89.52 percent), shelter (77.62 percent) moderately before joining the CVDP. After joining CVDP, they became capable to fulfill their basic needs such as food (91.90 percent), clothing (92.86 percent), treatment (90.48 percent) and shelter (81.43 percent) in a better way. CVDP was found, by and large, to be administratively efficient and viable. The study explored that transparency in fund management system was of high-quality with very few exceptions. Information regarding fund was disseminated regularly to the members and they were found to be satisfied in this regard. It is also found that the decision making process of CVDP is participatory in nature. The social efficacy of CVDP was found to be very satisfactory in this study. Especially positive role of CVDP in dispute resolution at village-level highly satisfies (73.33 percent) the villagers. After CVDP intervention, trend of court settlement reduced in a mentionable level (78.57 percent). It was also found that mutual cooperation in problem situation and fellow feeling atmosphere has been increased (87.62 percent) in CVDP areas. In the CVDP villages, level of empowerment of women were also found to have increased in terms of their participation in the family decision making process (54.05 percent), income generating activities (61.90 percent) and in socio-political activities (53.33 percent). In present study it is observed that people are for the most part satisfied with this Comprehensive Village Development Programme. They have extended their expectations from this programme. Based on earlier experiences, they are at the same time skeptical about its continuation and smooth running. There was spatial variation in performance of this programme. It is perceived from the study that success of any programme depends on the internal components of the programme as well as on the images of the persons involved as operators.