Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain?
A study of three user groups in India suggests that such groups rarely perform as expected. The note is based on such study, which comprised the performance of 100 community user groups, involved in the collective management of natural resources in...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/07/2013072/community-user-groups-vehicles-collective-action-or-personal-gain http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11340 |
| Summary: | A study of three user groups in India
suggests that such groups rarely perform as expected. The
note is based on such study, which comprised the performance
of 100 community user groups, involved in the collective
management of natural resources in three Bank-supported
projects in the country. Two aspects of performance were
evaluated: groups achievement, and group functioning. Among
the issues analyzed were member perceptions of group's
achievement of formal, and member objectives, participation
in different group activities, realization of benefits,
group transparency, and, internal accountability. Despite
the hierarchical, social context, distribution of benefits
was not biased toward any social, or economic group.
However, women played almost no role in group affairs -
regardless of their caste or class. In all three cases,
members knew very little about group governance, and,
regardless of awareness, accountability mechanisms were
rarely - if ever - applied. The note emphasizes that low
transparency can destroy a group's ability to promote
cooperation, and collective action, while project designers,
and implementers need to better understand member
objectives, be more pragmatic with expectations of local
organizations, and functions, and, be more realistic about
accomplishments given the resource management available vs. required. |
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