DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL IN NEW LANDS

IDA will implement the project. During an initial 3-month phase, IDA will review the literature on spontaneous, contracted, and forced settlement schemes and develop a definitive list of hypotheses and issues for research in the project. The six-month field research phase will be carried out in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Sudan. Settlement schemes to be studied will preferably have existed for 20 or more years so that sufficient documentation may be available and generational change will have occured within the settlement. Researchers will determine the settlers" views on the sociocultural, agricultural, and economic implications of various settlement schemes, especially the settlers" satisfaction with the community and family life patterns developed under each scheme. Settlers will be interviewed on the effects of settlement organization on family life and the roles of women, youth, and the elderly; organization of agricultural production and other income-generating activities; community life and political activity; inheritance and social mobility; and migration patterns. Information will also be solicited from host country officials and local scholars. Other issues to be researched include the interaction between ecological and socioeconomic factors, the nature and extent of government organization, and the effect of government control on project success. During the last 3-month phase, researchers will analyze the data collected and issue three reports, orienting data to the needs of development practitioners. One report will present the state-of-the-art of the development potential in various land settlement schemes. An issues paper will identify problem areas and knowledge gaps about new lands settlement and will recommend directions for further research. A report on policy implications will be developed specifically for use by policymakers and planners in designing and implementing new land settlement schemes. An update of 10/1/80 extends the project for 11 months.