Bureaucratic reorientation for participatory rural development

This paper examines the need for reorientation of development bureaucracies to promote community participation, the impediments to bureaucratic change, the essential elements of a responsive bureaucracy, and a framework for further action. Awareness of the need for bureaucratic reorganization is impeded both by a lack of research and by substantial skepticism. In addition, the assumptions that expenditures equal results, education equals superiority, and projects equal development tend to reinforce prevailing bureaucratic practice. In light of these factors, the author favors a learning process approach to bureaucratic reorientation, as is being pioneered by two Philippine Government agencies. The approach has three steps: (1) learning to be effective - finding which interventions strengthen community participation; (2) learning to be efficient - simplifying successful problem-solving methods for large-scale application; and (3) learning to expand - institutionalizing the new methods. Existing theory and emerging experimentation suggest that the essential elements of a responsive bureaucracy are: strategic management; a reward structure stressing effective service to beneficiaries; flexible planning systems which value local input; monitoring and evaluation which focus on beneficiaries reached and benefits achieved; internal use of social science data; long-term staffing; flexibility in making expenditures; a differentiated structure to better relate to different client groups; staff training to develop problem-solving and interaction skills; and an institutional doctrine which stresses beneficiary needs. Finally, the author calls for greater experimentation with bureaucratic reorganization. Efforts should focus on building a body of theory and a methodology, disseminating findings, continuing field experimentation, and training professionals to manage reorientation efforts.