THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL
NEEDS AND PARTICIPATION IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A Study of Extension Programmes in a Botswana Village
being a Thesis submitted
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in the University of Hull
by
Ku-omotso Sejamore Ntsatsi, Dip. Rural Dev., Dip. Soc. Policy & Admin., M.A.,
January 1989 TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables and Figures iv
Acknowledgements v
Map of Botswana viii PART ONE: RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND BASIC NEEDS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 The Subject of the Thesis 1 1.2 Rationale 1 1. 3 Methodology 5 1.4 The Structure of the Thesis 11 Footnotes and references 13
CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT 14
2.1 Alternative Strategies of Development 14 2.2 The Evolution of Rural Development and the Basic Needs Strategy 18 Footnotes and references 29
CHAPTER THREE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES 32
3.1 Rural Development: Concepts and Dimensions 32 3.2 Definitions and Strategies 37 3.3 Factors that Inhibit Progress and Participation in the Rural Areas 46 3.3.1 International Policies and Trade Laws 48 3.3.2 Government Policies 51 3.3.3 Lack of Social Security Base 59 3.3.4 The Interrelatedness and Reinforcing Nature of Rural Problems 63 3.4 Factors of Production 67 3.5 Employment Opportunities 78 Footnotes and references 86
CHAPTER FOUR: RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ADULT EDUCATION IN BOTSWANA 91
4.1 Introduction to Botswana 91 4.1.1 Climatic Conditions 93 4.1.2 The Economy 95 4.2 History 96 4.3 The Socio-economic Profile 99 4.4 Botswana at Independence 104 4.5 Extension Work in Botswana 107 4.5.1 Brief Historical Review 107 4.5.2 Training, Organization and Management of Extension Work in Botswana 113
- i - 4.5.3 Co-ordination 115 4.6 Institutional Developments 118 4.7 Research in Rural Development and Adult Education 132 4.7.1 Research Studies undertaken in Rural Development and Adult Education 134 Footnotes and references 143
CHAPTER FIVE) THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 148
Map of Kgatleng 148 5.1 Introduction 148 5.1.1 Kgatleng 148 5.2 The Socio-economic Profile of the Village 153 5.2.1 Situation and Population Growth 153 5.2.2 Income Description 158 5.2.3 Occupation 159 5.3 Village Organization 164 5.3.1 Leadership 164 5.3.2 Village Committees 165 5.3.3 Tribal Office and the Kgotla 166 5.4 Infrastructural Provision and Services 168 5.4.1 Education 168 5.4.2 Health 169 5.4.3 Consumer Shops and Amenities 170 5.4.4 Other Services 171 5.5 Extension Staff 172 5.6 Other Committees 178 5.6.1 Burial Societies 178 5.6.2 Village Extension Team 179 5.6.3 Thrift and Loan Society 179 5.6.4 Lentswe La Oodi Co-op Bank 179 5.6.5 Football Clubs 180 5.6.6 Crime Prevention Committee 180 Footnotes and references 182
CHAPTER SIX: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY 183
6.1 Framework and Hypothesis 183 6.2 Choice of Methods 193 6.2.1 Qualitative Research: What it is and why it was used 194 6.2.2 Qualitative Research Techniques 198 6.3 The Conduct of the Study 205 6.3.1 Preparatory Stage 305 6.3.2 Phase I - Gaining Access 208 6.3.3 Pre-testing 211 6.3.4 Sampling Procedure 213 6.3.5 Selecting the Respondents 214 6.3.6 The Investigation and Recording of Interviews 216 6.3.7 Recording the Interview 219 Footnotes and references 223
- ii - CHAPTER SEVEN : FIELD REPORT 227
7.1 Introduction 227 7.2 Presentation of Data through Case Histories and Interviews 230
CHAPTER EIGHT.c ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 322
8.1 Introduction 322 8.2 Participation According to Programme 323 8.2.1 Community Dev~lopment 323 8.2.2 DNFE Programmes 332 8.2.3 Agriculture 335 8.2.4 The Co-operatives 338 8.2.5 The Factory 340 8.2.6 The Knitting Project 343 8.2.7 Health 345 8.3 Key Issues Related to Participation in the Village 349 8.3.1 The Gender Issue 349 8.3.2 Migration 350 8.3.3 The Consultation.Machinery 352 8.3.4 Programme Planning and Management 355 Footnotes and references 359
CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 362
9.1 Conclusions 362 9.2 Implications 368
Glossary 373
Appendix 376
Bibliography 387
- iii - LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 4.7
The Training Programme and the Ministries Responsible 114
Map of Kgatleng District 148
Figure 6.1
Needs and Orientations: A Framework 184
Figure 6.2
The Context of the Interview 217
Table 7.1
The Respondents' Background
Figure 8.1
Factors Influencing Programme Formation 323
- iv - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people and organizations have directly and indirectly
contributed to this study. First, I am very grateful to my employers,
the University of Botswana and the Director of the Institute of Adult
Education, Mr. Youngman, who released me from my duties during the
period of the research. To colleagues at the Institute of Adult
Education and to my referen~e group, Dr. Ulla Kann, Mr. Frank Youngman
and Mrs. Nomtuse Mbere, I am deeply indebted for comments,
professional guidance and insights in the initial stages of the
research. My sincere thanks go to Kefilwe Senne, Irene Baebela and
Jwalang Wamasole who typed the first draft chapters and other
preparatory papers for field work and to Mrs. Keabona Sebonego who
tirelessly sent me materials from Botswana to augment the literature
reviews.
It would have been impossible to complete this study without the
support and the co-operation of the Oodi residents. My special thanks go to all those who by way of answering interviews, giving information on different programmes, and general comments, participated in the research exercise. I am greatly indebted to my key informants and host families of the Mesweles, Moumakwas and the Setswammungs who throughout the research supported me morally and with information.
Mrs. Meswele and her family did everything they could to make my stay in their home very comfortable.
Some people were either in Mochudi or Gaborone and were still able to fit me into their tight schedules. These include M. P., Mr.
Meswele, Mr. Maakwe - the DC, Mr. Mabua and some members of the
District Extension Team.
The direction and layout of content, organization and detail is
- v - the result of the meticulous work of my supervisor Dr. Geoffrey
Squires. His professional prowess provided skilful probing and yet
constructive criticisms to the debate in the study, which made my
write-up a joyful learning experience. I am profoundly gra teful to
him.
My sincere thanks also go to my sponsors, the British Council,
for their financial and moral support throughout the entire study
period.
Professor Pons' assistance at the research seminars helped
greatly during those stages of groping when one's mind was not quite
focused. Dr. Paul Armstrong provided guidance in the research methods
at a very early stage when he took over from Professor Jennings. I
also thank other members of staff at the School of Adult and
Continuing Education who were always available for help. I am deeply
indebted to all these people. Nonetheless, I remain responsible for
the issues raised, and any errors of fact or judgement are entirely
mine.
Among the Institutions that. have assisted I would like to mention
the University of Reading, Agricultural Extension and Rural
Development Centre. The Botswana Archives, the University of Botswana,
the National Institute for Research (NIR), the Women's Development
Unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Applied Research Unit of the
Ministry of Local Government and Lands and the Statistics Department
at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
There are also many people outside the academic realm whose
profound assistance and support kept me going throughout the entire
period. It is difficult to mention them all by name here. I thank
them all and I ask them all to accept my thanks offered generally.
Having said that, my greatest debt goes to Mrs. May Snowden, whose
- vi - sUpportive motherly care has remained steadfast throughout; Mss.
Peggy Beale, Irene Derving, Mr. and Mrs. Havard, Mrs. Florence Aka~ue,
Mrs. Sue Wiley, Mrs. Kathleen Bunn and Mrs. Kathleen Maw who provided
me with enormous support in many different ways. There has been
continued support from my family. My husband has given me relentless
Support and encouragement. so did my mother. My eight year old son,
Emmanuel. has been marvellous.
Last but not least. my gratitude goes to Mrs. Stella Rhind who
typed this work. Her cheerfulness and co-operation made the compilation of this study a lot easier.
- vii - REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA
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RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND BASIC NEEDS CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Subject of the Thesis
The object of this study is to examine the pattern and level of
people's participation in extension programmes offered at village
level in a developing country - Botswana. The main question behind
the study is what facilitates or inhibits participation in such
programmes. In order to find answers to this central question several
subsidiary questions have to be asked. Who participates and why?
Who does not participate and why not? In the case of those who did,
but no longer participate the question is: why have they stopped?
The other dimension in the study of participation is the variations in
the different programmes: Why do people participate more in certain
programmes than others?
The purpose of the study is to bring to light problems facing the
Adult Education clientele in Botswana which may inhibit their full
participation and involvement and to highlight the need to improve the
conditions under which most participants live, over and above the
improvement of programmes offered to them. Although efforts at
improving extension services in Botswana have increased significantly
over the last ten years, the tendency has been to improve the
programmes rather than the conditions of the recipients of those
programmes. Large sums of money are spent in the launching of new programmes and modern institutions in the hope of promoting the full involvement of the rural masses, but despite this, not much is being achieved. The emphasis is on provision rather than need, especially basic needs.
- 1 - Most developing countries have had to sacrifice certain
traditional cultural practices as the price. of social and economic
development. Such sacrifices include alterations, modifications and
sometimes demolition of local structures and institutions. Botswana
is no exception to this. Her success in modernising many of her
traditional institutions has cost her the social fabric and coherence
of her rural communities, resulting in the alienation of chiefs, the
lawlessness of youth and an individualistic outlook rather than the
communal spirit which communities used to have. Several factors,
including alterations in the local structures and institutions, can
account for this behaviour. The modification of the chieftaincy,
which. is the central pillar of local administration has left
everything else loose and shaky. The weakening of the chiefs' powers
resulting from the modifications of chieftaincy, coupled with numerous
changes that families and communities undergo due to social change -
young adults leaving home in early adulthood to start their own
families, and many people migrating to towns in search of paid
employment - have weakened the strength of community ties and continue
to undermine any efforts to bring about development through a community based approach. Even families now, especially those in the urban areas, seem to be moving from an extended towards a nuclear family system.
It was in 1969 that the government changed the chieftaincy institution to make it less autonomous and to take away most of the functions that the chiefs could undertake. Under the new arrangements, chiefs are employed like all civil servants and execute their duties strictly under the civil service conditions of service.
They do not necessarily have to be from the royal families, though this is still given preference. They can be suspended or expelled
- 2 - from service and they can no longer call upon regiments l to carry out
tasks as this could be interpreted as forced labour. They can neither
punish nor impose fines on anyone who defies community efforts by not
participating in a certain activity. The straying cattle (Matimela)
which used to belong to the chief unless claimed by owners, are now
under the District Councils' control. The chief is thus not only
stripped of most of his powers but has been incapacitated economically
by these reforms. Most of the chiefs now have to depend solely on
their salaries. Increasingly the chiefs are used as a last resort,
for signing passports and such duties as government stipulates, but
the villagers' contact is increasingly with new institutions such as
Landboards, Village Development Committees and extension agencies.
As a consequence of these changes, and their effect on
communities it is unlikely that community participation can be
enhanced through the old methods of community development which
regarded the community as a single cohesive unit. While it is not the
aim of this study to make a critique of the effects of modernization
on village institutions, such modernization has implications for the
approach to community development and involvement. Since community
consciousness has been weakened in the ways described above, efforts
to revive community spirit and community participation in development programmes may need to aim at raising people's consciousness by starting where they are, which is with the concepts of self, nuclear and extended family before they can move to the community level. The importance of starting where people are can not be overemphasized. It is by this that planners and educators will understand the conditions that affect community members as individuals and families; their fears, their aspirations, failures, inhibitions, needs and especially their basic needs. The central hypothesis of this study is that the
- 3 - level of people's needs largely determines their consciousness of
community. If programmes are. going to take people's interests to
heart they have to be interested in their needs. Most rural families
are below the poverty datum line. This means that they are at the
bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1954)~ trapped in their misery.
Programmes that can help are those that start first by liberating them
from their poverty and consequently from themselves, so that rather
than looking inwards, they start to look outwards, from self towards
family, and eventually towards the community. The higher they move
up the hierarchy of needs, from physical needs through security needs
to social needs, the more their eyes and minds beg~n to open to other
people's needs and to the role they can play in that community. As a
recent study in the U.K. suggests, the level of need can affect
people's very participation in society:
As the authors catalogue the demands made by political, economic and social institutions in those who would engage fully in the society around them, it becomes clear that poverty is most comp rehensively understood as a condition of partial citizenship. Poverty is not a thing apart, it is a state created by the expectatiorts imposed by an affluent society on th~se from whom it denies the resources to meet them.
It is essential to release all people from the psychological prison of physiological need. With the appropriate corrective measures and relevant education, it might even result in those rising up the ladder, turning more towards community than towards self. This will, of course, depend on what kind of education people receive as they are released from poverty. Such discussions obviously raise questions about the role education, especially adult education, can play in this socio-economic battle of liberating man and orientating him towards his community and his nation away from self. It is within this framework that education should be designed for youth, adults, the
- 4 - worse off and the better off in the society.
1.2 Rationale
Botswana has always stressed people's participation in her
development strategy. As early as 1968, just after Independence, a
Village Development Committee was established in Bokaa with the
primary aim of getting people involved in the decision-making process 4 of their community and their nation. This first VDC also served as
an experiment out of which the possibility of establishing such
organizations in the other villages was assessed. VDC"s exist in
almost all villages in Botswana today. Extension work is seen as the
main promoter of participation. As a result, the extension service
which originally concentrated on agriculture, has expanded and
includes both social and economic aspects of rural life. There are,
at present, in the extension service social and community development
workers, health workers, rural industries personnel, co-operative
personnel, literacy assistants and non-formal education personnel, in
addition to the older cadres of agricultural demonstrators and
veterinary assistants, Tirelo-sechaba participants and Business
Advisory Service personnel. Unlike in many countries where Adult
Education suffers financial cuts, now and again, Botswana's budget for
Adult Education demonstrates the priority the country awards to Adult
Education.
Such generous budgets have ensured the training of extension personnel and the launching of several aid schemes to promote extension work. Donor agencies have also made a sizeable contribution to extension programmes t both financially and in personnel. People's participation, however, continues to remain a weak spot in most programmes. In fact, the indications are that people's participation
- 5 - is declining further. The study of local institutions has disclosed
that the VDCs. which were elected in the years between 1967 and 1973
were more effective than the later ones. 5
A growing concern of planners is what affects people's
participation in the development process. This is not the case only
in Botswana alone. The problem of participation has gained attention
in most parts of the world especially the Third World. However,
despite efforts by governments and the zeal shown by world
organizations such as the United Nations (UN), International Labour
Organization (ILO) and World Bank in encouraging people's
participation financially and educationally, a lot still remains
unclear.
What is the people's perception regarding government efforts? Is
the planners' thinking in. tune with the people's thinking? Where in
the development policies do shortcomings occur and how do such
shortcomings affect the people one would like to see participate fully
in development and educational programmes? What should be the
ingredients of a proper development mix?
It is this detailed information that can help to clarify the lack
of participation. Increasingly it has been recognised that such information can best be sought by closely studying the communities themselves. It is only by such a close analysis that educationalists and planners can see the problems through the eyes of the people they aim to help. In this study therefore, the small village of Oodi in
Botswana was chosen with a view to studying the extension programmes in relation to their target groups, goals and objectives, activities, operating procedures and people's perception of them and participation in them.
This information is essential for several reasons. From the
- 6 - planners' point of view it can give insights into how to restructure
the present local structures and institutions in order to create space
for better performance for both the adult educators and the adult
learners. For the educators the information received will address the
issues of how the learner perceives the adult education provision -
its content, design and methods - in relation to the learners' needs
and aspirations. The outcome of this should be to enable the three
groups, i.e. planners, educationalists and adult learners to begin to
communicate on the same wave length. One is, however, aware of the
complexities of the problems of participation, the chief among which
is poverty. As Golding says, poverty excludes from power and influence.
In so many ways active citizenship requires the capacity to confront the instituti%ns, public and private which frame. people's minds .. _
But ,poverty brings people to a level of diminished citizenship. In
view of this realization, one can only hope that a study such as this
will make a modest contribution to the urgent task of identifying the
appropriate leverage for tackling the question of participation in
Botswana. In summary, the justification of this study arises from the
fact that there is a continued search for the answer to the problem of 7 low participation which, as Blauner has observed, brings
conditions of alienation which result from the inability to
participate, and which lead to powerlessness, meaninglessness,
isolation and self estrangement. By concentrating on the client variables rather than the programme variables it is hoped that the study will take the question beyond what other studies have already achieved. The study also adds a new dimension to existing knowledge about adult education by concentrating on the client's perception of it. The question of basic needs which is also a determining factor in participation has not been explored in Botswana. This study places
- 7 - the emphasis on basic needs as another possible link to what the other
writers have done and it presents an argument for access of
opportunity to what is essential to enable the rural masses to
participate - the provision of basic needs.
The study hypothesizes that people's participation in rural
development is weak because of a misconception in the whole concept of
development. This misconception has, in turn, influenced policy-
makers, planners and educationalists in their approach to involving
people in the rural areas. The misconception starts when planners
approach development by regarding the community of the present time as
a coherent unit and consequently setting up projects which emphasize
social needs before projects which tackle the basic needs of families
and individuals.
This general hypothesis breaks down into four more specific
hypotheses:
(i) That the extension programmes have to satisfy basic needs
before middle or high level needs.
(11) That community development programmes should initially be
targeted at families and households rather than communities.
(iii) That community consciousness depends largely on the level of
need.
(iv) That higher order needs mayor may not be associated with
individualisation or community consciousness.
1.3 Methodology
The aim of the research is to make an analytical study of factors
that affect village people's participation in adult education and a systematic assessment of the role adult education plays in the village development process as viewed by the villagers. This broad aim
- 8 - involves the following more specific objectives:
(1) To identify the adult education programmes existing in, the
village.
(2) To identify the different target groups and their needs and
aspirations in relation to programme goals, objectives and
content.
(3) To examine the programmes, goals and objectives in relation to
community needs and involvement.
(4) To study the conditions of target groups in relation to their
level of participation.
(5) To compare the level of participation in the different
programmes.
(6) To study and investigate the dissemination of information about
each programme.
(7) To gather the views of the community on the role of adult
education in their village.
There were two main methods of collecting data for the study.
The first was the review of literature on rural development and
participation. This research was carried out at Hull University,
coupled with visits to other Universities, e.g. The University of
Reading, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Centre. The second was the field work which was carried out in the village of Oodi and was divided into roughly four phases. First there was a familiarization or pilot phase which took three weeks, including the pretesting of the interview schedule; secondly, there was an interview and in-depth case study phase which concentrated on the collection of raw data through interviews, observation and questionnaires. The target population for this consisted of
- 9 - participants, drop-outs and non-participants from eight selected
programmes, out of which two were non governmental, viz. the Weavers
Factory and the womens knitting project (henceforth called knitting
project). The government programmes were Health, where two programmes
were picked, i.e. the Sanitation Project and the Underweight Feeding
programme; Community Development, Agriculture, both Crop farming and
Livestock, the Co-operatives, and Literacy programme. The
questionnaires were used to collect data mostly from extension workers
and the policy-makers, but all were administered by the researcher.
The other category of persons which were interviewed was the important
personalities, e.g. politicians, some of whom do not live in the
village but are still in touch with it, or the chairperson of the co
op, who lives in Gaborone and is a prominent figure in the village.
The Member of Parliament was also interviewed and the councillor and
the headman. This latter group of interviews formed phase three
of the study which led to the analysis of the case studies, and these
prominent figures and indeed other members of the village were asked
to react to the findings of the study. The fourth phase of the study
was concerned with archival reading and visits to relevant offices in
Gaborone, Mochudi and the University of Botswana. The materials of
interest here included government documents on policy, especially
guided by the key themes emerging from the study. In between the
periods of field work, especially at the initial stage and in the middle of the study, the researcher also attended research seminars and conferences in Gaborone and Lesotho respectively. The research seminars were aimed at assisting research students with methods of formulating research proposals, while the conference in Lesotho explored possibilities of regional co-ordination and planning in the region in collaboration with some U.K. and U.S. Universities.
- 10 - The four phases of the study were not mutually exclusive, but
there was a considerable overlap in between them. Though the bulk of
the study time was spent in Oodi village, the researcher moved
backwards and forwards during these phases. The major limitation of
the study was that it concentrated in the village, whilst some
villagers were still at the lands. However, to minimize this problem
a visit to the lands was made and the researcher was able to see some
land areas and how different people had responded to government
programmes there. Few people were interviewed around these farm
lands. Another limitation is that using qualitative method limits
generalization. This study was not a comparative one but an indepth
study of one village. However, its contribution will still hopefully
illuminate the path to popular participation.
1.4 The Structure of the Thesis
The first part of the thesis discusses rural development as part
of the overall development process, identifying some of the approaches
and strategies that different countries have adopted. Chapter Two
gives a brief review of the different development models of the 1950s
and 1960s. Chapter Three examines rural development strategies and
gives an account of the basic needs approach and participation as
strategies of rural development which attract current interest and
support. Chapter Four describes the rural development and adult
education practice in Botswana, and outlines the research that has been done in this area.
Part II focuses on the field work, starting with Chapter Five which sets the scene of the investigation by giving a detailed description of the village of Oodi. Here the analysis covers the historical background of the community, the village organization and
- 11 - administration structure as well as the socio-economic profile of the
community. This is followed by the methodology chapter (Chapter Six)
which describes the methods used and also discusses the limitations of
the instruments and the research tools which were employed.
Chapter Seven reports the field research and includes detailed case histories from the interviews. Chapter Eight comprises the data analysis and the identification of major factors affecting participation. This chapter is followed by the conclusion chapter which summarises the implications of the findings for adult education.
- 12 - Footnotes - Chapter One
1. Regiment: Traditionally, all adult Batswana, men and women, belonged to an age-set, or regiment. A new regiment of youths in their late teens or early twenties would be initiated approxi mately every five years, at the paramount chief's discretion. Regiments were available for any community task assigned by the paramount chief. The regiments are disappearing in many parts of Botswana, though among the Bakgatla, they remain relatively strong.
2. Maslow, A.H., Motivation and Personality, Harper, New York, 1954. Maslow suggests that people's needs are arranged in a hierarchical order starting with physical survival needs. He argues that on the whole an individual cannot satisfy anyone level unless the needs below have been satisfied.
3. Golding, P., Excluding the Poor (ed.), Child Poverty Action Group, London (1986), Introduction, p. xi.
4. Noppen, D., Planning with the People in Botswana: Research Reports No. 13/1982, African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, (1982), pp. 129-134. Functions of the Village Development Committee as envisaged by the Presidential Directive of 1968 are: a) to identify and discuss the local needs; b) to formulate proposals for the development of the village which it represents; c) to determine the extent to which the people are willing and able to develop the village on a self help basis; d) to determine a plan of development for their village; e) to elicit the help of the District Commissioner and other development agencies in their improvements, and f) to provide a medium of contact between the headman, the councillor and the people and the District Council, and by this means to make the District Council better informed as to the needs of certain areas and thereby help in the District Council's responsibilities to produce district plans for development. (Source: Ministry of Local Government and Lands, 1968, Cabinet Memorandum No. 68).
5. Brown, C. et.al., A Study of Local Institutions in Kgatleng District, Botswana, Ministry of Local Government and Lands. Applied Research Unit, Gaborone, 1985, p. 14.
6. Golding, P. in op.cit., p. xi (ed.).
7. Blauner, R., Alienation and Freedom, University of Chicago Press (1964), pp. 15-34.
- 13 - CHAPTER TWO
DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Alternative Strategies of Development
The mid-century development models and economic theories of the
1950s and 1960s have left a lasting influence on the development
outlook such that it is difficult to divorce any development debates
on the development process from that early thinking. First there was 1 Rostow's theory of development in which the right quality and mixture
of savings, investment and foreign aid were all that were necessary to
enable the developing countries to follow the path that historically
had been followed by the more developed countries. For many years
'conventional wisdom equated "development with the rapidity of total
output growth'. Development thus became synonymous with rapid 2 aggregated economic growth. It later became clear that however
attractive a development model or strategy that can be, the model
cannot be copied in toto as a development pattern for other countries'
development path.
The economic strategy was then replaced by the structural
international school of thought which views underdevelopment in terms
of international and domestic power relationships, institutional and
structural economic rigidities, and the resulting proliferation of
dual economies and dual societies both within and among the nations of
the world. Structuralist models tend to emphasize external and internal institutional constraints on economic development. Emphasis is placed on policies needed to eradicate poverty, to provide more diversified employment opportunities and to reduce income 3 inequalities. A structural development model based on historic
- 14 - 4 elements has been presented by Myint who talks of the 'Missing
Component' approach which is predicated on the idea that development
can be effected by identifying critical weaknesses or missing elements
in a developing country's assets and by subsequently providing this
component. Such missing elements are typically identified as domestic
savings, foreign exchange and education.
Following the Missing Link Strategy came the Alternative
Development Strategy (ADS) which reflects the social or humanistic
ethic that has become more prominent in the development strategy.
Such an ethic is also reflected in new definitions of development
which now perceive development as a type of social change in which new
ideas are introduced into a social system in order to produce not only
higher per capita incomes, but also high levels of living through
modern production methods and improved social organizations. 5
Development is therefore perceived as a multi-dimensional process
which involves the reorganization and reorientation of entire economic 6 and social systems. 7 Diwan and Livingstone describe four situations in which an
Alternative Development Strategy (ADS) may be effective and their
suggestions are all in favour of the poor. The basic ADS approach
calls for (i) the production of goods and services that meet the
fundamental needs of the poor strata of the population (both urban and
rural) , (ii) the generation of employment both as a means of
production and as a primary method of redistributing wealth, (iii) the
conscious structured redistribution of wealth to the poor from the
rich through political intervention, (iv) the encouragement of
production in rural areas to induce urban migrants to return to these
regions, (v) the encouragement of local values, initiatives and self reliance and (vi) the encouragement of cottage and small scale
- 15 - industries.
The World Bank also abandoned the idea of lending heavily for
large capital-intensive projects, roads and industry and instead tried
to target many of its loans specifically to the poorest groups, the
marginal farmers, landless labourers and shanty town dwellers. It now
lends massively for rural development. This is when the Bank adopted
the Redistribution with Growth strategy which emphasized that growth
can be combined with increased social justice. 8 The aim of this
strategy was to maximise the growth of incomes for the poorest people
in the medium term. In practice this would mean a series of measures
targeted to benefit the poor. In addition to land reform there was
to be a shift in government spending on roads, power, health,
education and credit, away from the cities and large scale industries
towards rural areas. But reform was not enough, growth was 9 essential. Hollis proposed at this time that the growth of the total
Gross National Product (GNP) should be seen as the prime measure of
progress.
A more radical view of strategies for development is taken by the
scholars of the Marxist persuasion. They argue that the questions of
growth and distribution cannot be considered or resolved independently
of the prevailing mechanisms governing production and distribution
b ecause development is a socio-economl.c. trans f ormatl.on. . 10 In the
absence of these radical considerations, they insist, any development
strategy is sure to be self defeating. They point to many countries, mostly in the industrialized capitalist world which have attempted various forms of redistribution of real income or undertaken anti- poverty programmes with rather indifferent results. The reason they claim is obvious: programmes which seek to alter distribution without altering the capitalist market structure within which income and
- 16 - wealth are generated and distributed, are doomed to failure. Against
this background, the development of a society or country is seen as
essentially a transformation of its 'mode of production'. This view
is discussed at length by Gaborone (1986)11 in his study of the class
character of Botswana society and how it has influenced the mode of
production. The mode of production refers to those elements,
activities and social relationships which are necessary to produce and
reproduce real (material) wealth. The elements comprise the raw
material existing in nature, productive equipment and infrastructure, 12 and human labour. The call for a change in mode of production can
also be seen in Szentes' remark:
Foreign capital not only distorted the economic structure of the underdeveloped countries with its investments, but •.. it also built into it, at the same ti~e the !~ements of the capitalist mode of product~on .• 0'
The various development models and approaches discussed above
show the continued struggle to attain progress. Some approaches have 14 been more successful than others. However, the underlying question
is whether development is possible at. all in current conditions.
Myint has given three reasons why the attainment of development in the
sense of essential equivalence with industrialised nations proves to
be difficult. 15
There are, in every situation, the determining factors that will
either limit or facilitate a certain move in a certain direction in
development. These determining factors are local~ such as the environmental conditions, geo-political conditions, political will and ideology as well as the availability of resources. The determining factors however are also regional and increasingly international. The world markets and international trade law on various aspec ts of life have increasingly become factors determining progress in the different
- 17 - countries of the world today.
In the developing world the determining factor in how development
should be followed stems from the concern with the rural population,
who, though often in the majority. are not touched by the present
development gains in their countries. Many countries who score high
in their GNP have their rural populations starving to death. living
under very poor conditions. The realization that these under-
privileged people make development lopsided has given emphasis to
rural development as a major element in the development process. One
of the nagging problems that concerns planners is the lack of
employment for the rural populations. which consequently results in
urban migration to poorly industrialized urban centres which are not
developed enough to absorb such influxes. The developing world.
unlike the developed world. did not have industrialization and the
commercialisation of agriculture taking place simultaneously. As such
neither of the two complements the other; instead there is an
imbalance all the time between the rural areas and the urban areas of
the developing countries.
Hence the emphasis on rural development. Rural development.
however, has its limiting factors. Consequently. here too, strategies
and approaches have been tried over a period of time by different
countries to seek ways of achieving the kind of rural development which will benefit the masses.
2.2 The Evolution of Rural Development and the Basic Needs Strategy
The earlier emphasis on creating per capita incomes through industrialization produced major discrepancies among developing nations. There are estimated to be 800 million persons presently living below the subsistence level, that is 'absolute poverty', and
- 18 - these represent some 40 per cent of the entire population of the
developing countries. Most of them are found in the rural areas of . 16 M th ese countr1es. ost strategies and approaches that were followed
solidified the socio-economic differences. The World Bank reports
raised the alarm when they revealed that:
despite the rapid growth in total national incomes in many developing countries, the poorest sector of the population was often not getting any bet ter off. In some countries they were even getting poorer. The benefits of the growth concentrated in the modern sector were not trickling down to them or at least trickling so slowly that it would be a century or more before they received their share. The assumption was that their poverty would be eradicated more rapidly if some of the gross inequalities and inequities could be reduced, and if assets that produce wealth from land to government infrastructure were redistributed t~7give the poor a better chance to help themselveR.
