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Investments in Collective
Action
C ollective and coordinated actions by groups of individuals who seek to achieve a common goal play a critical role in the overall development of societies. They contribute to poverty alleviation and improve people’s bargaining power as well as their access to financial markets and public goods.
There has been an extraordinary expansion of collective management programmes throughout the world. Described variously in terms such as joint management, community management etc various development programmes in India have contributed a great deal towards establishing and strengthening of various community institutions. Self Help Groups, farmer clubs, artisan clusters, village level committees, federations, watershed committees and user groups are some of them. We now see local groups operating in different sectors, for example in watershed, catchment and irrigation management, microfinance delivery, forest management and community resource management. These community institutions enable individuals and groups of people to get the required information, training and financial support. They lay out norms, rules and regulations that guide interactions between individuals within the community and with outsiders. It is through organising themselves into institutions that people can influence decisions to be taken by the government and demand accountability from the same. A growing number of academics and social workers are promoting community- based participatory approaches to development This stand is also supported by relevant development literature which lays stress on three issues: decentralisation, democratisation and collective action. Since this approach increases the community’s control over the development process the most vital thing is to promote investments in social capital creation. Development Alternatives hails formation and development of community based organisations for putting into practice its community development initiatives. We work closely with farmer and women groups. However, though group-based approach is necessary, it does not guarantee achieving improvements in social development and management of natural resources. Policy reforms in the pattern of ownership plus new incentives and protective regulations are additionally important conditions for shaping the wider context, so as to make the situation more favourable to the emergence and sustenance of the local groups. q Dr. Shailendra Nath Pandey References: Aniruddha Dasgupta and Victoria A. Beard (n.d.); Community Driven Development, Collective Action and Elite Capture in Indonesia V&A Programme (2009); Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation to climate change in semi-arid India Raj M. Desai & Shareen Joshi (2012); Collective Action and Community Development: Evidence from Women’s Self-Help Groups in Rural India
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