マタボールたちと在地の農村開発 : バングラデシュ,ドッキンチャムリア村におけるアクション・リサーチの記録(<特集>バングラデシュ農村開発研究)

Abstract

A village development committee was established to look after rural development activities that were initiated by joint efforts of villagers of Dakhsin Chamuria village in Tangail and staff members of the JSRDE project team. The committee is formed of the so-called traditional village leaders, or matabbors, some of whom proved to be active in enhancing villagers' unity and devotion to village public affairs. Cases showing the active role of matabbors are also presented. At the same time, two-tier coordinating bodies of local government officers were formed on an experimental basis for the JSRDE, at Thana and Union levels respectively, to coordinate the activities of the line departments concerned in rural development. The Thana Rural Development Officer (TRDO) and the Assistant Rural Development Officer (ARDO) played pivotal roles in organizing the respective bodies. An effort is being made to "link" the organizations of local governments and the village development committee, so that the governments' rural development services are channeled into the village through the public, formal "door" of the village. Various trials so far implemented in the village indicate that successful linkage hinges upon the single facet of "openness" or "transparency" in information dissemination, which had been rather lacking in rural Bangladesh. All the important processes of formulating the village committee and the coordinating bodies of local governments and clues for successful communication and dissemination of related information are documented in detail in this paper.