This realization turned the debate to more humanistic approaches.
There is now a considerable move away from increasing per capita
incomes to improving people's lives. It is realized, however, that to
do that people themselves must be fully involved in the development
process, giving their full participation to all development efforts
alongside their governments. In the developing countries rural
development has become the central focus of development due to the
large maj orities who live in the rural areas. Among the strategies
employed in rural development are the popular participation and
extension strategies. But the basic needs strategy has also gained
current attention. The empirical question is: why basic needs? How
is the strategy different and what advantages has it got over the
other strategies? Though not completely subscribing to Maslow's
hierarchy of needs theory, the discussions on the basic needs borrow
from Maslow's concept, especially in relation to motivation related to economic improvement.
- 19 - The Basic Human Needs approach to development is a further
refinement of the idea of redistribution with growth. It has been
developed primarily by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
It is linked with the concept of 'Participation in Development',
sometimes called Popular Participation, which is gaining much wider
currency in all spheres. There is a growing consensus that
development can be accelerated if the energies and resources of the
people are mobilized and the poor have basic human rights - previously
denied by unequal power structures - to take part in making decisions
that affect their livelihoods. This idea was incorporated in the
International Development Strategy for the United Nations Second
Development Decade adopted in October 1970, which affirmed that every
effort would be made to secure the active support and participation of
all segments of the population in the development process. In this
strategy, participation should occur at each stage of the development
process, in setting the goals and making decisions that affect the
community, in carrying out the plans and in sharing the benefits. 18
It is obvious that the early efforts did nothing to balance the
benefits of growth between urban and rural areas. Instead, the
reverse was the case. In Botswana, after Independence, the
government's preoccupation was with industrialization and the
development of the mining industry which, it was argued, would
eventually raise income for the improvement of the rural areas. At
that time, as in the early theoretical formulations, there were
justifications for the emphasis on growth as the principal performance 19 test.
Firstly, it was argued that through market forces - such as the rising demand for labour, higher productivity, higher wages, or lower prices - economic growth would spread its benefits widely and evenly,
- 20 - and that these benefits could best be achieved through growth. There
was, of course, a danger in this assumption, as it would inevitably
concentrate wealth among the well-off. Indeed there was an outcry in
Botswana when the government introduced the trickle down approach to
creating employment in the country. This was done by identifying
people with certain skills and means and then financially assisting
such individuals to start businesses in the rural areas. The
government was interested in creating employment for the rural people.
It was hoped that the recipients of such assistance would employ more
people in the rural areas, but it soon became clear that people were
interested in employing the members of their own families, thus
increasing the gap between such families and the rest of the
villagers.
An alternative approach was embodied in taxation. The assumption
here was that since governments are democratic, or at any rate are
concerned with the fate of the poor, they would, through taxation,
social services and other government action, spread the benefits
downwards. . The amelioration of poverty would not be automatic but
governments would take ac tion to correct situa tions in which market
forces concentrated benefits. This assumption probably works for
developed countries where responsibility for other members of extended
families lies with the Social Security. For Botswana, where the
majority of the workers have to share their meagre resources with the
large number of unemployed members of the extended families in the
urban and rural areas, taxation only adds to the misery of the low
paid workers. It is as though people are not only overtaxed but
double taxed.
The third justification, which has been described as more
"hardheaded" than the other two justifications in the pursuance of
- 21 - economic growth,said that the fate of the poor should not be a concern
in the early stages of development. It was thought necessary first
to build up capital, infrastructure and the productive capacity of an
economy, so that it could improve the lot of the people later. And as
one observer puts it,
"For a time - and it could be quite a long period - the poor would have to tighten their belts and the rich would receive most of the benefits. But if the rewards of the rich were used to provide incentives to innovate, to serve, and to accumulate capital which could eventually be used to benefit the poor, the ea~br poverty would turn out to have been justified".
Some radicals of the time subscribed to this justification
because in theory it sounded logical. Streeten says John Rawls would
sometimes sanction such a strategy. Such philosophers would see
"inequalities" justified if they are necessary conditions for
improving the lot of the poor.21 In practice this does not work.
As mentioned above, in Botswana the method has only increased the gap
between the poor and the rich, thus hurting rather than helping the
masses of the poor people as it increases the structural imbalances.
Another strong influence on these early theories of growth was 22 the Kuznets curve which related average income levels to an index of
equality and suggested that it was essential that in the early stages it
. was accompanied by growing inequality. The assumption in the Kuznets
curve was that in the early stages of development, as income per head
increases, inequality tends to grow, and this may mean that absolute
poverty for some groups also increases. But this was a risk worth
taking because eventually the supporters believed that there would be a turning point, when the bot tom of the 'u' curve is reached, after which growing income is accompanied by greater equality and of course reduced poverty.
Considering that some countries take over ten years to reach the
- 22 - bot tom of the 'u' curve and considering the increased turbulence in
many regions of the develoPl~S' world which hinder progress in
general, it is difficult to see how such an assumption could achieve
its goals. In fact none of the assumptions underlying the three
justifications turned out to be universally true. Streeten remarked
that:
except for a very few countries, with special conditions and policies, there was no automatic tendency for income to be widely spread. Nor did governments always take corrective action to reduce poverty; after all, governments were themselves often formed by people who had close psychological, social, economic, and political links with the beneficiaries of the concentrated growth process, even though their motives were often mixed ... Prolonged mass poverty was therefore not needed to accumulate savi~ and capital and stimulate entrepreneurship.
Streeten advances three reasons why concern should not be with
the eradication or reduction of inequality but more specifically
should be meeting basic needs in societies with very low levels of 24 living (which some would say include Britain, see Beckerman.)
First equality as such is probably not an objective of great
importance to most people other than utilitarian philosophers and
ideologies. Second, this lack of concern is justified, because
meeting basic needs is morally a more important objective than
reducing inequality. Third, reducing inequality is a highly complex,
abstract objective, open to many different interpretations and
therefore operationally ambiguous. Beckerman, in arguing this point, pointed out that because no group ever asks to be paid less in the interest of social justice, people are not really concerned with equality as such, and it is fairly plain that many claims for greater social justice are only thinly disguised claims for getting more for oneself.
Those who see the reduction of equality in this light argue that
- 23 - removing malnutrition in children, eradicating disease, or educating
girls, are concrete, specific achievements that meet the basic needs
of deprived groups, whereas reducing inequality is abstract. There
is, of course, nothing wrong with an abstract moral objective, but if
policies are judged by the evident reduction of suffering, the basic 5 ne e d s approac h scores b etter t h an re d uc~ng· ~nequa. I ~ty.. 2 Reducing
inequality in certain countries, which was done by nationalizing
businesses and corporations, has been seen as unfair since people work
hard to develop these. Reducing inequality in societies like Botswana
would have to be thought out very carefully; at least on the first
level of needs everyone should be catered for; but as the ladder goes
higher, individuals' performance should perhaps be used as a yard
stick. Internationally, also, there is more concern with
ameliorating blatant deprivation than with bringing developing
countries up to Western living standards.
There is a clear indication from the above observations that there
is an increasing acceptance of the basic needs approach. This is not
without cause as the brief examination of past strategies has already
shown. A concern at the heart of development, it would seem, has
always been the removing of mass deprivation. However, there have
also been many difficulties in reaching consensus by planners and
policy-makers, which help to explain why the trend seems to be towards
the Basic Needs approach. The Basic Needs strategy is concerned with
the problems of reduction of mass deprivation, but more important, it
allows for the setting of precise goals and target dates, thus . 26 allowing governments very little room for lip serv~ce.
What advantages has the Basic Needs strategy over other
strategies? The advantages are, perhaps, best described in
Streeten's words, who argues that focusing on basic needs has at least
- 24 - four fundamental advantages over previous approaches to growth,
employment, income redistribution and poverty. In his advancement of
these four fundamental advantages he starts thus:
First and most important, the basic needs concept is a reminder that the objective of the development effort is to provide all human beings with the opportunity for a full life. However a "full life" is interpreted, the opportunity for achieving it pre-supposes meeting basic needs. In the past two decades, those concerned wi th development have sometimes got lost in the intricacies of means - production', productivity, savings ratios, export ratios, capital-output ratios, tax ratios and have soon lost sight of the end. They came near to bringing quality, to borrow a term from Marx, of commodity fetishism.
Being clear about the end Streeten argues:
does not mean neglecting the means. On the contrary, it means efforts are direc ted to choosing the right means for the ultimate ends that are desired. In the past planners have moved away from one aim of development, which is meeting basic human needs, to some conglomeration of commodities and services valued at market prices, irrespective of whether they are air conditioners or bicycles, houses or rural shelters, whether they benefit the rich or the poor. The basic needs approach recalls the fundamental concern of develo~,ent, which is human beings and their needs.
Second, the approach goes beyond abstractions such as money,
income or employment. While it is agreed that these aggregates have
their place and function, and that they are important as concepts and
so should not be abandoned, it is also true to say that they are
useless:- if they conceal the specific, concrete objectives that are
sought. Considering basic needs is moving from the abstract to the concrete, from the aggregate to the specific.
It is clear that the concepts have become decreasingly abstract and increasingly disaggregated, concrete and specific. From employment the ideas were further narrowed to identify deprived groups of individuals and families - women with children under five, the
- 25 -
(~lHIlI ) elderly, youths with specific needs, ethnic groups,- discriminated
against-communities in distant and neglected regions.
Third, the Basic Needs approach appears clear to members of the
national and international community and is therefore capable of
mobilizing resources, unlike vaguer (though important) objectives such
as raising growth rates to 6 per cent, contributing 0.7 per cent GNP
to development assistance, redistributing for greater equality, or
narrowing income gaps. Harberger makes this observation:
People do not normally share lottery prizes or other gains in wealth with their grown brothers and sisters but they do help when siblings are ill, or their children need education, or some other basic need has to b~gnet. The same is true in the wider human family.
The important things that have been learnt about development,
according to Streeten are: the importance of making small-scale
farmers and members of the informal urban sector more productive and
raising their earning power, the scope for 'efficient' redistribution,
that is redistribution that contributes to more equitable economic
growth, the numerous dimensions of labour markets, and the importance
of creating demand for certain types of product and the labour
producing them.
This observation on early thinking about the function of development is reinforced by literature elsewhere. It is said that as early as the 1950s pioneers in India who led the first World Bank
Mission to a developing country (Colombia), said that development must be concerned with meeting minimum or basic human needs. At that time the strategies were strongly growth-oriented, but now time and experience have brought "a deeper understanding of the issues, of many of the inhibitions, obstacles and constraints and also a clearer
29 vision of the path".
One of the popular themes in rural development has been the
- 26 - integrated approach to developmen~.but a strategy that could play that
integral role seemed not easy to find. Basic needs as an integrating
concept has the merit of providing a powerful basis for organizing
analysis and policy making. It can mobilize political support and it
can also integrate thought and action in different fields.
Basic needs' other strong point may also be seen in its
egalitarian approach. As suggested, a strategy to make income
distribution more egalitarian is likely to encourage more labour
intensive methods of production and thereby generate jobs and primary
sources of income for the poor. It is also likely to reduce demand
that rapid urbanization makes on scarce capital, scarce skills and
exhaustible natural resources. Raising the level of the living of the
poor in the rural areas reduces the pressure to leave agriculture for
urban employment.
Of course, the required changes in power relations and in the
direction of research and development, makes the system of
decentralization administration complex. Such is the case with local
councils in Botswana, and the needed co-ordination of trade and policy
of negotiations with transnationals, which are prerequisites for the
application of the Basic Needs strategy, are indisputably enormous and
difficult tasks and may not be easily attainable. That makes opting
for a basic needs style of development not as easy as it enviably
sounds. "The point, however", as Streeten concludes, "is that no
progress is possible unless the fundamental objective is born in mind" •
It is both gratifying and encouraging to note that the basic needs approach is also reflected in the international community. It may be for quite different reasons, as history seems to indicate, that the specialised agencies of the United Nations are already organized
- 27 - to meet the principal basic needs. World Health Organisation (WHO),
for health; UNESCO for basic education; FAO for food and
agriculture; ILO for employment; UNICEF for children and mothers.
Though their efforts are not new, in the pas~ before the emphasis on
the Basic Needs strategy, their efforts, though aiming at basic needs, often lacked the co-ordination that would be needed for a concerted attack on the problem of poverty. Srinivasan has emphasized that the same political and institutional constraints that prevented the benefits of growth from reaching the poor or any significant extent also apply to attempts to provide basic needs.
It would seem that whichever way we look at it, for the developing world"meeting the basic needs of the poor remains the major development challenge of today. In sum, as Williams put it:
The sheer scale of extreme poverty, its brutish character, the fact that large populations are left with little prospect for amelioration of their condition - and this in spite of overall economic development - have led to assessments of development policy alternatives that will place the means for meeting basic human needs at 3 the centre of development concerns and priorities.
- 28 - Footnotes - Chapter Two
1. Rostow, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a non community manifesto, Cambridge University Press (1960), pp. 1, 3 and 12.
2. Todaro, M.P., Economics for a Developing World, (2nd ed.), Longman Group Limited (ed.) (1982), pp. 87 and 105.
3. ibid.
4. Myint, H., Economic Theory and the Underdeveloped Countries, Oxford University Press, London (1977).
5. Rogers, M., Modernization Among Peasants: The Impact of Communication, Hoft & Winston, New York (1969), pp. 8-9.
6. Todaro, M., op.cit., (1980), p. 87.
7. Diwan, R. and Livingstone, D., Development Strategies and Technological Choices in Developing Countries, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York (1978).
8. See speeches of Robert McNamara to the World Bank Board of Governors of 24th September 1974 on (rural poverty) and 30th September 1976 on (urban poverty), also World Bank, Rural Development Sector, Policy Paper, February 1975.
9. Hollis, C. et.al., Redistribution with Growth, Oxford University Press (1974) produced jointly by the World Bank and Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, England.
10. Mabogunje, A.L., The Development Process: A Spatial Perspective, Hutchinson University Library for Africa, (1980), pp. 35-50.
11. Gaborone, S.S., The Political Economy of Adult Education in Botswana with Special Reference to the Agricultural Sector, University of Warwick (1986), unpublished thesis.
12. Mabogunje, A.L., (1980), op.cit.
13. Szentes, T., The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, Budapest, Akademia Kido (1971), p. 151.
14. Aziz, S., Rural Development: Learning from China, The Macmillan Press Ltd., London (1980). China seems to have achieved more in rural development than other countries especially in self sufficiency in food production in spite of its enormous population of over 950 million. Because of this achievement the Chinese model became a source of attraction.
15. Myint, H., op.cit., p. 10.
16. The Development Coordinating Committee, 'Development Issues: US Actions Affecting the Development of Low-income Countries', Washington, D.C., April 1978 in Evans, D.D. and Alder, L.N., Appropriate Technology for Development, a discussion and case histories. Denver Research Unit, University of Denver, Colorado (1979), pp. 5-8.
- 29 - 17. MOhamed''1.A.A~, op.cit., p. 11. Reports include those by McNamara's speeches to the World Bank Board of Governors op.Cl.'t ., World Bank, Rural Development Sector. Policy paper, op.cit. and Coombs P.H. and Ahmed, Attacking Rural Poverty: how non-formal education can help, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London (1974).
18. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Popular Participation in Decision-making for Development, UN, New York, 1975.
19. Streeten, P. et.al., First Things First: Meeting basic human needs in developing countries, World Bank Publications, Oxford University Press (1981), p. 9. They say that at the early stage 'sensible economists and planners were quite clear (in spite of what is now often said in a caricature of past thinking) that growth is not an end in itself, but a performance test of development.
20. ibid, p. 10.
21. Rawls, J., The Theory of Justice, Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press (1971), p. 302, quoted in ibid.
22. Kuznets, S. , 'Economic Growth and Income Inequality', American Economic Review, Vol. 45, no. 1 (March 1955), pp. 1-28; quoted in ibid and Todaro, M., op.cit.
23. Streeten et.al., op.cit., p. 11.
24. Beckerman, W. These views were expressed in his presidential address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science in, Slow Growth in Britain: Causes and Consequences, Oxford, Clarendon Press (1979), pp. 9-22, ibid, p. 17.
25. Streeten et.al., op.cit., pp. 17-18.
26. Harrison, P. , The Third World Tomorrow: A report from the battlefront in the war against povertI, Penguin Books Ltd. , Harmondsworth (1980), p. 29. See also Ghai, D.P. et.al., The Basic Needs Approach to Development, 1.L.O. , Geneva, 1979.
27. Streeten et.al., op.cit., p. 21.
28. Harberger, A.C., 'On the Use of Distributional Weights in Social Cost Benefit Analysis', Journal of Political EconomI, Vol. 86, no. 3, pt. 2 (April 1978), supplement pp. S87-S120. See ibid, p. 22. It probably has to be mentioned here that there are people who due to poverty cannot help their very own people who need their help.
29. Pant, Pitambar, 'Perspectives of Development, India 1960-61 to 1975-76. Implications of Planning for a Minimum of Levels of Living' in Srinivasan and P.K. Bardharn, PovertI and Income Distribution in India (eds.), Statistical Publishing Society, Calcutta (1974). Pant anticipated many features of the basic needs approach, some of which were contained in a paper circulated in August 1962 by the Perspective Planning Commission. Part of those early thoughts are reprinted in Streeten et.al., op.cit.
- 30 - 30. ibid.
31. Williams, M., 'The Development Challenge of Today - Meeting the Basic Needs of the Poor', Convergence, Vol. XI, no. 2, 1978, reproduced in IAE Study Material 11/80, July 1980, p. 1.
- 31 - CHAPTER THREE
RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES
3.1 Rural Development: Concepts and Dimensions
The foregoing deliberations have highlighted the factors that
have influenced the trends in development towards the Basic Needs
Strategy. The debates have· shown the reasons why there has been a
shift from early development models and strategies, both in the
developed and the developing countries. Noteworthy also is the new
emphasis on the meaning of development which is drifting away from
growth and urban biased policies to a more humanistic inclination and
concerted efforts to improve the lot of the rural masses. It is, of
course, that evolution that has given birth to the Rural Development
Strategy. An important implication of this new trend is that rural
development is now no longer only a strategy, but part of a general
development process, with its own strategies and approaches; among
these the Extension Strategy and the Basic Needs Approach whose merits
and demerits are discussed fully in Chapter Four. In this chapter
the focus turns to rural development with special reference to the
developing countries.
As the late twentieth century emphasis in development concepts de-emphasizes growth for the enhancement of the quality of life instead, so does the shift from the urban biased development become greater. Thus rural development continues to be a major focus of development strategies since its inception in the early seventies.
Some countries made greater strides in those efforts than other 1 African countries; Tanzania, with her ujamaa policies has demonstrated and displayed a concerted political will and commitment
- 32 - to spreading development efforts from urban to rural areas. At one
stage President Nyerere is known to have said 'when other people go to ,2 3 the moon we shall go to the land. China is another country whose
dedication to rural development made an enormous contribution to the
thought and practice of rural development. Though the two mentioned
countries are undergoing major reversals of policies at the moment,
their early efforts towards rural areas remain unique.
A clear cut generalization about all developing countries and
their commitment to rural development may be too wide to be valid. It
is not, however, an overstatement to say that all countries.
especially those in Africa and Asia, have a stake in the rural
development struggle. An important determining factor is the bitter
disappointment and devastating lessons that were learnt due to the
neglect of the rural areas.
Though this conviction is widespread among the developing nations
where the majority of the people live in the rural areas, it is
evident in the industrialised countries as well. In the
industrialised countries there is a concern about the imbalance in
development due to early concentration on urban development.
Analysing rural planning problems, Cherry says this about Britain:
The fac t is tha t (and there are obvious reasons for this) British town planning throughout the post-war period has concentrated on urban questions. Indeed, much of our general thinking has been conditioned by this urban framework. The result has been that urban attitudes, urban approaches to problems and even urban policies have all been at the root of our consideration of rural problems. For too long we have lacked a spec~ficallY rural viewpoint and a rural understanding.
This oversight has repercussions: coherent rural policies have been slow to emerge, in the meantime sharp rural planning problems have not received the attention they deserve, particularly exposure to conflict
- 33 - situations in which the long-term rural dweller is frequently
disadvantaged. Cherry argues that given this kind of background the
persistent problems of poor housing, lack of regular employment and
limited access to choice and opportunity, are not specifically forms
of urban deprivation but that they have their rural dimension too.
Among other efforts, the awakening to rural development demands
was signalled by the World Bank's move in the early seventies when
they commissioned and sponsored studies geared towards the improvement
of the rural masses. One such work was by Coombs and Ahmed in 1971:
At tacking Rural Poverty. Their attack on earlier policies for the
improvement of the rural masses focused on education which they said
had contributed largely to the lopsided pattern of development for two
decades and consequently had left the great majority of those it was
intended to help benefiting relatively little. In opening their
debate on this critical issue this is what these authors said:
"For many years the dominant strategy everywhere had been to achieve rapid quantitative expansion of the existing educational system substantially in its old image, in the belief that this would equalize opportunity and generate the human skills and leadership needed for general development. Measured by statistics of enrolments, this expansionist strategy had made spectacular gains. Yet as the developing nations entered the 1970s, they found themselves, without exception, in the throes of a deepening educational crisis. It was not only a financial crisis, it was a crisis of serious maladjustment taking many forms, between inherited educational systems andsthe realities of their rapidly changing societies.
Coombs and Ahmed's task and mission at this time was to suggest, after
studying the situation of underdevelopment, how non-formal education
could help. Their revelations of the crisis in the rural areas revolutionised the thoughts on rural poverty and have made a sizeable contribution to the continued struggle for rural development.
The other contribution in this regard, still by the World Bank,
- 34 - were the many conferences and seminars organized to address rural
areas issues. There were other issues addressed apart from education
by the Bank and a speech by McNamara, who was the Secretary General
at that time, clearly shows this wide concern. His paper focused on
agriculture with the emphasis on helping the "small man" in what he
calls "small holdings agriculture".
Without rapid progress in small holdings agriculture in ~he developing world, there is little hope either of achieving long-term stable economic growth or of si~ificantly reducing the level of absolute poverty.
These are some of the highlights in the call for rural
development. There are other factors also which lend credence to the
strategy of rural development. First and foremost, in the developing
countries the majority of the people do not only live in the rural
areas but they find their livelihood in the rural environment, mainly
through agriculture and related activities. These related activities
in Botswana range from hunting to wood gathering. Secondly, there is
also the rural-urban interdependence for exchange of foods from the
rural areas with money and other amenities, be they clothes or
hardware (items like bicycles) from the urban centres.
Thirdly, rural areas are becoming more and more "pressure
relievers" from urban over-population, poor housing and lack of
employment. More countries realize that it is not the improvement of
urban conditions only that will solve their problem, but that more
emphasis should be laid on returning to the rural areas. Countries which adopt this policy have a more acceptable way of resettling their people because by sending people to the rural areas, they actually send them back to their base, unlike situations where people are removed from a known to a totally unknown area through other resettlement schemes. In this way urban planning could be
- 35 - facilitated and the participation of people at the grass roots
reinforced. Such a system of resettling people by sending them back
to the rural areas needs to be coupled with sound resuscitation
schemes which will not only attract people to move to the rural areas
but will also encourage them to stay there, through employment
creation and agricultural development.
In the developed world it is the tranquillity of the countryside 7 which holds the rural attraction. As Cherry observes "the
countryside has a popular image of unchanging tranquillity". Quoting
from A. Russel's The Village in Myth and Reality, he demonstrates this
clearly:
Given only half a chance the Englishman retreats to the refuge of the countryside and the greenwood. We cling to our myths of the unchanging village, its old squirearchy and our nostalgic romantic regard for a country way of life. We forget that the housing conditions of the villages are deplorable, that the social structures were oppressive and that agricultural labour was arduous, ill-paid and without security. But nonetheless it is fair to remark that even so, for many, the countryside has an undoubted attraction... Whereas urban areas are anonymous and crowded, in the countryside we have space and see communities where the individual is more readily recognised, and where the means of production are themselv~s not unattractive crops, animals and woods.
There are other challenges about the rural areas. There are now
emergent areas of conflict in values and interests, including
participation in the development process, and the whole social
structure transformation through modernization which has inevitably
loosened kinship ties and bonds . The point of emphasis at this
. stage is that the challenge of rural areas is enormous, both from the
social and economic point of view. Moreover, the decline in agricultural activities means agriculture is no longer the only employing activity. The means of employment have to be sought for
- 36 - rural people within their rural setting. This realization could not
be more timely for planners.
In view of this realisation different bodies have come out with
definitions and long-range goals for rural development. These definitions and goals signify the acknowledgement of the problem and
seek ways of arresting the situation. In sum, rural development is
now equated with the far-reaching transformation of institutions and
socio-economic structures and is no longer solely based on
agricultural production, despite the major role that agriculture still
plays in rural lives.
3.2 Definitions and Strategies
Several definitions have been given for rural development and the
following are some that seem to converge with the new notion of
development and rural development that has been discussed above. One
definition is given by the United Nations, who define rural
development as:
The outcome of a series of quantitative and qualitative changes occurring among a given rural population and whose converging effects indicate, over time, a rise in the standard of living and favourable chang~s in the way of life of the people concerned.
The World Bank also offers a useful and more elaborate definition than the one by the UN. They define rural development as:
Any series of integrated measures having as their purpose the improvement of productive capacity and standard of life in its broadest sense of those in developing societies who live outside the urban areas and particularly of those people who depend directly or indirectly on the exploitation of soil. This will include those engaged in agriculture, forestry, fishery and related production, rural industries, handicrafts, trade, commerce and social services in the rural areas. But whatever the specific measures adopted may be, the economic and social advancement of all
- 37 - sections of rural community must depend, in the final analysis, on the success or otherwise of the action takerb to improve the production of agriculture.
11 Still in pursuit of defining rural development, Lele seems to
portray a more pragmatic view by adding practicability to defining the
process. He sets out three important features worth noting in the
implementing of rural development. He sees rural development as
improving the living standards of the masses of the low income
population residing in rural areas, and making the process of their
development self sustaining. He then sees some substantial
implications of how rural development programmes should be designed
and implemented. To begin with, he stresses that improving the
living standards of the subsistence farmers involves the mobilization
and allocation of resources so as to reach a desirable balance over
time between the welfare and productive services available to the
subsistence rural sec tor. Secondly, mass participation requires
that resources be allocated to low income regions and classes and that
the productive and societal services actually reach them. Finally, he makes a point about continuity and self sustenance,saying, making the process self~ustaining requires development of the appropriate skill~ and implementing capacity and the presence of institutions at the local, regional and national levels to ensure the effective use of existing resources, and to foster themobilization of additional, financial and human resources for continued development of the subsistence sector. Self-sustenance thus means involving, as distinct from simply leading, the subsistence populat ions through development programmes.
No doubt these definitions show concern for the rural poor and they are specific enough to make that point clear. While such
- 38 - salient points are timely and in their right place for arguing for
rural development, there is a risk that such specificity may be counter
productive. This is in relation to a heavy concentration on some
segments of rural populations as compared to others. Complete neglect
of the not so well off but not the worst off, 1. e. those on the
borderline between the poorest and the wealthy, runs the risk of
having those on the borderline joining the lower ranks. Their
'conditions need improvement, though in varying degrees, from the
poorest section of the rural areas upwards. However, some
definitions do show a total leaning towards the poorest, e. g. the
World Bank's other definition of rural development presents rural
development as:
A strategy designed to improve the e~~omic and social life of a specific people, the rural poor.
It is nonetheless observed that such groups as targeted are in a
desperate situation and may deserve priority in the distribution of
development. These, according to the World Bank report, are "the
poorest who seek livelihood in the rural areas including small-scale
" f armers, tenants and landless labourers . 13
Whicheve:c definition may be adopted by which ever country,
policies are going to be influenced by a number of factors. The
availability of resources and the political ideology and will are major factors which will either facilitate or inhibit implementation.
Other conditions include technical knowhow, population trends and the entire socio-economic and political stand. Such questions as 'Rural development for what?' may need to be asked. The consideration of such factors obviously is going to influence the decisions and choices, strategies and approaches, to be taken. Besides the basic needs and participation approaches there are four other well known strategies in rural development which are still being followed by
- 39 - different countries. We will briefly examine each of them.
These are approaches which countries have chosen over time to
tackle the problems of rural development given their political
ideologies, commitment, resources and cultural traditions. Some
countries have combined the approaches, e.g. Botswana, Kenya, while
others have leaned heavily on one type of approach, e.g. the
co-operative movement in Tanzania.
Coombs and Ahmed have suggested the following broad strategies: 14
first, the extension approach, second, the training approach; third,
the cooperative self-help approach and four, the integrated approach.
Botswana has combined all these approaches and has embraced them under
the extension strategy - which in this study is also referred to as
adult education.
The extension approach
The most common type of extension service in developing
countries, often referred to as the conventional or classical model,
drew .its critical inspiration from U. S. technical assistance. Its
prime objective is to persuade and help farmers to increase production
by adopting improved technical practices. Secondly, it seeks to
improve rural family life by teaching home economics to women and to
create modern young farmers through youth clubs of the 4-H type. 4H
stands for improving head, heart, hands and health. 4H clubs are for rural young people and offer instruction in agriculture and home economics. In Botswana the same model has been adopted under the name 4B. 4B stands for Boipuso - Independence, Boipelego - Self
Reliance, Botswana - Country, and Boikanyo - Honesty. The target groups are all farmers, their wives and adolescent children, although priority is often given to particular classes of farmers, notably the
- 40 - larger or more progressive ones, in selected geographic areas, or to
those growing particular crops. The extension service typically
comes under the Ministry of Agriculture. The extension approach in
its doctrinal form involves not just the use of extension methods but
an implicit conviction that an independent agricultural extension
service can by itself transform a static subsistence economy into a
dynamic market economy, while improving the quality of family and
community life. Thus, what may seem, on the surface, to be simply a
pedagogical doctrine and set of educational methods, turns out to be a
self-contained theory and strategy of rural development.
The Training Approach
In contrast to the extension approach which emphasises the
communication of information about innovative technical practices, the
training approach emphasis is a more systematic and deeper teaching of
specific basic skills and related knowledge. Training programmes
typically involve assembling learners in a training centre, often a
residential centre for a sustained period of instruction, broken down
into a planned succession of learning units combining theory and
practice. The pedagogical principles are the same regardless of what specific skills are to be taught. But the training approach involves more than a particular set of education principles and methods. It, too, involves a self-contained view and strategy of development based on the belief that knowledge and skills by themselves can precipitate the process of development. In practice both the extension and training approaches seem to operate on the assumption that useful knowledge flows in one direction: from outside specialists to the rural clients, who are presumed to be unable to diagnose their own needs and problems much less to devise solutions to them.
