Social structures and participative rural development in Africa. In: People's participation in development in Black Africa
Mondjanagni, A.C.
Cahiers de l' IPD, Institut Panafricain pour le Developpement, Cameroun, V Collection compte rendu de Seminaire 9: 23-51
1984
Document Number: 342448
African governments as well as African and non African international organizations recognize, to varying degrees, the need to involve the rural populations in their own economic, political, social and cultural development. However, there is a gap between the speeches and the practical activities carried out to make the participation mechanism function. In addition the rural world is a world apart, incapable of making decisions and of taking its destiny into its own hands, a world to which one has to dictate what is to be done. To understand these problems certain elements need to be taken into consideration in the study of the relation between social structures and participatory rural development in Africa, even if their theoretical status is not unanimously accepted. These elements are: kinship relations expressed in their relations with the rural space, the latter being analysed in dynamic terms considering the continuous pressure it has to undergo as a result of endogenous and exogenous changes; man considered in his relations with the environment and with other men; man equipped with material and intellectual skills; the role of age groups and traditional village associations in Africa. The methodology to be followed must start with a field survey to which all other aspects concerning education and training should be linked. The fundamental issue in participatory rural development efforts should centre on attempts to reveal: (1) the nature of the social relation linked to economic activities; (2) the working mechanisms of existing systems considered as dynamic systems undergoing continuous changes rather than rigid systems; (3) the relations between the various systems; (4) the contradications existing within power mechanisms.