Enabling poor rural people
to overcome poverty
This staff working paper is based on a study that was carried out
in Morocco over a three-month period in 1994 and 1995 on Decision-making
Mechanisms in Farm and Household Management.1
Led by Dr. Rahma Bourqia, the research team carried out individual
case studies in three villages in the Taforalt-Taourirt region of
Oujda Province in Eastern Morocco – namely, Elhouafi,
a mountainous area near Taforalt, Taghilast, on the Taourirt-Laayounne
axis, and Oulad Lfqir, along the Oued za River. This paper
builds on the data and many of the ideas contained in Dr. Bourqia’s
research report.
The research undertaken in the three villages clearly highlights the nature of decision-making as a process, and the need to distinguish between formal and informal decision-making. It provides a greater understanding of the household in the context of the community, of how this matters in project design and of how women fit into this equation.
A deeper analysis of how decisions are made that is based on an examination of which kind of knowledge is important, whose knowledge is important and how decision-making patterns evolve would have required an intensive period in the field with an anthropological approach to data collection, an analysis of the changes that have taken place over time and a closer look at specific productive activities and related management decisions. There was not sufficient time for field research to allow for this. Nevertheless, the study confirms the evidence issuing from extensive field research and project experience concerning the role of women in production in developing countries. It also provides a wealth of valuable information from which important lessons can be derived for project design and implementation.
With adjustments, this kind of research can help to establish village profiles and supply the information on target communities and households that is necessary in order to assess the feasibility of ‘technical’ project options. If these options are identified exclusively on the basis of technical feasibility and are not measured against the potential, the constraints, the knowledge, the culture and the aspirations of the poorer households and communities, then the technical and organizational solutions proposed may be such as to be accepted only by the more well off and the more well educated. In this way, projects may actually widen rather than bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and between men and women.
The case studies also show how, even in traditional rural societies where men are in the forefront in community life, the role of women in production and decision-making is a crucial one (all the more so among the poorer communities and households), although this role may be less visible than in other societies. The studies indicate the need to take the time to examine carefully what happens within the household, rather than observing only the more visible activities that are performed outside the household. The results point to the need for more effective gender-targeting and to the crucial importance of providing knowledge and information especially to those people who, for social and cultural reasons (such as the restricted mobility of women in some Muslim societies), otherwise face more difficulties in obtaining them.
This paper attempts to draw some general conclusions, while also contributing to new project design activities by IFAD in eastern Morocco and elsewhere.
The major findings and issues that emerge from the case studies are highlighted in Section II, whereas Section III looks at some broader implications in terms of development perspectives and project design. A summary description of the three villages is provided in Appendix I, while Appendix II contains the tables referred to in the text. It is recommended that Appendix I be read before Section II.
1/ This staff working paper and the related field research have been funded through IFAD supplementary funds provided by the Government of Norway and the Government of the Netherlands.