- 41 - The Cooperative Self-help Approach
This is the third approach suggested in rural development. It
starts with the assumption that the complex process of rural
transformation must begin with changes in rural people themselves, in
their attitudes toward change, in their aspirations for improvement
and, above all, in their perceptions of themselves and of their
inherent power individually and collectively, to better their
condition. The chief motive power for rural development, this view
holds, must come from within, though once the people are ready to
move, outside help of various kinds in response to their expressed
needs may be essential to sustain progress. This process of self~
discovery and initiative, leading to self-help and self-management, is
seen as education, but of a quite different sort than the education
provided by formal schooling that tends to alienate rural young people
from their environment, and also different from the technical
instruction that outside experts provide to rural inhabitants, as if
they were passive objects incapable of thinking for themselves.
There is heavy emphasis in this approach on the building of local institutions for cooperative self-help and governments. Finally there is the integrated rural development approach.
The hallmark of this approach is its broader view of the rural development process and the coordination under a single management system of essential components - not only the appropriate technology and education but access to physical inputs and markets and attractive prices - which are all designed to get agriculture moving. The management system may be highly authoritarian or it may be designed to provide, at least eventually, an important role for local people in planning, decision-making and implementation. Its cardinal emphasis
- 42 - is upon the rational development and coordination of all the principal
factors required for rural development. It points out the need to
create a balanced institutional and physical infrastructure in rural
areas to provide the necessary transport credit, input and marketing
services, as well as the information and education services required
for development. This systematic view of integrated development
spread rapidly in the late 1960s and early 1970s and resulted in some
comprehensive agricultural development projects, i.e. the Agricultural
Development Unit (CADU) in Ethiopia, and the Programme in Agricultural
Credit and Cooperation in Afghanistan (PACCA). There is also a well
known Pan African Institute for Development movement whose training
programmes adopt mainly the integrated approach to development based
in different places in Africa - Buea and Douala in Cameroon and Kabwe
in Zambia.
In addition to these approaches two others have emerged and
gained popularity in recent years. Though they may have existed
before the above, they had been generally applied to the wider context
of the development process. Recent events have drawn them into the
domain of rural development. These are the Participation and Basic
Needs approaches, which were both launched anew at the Geneva
Conference in the middle 1970s. They seem to complement each other
and blend into other approaches, thus bringing about a unifying factor
among the people and their governments. We start with the Basic Needs
approach.
The Basic Needs Approach
The basic human needs approach to development has been seen as a
further refinement of the redistribution with growth strategy. It has been developed primarily by the International Labour Organization
- 43 - and was adopted by governments, employers, and trade unions at the
1976 World Employment Conference. Basic needs means a concern not
just with improving the overall income of the poor, but with making
sure that they get all the essential elements for a tolerable life,
freedom from absolute need (adequate food, shelter, health, nutrition,
education, employment) and the right to participate in making
decisions that affect them.
The Conference decreed the following as the essential elements of
the Basic Needs approach in asserting their consequent line of action.
Firstly, basic needs were to be defined as including food/nutrition,
education, health, housing and sanitation. Secondly, there was to be
an emphasis on the basic human right to equality, part.icipation and
self reliance. Thirdly, to take immediate steps to meet these needs
and not to wait for the present protracted development process.
Fourthly, to provide for a dynamic changing situation in the planning
and execution of the strategy, recognising that conditions are fluid
and that monetary needs are likely to change. Fifthly, to recognise
that national and even local conditions vary considerably, requiring
the structuring of programmes that are specially suited to the
situation at hand. Six, that the successful conduct of this strategy will necessarily require new social structures and political forms for redistributing assets and incomes. Seventh, and lastly, that to effect the strategy will require a re-distribution of political power.
Because of these detailed, clearly defined rules of operation in the 15 strategy there is less ambiguity in the concept.
But there are concerns in some quarters. Sandbrook says
there is too much emphasis upon the quantification of basic needs and the elaboration of technically practicable combinations of measures, and too little concern with political feasibility. In consequence, the basic needs approach does constitute more in the way of a Utopian than a
- 44 - strategy. It offers a valuable vision of an alternative society and international order which has abolished poverty through reorganization of production, distribution, consumption and political institutions. But it does not really connect the ,.,1.S to t h' e oug h't , as any programme must seek to 16 do.
Participation in Development
Participation in development is now incorporated into the basic
needs philosophy, but, as it had gained currency in all spheres of
development even earlier than the Basic Needs approach, it stands out
on its own as a rural development strategy. Here, however, it will
be discussed as part of the Basic Needs approach in rural development.
The emphasis on participation in development comes in the wake of
the increasing conviction that development can be accelerated if the
energies and the resources Qf the people are mobilised and that the
poor have basic human rights, previously denied by unequal power
structures, to take part in making decisions that affect their
livelihoods. Though incorporated into the basic needs approach in
1976, the participation in development idea was actually incorporated
in the International Development Strategy for the United Nations
Second Development Decade in October 1970, where it was affirmed that
every effort would be made to secure the active support and
participation of all segments of the population in the development
process. In this strategy, participation was to occur at each stage
of the development process, in setting the goals and making the
decisions that affect the community, and in carrying out the plans and
sharing out the benefits. Participation and the Basic Needs approach
in general have been widely accepted as a philosophy by both
governments and donor agencies, including UN agencies such as the
World Bank, ILO, UNICEF, etc. However, while there is virtual
- 45 - agreement on the objectives, there is much disagreement on their
precise interpretation and on the most effective way of achieving
them. Among questions asked are: at what stage of development should
people participate? I t has been observed in some programmes, for
example community projects, that participation of the masses is
stressed at the implementation stage more than at the policy making
stage. On basic needs one of the questions asked is, what are they
and who determines them? It has been argued by some that even the 17 need to say what one's need is is a basic need. There are
obviously some unsettled questions, as one observer points out, "As so
often happens in the clarification of one set of issues new problems
are raised".18 One big question is, who determines the basic needs?
and on participation there is the question of the purpose of
participation; is it personal satisfaction? Many other questions 19 arise. These issues are crucial to any implementation programme and
a more critical view is taken as we look at these two approaches in
detail. But first it makes sense to look at the problems that such
strategies and approaches endeavour to address.
3 •. 3 Factors that Inhibit Progress and Participation in the Rural Areas
The problems of rural development are multi-dimensional. There are some that are easily identifiable, such as would arise from the unavailability or inadequacy of the main factors of production such as land, money, labour and machines. Others are more subtle and quite often hard to put ones finger on as they tend to be more cultural or psychological than physical. Consequently, it is these latter problems that are seldom directly tackled by rural development policies. An attempt is made in the following presentation to bring them to light, beginning with the more subtle ones.
- 46 - One of the well known underdevelopment theorists has said:
It is impossible to bring about a deliberate and purposeful change in the present without knowing how this present state came about. We can't ~uccessful~~ fight any phenomenon without knowing l.ts roots.
Szentes' statement could not have been more pertinent to the opening
of this section. As the objective of the study is to see how
participation can be promoted among the rural dwellers, it is
imperative to understand the dilemmas of these rural dwellers to fully
understand the roots of the phenomenon we are trying to fight. By so
doing we are acknowledging the fact that the Basic Needs approach or
Extension Strategy are not magic words that would lead to change by
their very sound. They are approaches that have to address certain
issues surrounding a phenomenon - in this case rural underdevelopment.
Almost everyone of the independent states of Africa has pledged
major efforts to stimulate rural development. However, to many
peoples' dismay, the consequences of these efforts, in most cases,
have tended to augment the growing gap between the so-called 'modern'
and productive export economy and the poverty of the rural masses in
the rural areas. Seidman, in her analysis of rural poverty in
Southern Africa makes the critical revelation that:
Schemes to extend marketing facilities, to provide rural credit, to mechanize agriculture, to build cooperatives, have barely altered the fact that the majority of the Africans stiltl struggle to survive on the threshold of hunger .••
Given this background of imbalances amidst continued efforts to eliminate poverty, it is not surprising that the question of the inter-relationship between the rapid growth of GNP on the one hand, and the persistence of rural problems on the other seem to dominate the literature on rural development, especially anxiety caused by poverty, ignorance and inequality, with all their harsh consequences.
- 47 - One notes such an anxiety in Mc Namara 's words:
The past quarter century has been a period of unprecedented change and progress in the developing world. And yet despite an impressive record, some 500 million individuals continue to be trapped in what I have termed absolute poverty: a condition of life so characterised by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be ~eneath any reasonable definition of human decency.2
It is Seidman also who has drawn the conclusion that:
If the explanation of the growing gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in Central and Southern Africa is inadequate, the proposed solutions ~ill 2 inevitably fail to improve life for the masses.
The empirical question is what then is the explanation? There
are four major areas in which we can try and seek the explanation
among the many factors that do exist. Firstly, international policies
and trade laws; secondly, government policies; thirdly, the lack of
a social security base and fourthly, the interrelatedness and
reinforCing nature of, rural problems.
3.3.1 International Policies and Trade Laws
In recent years it has become uncompromisingly clear that the
problems of rural development can no longer be confined to local and
national conditions only. The problems and causes of rural under-
development can be traced from the international level to the smallest household in the rural area of a developing country. These may arise from a foreign policy from the United Nations, e.g. sanctions against
South Africa may have been taken in New York or some place in the developed world but their effects were felt in the rural areas of countries which adhered to those sanctions. In Botswana hawkers' licence holders and other small business people, who usually buy rejects from firms cheaply in South Africa to sell in Botswana for their livelihood, would immediately feel the effects of such a policy.
- 48 - Some problems arise from world disaster Sf but the point to make is that
for many in the developing countries there is no compensation to
combat the effects of loss resulting from such disasters. The
problems are interwoven so much that the case of malnutrition in a
household can be traced back to foreign policies regarding
international relations. For an example, a man who works for a
foreign fishing company has no direc t benefit from the fish. His
family might still lack fish protein like any other family because the
fish he catches might be exported. Assuming that he catches little
fish for himself, it may very well be that he sells that fish to
augment his meagre salary from the fishing industry. But not often
are such conditions taken into account in helping these families. The
assumption is that since the father works in the fishing industry, the
children must be getting enough protein.
S el. d man 24 SUCC1nct. 1 y puts f orwar d anum b er 0 f pro bl ems re 1 ate d to
export and international relations. Starting her argument from the
fact that exports have been a great source of impoverishment in
developing Africa, she shows how traditional Western economic theory's
assumption that export growth should serve as an engine of
development, stimulating the spread of modern productive activities to
the countryside through the multiplier effect, had only perpetuated
rural problems.
The fundamental causes of the widespread rural underdevelopment
still characteristic of Africa are to be found not in traditional
attitudes and institutions, not even in the lack of market incentives,
but in the sets of institutions and class relationships shaped in the
process of creating the externally dependent export enclaves during the colonial era.
Colonialism systematically undermined pre-existing agricultural and trading systems in order to coerce
- 49 - Africans into providing the low cost labour needed to produce cheap raw materials for export to the factory of Europe. The basic industries, foreign and internal wholesale trade, and banks are dominated directly or indirectly by foreign firms, which mesh the export enclaves firmly into the external dependency network of the world capitalist system. The profits, interest, and high salaries drained from the continent by these foreign firms constitutes a major loss of irvestable surpluses for national development.
In Botswana one observer said the following, in relation to the
export enclave:
South Africa is the sole source of supply of secondary products, communication networks, transport, banking institutions, etc. OU~6country is an impoverished hostage of South Africa.
That the growth of the export enclaves contributed to the
impoverishment of the rural areas cannot be denied. It was done
directly, through the extraction of surpluses produced by the low paid
wage labourers generated out of the rural area reservoir, and
indirectly, in the form of surpluses accumulated from the sale of high
priced manufactured goods sold by the big trading firms and their
agents in both rural and urban areas. A major share of these
surpluses was shipped out of the countries concerned by the giant
f ~rms· d aminating the mines, tra d e an d f'~nance. 27
In all the countries, laws and administrative controls had the cumulative effect of turning control and ownership of vast 2~nes and estates over to foreign firms and settlers.
In no way can we see in this set up the improvement of the rural
and urban poor people. The situation gets even grimmer when one comes to realise that some of these forces are here to stay. The legacy of the colonial era is reproducing its effects through the new states.
Since Independence a newly emergent group of highly paid civil servants and politicians has become increasingly linked to the foreign trading firms in a variety of ways. In Botswana this group includes
- 50 - Permanent Secretaries and directors, some still in the service, others
who are retired. Together, these increasingly international groups
have tended "to perpetuate and aggrava t e th e 1 ops id e,d extremely dependent growth initiated during the colonial period".
An observation to this effect is made that:
In all of the ex-British and ex-Belgian states in Central and Southern Africa, a new class of Africans, termed by some the 'bureaucratic bourgeoisie', has emerged rapidly with the growth of the civil service and the upper echelons of the ruling political parties. Although at the outset its members did not control the major means of production - still owned outright by foreign firms and settlers, their position in the government gave them a base from which they could attain a status of dependent participants control. They tended from the beginning to be linked with the more advantaged, well-to-do groups in the villages. Some used their high salaries and newly acquired facilities to obtain bank credit to invest in large estates, as well as in trade and speculative real estate in burgeoning urban communities. Government 'African ization' policies combined with licensing powers rapidly endowed the 'bureaucratic bourgeoisie' with oligopolistic status as intermediaries between the firms dominating the export enclave and the impoverished populations selected individuals began to participate in the managements and as members of the board of directors of newly formed parastatals in which governments had invested directly. Thus they became directly associated with foreign firms and banking businesses which continued to handle the management, the marketing networks and in most cases, own a major sJifre of the capital invested in the export enclave.
3.3.2 Government Policies
The points we have just discussed surely show a strong link
between government policies and world markets. What is more, they show how government policies have directly put some members of the society in privileged positions more than others. When Botswana introduced house purchasing schemes, car loans and medical aid schemes for workers and civil servants, it was probably with good intentions.
The worker was helped through the House Purchasing Scheme to buy a
- 51 - house he/she occupied using rent as mortgage rebates. In this way
many civil servants were able to acquire houses in town for
themselves. Car loans also made it possible for many who could afford
it to purchase cars. But this could not be for everybody. In the
civil service consideration was based on one's salary and position and
occupation of a house under the scheme. The same went for the car
loans. The sad fact is, those who qualified were the already
advantaged ones already occupying a house, earning a better salary and
therefore eligible for bank credit. The majority of lowly paid civil
servants did not qualify due to their low status, but as for the
unemployed and the rural dweller, the consideration did not even
exist. They were totally excluded by the very process which aimed at
helping to upgrade the standard of living of the people.
Stuward has said about the excluding aspect of poverty,
For individuals and families, as well as for whole communities, exclusion from representing yourself, from being able to contribute to society, from acting independently, and from financial security - all denials of fundamental rights - brings in its wake that, in human terms, there is no future possible ... This is the grotesque and evil consequence of social exclusion. At its limit for the most impoverished and excluded men, women :find children, there is no future, humanly speaking.
Indeed such schemes, especially acquisition of houses, has proved a great investment and a great future for those who were eligible.
Using such houses as security they have been able to obtain more bank loans, build more houses and strengthen their positions in the internal markets and export enclaves and have maintained privileged positions in banks and parastatal organizations. For the rural dwellers and the unemployed in towns, the best prospects in such a competitive world are those of tenancy for some and for others squatter settlements will be the ultimate as long as they come to seek
- 52 - work in towns.
What makes it even more difficult to envisage change in the near
future is the fact that this bureaucratic bourgeoisie are also the
policy makers who will find it hard to make any drastic changes that
will jeopardise their privileged positions. Here and there in small
ways changes have been made; the banks started lending money to the
poor in 1980. At first the poor were considered a risk and did not
qualify for bank loans. Recently, the housing scheme privileges have
been extended to the rural areas, thereby making it possible for banks
to consider loans for people intending to build houses in the rural
areas. Initially loans were only granted for building houses in the
urban areas where title deeds were available, unlike the rural areas
where land was held in communal arrangements.
As a background to these limited changes for the poor,
gove-rnment, through extension workers and politicians, continues to
appeal to the poor people to participate and to be fully involved in
government programmes so that the rural areas become more productive.
But as someone has said:
Widespread appeals for peasants to exert greater efforts to expand rural production have been ineffective in such a context, because mere appeals cannot create new sets of institutions or contribute to expansion of the economy in any way which might restructu32 the narrow choices of the impoverished dwellers.
New factories are not built to provide markets for local
agricultural raw materials or to increase the productivity and the
living standards of the rural poor. Marketing institutions designed
to collect agricultural produce tend to purchase crops produced by the estate sector, e.g. Tuli Block in Botswana, in which the new dominant class now has a stake.
The other example of discriminative government policies are in
- 53 - · 33 11 wh a t L1pton ca s urban biased policies. According to him, most
facilities are available and better in the urban centres than they are
in the rural areas; among these he mentions schools, roads, and
health facilities. Moreover, it is not only the facilities that go to
the urban areas but even the exchange of goods from the rural and
urban areas are biased in favour of the urban dwellers. Here again,
one sees a situation where people are reduced to total dependence on
the 'powers that be', by government policies despite the fact that
they may have worked hard to raise their standard of living. Williams
Stuward in his study of poverty in Britain termed a similar situation
'exclusion from an independent existence'. He says the poorer a
family, the greater is the paradox they experience of being
misunderstood, rejected and excluded by everyone, and at the same time
having to depend on everyone. He says:
Money, the secure tenure of a house and work all corne from other people and are dependent t~4 a frightening extent on their kindness and humour.
Lack of storage facilities, lack of marketing opportunities and many other negative variables in the rural areas leave the struggling rural people with very little option, if any at all, but to continue to take their produce to the urban areas despite these uninviting conditions because this is where they can make sales, even if they are only small. Thus,
they are forced to rely for their livelihood on the image that employees of 'government' offices, these representatives of society, have of them. Their lives are subject to other people's understanding of poverty and morality and even courage. They are dependent on other people's understanding and sense of justice, on other people's interpretation of the facts, and other people's knowledge of the rights associated with their situation. They are dependent on a society that organises itself to intervene in an individual's or a family's daily life without their invitation or consent, and which generally avoids ~5ing held publicly accountable for its actions.
- 54 - In Botswana a situation has arisen where those holding office
have the advantage of choosing who they will attend to. Usually the
majority of victims of such an irresponsible attitude are people
coming from the rural areas for important services usually not
available in the rural areas. Hospitals, passport offices and post
offices are places in which one finds difficulty in being served just
because one is not known around. Ignorance and helplessness makes it
hard for poor people to take such cases up and the result is forever
slipping into helplessness. In theory, political power and enfranch-
isement are equal across the whole population, rich and poor. But in
fact
. .. the rich have power above the average. It is almost a cliche to say that money confers power. Lack of money also deprives people of the chance to exercise pow1~ and influence, even at the most modest level.
It is true that poor people may not know their rights and could
not go and complain, as in the above examples, but it is also true
that without money they would not dare approach the legal institutions
about their case. This state of affairs certainly restricts the full
participation of rural people.
Kishindo I s37 study of small holder production in Malawi points
out clearly how it is the development policies rather than the social
system that are at the root of agricultural backwardness. In Botswana
the Government has moved considerably from an urban to a rural bias
approach in its aid schemes. For over 12 years now, since 1975, the
Government has channelled resources, aid and loans from the World Bank
and other international organisations and individuals into small holding agriculture as well. Basic infrastructure and extension services are being expanded in the rural areas. But the rural sector continues to perpetuate imbalance and poverty and inequalities among
- 55 - the population. Most studies tend to blame extension workers'
performance for those poor results. The truth of the matter is, even
where these development policies are geared towards helping the poor,
e.g. in agriculture, they allow large-scale commercial farming to co-
exist with small holder farming. This co-existence has had the effect
of drawing people away from own-holding employment to wage employment
on the estates. Examples in Botswana include the Tribal Grazing Land
Policy (TGLP), the Arable Lands Development Programme (ALDEP), and the
Financial Assistance Policy (FAP). These are all good programmes in
themselves but they cannot function well within .the existing structure
where the survival of the fittest is the name of the game. Kishindo
concludes, in these words regarding small holding in Malawi:
The viability of small holder agricultural produce as an income generating activity has been diminished by the Government Policy of low producer prices and a tax on small holder produce. The government has also passed on to the small holder the rise in prices of farm inputs while holding producer prices almost static. This has had the effect of reducing average re yrns to labour in small holder agriculture. 3
What this conclusion shows is that no mat.ter how much Governments may
try to improve services in the rural areas, as long as structures
remain the same not much progress will be made. Experience shows that
for effective progress to take place the whole system of class
structures must shake, shift and bend to accommodate new ideas. The
advantaged groups must help the disadvantaged groups out of their
~/helplessness • On the question of employment, government has adopted
the trickle down theory - where assistance is given to someone who
already has got capital and some skill. The reasoning behind this is
that these rich entrepreneurs will prosper faster and therefore help
to expand the economy. This will employ the poor and invest within
the country and therefore allow more cash flow. What is happening,
- 56 - however, is directly the opposite. The system of trickle down has
actually widened the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. As
Seidman puts it:
The smaller African peasant, unable to expand his sales in competition with the larger estate farmers, inevitably finds himself squeezed out. His only remaining channel for escape from rural poverty is to flee the countryside, mainly hoping to share in the conspicuous consumption which political indepen~ence39has bestowed on a lucky few of his compatr10ts.
Meanwhile the trickle down theory places the rich man in an affluent
status where rather than expand the economy at home, to enable
borrowing and investment at home, he impoverishes the country further. 40 Todaro puts forward four reasons against this state of affluence.
Firstly, the rich in contemporary Third World countries, are not noted
for their frugality nor for their desire to save and invest
substantial proportions of their incomes in the local economy.
Instead, landlords, businessmen and politicians and the other rich
elites are known to squander much of their income on imported luxury
goods, expensive jewellery, houses, foreign travel and investment in
gold. Such savings and investments do not add to the nation's
productive resources. In fact, they represent substantial drains on
these resources in that the income so derived is often extracted from
the sweat and toil of common, uneducated and unskilled labourers. In
short the rich do not necessarily save and invest significant larger
proportions of their incomes (in the real economic sense of
'productive' domestic saving and investment).
The critics of this strategy argue that a growth strategy of this kind, which is based on "sizeable and growing income inequalities may in reality be nothing more than an opportunistic myth designed to perpetuate the vested interests and maintain the status quo of the economic and political elites of the Third World Nations, often at the
- 57 - expense of the great majority of the general population". Such
strategies, the critics suggest, "might better be called anti- 41 developmental". There is more trickling up than trickling down.
Secondly, the low incomes and low standards of living for the poor,
which are manifested in poor health, nutrition and education, can
lower their economic productivity and thereby lead directly and
indirectly to a slower-growing economy. Strategies to raise the
incomes and living standards of, say the poorest, would therefore
contribute not only to their material well-being but also to the
productivity and income of the economy as a whole. Thirdly, raising
the income levels of the poor will stimulate an overall increase in
the demand for locally produced necessity products, like food and
clothing. On the other hand, the rich tend to spend more of their
additional incomes on imported luxury goods. Rising demand for local
goods would provide a greater stimulus to local produc tion, local
employment and local investment, and thus create the conditions for
rapid growth and broader popular participation in that growth. Fourth
and finally, Todaro argues that a more equitable distribution of
income, achieved through the reduction of mass poverty, can stimulate
healthy economic expansion by acting as a powerful material and
psychological incentive to widespread public participation in the development process. On the other hand, wide income disparities and substantial absolute poverty can act as a powerful material and psychological disincentive to economic progress. It may even create the conditions for its ultimate rejection by the masses of frustrated and politically explosive people, especially those with considerable education.
Obviously the argument for dealing directly with the poor is parting from the basic economic argument presented by the Harrod-Domar
- 58 - 42 model. In the Harrod-Domar model the justification for the trickle
down theory is based on the assumption that high personal and
corporate incomes were necessary conditions of saving which made
possible investment and economic growth. The argument is that if the
rich save and invest significant proportions of their incomes I while
the poor spend all their income on consumption goods I and if GNP
growth rates are directly related to the proportion of national income
which is saved, then apparently, an economy characterised by highly
unequal distributions of income would save more and grow faster than
one with a more equitable distribution of income. Eventually, it was
assumed that national and per capita incomes would be high enough to
make possible sizeable .redistributing of income via tax and subsidy
programmes. But, until such a time is reached, any attempt to
redistribute incomes significantly would only serve to lower growth
rates and delay the time when a larger income pie could be cut up into
bigger slices for all population groups. What this model suggests is
an ideal situation where man is ready to share wealth or even to give
way to others. Unfortunately, experience shows a different picture
about human nature. Once up, people want to maintain their positions
and often this is done by treading down on the less fortunate,
exploiting them and using their privileged position to influence the
direction of development in their favour.
3.3.3 Lack of a Social Security Base
In traditional societies in Africa extended family and kinship
networks play an important role in the lives of the people.
Unfortunately, it seems very little attention has been paid to this phenomenon in development policies formulated to assist these people.
An interesting debate was held by the rural development workers
- 59 - about some causes of malnutrition, based on a study done in Nairobi 43
among working and non working mothers. Conclusions were drawn that
children of working mothers were malnourished because they ate only
foods like crisps and icecream because their mothers were away from
home most of the time and not able to monitor the children I seating
habits. Also it was concluded that working mothers spent more money
on expensive clothing and other luxury items than they did on food
because they wanted to identify with the expensive town life style.
This seemingly good analysis of the attitudes of working mothers
went on with all these negative observations until it was observed
that there had been no observation of the pressures that a salaried
person has from the demands of the extended family in the developing
countries of Africa. Immediately this observation raised the problems
faced by working people from the rural areas. Firstly, dependency on
the working relative means that they cannot have a decent day-to-day
life. They cannot afford most of the necessities of life, including a
balanced diet, because they share their meagre resources with a large
extended family. Secondly, neither they, nor the people they assist,
can make any investments or savings under such arrangements. On the
other hand there is pressure to present a successful public image and
a pressure from government to pay income tax, etc. This phenomenon in
certain areas is weakening the inter-dependence among villagers
through extended families. The inclination towards the nuclear family
has limited the capacity to encourage popular participation.
In Botswana as more people drift away from agriculture, due to
numerous forces, including droughts, lack of facilities, lack of
draught power, and the absence of men from the rural areas through urban migration, more demands are placed on the working relatives.
The current BNDPVI 44 still confirms that the poorest households
- 60 - receive about a quarter of their income from those relatives employed
in the modern sector. This state of affairs has far reaching
implications for the continued state of poverty and its reproduction.
Malnutrition results in mental under-development which then means that
already children from this category of deprivation will not perform
well at school and are therefore likely to drop out of school early.
Some that do well cannot afford the high fees and so have to drop out
of school and without adequate educational qualifications such
children are almost certainly doomed to a life of poverty. thereby
ultimately replacing their parents in the poverty group. Kasim et 45 al say poor children do not do very well in school because they may
be under-nourished, their home environments may not be supportive of
or conducive to study and their primary education in small, ill-
equipped and poorly-taught rural schools usually has been deficient.
The study of the poor families in Muda detailed that only about half
(51.5%) of poor paddy farmers in Muda in the age range of 15 to 19
years in 1982 had obtained a qualifying score for entry into higher
institutions of learning, compared to almost three-quarters (75%) of
children in the same age range in Peninsula Malaysia in 1980,
according to the population census of the year. And only about one
out of 10 of the children of the Muda had obtained a similar score.
These children are almost doomed, the deprivation of the poor parents
is passed on to their children and,in this manner,the poverty group is
being reproduced in Muda.
This is true of many developing countries and because in most
countries, including Botswana, there is no village welfare operating,
except drought relief measures, which are highly selective and only offered during droughts, it is clear that for many without kin there is little help forthcoming. Hence, even those who have risen from
- 61 - poverty through a working relative or certain scheme only survive on
borrowed time should the working relative die, simply because there is
no inheritance left except poverty and struggle. As Kasim et a1 put
it: "If the head of household dies or becomes seriously ill before
the children have finished secondary school, then the family can fall
into poverty or have its poverty aggravated as quickly as from one 46 season to the next". In such a case, people of the aff ec ted
family may drop out of their participation from certain projects to
take more responsibility in breadwinning for the family.
These revelations signal the fact that we can no longer explain
away the causes of rural poverty on the traditional attitudes and
beliefs of poor people not wanting to change. The efforts they make
to send their children to school are ample evidence that they want to
change. Unfortunately, it is hard to rise above the complications of
the deprivation cycle, which continue to entangle and to reproduce a
web around their lives. Another controversial area of debate among 47 development theorists is provoked by Rogers. As a sociologist he
traces the problems and causes of rural backwardness to the cultural
set up - the beliefs, attitudes of rural people towards development
and towards government. Totally influenced by the modernization
process theory, Rogers tends to blame the lack of "take off" on the
backwardness of the people more than anything else. Among things
cited as causes of poverty, it is argued that poor people rely or depend totally on government, at the same time as being hostile to that government; they lack the spirit of innovation; they are fatalistic and have limited aspirations; they lack deferred gratification; they have a limited view of the world and low empathy.
It would seem, according to this statement, that all lack of progress stems from the poor, rather than on the powers, structures
- 62 - and the processes surrounding them. Unfortunately, for many decades
this is how development workers and planners have viewed the poor
people. Not denying that this could be the case, Macdonald warns that
there must be a cause for this apathetic state in poor people's minds.
Like other development theorists he would like to see such a
phenomenon of underdevelopment of mind traced back to the root causes.
He says, "What is strange about Roger's approach is that he seems to
think it of no importance to consider how this stage of affairs came
about, its historical causes". 48 Many other observers would see
these characteristics as being sometimes the effects of under-
development and only then a means of estimation of the situa tion.
Quite often, change agents blame the poor people for being resistant to
change. The question is, how far are the rich willing to change
certain aspects of life? How far will a rich. man want to stop
exploiting the poor labourer on his farm, in his house as a domestic
servant, on the market as a buyer and consumer of the rich man's goods
- the same goods that the poor man has toiled to produce for the rich
man under poor working conditions? In my view, all this talk about the
poor being resistant to change and the rich being willing to change is
a myth. Even a rich policy-maker finds it difficult to change the
policy he benefits from.
