Integrated rural development in Latin America
Lacroix, R.L.J.
World Bank Staff Working Paper, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 716: 81
1984
Document Number: 416934
As instruments intended to achieve an equitable economic growth, integrated rural development projects are characterized by functional components that are operationally unrelated: production promoting activites in agriculture (such as credit extension) are combined with social components (such as health service provision) and with infrastructural building works (such as road construction and rural electrification). Although a multipronged approach appears attractive, its actual application has often been disappointing, with measurable benefits falling short of planning goals, due as much to the complexity of the problems of rural development as to the structure and inexperience of the institutions asked to implement project designs. Recommendations include: the pursuit of institutionalization of development activities by stages; enlisting private sector land development companies as executing agencies in frontier lands; and support for non-governmental agencies in terms of both finance and technical assistance. Field studies from Brazil, Colombia, Ecudador and Mexico are presented.