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...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| 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 |
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okr-10986-113402021-06-14T10:59:39Z Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? Aslop, Ruth Forusz, Samantha ACHIEVEMENT COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNITY MEMBERS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION CORRUPTION DECISIONMAKING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE GROUP ACTIVITIES INCOME INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS NATURAL RESOURCES PLAYING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT DESIGN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT STAKEHOLDERS TRANSPARENCY USER GROUPS USER PARTICIPATION VILLAGE USER GROUPS COMMUNITY-BASED METHOD PERFORMANCE INDICATORS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EVALUATION OF PROJECTS GROUP BEHAVIOR GROUP DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPATORY METHODS SOCIAL CLASSES CASTE SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS GENDER BIAS GOVERNANCE CAPACITY COLLECTIVE ACTIONS PROJECT DESIGN LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS 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. 2012-08-13T14:48:12Z 2012-08-13T14:48:12Z 2002-07 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/07/2013072/community-user-groups-vehicles-collective-action-or-personal-gain http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11340 English PREM Notes; No. 72 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research South Asia India |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACHIEVEMENT COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNITY MEMBERS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION CORRUPTION DECISIONMAKING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE GROUP ACTIVITIES INCOME INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS NATURAL RESOURCES PLAYING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT DESIGN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT STAKEHOLDERS TRANSPARENCY USER GROUPS USER PARTICIPATION VILLAGE USER GROUPS COMMUNITY-BASED METHOD PERFORMANCE INDICATORS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EVALUATION OF PROJECTS GROUP BEHAVIOR GROUP DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPATORY METHODS SOCIAL CLASSES CASTE SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS GENDER BIAS GOVERNANCE CAPACITY COLLECTIVE ACTIONS PROJECT DESIGN LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS |
| spellingShingle |
ACHIEVEMENT COLLECTIVE ACTION COMMUNITY MEMBERS COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION CORRUPTION DECISIONMAKING DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE GROUP ACTIVITIES INCOME INTERNAL ACCOUNTABILITY LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS NATURAL RESOURCES PLAYING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES POVERTY REDUCTION PROJECT DESIGN PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT STAKEHOLDERS TRANSPARENCY USER GROUPS USER PARTICIPATION VILLAGE USER GROUPS COMMUNITY-BASED METHOD PERFORMANCE INDICATORS NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT EVALUATION OF PROJECTS GROUP BEHAVIOR GROUP DECISION-MAKING PARTICIPATORY METHODS SOCIAL CLASSES CASTE SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS GENDER BIAS GOVERNANCE CAPACITY COLLECTIVE ACTIONS PROJECT DESIGN LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS Aslop, Ruth Forusz, Samantha Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| geographic_facet |
South Asia India |
| relation |
PREM Notes; No. 72 |
| description |
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. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Brief |
| author |
Aslop, Ruth Forusz, Samantha |
| author_facet |
Aslop, Ruth Forusz, Samantha |
| author_sort |
Aslop, Ruth |
| title |
Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| title_short |
Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| title_full |
Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| title_fullStr |
Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Community User Groups : Vehicles for Collective Action - or Personal Gain? |
| title_sort |
community user groups : vehicles for collective action - or personal gain? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/07/2013072/community-user-groups-vehicles-collective-action-or-personal-gain http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11340 |
| _version_ |
1764416386290941952 |