3.3.4 The Interrelatedness and Reinforcing Nature of Rural Problems
Problems of rural development and their causes and effects are
interdependent and reinforcing. From the discussions above it is
obvious that poor people are in perpetual situations of deprivation and poverty and any strategy aimed at helping these people will not succeed unless this basic condition is changed. Bertelsen argues this from a point of inequality saying:
- 63 - Factors of inequality like poverty are usually mutually reinforcing, 'whatever the basic reason for inequality be it race, caste, religion, se~~ physical and mental qualities, income or wealth!
High incomes facilitate capital formation, further income accrues from
that often accompanied by social status. This stimulates further
income and wealth which gives access to a variety of opportunities,
including high educational levels for the rich and their children.
The earning capacity is encouraged by higher education attainment and
increased individual capacity to overcome a number of the hazards of
life. All this brings advantages of social status leading to
influential positions.
In the same way as the advantages are mutually reinforcing,
economic and social handicaps are usually cumulative. The children of
the poor may first of all be inadequately nourished, hence more
exposed to disease, they may not get a long initial formal education -
in many cases they may not go to school at all and will be expected to
supplement a scanty family income by work. Naturally this group will
for a long life-time be restrained to unskilled but arduous work which leaves them littl~ time and strength to look after their families and themselves. Sometimes social and psychological problems become super- imposed on the economic problems and,worst of al~ they may lose their sense of dignity and equal human worth and come to accept themselves and their like as inferior human beings, dependent on other people and on forces they think they cannot in any way control. At this stage nothing else will motivate them to participate in existing programmes and this is succinctly explained by Williams:
These 'extreme cases', who seem such a burden on society and who appear sO indifferent to attempts to help them, are not simply the worst victims of the present recession, or of family tragedy or misfortune. They are the entrenched and persist ently poor, whose long history of suffering and
- 64 - struggle has given rise to particular family traditions, social behaviour, work experiences, religious and cultural outlooks and hopes and aspirations. Their lives and their view of the world have been forged by the fight generations of the same families have had for their very existence; against the dispossession of their lands, against the humiliations of the workhouses, against being left behind by organised workers, against the unceasing removal of their children, against the dislocation of life brought about by homelessness and against the ignorance and 50 mistrust of the world at large. (Au thor's own emphasis) .
William's conclusion is that society is ignoring this on-going
struggle for survival appearing "not to want to accept that sense can
-- only be made of these families' present lives if it is seen in the
context of their efforts over generations to survive and integrate
themselves into the community" 51
Bernstein concludes by the statement that:
There seems little doubt that in the absence of conscious and deliberate social action inequalit!2s will not diminish but on the contrary increase.
There is then a strong case for corrective action and in
countries that have attained a higher degree of economic and social
equality than others, it is possible by a study of economic and social
history to trace the landmarks that have led to that development.
From the previous chapter it is evident that countries with such
landmarks are those who opted for a Basic Needs approach in their
development.
Among measures taken are the considerable redistributive action
by means of taxation of the rich and the provision of social benefits
for the poor and otherwise handicapped. The foregoing discussions
have examined the problems of rural underdevelopment and its causation
and eff ec ts • The summary of this debate emphasises that self-
fulfilment, human dignity and equality of worth must be upheld by
- 65 - development theorists as the central issue, thus getting away from
capital formation which seems to concentrate on the already privileged
of the societies. The contention of this study is that such qualities
of human development can only start by first tackling the question of
Basic Needs. 53 Seers seems to hold the same view of development - development
means the potential of human personality. He brings into focus an
interesting analogy which does not portray fatalistic attitudes as
interpreted conventionally, rather he sees the psychological effect of
the level of poverty making people lethargic. Seers argues that the
absolute necessity for human existence is food and he says below
certain levels of nutrition a man lacks not merely bodily energy and
good health but even interest in much beside food. He cannot rise
significantly above an animal existence. Statistical evidence has
shown that undernourishment of children leads to permanent impairment
of both their physical and mental capacities. This analogy explains a
number of things about the state and the condition of the rural poor.
Children brought up under these conditions will find it physically
hard and mentally impossible to climb the social ladder of education
which is often measured by good performance even if financially later
in the years they get assistance. The selection process then throws
them off the pyramid. It 1s these kinds of underlying problems that
need tackling if we are to help the rural poor. Whatever our corrective measures are. they must be seen to be striving towards developing the human potential, self fulfilment and dignity, especially for the poorest of our communities. Chambers shows the need for this in his call to put the last first:
For those who have a decent and secure livelihood. the relationship between more wealth and greater happiness is an open question. For those at the lower end of the scale trapped in poverty, things
- 66 - are clearer. Extremes of material and social deprivation can narrow awareness and warp, emQitter and kill. So it seems all the more right to concentrate on the 'last'. on the hundreds of millions of largely unseen people in rural areas who are ~~or, weak, isolated, vulnerable and powerless.
Such an approach,of course, calls for a carefully selected strategy or
a combination of strategies which can bring about development by
actually starting with man and his levels of needs. In the following
section it will be interesting to look at those strategies, by first
looking at what rural development should be about and what its
relationship with Adult Education should be.
3.4 Factors of Production
The central focus in many developing countries is to increase
productivity. The progress that has been made by many developing
countries in the last 29 years is in terms of per capita incomes, and
in some non income fields such as education, health service, growth in
infrastructure to support industrial development and an increased
ability to accept and 'adopt' things (with limitations) and technology
for development purposes. However, despite this growth record, world 55 poverty in these countries "has not been appreciably lessened".
The way to overcome the disparities of absolute poverty is seen
by some to be in the increase of agricultural productivity, especially
through the small holding farmers who form the majority of the rural population. 56 Programmes of change directed to raising levels of productivity have, however, encountered many obstacles; among these there have been agricultural handicaps caused by lack of credit facilities for agricultural producers, inadequate distribution of land arising from traditional land tenure systems, inadequate supply of water for irrigation, poor communication facilities and bad roads,
- 67 - especially in rainy seasons, inadequate marketing facilities, poor
climatic conditions including droughts and famine and absence of 57 effective agricultural extension policies. Migration and women as
heads of households are other phenomena' that continue to offset
plans for progress. Women, on the other hand, are excluded in many
ways due to cultural and policy formulations. Concentration of
assistance by and large goes to men.
The lack of money and agricultural credit constitutes a serious
obstacle to farmers. It is no use giving a farmer a piece of land
when he has no money to invest in it. Lacking any benevolent help,
the farmer is often obliged to resort to the professional money-
lenders who traditionally charge very high interest, showing that they
are practically the only providers of credit to farmers in remote 59 rural areas. Sometimes, (e.g. in Botswana), such moneylenders may
refuse to lend money,but ask the desperate farmer to sell their cattle
at very low prices to him. The money the farmer gets for his cattle
is so small, in this case, that it still does not help him much
(Mohamed, 1983; Gaborone, 1981 and Kishindo, 1983). Money or credit
as a factor of production can be converted into other arms of
resources like labour, draught power, purchasing power, for example to
buy farm implements and inputs such as fertilizers, seeds and insecticides. Without money to purchase these prerequisites for modern farming, farmers may resort to old forms of farming, not because they do not accept the new methods,but because the new methods are too expensive for thelh to adopt. In cases where the credit is limited, like it is always due to the restrictions laid by banks and other credit facilities due to limited capacity of the poor farmers to 60 pay back loans, they become too careful in their spending. For example, the farmer may adopt the idea of using a fertilizer but may
- 68 - not use the right amounts for recommended acreage because the aim
would be to cover a wider area with small amounts of fertilizer. This
may be termed a lack of entrepreneur spirit or fear of taking risks.
In such cases small, poor farmers are seen as people whose opportunity
cost is at zero point in economy. But recent studies revealed a
different picture. Kishindo's study drew this conclusion:
Farmers try to cut their costs of production by spreading the inputs, especially fertilizer, by applying less than recommended levels. This in turn reduces potential outputs. The available evidence shows that non-adoptions or partial adoption of a technological package is not always due to conservation, but a real desire to cu down costs and an attempt to avoid the debt trap. 61
Although the study was undertaken in Malawi, it reveals a general
picture about small farmers without credit everywhere. Gaborone's
study in Botswana also comparing the small farmers and big farmer had
this to say:
Interestingly, the ownership of farming implements and the type, although not entirely reliable, can roughly indicate the size of the fa1r2er' s purse and the degree of his progressiveness.
There is statistical support for this statement. In that study, 84%
of the respondents owned an ox plough, while 26% owned row planters;
24% owned cultivators, while 16% owned harrows. Only 4% owned
tractors, and 2% owned a tractor and a plough; only a .18% used
fertilizers and manure because they could afford to hire labour to haul the manure.
Progressive farmers are the few who own most of the factors of production. They can invest not only in agriculture but even in other buSinesses, such as shops, to augment their agricultural proceeds.
Because of that they can secure bank loans easily, thus continuing to improve themselves and their families, while the reverse is the case for the small farmer. Lack of monitoring on the part of extension
- 69 - workers has meant that in some cases farmers have used their
agricultural credits for other ceremonies, instead of increasing
production. It is debatable, however, before one really understands
the cultural values of people to pass judgement that spending on
ceremonies was wasteful. Cultural values and cultural development for
some people rank just as high as economic development. While one
would agree that credit is given for productivity in agriculture in
such cases ~ one would like to see the humanistic approach in such
assistance. There must be room for the farmer to decide. Adult
Educators, in this respect, should be seen to be helping the farmers
become aware of what opportunities there are related to different
choices so as to enable them to make less risky decisions.
The inadequate distribution of land is another obstacle
contributing to low productivity in agriculture. The private
ownership of land wielded by the power of the purse and capitalist
land tenure policies have stripped most of the farmers of this very
important factor of production. The result has been dependency on big
farmers with its frustrations and low morale and lack of motivation
for the poor. Often poor people have been blamed for lack of
innovation and lack of aspirations. But under these circumstances
they are left with no room for aspirations and innovation. They are now 'objects' in the development process rather than subjects. The dependency has reduced them to the 'culture of Silence', where they 63 are mute at the mercy of the landlords.
There are instances where landlords claim from share-croppers as much as three-quarters of their produce. Drains and canals, which are owned by landlords who have the resources to maintain them are another means by which the landlord exercises control over his tenant.
Similarly there are problems of land tenure in tribal communities
- 70 - where neither the members of the tribes as individuals, nor their
families as a group, are entitled to the continuing possession of
land. These systems of land tenure provide few incentives for land
conservation and improvement, resulting eventually in a deterioration
of the land. In many development countrie~ individual family farms
are very small and cannot provide a decent standard of living for
their owners. The size of the farm may not be suitable to provide 64 adequate employment for the growing family. In Botswana, the National Migration Study (NMS, 1978/9) found that 79% of rural
dwelling units had a wage-employed member. The study further showed
that over one-third of the rural dwelling units relied on arable and
livestock production and wage employment, 13% relied on wages solely,
and one quarter of all rural dwelling units were wholly dependent on
agriculture. Those working for others, both on freehold farms and in
the traditional sector, are regarded as in wage-employment.
Before these revelations there was a belief that a Batswana's
birthright was enough land to graze his cattle and grow food for his
family. But this has been dismissed. This criterion reflects a
quaint and outdated concept of equity.
It allows those with the largest cattle herds to take effective possession of the largest ar~3s of grazing land because their need is greatest.
Another problem associated with access to land in Botswana is
destumping fields which needs good labour and money. The problem is
particularly acute for female headed households who form 30% of all
households in Botswana. A large proportion of these are among the
poorest. They lack labour force and draught power. have few small
livestock and little land that they cannot fully exploit due to
problems of destumping which needs both labour and money. Gaborone concludes thus:
- 71 - Access of an availability of land should not be taken for granted. It is a problem that directly contributes to decreased agricultural p~oduction. For instance, about 10% of land in Botswana is said to be suitable for arable farming while 80% of Batswana are wholly dependent on family agriculture. This 10% of arable land includes both the communal area and the private farms. Huge as Botswana's land surface is, this whole mass is not suitable for agriculture. This immediately becomes clear if problems of 66-and shortages are examined district by district.
FAO's report disclosed that:
Prior to the survey, it was considered that land was available for the asking. This assumption did not stand up in the light of the survey data and in-depth interviews. Surprisingly over 40% of the households stated that their land holdings were insufficient for their needs. The land was either insufficient because it was too small or too depleted or the locatigl} and cost of development of land was uneconomic.
Associated with lack of access to land and credit, another factor
which is considered a maj or negative force in a subsistence peasant
economy is lack of access to draught power. This includes animal
draught power, e.g. oxen, donkeys, horses, mules, as well as the
modern farming equipment. To be lacking in access to the more
technological equipment such as tractors is serious enough, but to
lack both the traditional and technological equipment is
incapacitating. For this reason some farmers have had to abandon
their lands for wage employment either in the urban areas or for other
farmers in the rural areas. The NDPVI sums up the situation in
Botswana thus:
Since a household's ability to plough depends on access to draught power, the large number of households who do not own cattle are at a marked disad~~ntage in making productive use of their land.
Disparities in ownership of draught power are alarming. A study in Francistown69 showed that of 10,850 farming families only 112 owned a working tractor, and four were in a tractor syndicate. Cattle,
- 72 - donkeys, and horses are often affected by droughts and they form a
very unreliable alternative to tractors. Furthermore, ownership of
these is very skewed. The NMS found that 45% of rural households did
not own cattle at all,while almost half the national herd was owned by
the top 7% of owners (commercial cattle farmers and traditional owners
with more than 100 head). Thus the incomes among cattle owners are
themselves unequal. The large number of cattle owners with small
herds only reap modest returns. In 1978 the average income earned
from sales and home consumption of cattle for the poorest half of the
large proportion of small cattle owners was just over P200 a year (£48
- £70), according to the present pound exchange rate. These returns
cannot enable farmers to buy or even to hire available forms of
draught.
In the past, this disparity was not very obvious, because of the
mafisa system, which tended to hide inequalities of wealth between
households without cattle and those with large herds of cattle. The
system of mafisa was an arrangement whereby the owner places his stock
. under another party's care and management. Receiving households can
use mafisa cattle for draught power, milk and periodically (e.g. after
a year) receive a calf. However, the sale and slaughter of those
mafisa are the prerogative of the owner. As mentioned, this practice
tended to 'hide' pockets of poverty within Botswana. In fact, as
Gaborone puts it, mafisa tended to confirm the existence of poverty or
inequalities of wealth in Botswana because the mafisa arrangement was practiced between the wealthy and the poor, not between the poor themselves. 70 Nonetheless, mafisa, with its 'hide out' aspect, placed poorer people in a position of advantage. They could not suffer chronic malnutrition as long as they had those cattle, because they could milk them and could use them for draught power thus
- 73 - ensuring productivity on their part. With the idea of keeping the
cattle within their charge around their own farm areas, not the
mafisa-owned farm areas, the mafisa receivers enjoyed the dignity and
human potential which is sometimes eroded when people have to go and
stay in the custody of their employers. (This discussion continues
in the following chapter). From the annual payments of a beast from
the mafisa cattle some people were able to eventually own a few
cattle. At least there was more helping and sharing of 'wealth' in
this manner than the exploitative fashion followed today, where money
is the main exchange but under 'loose' conditions where employers are
not forced by any policy to pay within certain levels for different
tasks done. The mafisa is no longer widely practised. The FAG 72
report found that 88% of the cattle were held by their owners and 9%
were 'mafisa' to the holder. Lack of draught power in some cases has
meant late ploughing for farmers who borrow cattle from others after
the cattle owners have finished ploughing. But the early ploughing
means higher yields. Late ploughers face problems of not catching
the necessary dampness in the ground. They miss the advantage of the
first rains and in the end they have to put up with birds and cattle which seek to destroy their crops. It is not surprising that
Alverson's study had the largest number of respondents citing lack of access to draught power as the biggest constraint on increased production. 73
Whilst money is the single biggest factor which can inhibit or promote productivity because cash can be converted into other factors of production 74, in some cases privatization of land ownership has made it difficult for people coming from the following generations to buy land. The status quo of landlord-land tenant becomes a permanent 'independent variable'. The least people can do is pay
- 74 - rent at very high prices, a process which is highly selective because
as prices for land lease go higher, the fewer the number who continue
to get such land.
Lack of access to the labour force is ranked high as another
negative factor in rural productivity. Alverson (1979) found that
"labour availability throughout the season, was the principal
criterion by which the decision to use given quantities of other
inputs to production was arrived at".75 In other words, Alverson's
study reveals that among such things as destumping, land clearing,
weeding, bird scaring, harvesting, etc., the farmers only did the
amount for which there was predicted to be sufficient labour in each
phase of the agriculture cycle.
Alverson writes that while poor farmers gen~rally give draught
power as the constraint, it is still labour shortage that ranks second
as a constraint to increased production - further, he concludes, if
the poorer farmers were to obtain draught power whereby they could
greatly increase hectarage cultivated, it seems highly probable they
would then face the problem of labour shortage as severely as do the
more prosperous farmers. Meanwhile, the potential labour force
bargaining power is determined by a number of factors. For example, a
perceived ability of the farmer to pay at a given time, a rich farmer
to pay in this case, may offer a higher pay than his counterpart thus
taking all the available labour for himself. (Some parts of Botswana
still face situations where big farmers from South Africa come in with
trucks to whisk the labour away). The economic situation of workers at a particular time may determine at what rates they can accept to work. If they have alternative means they may reject the offers made by the farmer at a crucial time of labour. It is common in Botswana to come across rich farmers who have long-standing relationships with
- 75 - potential labourers in their communities. This is an advantage to
them because these labourers may prefer to work for them even if other
farmers offer to pay higher prices. This is true mostly where the
employer is a kinsman, but there are also families who have been kept
by others as cattle herdsmen and domestic servants from generation to
generation who continue to this present day. These are a source of
cheap labour to the 'inheriting' families. The tendency is to show
allegiance to the rich family for 'future security' because it is
observed that they have got other investments, such that should crops
fail, they may employ people around their other business or bet ter
still, they are potential employers all the time. This patronizing,
paternalistic pattern of labour acquisition makes it extremely
difficult for a small farmer to secure the necessary labour for his
farm work.
Though this is the picture of labour supply in Botswana, it would
appear that others face the problem elsewhere. Kishindo had these
conclusions on problems of labour supply:
"The farmer faces a number of constraints as regards the labour supply; his choice of labour is limited by the type of payment required, and what resources he himself has at is disposal. There is also the problem of time any hired labour is prepared to spend from their holdings. This may put restrictions on the quantity of labour available for hire even if the 7't,rmer has the necessary resources to pay for it".
This point has many implications when considering human worth and dignity and contribution to the economy.
These problems make cash crop production a poor alternative to wage employment even when at the low statutory wage. This is more so if the prices of consumer goods such as paraffin, salt and soap continue to rise. The internal terms of trade, as we saw in the last chapter, are often heavily balanced against farm products. This
- 76 - affects the viability of small holder agriculture which in Botswana
means over 70% of rural households. Wage employment, even at low
rates, then becomes an inevitable option; at least it offers a
regular income that is not possible under small holder production.
In the end, evidence shows that rural poverty in countries like
Botswana is not alleviated by agricultural production but by wage
employment. In Botswana the NMS in 1978/79 noting the importance of
off-farm income, found that 79% of rural dwellings had a wage-employed
member. This trend is likely to continue. Botswana's continuous
droughts exacerbated the situation. NDPV (1985-90) reveals that 90%
of all rural dwelling units produced harvests that were insufficient
to feed their households. The average harvested crops per unit was
800 kg, which was less than half the 1700 kg required for subsistence
of the average household. The serious implications posed by the
decline of agriculture as a major rural employer cannot be over-
emphasised. Fewer than a quarter of rural households depend solely
on their agricultural activities, yet according to 1981 census almost
three-quarters of Botswana's population was rural.
Problems of malnutrition due to low nutritional standards have
resulted from the decline in agriculture. In the drought periods incidence of malnutrition in children rose to between 29% and 32%, despite the considerable expansion of supplementary feeding. NDPVI recently said:
"The persistence of substantial under-nourishment even in years of relatively good crop production and livestock conditions, indicates a structural poverty problem".
To sum up,the plan says:
"It is clear that the majority of Botswana's households are poor, poverty is more evident in rural areas than among the urban population; the households most affected (apart from a significant number of outright destitutes) are those who do
- 77 - not have viable cattle herds, those without cattle at all, female headed households, and those who do not engage in agriculture at all (including hunters, gatherers and other remote dwellers). These categories overlap, so that for example, households which are both female headed and non livestock o~~ng are likely to be especially impoverished.
This shows clearly the poverty trap and its cumulative effects.
It should be made clear that even though we talk about wage
-=; employment as an alternativ~ there are not enough jobs to absorb
workers. Wage employment available in South Africa actually strips
the rural areas of the strong labour and leaves female labour behind
who cannot perform some of the hard farm chores. The NDP analysis of
the situation is that after droughts most families have difficulties
in regaining their levels of production due to the loss of assets,
particularly livestock and other factors such as migration of the most
productive workers away from the farming sector.
"The readiness of Batswana workers, especially men, to leave the rural areas for temporary employment elsewhere the long tradition of migrant labour to South Africa - reflects the lack of equal opportunities at home and ha~8probably exacerbated the cycle of rural poverty".
Employment Opportunities
As mentioned above, the small-size family farms and other
inhibiting factors have caused the decline in agriculture as the major
employer. Employment creation in developing countries has now become
one of the priorities in the rural areas. Probably this is why
education, more especially Adult Education, is seen as the panacea for
solving the rural employment creation. One of the things Adult
Education is trying to do is to offer to develop knowledge and skills
in crafts and other factors that can lead to the formation of rural
industries. This is, however, often slowed down by lack of basic
- 78 - infrastructure. It is, however, very important to realize that
creation of employment will remain the corner stone of the country's
economy. Countries like Botswana, with a population of about a
million,but with 55% of the population being on the feeding schemes,
despite the sales of diamond and other minerals, signal that without
agricultural production increased poverty is sure to stay for some
people. In creating employment, therefore, ways must still be sought
which can improve methods of agriculture to give it back its major
employing status. It is important also to take into consideration
people's cultural outlook, attitudes and patterns of life in creating
rural employment. Some schemes demand certain qualities that rural
people do not have, and a~ a result, people who get employed are still
not from the rural areas but may be commuting from towns. An
example given is the Gezira cotton scheme in the Sudan, which though
labour intensive, did not help many Sudanese who looked at it as
inferior and low paying, which led the Sudan Government to encourage
immigrants from neighbouring African countries - who were prepared to
do that sort of work, to come and settle in the scheme. A human
being has different needs, among them sense of dignity and equality of
worth. This is often overshadowed by the desperate situations of
need that poor people want to flee from. Schemes of training and
indeed Adult Education may have to consider alongside imparting
skills, to include general adaptation to the industrial environment such as work habits and attitude changes.
Employment creation in the rural areas is sometimes made difficult by lack of supportive infrastructure. In some cases where it has been thought agro-industries could be established, the necessary infrastructure proves to be a hindrance. Compared with urban areas, rural areas are provided with a lower proportion of essential services
- 79 - such as domestic water supply, electricity, waste disposal and
communications network. Hence, the tendency has been to establish
small scale, less technological, and light industries in rural areas.
Consequently, labour productivity is relatively low compared with
urban areas. Big farmers have the worst conditions under which they
want people to work and wonder why people leave such employment.
Access roads may be usable only during the dry seasons, and sometimes
the development of potentially productive areas can be held up by a
simple communications obstacle. The FAO report depicts what I find
very similar to Botswana's situation:
tlIn Asia especially, a considerable percentage of the total traffic will continue to be carried in human or animal drawn carts. Here the use of rubber wheefq can contribute greatly to transport efficiency.
Other. means of communication, e.g. telephones and postal services,
may be inadequate or non-existent in some areas. You could not, until
quite recently, in some parts of Botswana even get a clear radio
transmission on Radio Botswana, which means that they have to depend
entirely on the contact· with the adult educator, but these contacts
were not made on a regular basis. The Department of
Telecommunications iS,at present, building some microwave towers which
it is hoped will greatly improve the radio communications. With high
illiteracy rates it is not even easy to facilitate learning by distribution of literature. This is another point which will be discussed further to demonstrate how adult education personnel or even programmes cannot be expected to bring any big change on their own.
The chapter has discussed at length the problems of rural development, especially factors inhibiting productivity. There is very little that shows that these problems can be blamed on the capacity of the people to comprehend or to change their attitudes to
- 80 - be less traditional in outlook as sometimes the belief tends to be.
Low productivity is caused by lack of access to the factors of
production and the biased policies of government which have not
drastically reduced the 'advantage gap' of the more prosperous farmers
as against the small poor farmers. Government policies also,
especially in Botswana, have not responded appropriately to the
problems of low productivity which in some cases have been exacerbated
by droughts. How can a country having 55% of the million population
relying on feeding schemes, not have any projects to counter such a
problem? Expanding the feeding programmes and employing more
extension workers are important, but only as a supplementary step to
projects geared towards stimulation of production. Perhaps it is time
for irrigation schemes to be tried, even though difficult in the short
.run, in the long run they should be workable.
How far does our adult educators' training equip learners to
challenge issues such as government policies, to give the trainees
some more insights into what rural development is really about? It
would seem too much to assume that Adult Education can bring about
meaningful change without first equipping the adult educators with all
the necessary tools for that task - tools which include understanding
of rural development and its interrelated problems.
Adult Education has been used in different countries by different
individuals, groups and countries to achieve what they wanted. It can
be used to cause revolution, in which case the adult educator
advocates a drastic change in the system by conscientizing others to what is happening around them and daring to speak out to change the situation.
It may be used to cause a reform. This is mostly when it is used by individual and groups. It may still be used to conserve what is in
- 81 - the interest of the elites who are also policy makers (see Harries- 80 81 Jenkins and Thomas(l975)also Oakley on formation of groups). But
it can also be used to maintain the sta tus quo, in which case Adul t
Educators become instruments of the state to follow and interpret and
implement government policies to people. The study of the
relationship between Adult Education and rural development such as
this one, therefore needs to ask the question: Rural Development for
what? This question is important in that it brings into the
discussion, issues of the process of change and ideology. Rural
development for a capitalist state would try to improve the situatio~
but not to effect the structural change which would affect capital or
the mode of production. On the other hand, the socialist ideology
would like to see a dismantling of capitalist patterns of ownership -
thereby calling for a complete transformation of processes and
interrelationships of persons, the rich, the poor, the urban, as well
as the rural people, beginning to share more equitably the major
resources which form the basic factors of production. Those who hold
this view argue that programmes which seek to alter distribution
without altering the capitalist market structure within which income 82 and wealth are generated and distributed, are doomed to failure.
This approach obviously would not take Adult Education as the first step to encouraging growth. One observer concluded his study on training in these words:
The problem of food self-sufficiency, i.e. agricultural problems that face ordinary Botswana farmers or peasants, are a result of the socio economic conditions that are not favourably disposed towards them. Since farmer education or extension services are not geared to highlighting of the root-causes of these problems nor at their eradication, it is naive to think that equipping farmers only with skills and knowl8~ge will necessarily solve agricultural problems.
It is true that adult education is needed in development.
- 82 - Development needs people's participation and involvement. These, in
turn, need an enlightened people who would know and understand issues
concerning the development process. But adult education becomes very
restrictive and limiting if it does not highlight the socio-economic
conditions which affect production and if it does not empower people
to change them. Imparting of knowledge and skills and encouragement
to change, the~ becomes irrelevant and frustrating because the
usability of those skills and knowledge is dependent on 'the
accessibility to and availability of money (credit), labour, seeds,
water, fertilizers, land and draught power to convert them into
action. It would appear that as long as non-formal education
continues to see problems of poverty in terms of lack of skills,
knowledge and modern commercial attitudes on the part of the
individual, poor farmer and not on the capitalistic class basis, its
effectiveness will always remain limited.
Against this background, rural development in a society like
Botswana should be seen as essentially a transformation of its mode of
production to fall in line with one of the national development
objectives which is social justice.
In the study of the relationship between adult education and
rural development in Botswana, it will be interesting, among other
things, to see what the Rural Development objectives have been and how
they in turn have influenced the direction of adult education
programmes that will be examined. Adult education is to encourage
participation which should occur at each stage of the development process, in setting the goals and making decisions that affect the community, in carrying out the plans and in sharing the benefits.
It was important to discuss the 'subtle' inhibiting factors because they are likely to be missed in the tackling of the question
- 83 - of rural development, as they do not directly fall under the factors
of production as much as it was important to put the obvious ones
(land, capital, machines) in the right perspective. The section attempted to highlight their contribution in the plight of the poor
people nonetheless. It was argued, for example, that factors which
inhibit progress among the poor are in some cases attributable to
international links such as world trade relations and foreign policies
which decide prices of items and detemine the exchange rates of
different countries.
The BNDP VI (Botswana National Development Plans VI, 1985-1991)
analyses the situation in Botswana showing the significance of the
above in argument:
There is perhaps some irony here. Bot swana ' s progress since Independence has reduced the vulnerability of individual Batswana to the effects of drought since the country can now afford extra food imports and the government has the administrative capacity to organise their distribution, using the improved network that has been developed over the past 18 years. However, this very progress has rendered the economy more vulnerable in macroeconomic terms. With a largely subsistence economy before, 1966, outside economy events did little to touch the life of an average Motswana. But with an increasingly sophisticated economy, interdependence with the rest of the world has increased, and Botswana is now affected by all manner of changes abroad: oil prices, diamond prices and sales, copper and nickel prices, exchange with currencies not previously used, interest rates, the financial strength of companies who invest in Botswana current vulnerability is much more complex than that of the 19605 and 8it represents a major challenge for the future.
Within the agricultural sector, the cattle industry's contribution to
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) predominates, currently accounting for almost 80% of gross output within the sector, which goes to d em on s t ra t e ju s t ho w much the EEC , (which sets the prices of meat exports), influences the largest part of the economy and the
- 84 - livelihood of the farmers in Botswana. Other factors which inhibit
progress among the poor people in both rural and urban areas, as
discussed, are due to the cycle of deprivation in which such groups
find themselves. Because development programmes are not always
designed to eliminate or fight poverty, but rather improve the
standard of living with the widening gap between the 'haves' and 'have
nots', poor people often find themselves not making any progress in
development, e.g. in investments and savings. Rather they find
themselves caught up in the poverty trap. Consequently alongside
the 'economic achievements', e.g. the rise in per capita incomes,
there continues to be a poverty cycle which then perpetuates the
vicious circle of underdevelopment in the developing countries. 85
The conclusion reached in this section is that such problems as
have been discussed cannot be tackled by adult education alone since
it is not the attitudes of the people that hinder progress so much as
a host of inhibiting factors, ranging from government policies, power
structure and the distributive machinery of wealth. Some problems
are global rather than local, therefore there is doubt that adult
education programmes which deal with people locally, could more than
scratch the surface in their pursuance of solutions to such problems.
For adult education practice, these discussions have shown that there
are two sets of factors - frame factors which are broad and sometimes
difficult to solve, e.g. world politics and environmental conditions,
and the action factors which are more specific - these include needs
assessment, targeting of programmes and resource allocation. The relevance of these in the programme planning and management will become clearer in Chapter Eight where field analysis is discussed (see
Figure 8.1).86
- 85 - Footnotes - Chapter Three
1. Ujamaa - referred to 'familyhood' co-operative villages where people were persuaded to establish small communal plots and to share proceeds at harvest time. These were launched as part of the Tanzanian Socialism and Rural Development policy under the Arusha Declaration of 1967.
2. See Smith, W.E., Nyerere of Tanzania, TransAfrica Publishers, Nairobi (1974), p. 1. President Nyerere said these words encouraging the people of Tanzania to engage in agriculture.
3. See Aziz, S., op.cit. who has discussed rural development success in China especially in its agricultural practices. This, however, does not mean that China's model" could provide the basis of intellectual or academic consensus in the debate on development alternatives. Nyerere himself turned to China for assistance but remained non-aligned. See Smith, W.E. in ibid, pp. 20-21. Nyerere said about China: " ••• The stage of their development 1s relevant to us. I wish I could state this as true, observed fact, and nothing more. But when I say, 'from China we can learn', they say we are going Red". Todaro, op.cit. (1977), pp. 242-246 gives reasons why China presented a unique rural development approach.
4. Cherry, G.E., Rural Planning Problems (ed.)' Leonard Hill, 1976, Robert Mclehose & Co.Ltd., Printers to the University of Glasgow (1976), pp. 1-2.
5. Coombs, P.H., and Ahmed, M., Attacking Rural Poverty: How non formal education can help: A World Bank Research Publication. The authors undertook a study commissioned by the World Bank in 1971 under the International Council for Educational Development (ICED) looking into the problems of development, especially of rural areas. Other related studies are in Coombs, P. H., The World Educational Crisis: A systems analysis, New York and London, Oxford University Press (1968). World Bank, "Education Sector Working Paper", Washington D.C., September (1971), International Commission on the Development of Education, Learning to be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow, Paris: UNESCO, London, George G. Harrap & Co. (1972).
6. Robert McNamara's speech to the World Bank's Board of Governors on 24 September 1974 on rural poverty, op.cit.
7. Cherry, G.E. op.cit._ p.l.
8. Russell, A.J., "The village in myth and reality", Chester House Publications, quoted ibid, pp. 1-2.
9. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, The Integrated Approach to Rural Development in Africa, United Nations, New York, (197l) in Moham'ed, op.cit., p. 15.
10. Ministry of Overseas Development, Rural Development Report of Working Group, London (1969), p. 1.
- 86 - 11. Lele. U., The Design of Rural Development: Lessons from Africa, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore & London (1975), p. 20.
12. The World Bank, Rural Development: Sector Policy Paper, World Bank, London, February (1975).
13. Ibid.
14. Coombs, Philip E. and Ahmed, M., op.cit., pp.24-25. Parts of the description of the approaches are given here in verbatim.
15. Harrison, Paul, op.cit. Other contributors on this topic are United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Popular Participation in Decision Making for Development, U.N., New York (1975) and Ghai et aI, op.cit., I.L.O., Geneva (1979).
16. Sand brook , R. , The Politics of Basic Needs: Urban Aspec t s of Assaulting Poverty in Africa, Heineman, London (1985) (ed.), p. I 17.
17. Real needs and who determines them is a highly debatable issue. See Armstrong, P., 'The needs meeting ideology in liberal adult education', International Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol. 1, no. 4. (1982).
18. Streeten, P., "'Basic Needs I, some unsettled questions", Boston University in World Development, Vol. 12, no. 9, Great Britain (1984), pp. 973-978.
19. Ibid, p.973.
20. Szentes, T., op. cit., quoted by MacDonald, J. in The Theory and Practice of Integrated Rural Development, Manchester Monographs, Direct Design (Bournemouth) Ltd., (1981).
21. Seidman, Anne, "The Economics of Eliminating Poverty" in The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa, edited by Palmer and Parsons, Heineman, London (1977), p.410.
22. McNamara, R.S., Address to the Board of Governors, op.cit.
23. Seidman, op.cit. p.4l0.
24. ibid.
25. ibid. In making this point she also refers to the works of Amin Samir, head of the Institute of Development and Economic Commission for Africa in 'Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa Origins and Contemporary Forms', Journal of Modern African Studies, 10 (1972), pp. 504-24.
26. Modise, I. F. Address to Batswana bus'iness community in Loba tse quoted by Gaborone op.cit. (1986).
27. op.cit.
28. ibid, p. 413.
- 87 - 29. ibid, p. 416.
30. ibid, pp. 416-417.
31. Williams, Stuward, "The Hidden Face of Poverty" in Excluding the Poor. op.cit., p. 28.
32. Seidman, A. op.cit., p. 417.
33. Lipton, Michael, Why Poor People Stay Poor. Urban Bias in World Development, Temple Smith, London (1977), p. 26.
34. Williams. S. in op.cit. He calls this an exclusion from an independent existence.
35. Ward, Sue, "Power, Politics and Poverty" ~., p.33.
36. ~.
37. Kishindo, P.A., Agricultural devel~llL.J'-t...... the graSs.I:oats.':. __L study of small holders in Malawi, (1983), unpublished PhD thesis.
38. ibid • ." 39. Seidman, A., op.cit.
40. For empirical support of this argument with regard to rural savings and investment, see Keith Griffin: "Rural Development: the policy optionse, in E.O. Edwards (ed.) Employment in Developing Nations. Columbia Press, New York, 1974, pp. 190-191, also in Todaro, op.cit., pp. 152-153.
41. ibid., p. 149.
42. Todaro, op.cit., p. 87 and p. 152.
43. Discussions were led by a nutritionist who had just completed a "Study on Malnutrition among lr!orking "tothers in Kenya" (yet to be published) to course participants who were from several British universities attending a course on Rural Development and Community Development Work at Reading University, l-lay, 1986. i 44. Mini~try of Finance and Development Planning, National Development I Plan VI! Botswana 1985-91 (1985), Government Printer, Gaborone, I Dec. (1985), pp. 20-21. I I 45. Kasim, S. et.al., Poor Malays Spe()l~ Out. MClrican and Sons, Malaysiai (eds.) 1984. pp. 55-57. I 46. ibid.
47. Rogers, E.M. and Svennning, L., op.cit.
48. MacDonald, J., op.cit. quoted by Dalton in ibid.
49. Bertelsen. P.H., 'The Potential Contribution of Adult Education to the Reduction of Economic and Social Inequalities in Developing Countries'. Paper presented to the International Symposium on1Ehc 88 Role of Adult Education in Reducing Inequalities and Raising Levels of Professional Qualification and Cultural Standards~' University of Madras, Jan. 28 - Feb. 1, 1980.
50. Williams, Stuward, op.cit., p. 22.
51. ~.
52. Bertelsen, op.cit.
53. Seers, D., 'The Meaning of Development', International Development Review, Vol. XI, no. 4 (Dec. 1969).
54. Chambers, R., Rural Development: Putting the Last First, Longman, New York (1983).
55. The Development Coordination Committee, Development Issues, op. cit., p. 6 .
56. The World Bank, op.cit.
57. McNamara, R., op.cit.
58. Kishindo, M., op.cit., p. 154. His study gives a full account of these problems facing small fa~mers in Malawi.
59. Gaborone, S., The Evaluation of the Impala Farmer Training Centre, Institute of Adult Education, University of Botswana (1980). The study was held in the northern parts of Botswana but its findings revealed common problems allover the country.
60. Kishindo, M., op.cit., p. 154.
61. ibid.
62. op.cit. (1981).
63. Freire, P., The Politics of Education, Culture, Power and Liberation, MacMillan Publishers Ltd., London (1985).
64. Five types of agrarian systems can be distinguished. See Roxborough, I., Theories of Underdevelopment, Macmillan Press Ltd., London (1979), p. 96.
65. Egner, E.B. and Klaussen, A.L., 'Poverty in Botswana', National Institute of Development and Cultural Research Working Paper No. 29 (1980), University College of Botswana, pp. 219-222.
66. Gaborone, S., op.cit., pp. 22-23.
67. FAD: Report on a Study of Constraints on Agricultural Development in the Republic of Botswana, November, 1974. The Government of Botswana was assisted by the UN/FAD World Food Programme, Rome, (Nov. 1974), p. 57.
68. National Development Plan VI, op.cit., p.20.
- 89 - 69. Department of Agricultural Field Services Annual Plan, 1980/81, Gaborone (1981), p.54.
70. Gaborone, S., op.cit., p. 23.
71. ibid.
72. FAO Report, op.cit., p. 66 referred to in ibid.
73. Alverson, H., op.cit. (1978) referred to in Gaborone, S. (1980), op.cit., p. 23.
74. Gaborone (1981), op.cit., p. 25; Sue Ward, op.cit., p. 33.
75. Alverson, op.cit., pp. 10-12.
76. Kishindo, M., op.cit.
77. National Development Plan VI, op.cit.
78. ibid.
79. FAO, Marketing Problems and Improvement Programme, Marketing Guide No.1, F.A.O., Italy, 1958, p.52.
80. Thomas, E.J. and Harris-Jenkins, Adult Education and Social Change in Studies in Adult Education, Vol. 7, No.1, April 1975, pp.1-2. They see adult education as a continuum starting with conservation-reformation-revo1ution and allover again - depending on whose interest it is intended to serve.
81. Oakley, P., University of Reading, 1986. He believed that change can come if there are pressure groups helping the less strong to protest - these views were expressed at a conference in Reading, 1986, where the researcher attended. Mimeograph.
82. Mabogunje, A.L. 1980, pp. 35-50.
83. Gaborone, S. op.cit. (1981), p. 19.
84. Botswana National Development Plan VI, 1985, op.cit., p. 21.
85. Botswana more than tripled her per capita income in 20 years. President Masire launching NDP VI said: "Economic progress since Independence has been dramatic, with per capita income rising by over five times". Meanwhile the number of feeding scheme recipients is recorded at 55% of the population. People depend on daily rations for survival.
86. Rifkin, Susan B., Community Participation in MCH/FP Programmes - An Analysis Based on Case Study Materials, Abstract from unpublished PhD thesis, University of Reading, October (1984), p. 26. These factors have been identified in previous studies, e.g., World Health Organization/UNICEF, Community Involvement in Primary Health Care, A Study of the Process of Community Motivation and Continued Participation, Geneva, WHO, 1977 and discussed extensively by Rifkin in her study.
- 90 - CHAPTER FOUR
RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND ADULT EDUCATION IN BOTSWANA
4.1 Introduction to Botswana
After starting as a very poor country after the 80 years of
British rule from 1885 to 1966, Botswana has made remarkable strides
in her economy, with the increase in per capita income rising by over
five times Since Independence. However, like many developing
countries, Botswana faces problems of lopsided development, with some
sections of the population doing much better than the others,
especially those dwelling in the rural areas. As with all
characteristics of colonization and neo-colonization, the history of
Botswana shares in the blame for this lopsided pattern of development.
In this section, the main geographical political-economic and
social features of Botswana, including some institutional changes that
have occurred since Independence, are discussed. The section serves
to outline the main problems that the study endeavours to address.
For instance, how far did the situation at Independence influence
rural development policies ideologically and functionally? How far
had the people been prepared to participate in the issues of decision
making? What problems does such a situation present for the meeting
of basic needs regarding both the choice of the strategy and its implementation through adult education? We discuss first the present by way of introduction, then history, followed by the socia-economic profile which forms the core of our debate.
- 91 - 4.1.1 Geographical features and politics
Botswana, a vast landlocked country in the Central Plateau of
2 Southern Africa, the size of Kenya or France; 570, 000 kIn with a
small population of 1.1 million, gained its independence from Britain
in 1966. It is a non-racial democracy which maintains freedom of
speech, freedom of the press and freedom of association and it is a
multi-party state which was led to Independence by the first leader of
the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), the late Sir Seretse Khama
who died in 1980. His successor was Dr. Masire who still leads the
Democratic Party and the country.
There are four opposition parties, the Botswana People I s Party
(BPP), which started around the same time as the BDP; the Botswana
Independence Party (BIP); the Botswana National Front (BNF) and the
Botswana Progressive Union (BPU). The ruling party is very popular
particularly among the older generation while the BNF is popular among
the youth and not so popular among the older generations (except the
Chiefs - BNF' s manifesto promised to restore some privileges to the
Chiefs lost during thE! colonial and post Independence eras). All
citizens are eligible to vote from the age of 21. Botswana has
maintained relative stability within the region which has resulted in
her being continually called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to her neighbours; (offering shelter to the refugees) Zambia and
Zimbabwe in the North and North East, Namibia on the West, Angola on the North West and Caprivi Strip, Mozambique on the East and South
Africa in the South. Botswana occasionally suffers from border attacks from her neighbours, mainly South Africa, who blame her for harbouring terrorists by way of giving shelter to refugees. In recent years Botswana's casualty numbers from South African raids and bombings has increased; in spite of this, due to her landlocked
- 92 - position Botswana still has strong economic and trade ties with South
Africa.
4.1.2 Climatic Conditions
Much of the country (61%) is not arable but forms part of the
Kalahari desert and is good only for pastoral farming. The climate
is described as semi-arid with very high summer temperatures and the
hot' sun often scorches plants. Summer is also a growing season for
farmers and the hot sun therefore exacerbates the difficulties of
agriculture by raising the temperature and increasing the rate of
mOisture loss. The average daily maximum temperature is about 33°C in
January and 22°C. in July, whilst extremes can reach 43°C and 32 °C
respectively (NDP VI, 1985). The average daily minimum temperatures
are confined to the South and South Western parts of the country and
although snow does not occur like in neighbouring South Africa and
Lesotho, early morning frosts may occur from June to August.
The rainfall is scanty, highly erratic and unreliable, often
seasonal between the months of October and April. Most rainfall
occurs in localised showers and thunderstorms and its incidence is
highly variable both in time and space. The volume of rainfall is
also a poor indicator of its value, since there is a rapid run-off and drainage during the short, intense storms that account for the bulk of the rainfall that falls. This is often a double blow for poor people, especially those in the squatter settlements and poorly erected houses in the urban and the rural areas. Such storms often sweep away properties and homes which obviously were weak structures all along. Worst of all, storms often destroy germinating plants in most fields to the extent that re-planting is needed. For the majority of poor farmers the cost of re-planting is just too high as
- 93 - most probably they would have put all of their money into their
initial ploughing. In the same way these heavy rains can be a menace
to the growing plants, early cold winds just before harvesting can
also have devastating effects and can destroy hopes of a good harvest.
On the other hand, lack of stored water often forces farmers to
abandon the lands earlier.
Drought is also a recurring hazard in Botswana, with the present
one which lasted six years since 1982 being the longest and
representing the worst sequence since the 1960s. In 1966 the country
lost a million head of cattle through drought. The country made a
speedy recovery through the 1970s assisted by minerals; diamonds in
Orapa and Jwaneng, copper-nickel in Selibe Pikwe. and coal in
Morupule. But current droughts have caused great losses for farmers.
Droughts affect not only crops but livestock and wildlife ~hich forms
one third of Botswana's economy through tourism. But worst of all it
affects water availability. As a result the majority of the
population reside on the eastern part of the country due to the
availability of water, and there is high population density in those
parts.
There are a few big dams in the country which collect water
during the rainy season. Gaborone dam, in the capital, supplies the capital's industries and people with water, as well as electricity.
Gaborone dam also assists the dams in the South with three-quarters of its water supplying Lobatse town and the Botswana Meat Commission - the BMC. BMC is the biggest and oldest abattoir in the country whose potential has been under-utilized due to lack of sufficient water supply. For instance, despite its long operation, there are no substantial industries emanating or directly coming from its operations as forward and backward linkages. Its main contribution
- 94 - therefore has been in cattle sales rather than on creating more
opportunities for industrial employment. Most parts of the country
are served by underground water through boreholes which suffer regular breakdowns.
4.1.3 The Economy
Botswana's economy is based largely on the mining industry,
agriculture both pastoral and arable, and tourism. Of all these
industries, agriculture is the highest employer, especially for the
rural areas. Due to low output because of many inhibiting factors,
such as migrant labour, droughts, and low or no credits, more people
are moving away from agriculture to towns in the hope of cash
employment, but as industrial development is still limited, people do
not get immediately absorbed into urban sector employment. The result
of this has been overcrowding and squalor coupled with increased crime
and juvenile delinquency. This problem has forced the government to
engage in employment creation strategies which range from self-
employment in small industries in towns to rural industries employment
in the rural areas. Though educational standards and educational
facilities have increased, the demands for education outweigh the
provision of facilities, and this continues to be a setback for the
Ministry of Education. As a result education provision is community,
private and parastatal. The number of those that never went to
school is still large and efforts through non-formal education and literacy are employed.
Against these odds, Botswana is striving to improve the situation wherever possible. President Masire launching the current National
Development Plan three years ago said:
••• Economic progress since Independence has been dramatic, with per capita income rising by over
- 95 - five times. In addition a concentrated effort has been made, and is still continuing, to develop and upgrade the country I s social infrastructure such as schools, health facilities, roads and housing. However, there have been setbacks along the way. The current drought, now in the fourth year running, has decimated arable agriculture and is having a severe impact on the national cattle herd. (At present recorded at three million). Strenuous efforts have been made to ensure that the population - especially vulnerable grou£s, have been adequately fed during this period ...
In the wake of her problems Botswana has adopted t.he four widely
used National Developing Planning objectives of rapid economic growth,
social justice, and economic independence to go with the principles of
Democracy, Development, Self-reliance and Unity. All government
policies are founded on these principles. During the current plan
two special themes have been put forward to reinforce the national
principles. The themes are employment crea t ion and rural develop-
ment. Many aspects of these themes have been tackled and for this
study we pursue the extension strategy which is the one mostly used to
mobilize human resources in rural development, while financial
resources are sought through mining. Before turning to rural
development and adult education, we need to review the history and the
socio-economic profile of the rural areas.
4.2 History
Unlike many British ex-colonies, Botswana was colonized at her
own reques t . After the Germans had settled in Namibia there were
threats of expanding their occupation to neighbouring countries
including Botswana. These threats prompted the traditional leaders
of that time to seek protection, and led by the missionaries who were
at that time in the country, three chiefs went to Queen Victoria
seeking protection against the Boers and the Germans in 1885. Britain was at the time worried by the invasion of what she regarded as her
- 96 - territory by these Germans from Namibia and to restrict the Boers from
the German contact, Britain grabbed the chance of settling alongside
the Germans by granting Botswana protection - thus from 1885 Botswana
was declared Bechuanaland Protectorate.
From that time the country's development was shaped largely by
the needs of its neighbours, South Africa and Rhodesia and also by the
political goals of Britain. Its colonization became of strategic
value to Britain. As Bermingham (1977) put it 'British designs on
Central Africa were the key elements motivating the European scramble
for this African territory,.2
Because its largest part was a desert, Britain did not see any
feasibility of development within the country and therefore 'Britain
consistently treated the protectorate as an unwanted backwater where
economic exploitation was not possible ,.3 Botswana was therefore
treated as a squatter settlement of South Africa. It was asserted by
the colonial government that the Batswana could best contribute to the
prosperity of the Empire by acting as a migrant force in South Africa
or Southern Rhodesia. Those who remained in the territory were
encouraged to work for either the few mining concessions or European
farmers. Thus apart from a few residential houses for Commissioners
and the police, any development even, that of basic infrastructure,
was not attempted. Most institutions which would serve even the
interest of the colonisers such as schools and hospitals were situated
in South Africa. The capital and the government headquarters with all necessary facilities was situated in Mafeking in what is now known as
Boputhatswana. This concentration of office facilities in a foreign country proved to be a real setback when Botswana got independence. In a way it pre-determined the bias towards urban development as opposed to
- 97 - rural development, as government had to start building infrastructure
from the base where state administrative operations were to take
place. Thus while other ex-colonies, and governments of independent
states, e.g. Kenya and Zambia, inherited well developed urban centres,
in Botswana rural and urban development was at zero point at
Independence.
This under-development was maintained largely because 'opportunity and prosperity in the protecto'rate would have dissuaded
migrant labourers journeying outside the territory and would not have
coincided with the desires of either the British or the settlers'. 4
Every effort was made to lure people into building infrastructure in
South Africa and working in the mine factories, industries. and farms.
Efforts to recruit young men to mines in South Africa included payment
of officers per head.
In one report a British officer stationed in Botswana voiced
concern at the drainage of workforce at cheap rates. He said
The territory is flooded by both white and coloured persons calling themselves labour agents who visit our country and induce our natives by flattering promises to go to Johannesburg to work in the mines, the agent receiving a certain amount per ~ad from the company to whom they take the boys. In 1901 the possibility of incorporating the protectorate into
South Africa was envisaged. This new move gave more strength to the development of South Africa, attracting large numbers of the workforce into South Africa. While young men and middle aged men were drawn into the mines, young women were absorbed into factories, farms and as domestic servants, leaving their home settings in complete abandonment. Children and youth were left with old ladies and old men. This caused a considerable destruction of social organization and stripped agriculture of a potential workforce, another deliberate effort to create dependency on markets from South Africa even for
- 98 - basic foodstuffs. Unfortunately this aspect did not change much after
Independence. South African farmers still sell a lot of their crops
in Botswana competing with small farmers within the country. Another
comparison with other countries can be made here, that in the
industrial countries the move from agriculture to industries was a
boom to development, because this was backed by the mechanization of
agriculture. Industries gave cash to workers so industrialization
complemented agriculture and vice versa. In Botswana this was not
the case. Cash from industries was far too meagre to support people
at home, let alone improve farm inputs. So agriculture suffered not
only the absences of a strong workforce but continued use of crude
technology and weak unskilled labour. Though South Africa finally
abandoned the idea of incorporating Botswana in 1960, when it left the
Commonwealth, Botswana remained part of the Southern African customs
union that included Lesotho and Swaziland, a situation which continues
up to today. In a way, by this arrangement, South Africa continued
where Britain left off as a colonizer. Cheap recruitment continued,
foodstuffs were sold from South Africa and Botswana even used the
Rand/cents (South African) currency.
Only towards the end of the seventies did Botswana. through negotiations, attain some right to the protection of new industries.
This right has also been accorded to the other former protectorates,
Lesotho and Swaziland.
4.3. The Socio-Econoaic Profile
Botswana's socio-economic profile, the struggle and the tremendous performance of the post-independence period can best be summed up by Parson's political analysis of the region.
In his analysis which relates more to political economy, five
- 99 - distinct phases emerge: the pre-colonial period, the colonial period,
the period just before independence, the independence period, and 15
to 20 years after independence. These phases are of paramount
importance to the discussions at this juncture because they formed a
mould within which Botswana's pattern of development was made. The
study of communities such as the present one always involves the
reconstruction of the past to illuminate the present and following
that to predict the future. For this reason we examine briefly these
five phases to see how they relate to the question of rural
development and participation through adult education in Botswana.
In his presentation, Parson maintained that:
To understand the trajectory of changes in the relationship of class and state caused by dependent development requires a political economy theory in the tradition of Marx. Any theory of this sort must be rooted in the fundamental insight that human society is essentially characterized by the history of relationships defining the production and distribution of goods. In a capitalist mode of production these relation- ships develop in the process of capital accumulation. They are forged in the constan struggle to create and appropriate surplus value. 6
In the pre-colonial period the main feature was the mode of
production where the majority of the people depended on subsistence
agriculture, every person owning some form of communal land. The
chiefs who were the main administrators co-ordinated their societies
in such a way that the poor members of the society were catered for
through other economic activities organized collectively and through
loan cattle called mafisa. In this way even though agriculture was not modernized nor commercialized the communities still managed to maintain themselves through agricul ture. Cash was not highly in demand at this time but this changed when the colonial government came in.
This period was the start of the stagnation of African economies.
- 100 - They were now being absorbed into a capitalist mode of production and
the distribution of goods and services. Most of all there was now
created a situation of a 'core' and a 'periphery' - the colonial
governments being the 'core' and the colonies being the periphery, and
this explains most of the things that followed there-after in the
colonies. As Parson: puts it:
These struggles and tendencies are likely to provide a solid explanation for the distinction between the 'core' and the periphery. If capitalism expanded from the original areas in which it developed because of these tendencies, then struggles and crises between interests in the new and old areas determined the form capitalism took in those new places to which it spread. Those forms then developed in response to the situation of the periphery, although their continuing motivation is determined by subord ination to the dynamics of the whole process of accumulation located elsewhere. In Europe capitalism there developed the factory system,. machine production, supporting financial and trade institutions and a proletariat, as well as a form of state to manage, and reproduce the autonomous, nationally based, system of accumu lation •.• Cheap food and consumer goods for the European working class, raw materials for manu facturing, and capital were needed on terms favourable to European development at the time. Consequently, social and political relations outside Europe could take forms which would sustain European development, these might or might not be the forms taken in Europe itself. To the extent that those social and political relations outside Europe had the intended effect they were as adeqpate and complete as others might be in Europe.
The period of colonial government therefore saw the formation of
peasant commodity production and labour reserves which produced
primary and intermediate goods for consumption at the centre organized
through European dominated state organizations in the periphery. This in turn led to technological stagnation and the loss of autonomous control over production in the periphery~
It is clear that European rule 'had the effect of undermining the dynamism of pre-colonial economies and re-orientating their production
- 101 - 8 towards an integration with Europe. Botswana was no exception to
this onslaught. After becoming a British protectorate in 1885, it.
was transformed into a labour reserve colonial society ~ through the
combination of the demand for large quantities of cheap labour in
South Africa, and a British government interest that the
administration of the Protectorate be self-supporting and that 9 Bechuanaland should complement other British interests. There was
no chance of resistance because the political mechanisms of the day
were used to accomplish this transformation.
The British colonial state imposed taxation, demarcated and alienated the land, and economically integrated Bechuanaland into a regional economy dominated by South Africa. In addition restrictions on selling cattle in South Africa, and on Africans engaging in trade, combined with the absence of wage work in the Protectorate, meant that the money to pay taxes and fulfil the subsistence needs of housr8olds could only come from wages earned elsewhere.
One of the most devastating effects to be felt in the later years
by Batswana, through this transformation of their economies, was the
decline in agriculture which has deteriorated ever since and has left
the rural areas in a continual struggle of impoverishment. Botswana
adopted its migratory working class character from this time in the
process of capital accumulation represented by mining production in
South Africa. By 1943 an estimated half of all adult males between
the ages of 15 and 44 were absent, mostly working in mines. Thus as the analyst rightly observes:
In effect the peasantry was dispossessed through the political actions of the colonial state. Although the peasantry continued to enjoy absolute rights to use some land, its agricultural production Ifould no longer produce full subsistence.
In 1964 more than one-third of males aged 20-35 were absent from
Bechuanaland; more than twice as many persons were working in South
- 102 - Africa as recorded in employment in the country.
There then was a creation of a peasantariat while in Europe the
counterparts would be the proletariat because even though migrants
worked in South Africa they still maintained families in the
Protectorate. Consequently, as a working class,
it was characterised by a wage lower than the necessary cost of social reproduc tion because a portion of that cost was met by the dt2ect production of households in the Protectorate.
These low wages could not in any way compensate for the loss from
agriculture, neither could they help in the provision of services or
encouragement of businesses within the Protectorate. 13 Meanwhile the
mines themselves reaped considerable benefits by virtue of the fact
that they did not have to pay any wages reflecting the full cost of
reproducing labour.
The interesting feature of the period just before Independence in
1966 is the formation of the political elite mainly coming from the
primary school teachers, clerks and messengers who developed
grievances about racial discrimination and the repressive nature of
colonialism. Some of these were at the time working in South Africa
and educated there. These started a political struggle for
independence and in 1966 the Democratic Party led by the late Sir
Seretse Khama, led the country into Independence. But it was against such a hostile background that the new government found itself with very limited options of where to start and how to proceed. Rural development was one of the areas that suffered because of these constraints and hesitation in the minds of the leaders and the planners.
Gaborone14 points to the fact that it was not until the 19805 that Government came out with a clear policy on rural development.
Sir Seretse Khama inherited a helplessly dependent, very weak and
- 103 - highly externalised national economy. The economy was actually an
extension of South Africa's. Roads and railway carried labour to
South Africa and goods to Bechuanaland. Botswana continued to be a
member of the Southern African Customs Union, 'deriving a significant
amount of its recurrent revenue from customs union, but unable to
affect their rates'. 15 The South African currency Rand/cents was the
legal currency and the country's financial system was part of the Rand
monetary area. Its recurrent budget was balanced through direct
grants from the British Treasury and all development expenditure was
externally financed.
4.4 Botswana at Independence
This historical and geo-political scenario of Botswana posed
multi-faceted problems for the new government. President Kl1ama
described the situation in these words:
When my government took office in 1965 we were faced with a problem of under-development of claSSic proportions. Such development programmes as were initiated under colonization no more than scratched the surface of our problems. Most important of all in contrast to other British colonies there had been practically no attempt to train Batswana to run their own country. Not one secondary ,.~ool was completed by the Colonial government.
At this time Botswana suffered a severe period of drought and the
country had lost over a million herd of cat tIe. As a country whose
economy relied mainly on agriculture and tourism the situation was
devastating. In fact at this time Botswana was classified as one of
the world's 25 poorest countries.
But from the unique state of under-developed colony, the
condition of a suburb, Botswana has pushed herself to another unique position - a position of stability and progress in her government. It is still one of the few African independent states which has a multi-
- 104 - party and multi-racial government. The ruling party which has led the
country since Independence has had the opportunity of long
government, so most development plans have gone through as anticipated.
The country's economy has been boosted by the discovery of
minerals, diamonds and copper nickel and 15 years after Independence,
Botswana boasts of a remarkably rapid growth based on the development
of mining and meat exports within a capitalist economy. GDP grew 20-
fold between 1966 and 1980, rising from P37 million to Pl92 million in
1973/74. Per capita income rose from P68 to P200 in 1973/74. By 1980
GDP increased to P670.9 million. There are better roads and schools
and the number of school children has increased. The current plan . 17 (NDP VI) reveals that there is still a steady rise in growth and
more programmes and projects continue to start up, thus sustaining
this growth.
However, the revelations behind this success story are not that
encouraging. For even though Botswana can boast about 20-fold growth
in 15 years of independence, the crippling effects of poverty,
ignorance and inequality mar this beautiful picture. Because of the
difficult position Botswana found herself in at Independence, the
tendency has been to give urban development precedence over rural
development, despite the fact that this is where the majority of the people lived and that Botswana relied heavily on an agricultural subsistence economy.
It has been observed that in the period 1966 to 1983 actual and projected expenditure on domestic development totalled roughly Pl,407 million.
But relatively little was spent on crop production, rural roads, small villages or rural health programmes, projects which most directly affected the peasantariat. The majority of
- 105 - expenditure was for infrastructure: main roa~~, urban development, and government institutions.
This strategy of 'save' now and redistribute later only helped to
widen the gap between the urban and the rural areas more. In the early seventies when emphasis was laid on rural employment creation,
the 'trickle down theory' was adopted. A few enterprising rural
dwellers were assisted financially to start businesses in the hope
that they would in turn employ more people in their areas. But here
also the tendency was to hire the members of the family thereby
defeating the purpose of redistribution through such employment. As
Coombs and others observe the approach only helps to solidify the
situation and instead of trickling down to the rest of the villagers
the benefits of such an approach 'trickled up' or trickled down so
slowly that the advantage gap widened even among the rural dwellers. 19
More programmes geared to promote people's participation were
introduced but only seemed to alienate the poorer sec tions of the
communities. Adult education was resorted to as the panacea for
improving the rural areas. Indeed the government had seen the effects
of these projects before, when, during the early years of
Independence, during famine and droughts, people had contributed to the
national development through self help projects. Thus the government
relied on the communities for rural development. Emphasis was laid on adult education and subsequently on the creation of cadres to work with adults through extension work. The creation of cadres was supported by training to prepare the adult educators for their task of convincing people to accept change. What seemed to remain a neglected area was services and conditions which tackled the basic problem in the rural areas - poverty. Lack of clear policies on poverty oriented programmes, and especially those that tackled the question of basic needs,weakened the efforts of adult education and extension work. In
- 106 - Botswana therefore participation is still a difficult problem. There
are numerous factors inhibiting participation and lack of basic needs
provision ranks high among these factors. Recently, however,
government has increased Schemes which hopefully will change the
plight of the poor - how soon, it is hard to say at the moment.
4.5 Extension Work in Botswana*
4.5.1 Brief historical overview
The evolution and practice of extension work has taken various
forms in Botswana. An attempt is made here to review these forms by
identifying some phases of interest.
First there is the introduction period in 1914 when the colonial
government encouraged production by offering seedlings to enterprising
farmers coupled with some instruction on farm practices. Agri-
cultural education gradually increased from this time until the 1930s
based largely on the North American approach and concentrating only on
progressive farmers. The majority of the people were not touched by
this development.
Another phase of adult education emerged in 1925, when in the
Education Policy paper something appeared on adult education. There was a realization that adult education could neither be agriculture nor formal schooling only. The paper thus stated that:
The main purpose of this memorandum is to show the educational significance of the inter-relation of all the factors in community life. The school can make its most effective contribution only as part of a more comprehensive programme directed to the improvement of the total life of the community.
* In Botswana the terms Adult Education and Extension are used interchangeably and this is how they are used in this study.
- 107 - The hindrances to social advancement need to be attacked simultaneously from many sides. The true educa.tional aim is the education, not only of the young, but of the whole community, through the co-ordination of the activ~oies of all agencies aiming at social improvement.
Before this policy paper, any form of adult education was through the
contribution of mission schools, who codified Botswana's language and
whose teaching of Christian literature introduced some adults to
literacy, even though most of this was for children. Slowly these
churches introduced other forms of non-formal education skills,
building skills for the construe tion of churches, social work and
leadership skills for working among Christian communities.
Thus the 1930s were marked by major concern for the introduction
of adult schools which, according to the Education Officer at that
time, were not going to be night schools 'but schools where adults
would be taught things which they thought would be of real value to ,21 them . Much fuller treatment to effect this move was envisaged in
using films and radio for adult education. This plan, however, did
not take off due to the interruption by the 1939-45 war period.
The 1940s, therefor~ had nothing much on adult education except
that in 1946 a Welfare Officer was appointed in the Department of
Education whose duties included adult education. Nonetheless,in the
field of agriculture government made efforts to increase active
participation by introducing the Cooperative Demonstration Plot
Scheme. This scheme used a demonstration strategy to promote improved
agricultural practices. The scheme was replaced by the Master/Pupil
Farmer Scheme because it was shown to have limited 'diffusion effect'.
The 1960s through to the 1970s saw an emergence of different aspects of adult education. Noteworthy during this period was the introduction of the Brigades Movement in 1965 geared towards the acute primary school leaver problem, emanating from lack of secondary
- 108 - schools to absorb children after primary school. In 1973, for
example, the number of children taking Std. 7 examinations was 10,891
and the number admitted to secondary schools only 2,326. The
Brigade's training was to be achieved largely through production. The
sales of the products were to cover the cost of the training and
enable the Brigades, as far as their recurrent costs were concerned,
to be self-supporting. Brigades have proved to be a very worthwhile
adult vocational education and their number has increased remarkably
over the years. A period immediately after Independence was also
marked by the introduction of a Community Development (CD) Movement,
whose liaison aspect between government and the people was vital for
development. The Community Development staff's, main task was to
mobilize the masses for self-help projects and to clarify government
policies to them. Their job descriptions included the following:
i) encouragement of public debates among villagers on issues which
affect their lives, needs, problems and aspirations.
ii) promotion of self help participation in village projects
particularly those which council could not fund.
iii) drawing the attention of government, through local authorities,
to the needs of the destitute and handicapped.
iv) Promotion of a healthy way of living - e.g. hygienic preparation
and serving of family food, and general cleanliness within and
outside the family home.
Critics of CD as a form of adult education at this time said that it did nothing to improve the socio-economic conditions of the masses, but rather exploited the poorer of the society by combining the undertaking of village projects with famine relief packages. This ensured that those who were hard hit by the famine would fully participate in the construction of projects whether they would finally
- 109 - benefit from the end results or not, e.g. building of schools, roads
and clin;i.cs. Gaborone notes that over 2,000 projects had been
undertaken by the 1960s altogether engaging 46,000 workers on 2,114
projects in 1970. The end of the 'Food for Work' era at the close of
the 1970s saw virtually a halt on self-help projects and Gaborone
argues that the factors causing this are tied with the socio-economic
conditions of the participants.
Limited evidence tends to show that Food for Work programmes" set an incentive precedent to the rural, poorer unemployed peopl~ and that this is why it is Wd to mobilize people without food supplements.
From the middle of the 1970s to the 1980s other highlights in the
field of adult education include literacy work by CD, the active
participation of the Botswana Extension College which was now called
the Division of Extra Mural Services attached to the University and
the introduction of the two community schools of Tutume and Madiba.
The government finally took a decisive policy initiative on non-formal
education in the 1973-78 National Development Plan. The plan sets out
the Ministry of Education's role thus: ,
The portfolio responsibility for non-formal education is vested in the Ministry of Education and it is planned, during 1974, to establish in the Ministry a post for an Adult Education Officer who will be responsible for the co-ordination of a national policy. The Ministry of Education, however, while having overall responsibility for the sector, will not assume responsibility for existing programmes. Ministries will continue to run their own programmes and the Ministry of Education will initially have responsibility only for the planning and implementation of l~§eracy schemes and the Botswana Extension College.
The 1973-78 plan also changed focus on its policy direction to the provision of health within the country because it was felt that the hospitals' curative programme did not appear to have improved the welfare of the community. The plan proposed a radical departure from
- 110 - past policy and built a community-based health service where education
was to encourage prevention. The cadre of Family Health workers
created in 1969 were to assist in this venture. The FWE' s were
ordinary villagers with a minimum education of Std. 7 given special
training in basic health care. Their introduction reflected trends in
international thinking the World Health Organization (WHO)
propounded the slogan 'Health care for all by the year 2000' and
encouraged countries to concentrate on 'primary health care'.
As the emphasis turned to rural employment creation, the need for
a cadre on rural industries education seemed obvious. This gave birth
to a cadre called Rural Industrial officers whose main function was to
educate adults on business matters, giving advice on management
matters, as well as se~ving as liaison officers for government credit
provision. Thus from what seemed to be an exclusively agricultural
educational programme, a host of other programmes, cadres, field staff
and more innovations have surfaced.
Botswana's response to the needs of these in the informal sector
came slowly. These comprise the small, unregistered and unlicensed
family or individual enterprises. They are trader s , hawker s, beer
brewers, small-scale manufacturers and repair operations, handicrafts,
wood-gathering, transport and small-scale construction activities.
These are largely found in the urban centres and in 1976 a government
sponsored organization was formed to cater for some of these called
Batswana Enterprises Development Unit (BEDU) providing some sort of education or management of training for indigenous entrepreneurs.
The policy on extension services appeared in Hughes' study and it reads:
The functions of the extension service are to make farmers aware of methods of increased productivity. To date the government has adopted an individual to individual extension approach
- 111 - which has undoubted success ... But this approach is costly and with our limited staff and finance it is not Possible to increase substantially the number of Pupil Farmers.
Therefore in order to involve the rural majority in agricultural development, government will under-take a mass extension method through the media, radio, Rural TrazRing Centres and broad based publicity campaign.
From this time on, the individual to individual approach gave way
to group extension and the formation of farmer committees. The
emphasis on shifting more towards group and mass methods from the
initial individual to individual method helped the agricultural
demonstrators (AD) to influence a larger number of farmers. Whereas
previously an AD could be allocated 20 farmers at a time, by 1973
there were already 330 farm families per agricultural demonstrator.
Other facilities to promote farmer learning were also provided. Three
Rural Training Centres which offered the training to farmers supple-
mentary to what they learnt from their ADs were built and the
Agricultural Information Service was created to conduct campaigns and
produce extension aids. In 1971 Botswana Agricultural College, which
had previously been taking ADs and animal health students only,
increased its intake by a few in-service students from the Community
Development Department. Although the focus was on agriculture, other
extension programmes had also started around 1967 through to 1970.
Community Development programmes and the Co-operative Movement, which
at first seemed to be in the hands of voluntary organizations
especially the Catholic church, gained more favour around this time.
In a bid to promote rural development government launched a massive programme to provide basic Social Services through the community development approach. People were to help the government by building, constructing physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools, health centres and teachers' quarters. Since this time the extension
- 112 - programmes have always been on the increase. The provision of some of
the facilities have necessitated additional staff in the field and
more innovations, and more policies bring with them more extension
programmes and more extension cadres.
The extension service is thus at present manned by the following
cadres:
Agricultural Demonstrators (ADs)
ASSistant Community Development Officers (AeDOs)
Family Welfare Educators (FWEs)
Veterinary Assistants (VAs)
Literary Assistants (LAs)
Head Teachers
Tirelo Sechaba Participants (TSPs)
Rural Industries Officers (RIOs)
Business Advice Field Officers (BAFO)
Village Development Assistants and Literacy Group Leaders also come
under this list. These are normally officers which are found at
village level. A branch of community development cadre whose special
responsibility is to work with the remote dwellers called Remote
Dwellers Development Officers also fall under this category. This
list is not exhaustive but gives a picture of extension cadres from
different disciplines. (See table 4.1).
4.5.2 Training, Organization and Management of Extension Work in Botswana
By trying to be responsive to the needs of rural development and the challenges of rapid growth, Botswana finds herself in a dilemma of fragmented and uncoordinated extension programmes proliferating without much attention to one another, sometimes even engaging in unfruitful and misguided competition. Most of the
- 113 - Table 4.1: The Training Programmes and the Ministries Responsible
Ministry Training Programme Institution Cadre Award
1. Agriculture Crop Husbandry Botswana Agricultural Agricultural Demon Certificate College strators Animal Husbandry " " " Veterinary Certificate Assistants
2. Commerce & Small Business On the spot training Rural Industries Industry Management Departmental training Officer Business Advisory Services Field Officers
3. Education Adult Literacy Department of Non Literacy Assistants Certificate formal Education Institute of Adult Ed. Adult Educators Diploma Dept. of Primary Education
4. Health and Local Family Welfare Rural Training Centre Family Welfare Certificate ~ T'"" Government and Family Planning Educators +- Lands Health Education Family Health Unit Health Assistants Certificate I I
5. Office of In-service Training the President Tirelo Sechaba Participants
6. Local Government Community Development Botswana Agricultural Assistant COOs College Remote Dwellers Dev. Officers Certificate Village Dev. Assistants extension programmes are portioned into a variety of sectoral
responsibilities, under separate ministries, have different training
programmes each staffed and resourced independently of the others and
they are all answerable to different and sometimes conflicting
authorities.
Even though sometimes carrying out similar activities with the
same clientele, most of these extension services have developed
separate administrative structures. This arrangement is causing
concern and recently the need for more co-ordination has been
emphasized. However, bringing about this co-ordination is not easy
because there are people with established loyalties and interests or
professional commitments who would rather leave the situation as it is
rather than risk the change in their positions.
4.5.3 Co-ordination
Co-ordination efforts to integrate the work of the cadres that
have been shown on the table are spread from the National, District to
the village level as follows:
National level: Rural Extension Co-ordinating Committee (RECC)
District level: District Extension Team (DETs)
Village level: Village Extension Team (VET)
The above committees have most things in common. They are made up of workers at the different levels where they operate and they are all concerned with co-ordination and co-operation in planning and executing their plans at their respective levels.
The Village Extension Committees comprise all extension workers at the village level and sometimes it is difficult to know where other workers have to go. The team meets regularly to discuss village development programmes and their individual programmes making sure
- 115 - that they do not overlap and they do not duplicate services which
might result in confusing rather than helping their clientele.
The District Extension Team comprises senior officers supervising
those in the VET. This ensures interpretation of policy and district
planning which is mostly directed by the report from the Village
Extension Teams. The Rural Extension Coordinating Committee comprise
heads of extension departments at the National level. They ensure co-
ordination, fair distribution of funds to projects and iiaison between
the rest of the field machinery with government. Based in the Rural
Development Unit of the Ministry of Finance, the RECC reports to the
Rural Development Council which in turn reports to the Cabinet.
Other members of this committee are Directors of Training
Institutions at the national level. This arrangement is good as far
as providing a forum for discussion together by officers is concerned,
but the major problem comes from the fact that nothing can be co-
ordinated in this structure without being unified.
A recent report on this said:
At the present time, there can be no effective co ordination of extension services at district level for this main reason - no one can exercis the overall authority to make co-ordination work.15
One of the latest steps to solve this problem was to give the
District Commissioner based at the District headquarters the res pons- ibility of Coordinating Authority for Central government extension services. The government confirmed this proposal by saying:
The Commission has been clearly concerned about the importance of not only effective co-ordination of development but also effective direction of the development process .•• More emphasis is now laid on the development role of the District Commissioner. Since there is little new that is being added to the functions of the District Commissioner, government considers that any D.C. of the right calibre will be able 260 direc t development activities in his district.
- 116 - There are other committees which help in the co-ordination
structure. These committees. were formed to ensure people's partici-
pation in the decision-making process about their communities. At the
village level there is the Village Development Committee (VDC).
Members of this committee are elected at a Kgotla (traditional meeting
place in the village where the Chief chairs meetings). The Chief of
the Community Development Officer and the member of the District
Council in that area sit on the committee as ex-officio members. This
committee's major aim is to decide and plan the development of their
community. They think of ways of undertaking and financing projects
by involving members of the community and where necessary by inviting
the District Councils assistance.
Village Development Committees were established in 1968 by a
presidential directive. Primarily the;i.r function is to encourage
devolution of power from Central government to the Districts and
eventually to the villages. They formed the core of the rural
development institutions with the brief to engage communities in
discussions about the needs of their environments and they have become
widely known in the Independence agenda. They liaise between the
villages, the District administration and the Central government
machinery. One of the criticisms of the VDC is that it seems to
assume a lot of responsibility with virtually no training to prepare
members for such a task. Thus even though most villages have VDCs
now, their performance has not been quite up to date with the changing
circumstances.
At the District level, there are two major committees liaising
between the people and government. The Village Development Committee
sends its reports to the District Council Secretary. The District
Council discusses Village Development Committee plans from the entire
- 117 - district and the recommendations according to the prioritization of
projects by the District Council are passed on to the District
Development Committee. This committee is made up of heads of
extension departments at the District level, has a District
Commissioner as its Chairman and District Officer as its secretary.
The District Council is made up of councillors and a few council
staff especially from the treasury. Though different councils and
resolutions are made at the District Council meeting, it is at the
District Development Committee (DDC) meeting that professional advice
is sought in relation to projects. In other words, we could say the
DDC is the clearing house of the districts. After discussions at the
DDCs, the DDCs write up reports and plans and send them to the
Ministry of Local Government and Lands which is in charge of local
authorities. In order to consolidate the district plans into national
plans, an annual DDCs conference is held to discuss their final plans,
now incorporating other ministries whose assistance would be needed in
the implementing of the projects. The Ministry of Local Government
finally presents the results of the consultations to the Ministry of
Finance for discussion in the Cabinet and sometimes in Parliament.
After these stages the district plans are incorporated into the
National Development Plan.
4.6 Institutional Developments
Landboards were introduced to take over many of the functions that were the Chiefs' in the allocation of land. Chiefs were later removed from landboards. They also could only act as the VDC ex officio members like the councillor and the community development worker and no longer as chairpersons. The idea behind the move was to give village people more say and power with less influence from the
- 118 - Chiefs or intimidation. This unfortunately was the beginning of a
serious decline . in the role of chieftaincy and the concept of a
community. What seems to have been an oversight was that though the
chief in many ways appeared to be a dictator, he also was undoubtedly 27 looked upon as a father by the community. Schapera describes how
Batswana people viewed their chiefs before even the British rule,
saying the chiefs controlled many aspec ts of public life - as a law
giver and a judge; regulating the allocation of land, the annual
cycle of agricultural tasks and several other economic activities,
including external trade; he often led the army in war and supervised
or personally conducted various religious and magical rites
(especially rainmaking) on behalf of his subjects collectively. All
were under his overriding authority. Chieftaincy was not only
tampered with after Independence. The Colonial government made
changes in this institution especially in reducing their overriding
authority. Christianity also discouraged some practices on Christian
principles which were led by chiefs such as rainmaking.
It would seem that the big disillusionment of chiefs, however,
came with the realization that Independence was not going to change
things in their favour, but instead was going to lead to a cut in
their privileges and power. The chiefs had obviously expected some of their lost privileges tampered with during the colonial rule to be restored. This was quite evident from the way the majority of the chiefs rallied behind the BNF party, which among other things, promised that a lot of powers lost by the chieftdncy would be restored during their rule. The party became very popular with the chiefs.
The disillusionment of the chiefs has had a pervading influence on the conduct of the kgotla, the major organ of the village administration. The kgotla no longer has the strength and support it
- 119 - used to have in the community. Consequently as the main forum for
community discussions, including policy introduction by government
officers and politicians at a village level, it has become
increasingly difficult to reach the village or to maintain the order
and constructive deliberations communities used to have. The major
link connecting the community with internal and external authority has
been enormously weakened, hence the call for an appropriate lever to
tackle community participation.
The implications of these facts are that in Botswana, in addition
to the problems of rural areas already discussed, there is a host of
problems arising from social change which by affecting the traditional
structure and institutions did not only weaken the community fabric
but in fact alienated people from one another and from their main link
such as the Kgotla.
It is not only the administrative institutions which have been
weakened, but a whole array of other socio-economic activities which
were co-ordinated by the chief through a Kgotla. These changes have
been accepted with mixed feelings among both the young and the old
generations. On the one hand, they have increased individual liberty
from the chiefs and some of the society's norms. On the other hand,
they have increased permissiveness I lawlessness, and individualistic
rather than collective communal spirit. Thus adult education is
fighting a more complicated battle than just imparting skills to its
clientele, but perhaps the empirical question for other studies is - are adult educators prepared for this task?
Adult education provision in Botswana has suffered from lack of clear policy first in rural development itself and secondly in its 28 practice as a field. Jones makes this point clear where Botswana had until recently adopted a hardheaded policy for concentrating on
- 120 - secondary and higher education, in order to meet trained manpower
ne~ds, leaving the more popular area of primary education, along with
adult education as neglected residuals due to limited financial
teaching, and organizational resources for education. At the time of
receiving Independence when there were so many neglected areas it was
very difficult for the new government to decide just which way to
take. The colonial government had failed to recognize the need to
educate and train any people so that they could rule their own country
- and as the first president said neither did the country inherit any
properly equipped institution for vocational training 'even at the
lowest level of artisan skills'.
We were in the humiliating, but essentially challenging pOSition of not knowing the bas~9 facts on which to found and plan for the future.
One report referring to this era for the three territories of
Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland gives more insight into the magnitude
of the problems the president describes. At the end of the survey
mission to the three territories the report had this to say:
Each territory is in the situation of a patient confronted with a choice between having an expensive operation, which would entail a long period of recuperation but offer a high chance of full recovery, and the alte3Bative of lapSing into a state of chronic illness.
Two major development goals accompanied the development strategy
at this time of challenge but rural development was not an immediate
priority. First there was to be the achievement of budgetary
independence within a relatively short time so that Botswana would no
longer depend on outside grants to balance her budget for recurrent
expenditure. The second goal was the development of the economy.
For this there was a need to attract outside capital for rapid development of the country's hitherto largely unexplored and the exploited natural resources. The underlying assumption was that once
- 121 - revenue was available, it would be easy to finance and implement rural
development. As a result during that plan period
1970-75, 42% of the total development budget was allocated to finance
the infrastructure for the mining complex at Selibe Pikwe copper
nickel mine while only 8% went for rural development. Hence Jones'
observation that the two areas preoccupied the government and its
administration leading to the neglect of other matters. ·32 Gaborone in his study of adult education attacked this approach
showing how it has contributed to the depressing situation in rural
Botswana. He maintains that adult education provision was poor and
less relevant to its clientele's socio-economic conditions because
firstly, rural development. was never spelt out in policy statements
that could reliably form guidelines for those involved in rural
development and secondly, rural development came to be defined in
terms of physical structures. Adul t education meant expansion and
creation of agencies and cadres without accompanying necessary
improvements in the delivery of extension messages to the rural poor.
Consequently the formation of rural development policy has always been
shelved for as long as funds were not available from the mining
sector.
For a long time rural development remained undefined and under-
funded and subsequently the place of adult education in the
development of 'man' as a self directing, self fulfilling and socio-
economically independent being remained dubious, suspicious and unclear. The writer recalls a situation where one member of the opposition party labelled the CD workers I slave drivers'. At this time the development that took place in the rural areas in the name of
'adult education' was mostly buildings, clinics, roads and school classrooms through self help. At this time there was no free service
- 122 - in all fields and therefore working on such projects did not guarantee
the programme participants any privilege or advantage above their
fellow villagers who did not take part in the programmes. This was
especially so in the CD programmes.
There was nothing that could be called rural development policy.
Thus when Picard referred to the District development plans from the
1970-78 Development plan he had this to say:
The plans uneven in both length and quality were summaries of existing and proposed projects, rather than a strategy for development, but they .were certainly useful as a district by district survey of infrastruc turn and physical development throughout the country.
It was the Ministry of Local Government and Lands in 1971 which
gave some kind of operational guidelines for those in rural
development. Development was defined in terms of co-ordination and
problem-solving. This definition was to influence government's view
of rural development. For instance, according to a 1971 memorandum,
the District Development Committees were to consider development in
the broadest sense, including recurrent activities as well as new
physical development. The absence of a clear policy in rural
development had its ill effects on adult education. Adult education's
policy seemed to be implied in the words of President Khama in Sweden
when he said about adult clientele:
the purpose is less to impart skills 3t4han make them receptive to innovation and change.
What was portrayed as the government's general view of adult education was that Botswana needed a planned policy, an integrated approach to rural development and the administrative machinery to back it up.
This meant training in the specialized skills required for the development process, including of course administration and training of a more general kind. There was to be an expansion of rural
- 123 - training centres which would not first teach technical skills, but
which would encourage farmers, including women, to set about improving
their lives by their own efforts (see Gaborone, 1980). This was more
or less the mould to form the pattern of provision through adult
education in Botswana throughout the 1970s. As Gaborone put it:
The idea of predisposing rural people to social change was to become the core theme of adult education for the rest of the seventies, e.g. CD which was the only form of conventional Adult Education was presented in the National Plan as 'concerned with teaching the people in the villages and townships to prepare themselves to welcome it and benefit from it •.• After the 1960s drought, CD projects concentrated on self help nature building village infrastructure. It is perhaps not surprising to find reference only made to community development and not to adult education per 3~e in rural development strategies and policies'.
Nonetheless the absence of policy did not stop the growth of
adult education in Botswana fostered by both voluntary and government
agencies. But the main criticism of these agencies was that they did
not prepare their clientele for self fulfilment.
Although it is too early to talk of a tradition of Botswana Adult Education there is a discernible pattern of provision through which is manifested what could be called Botswana Adult Education philosophy. The goals of Adult Education agencies involved in rural development are not to prepare their clientele for employment oppor tunities in the modern sector of the economy nor are the goals those of self education and self fulfilment. Rather they must endeavour to predispose them to social change and to give them functional skills and principles t0 golve problems 3 in their subsistence rural setting.
The Department of Non-Formal Education (DNFE) Report of 1976 had to say about Botswana's adult education:
Although Adult Education agencies are largely working with those people that the formal schooling system had excluded, that brand of non formal education is not a remedial substitute for missed schooling. One goal is central; to assist individuals to understand and de~~ with the rapid changes taking place around them.
- 124 - The confused state arising from lack of Adult Education policy
was quite evident from the Minister of Education's speech in 1976 when he said:
•.• We have many different operating programmes of non-formal education, we do not have a clearly stated national aim on this object. We have not determined what the priorities in non-formal education should be, nor have we set the priorities for no~-formal education in relation to formal schooling. 8
This lack of official guidance has been cited as a setback in the
field especially by those working at the grassroots. A CD Review
Committee Report said that CD staff mentioned one of their sources of
frustration as
a lack of policy directive from the division of S. and CD at the centre, and lack of direction and supervision by those respon~~ble for discharging such duties at local levels.
Botswana has gradually improved over the years and the 1980s are
experiencing a clearer policy direction than the seventies. However,
another problem seems to emerge and this is in relation to
participation and benefits. Who participates and who benefits in
programmes of adult education seems to be tied tightly to the mode of
production in a free enterprise society. Thus the pattern of
participation and the degree of benefits seems to adopt the 'survival
of the fittest' principle. It would seem that to allow adult
education's role to be that of liberating rather than oppressing, some restructuring is necessary in the forms of assets and resources to remove the repressive nature of the past state economy.
Parson, analysing the present Botswana, says:
The contours of Botswana's political economy are represented by a peasantariat, a working class considerably altered from its pre-colonial roots, the growth of a petty-bourgois intermediary governing class, and the resulting dynamics of class and state in the colonial and post colonial
- 125 - 40 periods.
Parson's argument ;s• that the behaviour. 0 f any g i ven group i s
determined by the class structure of the society in which people live,
in which case there will always be representation of domination and
subordination by those owning and controlling property (a bourgeoisie)
over those who do not (a working class) because
The state is necessarily a condensation of the struggle among classes, the point where critical decisions are made about persistence and change in the mode of production. State power manages the conflict in society engendered by opposition among classes. Thus analysis of the state must also be social and situational.
Classes are defined by the particularities of situations to which they must respond as well as by their objective place in a process of production. These particularities include the social and cultural 'baggage' of society through which economic and political ideas may be expressed and which may be real determinants of behaviour in articulation with material self interest.
Given this situation then it is concluded that
Beliefs, such as those implied in ethnic, religious or other categories, are important in mediating individual and class social and political behaviour whether or not t~~y represent what is called 'false consciousness'.
Gaborone, while agreeing with this observation, brings in another
angle in his observation that the production of material conditions of
human sustenance are governed by the level of development of the given
productive forces in a given formation maintaining that the line of
argument, according to Marx (Capital, Vol. 1) that technology
discloses a people's mode of dealing with nature, the immediate process of production by which they sU'stain their life, and also lays bare the mode of formation of their social relations, and of mental conceptions that flow from them (see Lenin, 1964, p. 56). He then argues that even though this does not mean that one can read off
- 126 - social relations of production and reproduction merely from
techno1ogy.~
It does mean that the level of technological development as a unit of analysis can fairly indicate the level of development of the productive forces in terms of bOIr material and cognitive appropriation of nature.
An example of this is the emergence of a form of adult education
service called the Cooperators Scheme ,'(mentioned earlier) in the 1940s
and 1950s based on optimising the demonstration effect rather than
using a printed word, which was influenced by the level of development
of productive forces in the Tswana formation, that is, backward and
traditional and crop husbandry methods. skills and high illiteracy
among Batswana agricultural producers. Thus, the Tswana formation
revealed the co-existence of pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of
production and their accompanying social relations. Both material
and cognitive appropriation of nature are anchored in needs,
originally natural needs, then social and constructed needs (see
Heller, 1936). But
The material and cognitive appropriation of nature in Botswana's case take place in a social environ ment which has social classes. Several studies have pointed out this fact and adult education mediates in the ~~ferent interests and strivings of these classes.
A broader view of adult education provision is suggested by
Youngman's argument for an adult education association:
I think the concept of development provides adult educators with the goal of providing the kinds of educational assistance which will help the mass of the ordinary people to improve their standard of living and the quality of their lives. The details of the different kinds of adult education programme that can contribute will vary enormously - 4tfey will include literacy work and so forth.
Nyerere's famous speech in 1976,45 talked in terms of adult education enlarging people's understanding, mobilizing them, helping
- 127 - them to implement their own decisions, in a way, enabling people to
take greater control over their natural and social environment.
The scope of our work is enormous as long as the guiding theme is that it serves the people. It is in this context that we can now consider the question of the adult education profession. without wishing for prolonged definitional debates with sociologists, I would say it is reasonable to regard adult education as a profession.
The poor performance of adult education, according to Youngman,
is to do with the subjective perceptions, the self-image of those
involved who would rather see themselves primarily in terms of their
organization and their subject area. Adult educators, in his opinion,
are anyone whose
work involves helping people to provide opportunities for adults to learn. Such a definition includes a variety of roles - planners, administrators, teachers, extension officers, researchers, producers of. educational media, for example, may a16 be contributing to enabling adults to learn.
This definition cuts across boundaries created by technical
specialities or sectors. Thus there is a common denominator which
unifies people whose work exhibits a wide variety of roles and
contents. This common denominator in terms of a definition - namely,
the shared concern with helping adults to learn - should lead to a
common interest in terms of practice.
Because adult educators do not always see the commonalities in
their work, they do not identify themselves broadly with others working as educators of adults.
Often the attempts to develop team approaches breaks down in the face of departmental divisions (and inde~~ departmental rivalries and jealousies) •
Professionalism in a way can help adult educators to identify with one another and therefore form an association. The association in turn can provide a framework for bringing together everyone involved in
- 128 - some way in the education of adults.
Youngman is, however, aware of the dangers of professionalism
which have been noted by, among other people, Illich and Rogers.
These writers have argued that professions mystify the specialized
nature of their knowledge and the requirement for expertise. Also it
is said that they have formed powerful bodies which serve their own
interests rather than those of the public. In his book entitled
Disabling Professions Illich has attacked professionalism, pouring
scorn on professional services because they create helplessness in the 49 public, they turn the citizen into a client to be saved by experts.
Roger's book, Freedom to Learn, elaborates the notion of the self
directed learner and attacks the role of the teacher - for he says
'Teaching in my estimation, is a vastly overrated function' and 'the 50 outcomes of teaching are either unimportant or hurtful'.
The process of professionalisation has led people to a passive
reliance on 'experts' and hence to an economic and political 51 subordination to technocracy.
Youngman, however, rather taking the positive connotation of professionalism, especially in relation to identification of one body with one aim says:
I think the critique of professionalisation provides a salutary warning. We all know of examples of experts who have undermined people's capacity to do things for themselves. However, I do not think these criticisms mean that we should abandon ideas of expertise.
And his plea for Botswana's adult education progress is that:
We do not need to throw the baby out with the bath water. There is a job to be done, there is a development challenge to be met, and competent adult educators are required •.. In my conception, professionalism means that adult educators should have a high level of competence and of commitment to development goals. They should embody up-to date knowledge of a particular subject area and skills in the design and organization of the
- 129 - processes of adult learning. They should also have social and political awa3iness and attitudes of service to their clientele.
It is probably right also to assume that professionalism in adult
education if it does facilitate the formation of an association, will
eventually also help build up what can be called an adult education
tradition. The absence of an established adult education tradition
has also been cited as one of the factors inhibiting effectiveness.
Unlike in Britain where adult educators have inherited a body of
experience and tradition which is transmitted to them in various ways,
sometimes formally through conferences and training courses, more
frequently informally through contact with colleagues and with
students, in Botswana such a tradition hardly exists. 53 But tradition
assists in the formulation of established and in most cases accepted
principles, prac tice, . norms or manner of doing things. A tradition
acts as an anvil upon which adult educators, in this instance, shape
their working philosophy. In their book Structure and Performance in
Adult Education, Harold Wiltshire and Graham Mee say this about a
working philosophy:
Every educator wants to be able to explain and justify his work to himself to those whose opinion he values (employers, clients and professional colleagues) and ~nce he spends public money, to society at large.
Professionalism in some quarters still shows its negative effects
and has not gone unattacked. Malikongwa's evaluation of the FWE cadre
signals problems of the adult educators who find conflict in their
role and their professional status. Their role demands them to distance themselves from the sophisticated nurse around the hospital or clinic waiting to cure diseases, but demands them to move away to go and meet people in their homes to teach them the preventative measures they can take against diseases for themselves and their
- 130 - children. Ma1ikongwa's findings were that:
The FWES find it 'safer' to stay in the health post and play nurse rather than go out to do something less effective than just teaching people and not curing them.
And to this he concludes:
The process of mystification has begun in Primary Health Care, the very la~~ place where negative professionalism is needed.
One conclusion we can draw about the provision of Botswana's
adult education in relation to policy, philosophy and tradition is
that while a lot needs to be done yet to put things straight, a lot of
caution has to be taken lest our efforts only go to hurt more those we
set out to help in the first place. Most of all we should not lose
the vision which is tackling poverty through' adult education. It is,
however, clear that adult education alone cannot go far.
Botswana has tried hard to build a sound structure for the co-
ordination of extension work. Despite these efforts, the extension
services still do not bring forth the expected results. There are
several reasons for this situation but the most constant criticisms
according to the recent enquiries (e.g. the 1983 report on Towards
Improving Extension Service in Botswana) have been levelled at:
(i) Serious shortcomings in the performance of
extension staff
(ii) Confusion and duplication between the different
services
(iii) Inadequate logistical support which is badly
distributed
(iv) Low staff morale and high wastage rate
(v) Poor relationships with local people and 56 communities.
In addition to these problems, there has been another observation
- 131 - that the central problem is a serious lack of co-ordination between
the various services operating at District level:
It is the organization rather than the personnel that is at fault, because the present structures are too separate and li~7ar, and cannot complement or support one another.
My concern which forms the thesis of this study is that the
improvement of workers t performance and the provision of a bet ter
structure cannot in themselves achieve rural development. It is therefore important to ask what the objective of extension work is and
see what bottlenecks hinder the achievement of that objective in a
much broader sense which will include the socio-economic factors
related to rural development. Moreover the challenge of rural area
dwellers is imbued in their cycle of deprivation and poverty trap
which must first be addressed if people t S participation is to be ensured.
The importance of research becomes very significant in this area.
How much illumination has research given to the direction of adult
education provision? In the following section a brief review of
research in adult education in Botswana is made to assess the role
research has played so far.
4.7 Research in Rural Development and Adult Education
Academics and researchers have not escaped the blame by those who
assess adult education failures in Botswana. Due to the early view of
extension which equated extension with agriculture and therefore confined the teaching of adults to agricultural inputs and medicine, research evolved around agriculture for a very long time in the 1970s.
This one sided view has robbed planning of a vital tool, which is knowledge about the human resources factor in development.
In his Adult Education in Botswana 1960-1980: An Annotated
- 132 - Bibliography, which has been described as unparalleled in its depth
and breadth to date, Youngman clearly shows the loopholes in the role
of research in adult education. He points first to the fact that the
amount of the research is small and skewed with the vast majority of
studies being forms of applied research recording evaluation studies
of programmes or institutions, with a very small number attempting to
elucidate the socio-economic background of extension work. The topics
of research show an unbalanced emphasis, with one third of the
documents considering agriculture. Only five are concerned with 58 adult education learning needs. Most of the studies have been to
do with the policy and decision making carried out by government
sponsored consultants who are usually foreigners. The limitations
posed by this arrangement are voiced by Gaborone who says
any pOSing of questions be they in surveyor research, is an act of theorisation. For these reasons it is imperative that a researcher should make explicit a social theory that informs his/her research act, so that its constituent underlying normative assumptions should be scrutinized together with its practical outcomes, and policy implications.
He argues that in Botswana this is not the case because research being
undertaken by foreigners
shies away from posing fundamental questions and issues and 5~rom the consideration of basic alternatives.
Furthermore, it is feared that policy and problem-oriented research by
its very nature may not deal with the broader and more fundamental
questions because policy-makers usually are more interested in the
impact of their programmes (or merely to support them) and may not generate abstract discussions that may end up in questioning the programmes themselves.
Given this background, this section endeavours to review the amount of research done at this stage with two things in mind:
- 133 - firstly, to illustrate how the early formulations of development plans
have affected its,direction. Secondly, to ascertain its present role
within the participation theme but also to acknowledge the
contribution however modest that research is now making.
4.7.1 Research studies undertaken in Rural Development and Adult Education
There is quite a considerable amount of writing on extension
and participation in rural development, three-quarters of which is
made up of reports and consultancies. The interest seems to surface
in the early 1970s with the major focus on agricultural extension.
This is no surprise considering that these were the years immediately
following Independence, when the incumbent government found itself
confronted with multifaceted problems of development, the leading
being Rural Development. Botswana's rural development policy was
based on its agricultural policy and this was because Botswana has a
largely subsistence economy with some 85% of Botswana's population
living in the rural areas and 80% of the economically active labour
force wholly dependent on family agricul ture. Agricultural policy
then became the propeller in the efforts at rural development. This
affected research too. For quite a while studies focused on the
production side of the rural areas especially in agriculture and often
the direction or point of departure was largely influenced by the two
major objectives in agricultural policy; the rapid development of the
livestock industry and the achievement of self-sufficiency in the
production of foodstuffs by the 1980s. 60 It was the belief of the
government that a rapid advance in the agricultural sector could be
achieved through the agricultural extension services. Firstly, if animal husbandry standards are raised and a more commercial attitude is adopted, secondly, if dryland farming techniques are more widely practiced and thirdly, more land is brought into use for both crop and
- 134 - livestock production. This. as Gaborone later reviewed, was evidently
'placing too much faith on farmer education to unleash potential 61 within farmers'. Early works here include those of Khama (1970);
Cooper (1979); Bhila (1981) and Lever (1970).
In 1972 after a major policy change in the Extension Approach
where the desire was to reach more farmers and to abandon the Pupil
Farmer Scheme, the emphasis was still on agricultural extension but
more coverage was introduced through the media. Government Paper
No.1 of 1972, paragraph 22. Rural Development in Botswana. said:
The functions of the Extension Service are to make farmers aware of methods of increased productivity. To date the government has adopted an individual to individual extension approach which had undoubted success ••. But this approach is costly and with our limited staff and finance it is not possible to increase substantially the number of pupil farmers· ••• Therefore in order to involve the rural majority in agricultural development, government will undertake mass extension efforts through the media, radio. Rural Training 6~entres and a broad based Publicity Campaign.
This policy was informed among other things by three major
consultations sponsored by government during the years of 1970-73
which provided facts on the Pupil Farmer Scheme. as well as
suggestions for improving the agricultural extension programme. These 63 reports were produced in succession. These reports were supported
by the work of Bond (1974)64 which pointed out that Agricultural
Extension was reaching a very small proportion of farmers in Botswana.
In her Women's Involvement in Agriculture in Botswana. Bond
demonstrated that agricultural demonstrators tended to work more with males than females even though females had a major role to play in agriculture in Botswana. In her report 34% of male headed households were shown to have had received advice as compared to 20% of the female headed households.
- 135 - Other writings on Agricultural Extension now citing women 65 domi~ated the scene in the early 1980s. Community development could
be taken as the second extension programme in the early 1970s after
agriculture. There are a few studies 66 which reflec t this fact.
While Agricultural Extension was undergoing this review few
investigations turned on Community Development.
The widely expressed concern in these studies was the fact that
the extension workers were not performing their duties satisfactorily.
Among problems cited were those of less contact between the extension
worker and the rural people due to limited numbers of extension
workers and wider areas of coverage and poor performance resulting
from lack of training on the part of extension workers. These were
factors, it was believed, which slowed down productivity in the rural
areas. An increase in productivity became the major theme, and as
more focus was turned to the extension workers, their quality and
quantity, massive programmes to provide basic social services. for
instance health facilities and more schools, were accompanied by
proliferation of new extension cadres in an effort to make services
accessible to the maj ority of the people, which would then increase
productivity. To achieve co-ordination and integration of these newly
formed cadres and programmes the Rural Extension Coordinating
Committee was set up in 1972.
The quality of extension cadre called for more training and
training institutions especially in local government which was the
Ministry responsible for the local authorities. Picard and Endresen
(1981) 67 have reviewed these training efforts and show that since 1978 government has commissioned a number of consultancies to examine aspects of District Council operations in Botswana. These reports include work by Egner (1978), The White Report (1977) and Watson
- 136 - (1978) . The reports stated that' .•• the senior council staff needed
more training in government as well as specialist training in their
specific jobs. The report concluded that there should be a re-
orientation of policy at the national level so that more emphasis was
placed on the training of local government staff'. Such training
should be an integral part of the apparatus for running the affairs
of the na tion. 68
The Watson Report in 1978 therefore concentrated on the human
resource element - in the formal and informal training and examined
the training programmes of all the institutions in Botswana which were
involved with the training of local government officials and discussed
the specific training needs of each cadre. Watson's report was
followed by another report in 1978 on Local Government Structure
which was followed by Picard in 1982. The main focus in these studies
is on productivity of personnel, their skill performance and their
organizational structures. Nothing much relates to the people these
trainees are going to work with after training. Here again, we see
how the trend in research, which is mostly government commissioned,
was looking at what prevailed in local government including extension
mainly through the eyes of the government within the policy framework.
Training came under scrutiny in the early 1980s. Gaborone 69 70 (1981) and Youngman (1984) have argued that training alone cannot
achieve rural development and could not account for the extension
workers' effectiveness. Gaborone shows how lack of clear training
objectives and curricula fall short in preparing extension workers for 71 working in rural development. Another evaluation study (1981) also
shows how lack of resources are a big hindrance for the farmers.
Youngman, on the other hand, was concerned about the position that an adult educator, in other words extension worker, holds when he gets
- 137 - back to work after training. Obviously because of the bureaucratic
organizational structure, it is clear that the adult educator will be
restricted in his/her performance especially if the supervisor might
not be a trained adult educator. He, therefore, concluded that the
training of adult education personnel needed to be done within a
context of socio-economic conditions and a sound structure. His study
stresses the need for integration and co-ordination in adult education
in Botswana. Malikongwa (1982)72 has also thrown light on the
problems of new cadres and their training. He focused attention on
the newly created cadre in the Health Department the Family Welfare
Educators (FWE). His findings were that the training limitations in
the FWE cadre and their low status compared to other cadres led to
FWEs frustration and lack of motivation resulting in. their . poor
performance in the field.
The 1980s are witnessing a critical review of the socio-economic
conditions in the rural areas in the literature. There is quite a
sharp contrast from the early writings as compared to present
~'t s writings. Studies by Kooijman (1980>". Seidman (977). Parson,,&
Palmer (1977) are· examples of studies which are looking at the
socio-economic conditions of the rural areas relating to the realities
of everyday life of the rural people and their contact with adult
education to the social environment which surrounds the people. The
study by Seidman (197 7 ) and Parsons (1983). Hunter (1981), Chambers
(1986, ed.) and Gaborone (1986) begin to touch on the crucial point of
poverty which is moulded by the political structure in a class-based
society such as Botswana. These writings argue that such an economy is bound to restrict participation of some members of the society while facilitating that of others.
The focus has now shifted from extension services and the
- 138 - extension worker and is now on the people, the rural masses and their
empathy with rural development. Participation is now the tl1eme in
government quarters and elsewhere. This continued search for an
answer to participation has given rise to a number of studies on
certain specific areas which play a major role in people's daily
lives. For example, some studies, e.g. Picard (1982), Brown (1982)
and Egner and Klausen (1980), have looked closely into the question of
migration and how it disrupts people I s lives in the rural areas.
Other studies have now tackled the gender issue citing problems that
befall women, e.g. Higgins (1981), Kerven (1W6), Molokomme (1987) and
Izzard (1981).
The RECC, mentioned earlier, has taken it upon its shoulders to
promote pe~ple's participation. Following their report Towards
Improving Extension Services in 1981 a consultant was invited to work
out a plan. The report of such a plan was produced in 1984. Mostly
it suggested the improvement of extension personnel. Recently
another effort was made and through a workshop attended by many
members of extension staff and their superiors, a major theme was
introduced, The Theory and Practice of People's Participation in Rural
Development. In summarising the findings of the workshop the organizers had this to say:
The workshop aimed to identify constraints on effective participation in rural development and to analyse the causes of these constraints. Inter-national studies, such as those the UN Research Institute for Social Development mentioned above, indicate that the factors limiting participation in any given national context are multiple and complex. Obviously, Botswana is no exception and a work of this nature could not produce a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the problems. However, on reviewing the contents of the Report it is possible to discuss recurring obstacles which can be categorized as follows: organizational structures; personnel problems;
- 139 - socio-economic condi }ons; political factors; external influences. 7
It was unanimously concluded at this conference that the institutions
being developed at the village level (such as Village Development
Committees and Village Extension Teams) and at the District level
(such as District Councils and District Extension Teams) were
generally weak and therefore lacked the capacity to undertake
activities such as participatory planning.
Obstacles located in the wider socio-economic context also
received attention and were cited as settlement patterns, migration
and drought. These were seen to pose barriers to widespread
participation. Along with this it was also suggested that a
significant obstacle to equal opportunity for participation in
development is the fact of social inequality.
The polarities in society between rich and poor, men and women, dominant and subordinate ethnic groups, young and old, lead to differential participation in decision-making and development activities.
Ther.e was also a question of politics and one presenter argued
that because participation is usually seen by governments as a way of
legitimising political authority, rather than of broadening processes
of decision-making, often
participation is conceived primarily as an element of development planning and is seen as the §omain 7 of public officers rather than politicians.
Another aspect seeing participation as a question of power emphasised
the significance of politics, parties, development, ideologies and
'the tendency of elites to limit participation that would realign
power'. The overall impression in these later studies which are now
focusing on participation is that 'there are significant constraints on popular participation in rural development and there is a gap
- 140 - between policy-makers I intentions and the reality at the community , 79 level •
The question of basic needs still lags behind but it is a crucial
aspect of participation which sooner or later will identify itself
especially when the rural masses start to voice their views about
participation. As the RECC Report concluded, there is still an
absence of pressure from below for increased participation. The rural
poor, it would appear, are not as yet vOicing demands for a greater
share of resources and a greater say in decision-making. There are not
the kind of grassroots social movements and autonomous rural
organizations that are demanding greater participation in many parts
of Latin America and Asia. However, this situation is bound to change
soon considering the rapid economic and social changes taking place in
Botswana.
An attempt has been made to give an overview of Botswana I s
policies in relation to rural development and adult education,
particularly paying attention to how those policies came about. It
has been revealed that early formulations affected not only the
pattern of development which has tended to be urban and rich biased
but also affected research inclinations which would have otherwise
illuminated the plight of the rural poor. Such inclinations remained essentially views articulated by planners and policy-makers whose contribution hardly scratched the surface of the real issues limiting participation, e.g. resource allocation and lack of basic needs. The satisfaction of basic needs or the implementation of the basic needs strategy, however, involves a lot of things. The capacity to implement such a strategy calls for resources, human as well as finance. It needs the political will and ideology committed to raising the majority of the people from one level of existence to
- 141 - another, such as the improved standards of living and the quality of life in general. The satisfaction of these conditions should then bring about participation even if it shows variations according to the participant's needs and backgrounds.
- 142 - Footnotes - Chapter 4
1. Dr. Masire, Q., National Development Plan VI 1985-91, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone, 19 Dec (1985), p. xi.
2. Bermingham, J., 'Perspectives in Colonial Education in Botswana' in Independence Without Freedom. The Political Economy of Colonial Education in Southern Africa, Agrippa, T. Mugombo and Mbogo Nyaggah (eds.), University of California Santa Barbara, 1977, p.l72.
3. ibid.
4. Youngman. F., 'Educational Personnel in Botswana', International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 3, No.2, pp. 129-138.
5. Words of a British Resident Commissioner for the then Bechuanaland Protectorate quoted in Botswana Notes and Records, Vol. 10 (1980). See also Mogome, K. 'Learning and Working at KRDA. An Evaluation of the Literacy Programme', University of Botswana, Gaborone (1982).
6. Parson, Jack, 'The Trajectory of Class and State in Dependent Development: The Consequences of New Wealth for Botswana'. The College of Charleston, (1985). Earlier and slightly different versions of the article were presented at the 1982 meetings of the American Political Science Association and African Studies Association in State and Class in Africa, p. 40.
7. Parson. ibid, p.4l.
8. ibid.
9. Bermingham, R. , op .cit.
10. Parson, J. , op.cit., p. 44.
11. ibid.
12. ibid.
13. Jones, D.E., 'Indigenous and Non-indigenous Entrepreneurs in Botswana: historical, cultural and educational factors in their emergence', University of Massachusetts (1984).
14. Gaborone, S., op.cit. (1986).
15. Parson, J., op.cit. 16. Khama, S.. The late President of Botswana giving an Address speech to the U.N. General Assembly in 1973 quoted in The Republic of Botswana, Government Printer, Gaborone (1973).
17. National Development Plan 1976-81 and NDP VI 1985-91 both show the trends in the economy. The value of the Pula (P) in the 1970s was roughly USl. 20 in 1982 and in 1983 its value was between USO. 90 and $1.00.
- 143 - 18. Parson, op. cit. He discloses that in 1971, 9% of the population lived in urban areas of 15,000 persons or more. By 1981 28% lived in such areas. See also Statistical Bulletin (1981) Gaborone. In 1972 the public sector had 13,550 employees representing 28.3% of formal sector employment. By 1980 these numbered 30,800 representing 36.9% of those formally employed.
19. Todaro, M., op.cit., (1972) and Coombs and Ahmed, op.cit. Both argue that the trickle down theory only widens the advantage gap. 20. Mogome, K., Adult Education: Prescription for Progress for Botswana, (1980), M.A. Dissertation, unpublished, University of Hull quoting Memorandum (Colonial No. 103) on the 'Education of African Communities' (1925) quoted by H. Jowitt, Director of Education, in The Bechuanaland Protectorate Annual Report of the Education Department for the year ended 31st December 1949, p. 33.
21. Wass, P., The History of Community Development in Botswana in the 1960s (1973) quoted by Youngman in Adult Education in Botswana, mimeograph.
22. Gaborone in op.cit. (1986).
23. National Development Plan 1973-78, Ministry of ~inance and Development Planning, Gaborone, Botswana. (1973).
24. Rural Extension Coordinating Committee, Towards Improving Extension Services in Botswana, Government Printer, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone, March (1983).
25. Hughes, B., Towards Improving Extension Services in Botswana: An Implementation Plan, Government Printer, Gaborone (1984), p.40.
26. ibid.
27. Schapera, I., Tribal Innovators: Tswana Chiefs and Social Change 1795-1940, Athlone Press, New York (1970). ,-\ 28. Jones, D., Aid and Development in Southern Africa, Croom Helm, London (1977).
29. Khama, Sir Seretse, The speech made to the First National Assembly, Gaborone, (1966).
30. Morse Report. The 1960 Economic Survey Mission on Conditions of the High Commission Territories Swaziland Basutoland and Bechuanaland, Vol. 6 (1960), p.10l.
31. Jones, D., op.cit.
32. Gaborone, S., op.cit. (1986).
33. Picard, L.A., 'Rural Development in Botswana. The District Administration and the Creation of District Development Committees 1966-1973', National Institute for Research in Development of African Studies, University of Botswana and Swaziland, Working Paper No. 14, Oct. 1977, p.73.
- 144 - 34. Khama, S., 'Developing Democracy in Botswana in Politics and Society' in Botswana UBS Readings, Vol. 4, 1976, p.469.
35. Gaborone, S., op.cit. (1986).
36. ibid.
37. Ministry of Education, Department of Non Formal Education Report of 1976, Government Printer, Gaborone (1976). This report produced policy on Adult Education in 1976.
38. Morake, K., Report on Non-formal Education Conference (1976), Gaborone. Speech from Minister of Education.
39. Gofetile, L., Report from the CD Review Committee, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Gaborone (1977), p.12.
40. Parson, J. op.cit., p. 40.
41. ibid., pp. 42-43.
42. ibid.
43. Gaborone, op.cit. (1976), pp. 45-50. He discusses how the mode of production in the Tswana formation affected the earlier practice in Adult Education.
44. Youngman, F. 'The Role of the Botswana Adult Education Association in the Development of The Adult Education Profession'. Paper presented to the Fourth Conference of the Botswana Adult Education Association, October 26th 1986, Institute of Adult Education, University of Botswana, Gaborone.
45. Nyerere, J., 'Development is for Man by Man and of Man' in Hall, B.L. and Kidd, J.R. (eds.), Adult Learning, A Design for Action (Oxford, Pergamon, 1978). Also quoted by Youngman, ibid.
46. Youngman, op.cit.
47. ibid.
48. ibid.
49. Illich, I. et. al., Disabling Professions, London, Marion Boyars, (1977), p.29.
50. Rogers, C., Freedom to Learn, Columbus: Merrill, (1969), p.l03 and p. 153 quoted by Youngman, op.cit.
51. Illich, op.cit.
52. Youngman, F. , op.cit •
53. Gaborone, S. , °E·cit • (1986) •
54. Wiltshire, H. and Mee, G. , Structure and Performance in Adult Education, Longman (1978) , p .10.
- 145 - 55. Malikongwa, D., The Study of Family Welfare Educators Cadre in the Ministry of Health, University of Southampton, unpublished dissertation, (1981).
56. Ministry of Finance & Development Planning, RECC (1983).
57. Hughes, B., op.cit. (1985).
58. Youngman, F., 'Adult Education in Botswana 1960-1980: An Annotated Bibliography', University of Botswana, Gaborone, (1980).
59. Gaborone, S., op.cit. (1986).
60. National Development Plan 1970-75.
61. Gaborone, S., op.cit. (1980), p. 61.
62. Rural Development in Botswana, Government Paper No. 1 of 1976, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
63. These reports were 'Rural Development in Botswana', Government Paper No.1. paragraph 22, Gaborone (1972). Lynn, C.W., Agricultural Extension Services in Botswana, Gaborone (1972). Chambers, R. and Feldman, Rural Development in Botswana, Gaborone (1973).
64. Bond, C., Women's Involvement in Agriculture in Botswana, Gaborone (1974 ).
65. Among those reports that dominated the scene about women and their role and plight in rural development in Botswana were: Fortman, L. Who plows? Women, cattle ownership and agriculture in Eastern Botswana, unpublished manuscript circulated by the Ministry of Agriculture; Fortman, L., Women's Agriculture in a Cattle Economy, Ministry of Agricultu~e (1981). M.V. Molefe, M. Se1ato and M. Boraga, Pe10tshethaa Pilot Project An Evaluation Study, Gaborone (1981). A. Rude, Draft Report on Agricultural Cooperatives in the Southern District CFDA: Applied Research Unit, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Gaborone, mimeographed (1982), pp. 30, 63, 87, 103.
66. View investigation turned on community development. Among these were P.J. Rollings 'Village Development Committee in Tutume', unpublished paper, Gaborone (1970).
67. Picard, L.A. and Endresen, K., A Study of the Manpower and Training Needs of the Unified Local Government Service, 1982-1992, Vol. 1, Gaborone (1981).
68. The reports on training include those by Egner Brian on district development entitled 'The Egner Report', Gaborone, 1978. The White Report by SIDA, Gaborone (1977) and White Architects of Stockholm, the report by Sarpong, Matthew of the Institute of Development Management, Gaborone (1978), Watson David report on 'the human resources requirements, formal and informal training, and staff development of personnel from both central and local
- 146 - government who are directly concerned with the process of district and urban development plan formulation, implementation and administration'. Otherwise called the Watson Report by Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Gaborone (1978), Presidential Local Government Structure Commission (LGSC), Gaborone (1980) and Picard & Endresden, op.cit.
69. Gaborone, S. (1981).
70. Youngman, F., op.cit. (1984).
71. Gaborone, S., op.cit.
72. Malikongwa, D., op.cit.
73. Kooijman, 'Bokaa living and learning', op. ci t. ( ..... 80J
74. Seidman, A., op.cit. (1977).
75. Parsons, N. & Palmer t R., The Roots of Rural Poverty in Central and Southern Africa, Heineman, London, 1977.
76. RECC, Theory and Practice of People's Participation in Rural Development, Ministry of Finance and Dev. Planning, Gaborone (1987) . ...., 77. Youngman, F. and.Tsiane, D.,~ibid.~ed~)
78. ibid., p.viii.
- 147 - PART TWO
METIIODOLOGY AND FIELD REPORT 1 1 1 1 1 1 '- MAP Of KGATLENG DISTRICT 1 1 1 1 1 CENTRAL 1 DISTRICT tlabelt1 1 1 1 1 • KWENENG 1 DISTRICT 1 1 i i 1 1 1 1 /' 1 1 1 1 SOUTH 1 AFRICA 1 ~ ..sesa 1 BOKaa • 1 1 1 1 1 1 GABORONE 1 30 20 t 1 10 o • • L 1 scale 1:500 000 .1 ~_\1
vii CHAPTER FIVE
THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
5.1. Introduction
This chapter outlines in detail the community profile of Oodi,
so as to provide a setting within which to evaluate the performance of
adult education programmes: a setting in which institutional,
traditional and other variables either facilitate or inhibit people's
participation in programmes.
5.1.1 Kgatleng
As the study was conducted in Kgatleng district, a brief
overview of this district is necessary to put Oodi in its regional
perspective. Kgatleng is in the comparatively fertile, densely
populated South East of Botswana. It is the home of the Bakgatla, one
of the major Setswana speaking tribes in Botswana and its capital is
Mochudi. The estimated population of 39,000 in 1979 rose to about 1 44,400 in 1981 and it is now 50,286. Among the factors that have
contributed to the rapid population growth are, the decline in
migration due to South African mine recruitment policies that favour
recruitment from its Bantustans, Botswana's increased employment
opportunities through its mines, and general improvement in health.
which has led to increased life expectancy and a decline in infant 2 mortality rate. Kgat1eng , in 1971, had the highest percentage of migrant workers to South Africa of all Districts in Botswana: 38% of all men between the ages of 15 and 54, and 18% of all women in this group. In addition a large number of people who have been working within Botswana were usually outside of Kgatleng. Brown's3 (1978)
- 148 - migration study, however, showed 47% of the men between 15 and 60 who
were employed were divided almost equally between Botswana and South
Africa. This was now an indication of the decrease in opportunities
in South Africa, and ,today Kgatleng, with its population density of 5.6 2 persons per km, ranks amongst the most populated parts of the country.
The increase in prosperity in the country has led to better facilities
in some parts of the settlements such as cattle posts which were
uninhabitable, or only seasonally occupied due to lack of water
facilities and other infrastructure. Nearly half of the Kgatleng
population live in Mochudi, the district capital. The rest of the
people are scattered among sixteen other villages and innumerable
settlements. Mochudi is growing fast and is marked out among villages
which will become urban centres by the end of the century. In 1986
the Mochudi population of 23,968 was projected to be nearly 30,000 by
1991 increasing to about 36,000 in 1996. Further proj ections put 4 Mochudi at around 42,000 by the year 2000.
There are several reasons why Oodi was chosen as a research site.
As stated in Brown (1986)5, Oodi is fairly representative of Kgatleng
and Botswana as a whole. It has a range of services, extension
programmes and facilities that one would expect a village of its size
in Botswana to have. Important government services and personnel
available in the village include a paid headman, a customary court
clerk, an elected councillor who represents the village on the
District Council, an agricultural extension worker, a community
development worker, postal service and telephone service. As in other
small villages elsewhere in the country. private entrepreneurs have
established several general purpose stores, a butcher, a liquor store and a daily bus service to Mochudi and Gaborone. As infrastructural development of roads, bridges, water and postal services increases,
- 149 - communications throughout the entire country especially the
~availability~ of transport improves, thus reducing the urban rural gap.
Therefore it may not be wrong to assume that many Botswana villages in
10 to 15 years' time will be like Oodi in many respects. Oodi
therefore may be a sample of things to come in the many villages of
Botswana,and this aspect of the study gives an opportunity to look at
it as an example of a future village setting in Botswana socially,
politically, economically, thereby bringing into focus the
implications of such a setting in the future planning and designing of
adult education programmes. Oodi is a small village, its size
facilitates the undertaking of an indepth study aimed at looking at
problems and the role of adult education in the social change process
from the people's perspective in a village where so much has happened
in a short space of time. As some of the workers commute from the
village, it was an advantage to have even some of these in the sample,
thus reducing the bias of interviewing only those people who were in
the village all the time. The main disadvantage of studying Oodi as a
rural village is that it is too near town to be typical. The study
therefore can only give an insight into things to come in some other
villages but cannot fully give a picture of what is happening in other
villages of its size in the remoter areas of Botswana. It is not a
comparative study, therefore does not provide an empirical
alternative, either between two rural villages or between the rural
and the urban areas. On the whole however the advantages still
outweigh the disadvantages.
Finally, from a practical point of view, it served a useful
purpose to be placed in such a vicinity as the researcher was able to
cover the necessary ground in interviews and visits among the policy makers in Mochudi and Gaborone,which would not have been possible had
- 150 - Oodi been more remote, given the duration of the research and the
limited research grant.
5.1.2 History
The history of Oodi warrants attention here as it is through
such historical background that Oodi's social structure can be
understood.
Oodi's residents settled permanently in the middle of the 19th 6 century. This was after the various tribal groups were shuffled and
mixed in the maj or migrations caused partly by the trekking of Boers
in 1835, the latter was accompanied by a lot of fights between the
Boers and the indigenous people, partly by the internal strife among
the tribes and the tribal leadership. Batlokwa. who later became the
Oodi residents, were hosted by Bakwena under the leadership of Chief
Sebele. When Chief Sebele died a bitter dispute arose between his
brother Sechele and Kgari, Sebele's son. Kgari fled with some of his
tribe. They were hosted by the Bakgatla Chief Lentswe II, finally
settling in Oodi in 1903 under the leadership of Taukobong, who was
the regent while Leabilwe was still young. Oodi was already divided
into wards, the main ones being the three Semele families (Taukobong,
Mochine and Nape). This group was later followed by the Balete and a
smaller group of Batlokwa led by Moeng who came to settle in the
Oodi/Matebeleng area. They found a community of Kalanga who had
arrived there 20 years before. with the Bahurutshe, they had been
forced south originally by Mzilikazi's invasion as he moved his
Ndebeles north in the l820s and l830s causing conflict and subsequent migrations at that time. After staying together for a year in Oodi
the Kalanga and Batlokwa decided to split due to differences in customs and leadership framework. The Kalanga went to their present
- 151 - location north of Oodi at Matebeleng (the name is derived from their
language Setebele). 7
In 1914 the Oodi residents were increased by another group of
travellers. These were Batlokwa, the present headman's forefathers
are from this group. However, it is not clear whether they were the
leaders of that group. Some villagers claim that they were, and that
they actually headed the Tlokweng ward which was formed by this group 8 from Tlokweng. Taukobong Semele continued to lead the Oodi residents
until Leabilwe was of age. Leabilwe, however, ruled for a short time.
When he died in 1947, headman Mochele, Taukobong's son, who is
retired now and presently living in the village, took over from him as
a regent for Leabilwe's sons.
The present Oodi headman, Mr. Katse Phiri, took over from
Mochele in 1975 after all of the royal line, especially from the
Semele families, declined the offer) arguing that the allowance for a
headman could not maintain them and their families. As already
mentioned Mr. Phiri belongs to the early settlers from Tlokweng and
some people think he is the right man to take over after the Semele
family. The village is divided on this issue; while the sizeable
min~rity does accept Mr. Phiri, the bulk of the village does not and
are giving him very little co-operation in his work
Unlike most successors who would normally have been exposed to the
day to day administration of the village, Mr. Phiri's years of youth
and entire work experience were in South Africa where he worked from
the early 19305 until the 1970s. This is a point that militates against his credibility and legitimacy as a village leader. It has also led to his lack of confidence in himself. This lack of acceptance and lack of confidence in the chief has contributed significantly to the deterioration of the chief's position and his
- 152 - role as the important 'cog' in the local politics and the
administrative structure of the village. On the whole, however, the
chief still manages to lead due to the status he gets from his
position as legal headman. Most of his time is spent at the Tribal
Administration Office where he executes his duties like a regular
government employee. He adjudicates all tribal cases and his word is
final in such cases. Villagers can, however, make appeals to the
paramount chief. Criminal cases are referred to Government police
officers in Gaborone. The chief's other duties include the signing of
passport forms, the 'no objection' application forms for residential
land allocation by the Land Board and applications for development
projects.
S.2 The Soc~o-Econo.~c Prof~le of , the V~llage
S.2.1 S~tuation and Population Growth
Oodi lies on the northern slope of Lentswe la Oodi (the hill of
the tree bark) where it meets the Notwane river (see map). The village is 20 kilometres north east of Gaborone, the national capital, and about 30 kilometres from Mochudi, the Kgatleng District Council headquarters. There are two privately owned farms on the south eastern part of the village, bounded from the village by a barbed wire fence.
The nearest village is Matebeleng. 2 kin to the north of the village followed by Modipane 13 kin eastward, and the furthest is
Sikwane near the border with South Africa in the east. Sikwane and other villages nearby lie along the river Marico and are therefore called the river villages. Oodi and the surrounding villages and the river villages fall under one parliamentary constituency
- 153 - Kgatleng/Tlokweng, part of which is in the South East Distric t. In
June 1977 a new, tarred side road from the Gaborone to Francistown
highway was built to pass through Oodi and Modipane to Sikwane and
this serves as a good link between Oodi and other villages in the
constituency. A railway line along the Gaborone/Francistown road
linking Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe is another form of
communication. Four bus services run between Oodi, Modipane, Sikwane,
Matebeleng, Mochudi and Gaborone.
Oodi has grown substantially since Independence and still has a
great potential to grow. This is partly due to its proximity to
Gaborone which has allowed workers to commute to Gaborone. There is
also a notable influx of some of the urban dwellers from Gaborone who
come to settle in Oodi attracted by free tribal land allocation.
VirtuallY,any Motswana resident can be allocated a plot of land in any
of the tribal lands, as long as he can satisfy the Land Board by
producing documentary evidence to the effect that he has moved from
his previous district permanently. This factor has contributed to
the growth of villages surrounding the urban centres and Oodi is one
of those experiencing that kind of growth. Land allocations have been
suspended since last year because Oodi villagers complained that
outsiders were taking all their land. Some villagers, however, like
to see more people come to settle in the village because they hope
these people will help them in the development of their village, and
will also give them employment as domestic servants and cleaners.
Another factor contributing to the growing population is the opening
of the weaving factory in 1973. Most of the workers in this factory
had been working somewhere in the country or in South Africa. They are now permanently at home. There is also an increase in services and infrastructural provision which has attracted a number of workers
- 154 - into the village.
There are mixed feelings about this population growth. Most
people especially adults associate it with crime, juvenile
delinquency, lawlessness and disintegration of community ties. The
Regional Police confirmed that there is a crime increase in Oodi.
However, their view was that while it was true that the crime rate has
increased in Oodi and seems to be growing much faster than in the
surrounding villages and hamlets, it is not necessarily crime
committed by people from within; rather, criminals travel from
Gaborone and Mochudi to commit crime in Oodi and slip back into town.
Some criminals from outside organize the youth within the village to
commit crime, thus training the village youth to be professional
criminals.
In the olden days.., when an individual arrived in the village, he
was introduced to the chief and the chief would then introduce that
person at a kgotla. This kind of welcome served three purposes.
Firstly, one would feel part of the community, he would feel secure
and free to mix with people. Secondly, it helped the community to
know everybody around. If a crime was committed and such a person
disappeared I he would easily be identified as a first suspec t. The
police would get a good description and the community's co-operation
in tracing the man. The visitor would therefore normally change his
mind about committing a crime when he knew everybody knew him. With
the government's policy of everybody eligible in Botswana being allowed to settle anywhere, gOing through the Land Board rather than the kgotla, it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to know each other. This is what the community sees as further weakening their interdependence and social fabric. There is also stock theft which is carried out mostly by villagers from other communities. The
- 155 - acceptance of new settlers has further eroded the chief's popularity
among some villagers. They blame him for allowing so many people to
settle in the village amidst all the criticism. One of the
complaints is that the already scarce land will be taken by these
people before the people from the community can raise money to start
any buildings for themselves.
Oodi's population of 630 in 1971 grew to 930 in 1977 and by 1986
the population had grown to over 2,000. (See Table 5.1).
The population of Oodi is at present 2,071 mainly of Bakgatla,
Batlokwa and Bahurutshe origin. The Bakgatla are the largest ethnic
group. Oodi, like many villages in Botswana, has got a population of
more women than men. The 1981 census shows that the total number of
males was 679, females were 920. It further shows that 56 men and
37 women were outside the country as migrants. The economically
active group had 251 men and 216 women. On the other hand, the
female-headed households were 175 while the male headed households
were 113. This phenomenon lays an even greater burden on women. First
of all, they are the ones who are. left at home to participate in
programmes but are less favoured by the economy. This presents an
unbalanced pattern of participation. This is further compounded by
the high percentage of females who drop out of school, some of whom
usually do not make it back to school. Some girls are made to leave
school to get married, while others have to help their mothers due to lack of labour force around the home and around the farmsteads. They help by looking after their brothers and sisters mostly of the pre school going age and in daily chores around the house.
The majority of the people living in the village are either old or young children. A small number, mostly women, have a co- operative, the only small factory operating in the village. The
- 156 - Table 5.1: Showing the Rapid Growth of Kgat1eng and her villages, especially Oodi which apparently outruns other villages in the District.
Enumerated Population Projected Population 1971 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001
Kgat1eng District 31,190 44,461 49,427 55,425 62,248 69,570
Mochudi 6,945 18,386 23,968 29,847 36,023 42,355
Bokaa 816 2,018 2,541 3,098 691 4,307
Oodi 630 1,599 2,071 2,566 3,087 3,625
I-' VI.... Mmathubudukwane 1,305 1,754 1,893 2,057 2,235 2,414 t-la101wane 931 1,360 1,532 1,735 1,947 2,226
Morwa 965 1,337 1,468 1,618 1,793 1.968
Modipane 510 1,220 1,556 1,918 2,297 2,685
Sikwane 885 1,090 1,136 1,213 1,313 1,426
Rasesa 540 879 1,043 1,236 1.469 1,725
Artesia 517 566 554 560 579 605
Maba1ane 423 681 B01 942 1,114 1,301
Other localities 16,603 13,571 10,864 8,635 6,673 4.933
Adopted from: 1981 Population & Housing Census Analytical Report. Published by Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone. April 1987. p. 174. See Table 13.18 on p. 173 'Defacto Population of Villages as Enumerated in 1971 and 1981' and as projected to 2001 (Medium Variant Assumption). l· factory - Lentswe la Oodi Weavers was started in 1973 by a Swedish
couple who have since left Botswana. Initially the factory only
concentrated on weaving activities but later the workers were
encouraged to form a co-operative. Most of the able bodied men and
youths are migrant workers in South Africa and other towns in
Botswana. Men mostly work in mines and factories while women work as
domestic servants and in other small jobs. However, there are a
considerable number of workers commuting from the village. Commuters
include people who have settled in Oodi in recent years; some commute
in search of work while others commute to work. Commuters in search
of work pose problems of participation in programmes by irregularity
and absenteeism.
5.2.2 Income Description q- This is derived from the economic survey conducted in 1974/75
as no more recent data is available. It is obvious that changes have
since occurred which make this data inaccurate insofar as trying to
put Oodi in its true income description. However, the data is still
useful to give an idea of the village ten years ago. A study of the
four villages of Kgatleng, which included Oodi, summarised the income
distribution of those villages thus:
- the average (mean) income per household was PI, 068 a year (PIOO =
66p approximately).
- half of the population (median income) had an annual income per
household of P630 (note that the poverty line for a family of five
is approximately P555).
- half of the population receive 60% of their annual income 'in land',
i.e. from producing for themselves or their immediate families (note
that the lowest 5% of this group gets 70% from 'in land' sources).
- 158 - - the poorest households depend mainly on transfer payments into their
homes (gifts from migrant workers, meals etc.) for their annual income.
- employment was the most important source of annual income for the
rural household (80% of those surveyed), and this averaged P355 per
household annually.
- 45% of the households owned no cattle which are a traditional
source/measure of wealth and security.
- 50% of the households owned three or less cattle (also note that
nationwide, 5% of the rural households own 50% of the national
herd) .
- 84.5% of all the rural households own 60.7% of all the national
herd.
- 84.5% of all the rural households consume 60.7% of all the nations'
goods and services leaving 15.5% consuming 39.3% of the services.
(For further analysis of these statistics especially on Oodi, see
Lewecky, 1977).
5.2.3 Occupation
(a) Agricultural activities
Oodi's residents are mostly subsistence farmers whose main
occupation is pastoral and arable agriculture. Though few have
cattle-posts most families have ploughing land. However, ploughing
lands differ, some are smaller, others bigger, some have been cleared while others have bushed and shrubs and cannot be ploughed before proper d'estumping. Others have stumps and can only be ploughed by animal-drawn plough and not a factor. (Animals used for draught power were cattle mostly, but farmers are now encouraged to use donkeys instead and preserve oxen for beef export. Critics see this as
- 159 - backwardness). These differences contribute to the pattern of
participation in certain programmes especially in agriculture. In
recent years Botswana has increased ways of promoting productivity in
the rural areas; firstly this is in an effort to increase employment
opportunities in the rural areas and secondly to increase the
country's self-sufficiency in food. Some of the aid schemes include
rations of improved seeds and fertilizers. e.g. the Arable Lands
Development Programme (ALDEP) launched in 1980 with the aim of raising
rural incomes and make Botswana self-sufficient in basic grain
production. The scheme embraces a wide range of extension
programmes, credit schemes and other activities geared towards
improving the rural areas. The most recent subsidy scheme introduced
to offset the effects of prolonged droughts on arable farmers is
called the Arable Rained Agricultural Programme (ARAP).
Due to variations in assets ownership. these schemes still favour
certain categories of rural people more than they do to others. To be
entitled for ARAP, for instance. one has to have a ten hectare
ploughland in which case he is given free seeds. fertilizer and the
government pays for the ploughing costs. If the peasant farmer owns
less than ten hectares of ploughing land. he only gets free seed and
fertilizers but has to cover the ploughing costs himself. Since some
peasants are too poor even to pay for five hec tares ploughing costs
the maj ority of the people in this category still cling to their
traditional way of ploughing. which is cheaper for them but lacks other benefits such as row planting. proper weeding and moisture conservation. Assets ownership thus becomes a factor in influencing people's participation and benefits in programmes.
Though many of the lands are close enough for the villagers to stay in the village during the crop season. most maintain two homes
- 160 - and travel five to ten kilometres to their lands. Those with a large
number of cat tIe have them elsewhere in the district where there is
better grazing and good water points (boreholes) while others with
only a few head keep them near their land. Other livestock, poultry,
goats and sheep are kept in very small numbers and are always moved to
the lands during the crop season.
People usually move to the lands soon after the ploughing season
and stay there until the harvesting season is over, usually by the end
of August. One reason is that once they move the small livestock to
the lands, they should always be around to feed them - especially if
these are pigs or chickens or even goats. The second reason is, once
ploughing has taken place, people need to watch for straying cattle
which might destroy their small plants and crops as most of the fields
are not fenced. ALDEP, earlier mentioned, covers t.he fencing of
fields and some peasant farmers have already taken advantage of this
scheme and hopefully fencing of fields is gOing to make a breakthrough
in some of the peasant farmers' problems. Some who complain about
having nobody to watch crop destroyers (e.g. birds and straying
animals) may be able to attend meetings and take an active part in
certain programmes, which they could not attend before in the village.
A few people stay permanently at the lands. Though a few farmers have
taken advantage of the extension methods and have worked closely with
the assistance of the Agricultural Demonstrator (AD), the majority of
people still use traditional methods of farming. There are a number
of factors contributing to this, among which are lack of resources and the absence of men in the village due to urban migration. Due to lack of resources, especially finance, some families work on other people's farms and fields instead of tilling their own fields. A small number, especially women, are self-employed as hawkers. Usually they sell
- 161 - "reject items" from S.A. factories.
(b) Lentswe la Oodi Weavers Factory
The main industry in the village is Lentswe la Oodi Weavers which
was started in 1973 by the Swedish couple. This is a co-operative run
by 64 workers, only four of whom are men from Oodi, Modipane, and
Matebeleng, with Oodi having most of the workers. All workers receive
basic training in weaving skills at the factory in'1tially and
thereafter each individual is left to develop more skills in weaving
that tells stories about their socio-economic and cultural factors.
Production activities at the factory increase as workers gain more
experience. They include the weaving of tapestries, bedspreads and
recently ladies fancy coats and ponchos. Carpentry and brickmaking
also used to be part of the factory but are now run by an independent
contractor, himself an ex-employee of the factory. After receiving
enough training and experience from the factory, the employee was
given a loan by the factory to start a building enterprise.
Most of the village development and the progressive character of
the village is attributed to the factory. In his evaluation of the
factory in 1979, two years after it had started operating, Lewecky had
this to say about its contribution to village growth:
Visitors to the village usually note a general progressive character about the village. Also there appears to be a high number of rectangular, corrugated iron roofed houses, for example, which many people consider a sign of progress and modernization. The traditional round houses also appear more modern, with a significant number made of concrete, rather than mud, usually brightly painted ~nd many using metal framed doorways and windows. iO
An even more noteworthy contribution of the factory, especially from a developer's point of view is the stimulation of local effort and participation in personal and collective developments. With its
- 162 - strong inclination towards the basic needs approach to the development
of the village, the factory started projects which could as well be
called growth poles or growth points. (Growth points are projects
which promote growth in the area economically, socially, e.g. building
of schools, clinics, restaurants, etc.). This process was started
through a trust fund which was an annual reserve of 25% of the
factory's profit geared towards funding income generating projects.
The main work of the fund was to stimulate business in the village by
loaning money to people. Projects funded by the trust were those
which would provide what the villagers needed most but could not get
locally, but also those that would further give employment to other
villagers. Projects funded under this arrangement include a butcher,
a small general dealer, a vegetable garden, a co-operative consumer
store, carpentry and brickmaking projects. The weavers factory continues to give employment to the villagers who would otherwise have had to either stay at home with very little to do or would have gone to seek employment somewhere else.
(c) Formal Employment
A small percentage of the villagers are employed in the small commercial enterprises like the butchery, or at the primary school or clinic. The majority of Oodi residents who hold full-time jobs, commute to Sebele and Gaborone. Most of those who work live away from the village in their different work places - mines, towns and other rural areas, and only come occasionally to the village to visit their families. A very small number work on the neighbouring farms.
- 163 - 5.3 Village Organization
5.3.1 Leadership
The village falls under Kgatleng/Tlokweng parliamentary
constituency. This means that the Member of Parliament works partly
with the South East District Council since Tlokweng is in the South
East District Council, and partly with Kgatleng District Council. The
present MP's residence is in Tlokweng, which forms the biggest part of
his constituency. He comes to Oodi mainly for meetings on government
policies which he normally holds at the kgotla.
There is one councillor for Oodi but he resides some seven
kilometres away at his lands where he also runs a herbalist shop. He
is a political leader of the people at a local level. The village
headman resides in the village and he is both the traditional leader
and the bureaucratic leader. He is an employee of the government and
he spends most of his time at the tribal Administration Office.
Shortly after Independence the chieftanship institution was highly
modified by government even at village level and this has changed both
the structure and the power of this institution. Chiefs no longer
have the unlimited powers they used to have and even though people
still maintain 'the chief is born', the government has a lot of say in their appointment and regulates their operation. This point is further discussed in the latter part of the study in Chapter Seven.
This new phenomenon has some advantages and in relation to the people's participation, it has affected not only the people's response to programmes but their whole perception of chiefs. The paramount chief resides in Mochudi and is in charge of the whole district.
- 164 - 5.3.2 Village Committees
The main organizations existing in the village administration
and consultation machinery are the Village Development Committee
(VDCs), the Parents/Teachers Association (PTA), the Village Health
Committee (VHC), and the 4B Club, a youth movement geared towards
promoting the spirit of self reliance and love for agricultural
activities by the young Batswana both in and out of school, the Co-op
Society, the Thrift and Loan Society, the Farmer's Committee and the
Burial Societies.
Other committees include Lentswe la Oodi Weavers Management
Committee and the Popular Theatre Club which was founded by the
factory workers. It has members from the factory and some from the
community.
i) VDC
The VDC is the oldest committee established immediately after
Independence with the sole purpose of bringing people at the
grassroots level more into touch with the consultation of a democratic
machinery. At first they were chaired by the village chief or headman
but later this practice was abandoned as it seemed to reinforce the
old practice where the chief had the final say in all matters
concerning the village. The VDC is supposed to be the mother body of all the other village organizations. However, many people complain that the VDC is very weak and does not do its work. Its e ems t ha t there is a general lack of co-operation between the VDC and other village organizations - such bodies as the MP and councillor also do not seem to help much in the functioning of the VDC. But probably the most important factor leading to the inefficiency in this organ is lack of education and motivation. Often people are elected to hold
- 165 - offices in these committees without any prior preparation by way of
training and they are not paid for being committee members while in
the same committee they have members who are paid, such as the ACDO,
the headman and the councillor who are ex-officio members of the
committee. The Village Development Committee (VDC) started operating
in Oodi in 1969. Though it faces problems of poor attendance to
meetings, like the VET, it still exists. Elections are held every
year. There seems to be no apparent criteria used for electing people
to the committee, therefore people are elected without regard to their
ability and often against their desire. This is causing problems not
only in the VDC itself but in the whole machinery of village
consultation. The VDC, as the head of all organizations, affects the
functioning of all the other organizations.
ii) Village Health Committee
The Village Health Committees (VHC) are a recent phenomenon
introduced to support the Primary Health Care programme which
emphasises preventative measures as opposed to the conventional curative approach in health matters. This move has necessitated people's involvement and participation and has therefore been introduced countrywide. More about the Committees is discussed under the relevant programmes.
5.3.3 Tribal Office and the Kgotla
The tribal administration office is located at a distance from the kgotla - in most places in Botswana, tribal administration offices are built within the kgotla premises and this is normally where village court cases are tried. In the past these cases would have been tried by the ward headman before they came to the kgotla. Cases
- 166 - used to come to the kgotla only after they could not be resolved by
the family, the immediate relatives or the ward headman. After the
village kgotla, unresolved cases or appeals are made to the paramount
chief who resides in the district capital. In the past the people
would go to Mochudi for court hearings but recently the practice has
changed and the chief is the one who travels to these villages to try
cases. The kgotla is a very important institution in Botswana.
Physically the kgotla is a large semi-circle of wooden stakes driven
into the ground. It is easily identifiable in this regard and any
visitor or inquirer could easily locate it without difficulty. In
most cases it is also near the chief's residence and now the national
flag is also hoisted at the kgotla just like at most of the public
administration offices.
The introduction of the community centres in the early 1970s has
removed most of the social activities from the kgotla but wherever
there is no community centre, villagers still hold most of their
community social events such as musical competitions at a kgotla.
Kgotla is therefore not just a meeting place but an integral organ in
the lives of the villagers. There is usually a special place in front
at the kgotla for the chief or the headman and his immediate
assistants who are usually his relatives. The chief or headman, or
his representative, is supposed to chair all kgotla meetings. Most of the. things to be discussed by extension staff and the MP are rather too complicated and detailed for the illiterate headman. Naturally, he agrees to call a meeting for these officers even if he only has a very vague idea of what is going to be discussed.
There are four wards in Oodi - the Semele ward being the largest and the biggest made up of several wards, Nape-Mochine and Taukobong subwards. In theory ward residents discuss issues in their ward
- 167 - kgotlas and bring them to the main kgotla, but in practice, this is
almost non-existent. Firstly, people come and settle anywhere in the
village without the necessary attachment to any wards as it used to be
in the past. Secondly, some members of certain wards are continually
outside the village so ward efforts are not fully integrated. None
theless it is still the feeling of the majority that the strength of
the wards could to some extent reinforce the strength of the kgotla
because there' would be more co-operation between the ward heads and
the chief or headman. Several studies in Botswana have stressed the
importance of kgotla as an institution.
5.4 Infrastructural Provision and Services.
5.4.1 Education
There is a primary school built in 1968 which had been poorly
staffed and had classes only up to Std. IV up to the time of
Independence - a factor which contributed to the villager's low level
of education. In 1977 the school had 352 pupils and 13 teachers and
in 1987 the enrolment had risen to 484 pupils and 14 teachers; with
donations from NORAD, an additional wing has recently been built.
There is a night school at Oodi Primary School which offers adult
literacy classes. The literacy programme operates under the guidance
of the Literacy Assistant, assisted by the literacy group leaders.
The school staff is assisted by the PTA.
Parents/Teachers Association (PTA)
This was formed after the building of the school and its main function is to bring teachers and parents together to discuss the welfare of the pupils and how to improve school facilities. It is
- 168 - made up of a committee of nine parents, two teachers and a
headteacher. Meetings are poorly attended. During the study no
meetings were held for a long time. Twice the chairperson called the
meeting when I was there but nobody turned up. Pupils are usually
given letters notifying the meetings to take to parents. PTAs started
in the late 1960s in Botswana.
5.4.2 Health
A clinic has also been erec ted and has one staff nurse who is
in charge of the clinic, two enrolled nurses, two Family Welfare
Educators (FWEs) and four auxiliary staff, namely the driver, the
ration clerk, the gardener and the cleaner. In 1986 a sanitation
project was introduced and its staff of five work closely with the
clinic staff bringing the total number of clinic staff to 14. Before
the clinic was erected there was a mobile clinic which came only twice
monthly to the village, otherwise villagers carried their sick to
Gaborone and Mochudi for medical attendance. The clinic staff attend
to all first aid cases and refer emergencies to either Mochudi or
Gaborone. The clinic staff at Oodi visit Modipane, Dikwididi,
Kgwarape, Matebeleng and other areas around, once a week. The
sanitation project staff mainly teach people the importa~ce of
sanitation and build latrines for the villagers at a minimal charge.
At the time of the research, however, the sanitation project was
temporarily suspended while an investigation was conducted regarding
the misappropriation of funds by the workers.
Village Health Committee (VHC)
The clinic staff is assisted by the Village Health Committee which was founded in 1978 at a kgotla meeting. The committee's main
- 169 - function is to assist FWEs by doing home visits and advising people on
personal hygiene, proper sanitation, proper feeding of children, the
importance of visiting the clinic, family planning and the general
cleanliness of the home. This they can do on informal visits, and
individual visits to friends and relatives.
5.4.3 Consumer Shops and Amenities
(i) Co-op Society
In 1976 a multi-purpose co-operative shop was opened. It was
begun with the aid of funds from Sethunya Sa Ditlhobolo (The Flower of
Developments). Mr. Goweniuse first asked people what they felt the~
needed most from their village, and they felt they needed farm inputs,
food stuff and other facilities and building materials which they had
to travel to get outside the village. The idea of a multi-purpose co
op to provide these amenities was then born. Each member from the co
op paid P8 subscription fee. Later the idea was discussed with the
whole village. The community decided that each household should pay
PlO contribution. The weavers then added P2 more to their original
P8 and the co-op store was built. The co-op is run by a committee but the majority of members are old and illiterate. It is run on a cash basis but other shops in the village sell by credit to their customers. The co-op ac ts as a bank where money can be saved and savers receive interest annually. A general meeting of the society is held annually - the committee is supposed to meet monthly. There are bye-laws for the society but they are generally not followed. Two privately owned shops selling groceries, one selling dry goods and one bottle store were also opened in 1976.
- 170 - 5.4.4 Other Services
Apart from the bottle store and the shop selling dry goods all
the above mentioned shops were bUilt with the assistance of the
weaving factory through loans, a clear indication of the factory's
impact on the village already. At that time until 1977 a Tlokweng
trader also provided a weekly transport service to his store from
Oodi, Modipane and Matebeleng at no cost to his customers. Twice
weekly. bus services started in June, 1977, and post at that time was
collected twice a week from Gaborone. there was then one telephone
located in one of the private shops. The 1980s have seen accelerated
services to the village. In addition to the above mentioned shops,
the village's commerce includes a chemist, a fresh produce shop, two
big vegetable gardens, two bars and three bottle stores. Financial
services include the Co-operative bank and the Post Office Savings
Bank which was opened in November 1981. Mail is now delivered and
despatched twice a week. Other services include a post office which
is also a telegraph and telephone office.
There is a poultry project run by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The project consists of a building and a water pump and already has
some chickens. Though Oodi residents generally see the project in the
light of employment creation. the Ministry's intentions are different; the project, according to the Ministry official, is placed in Oodi to take advantage of Oodi's proximity to Sebele the agricultural research station where chickens will be transferred for further sorting and selling to the poultry farmers around the country.
Water was reticulated throughout the village in 1974 and there are eight stand pipes already. This was after a long period of scarcity of water. In fact most people attribute village progress to the availability of water in the village. There are four churches in
- 171 - Oodi, the two old ones which have buildings are the Dutch Reformed
Church and the Roman Catholic church, others are Spiritual Healing
Church and St. Luke. Occasionally, the Zionist Church from Gaborone
visits the village and holds services; usually such services take the
whole night and are accompanied by feasting.
5.5 Extension Staff
Due to its proximity to Gaborone and Mochudi, Oodi has been made
to serve as a government base for most of the village extension
workers covering the catchment area in that region. All the extension
officers operate from Oodi but cover a number of other small hamlets
with populations ranging between 90-380.
a) Agricultural Demonstrator (AD) The AD for Oodi covers four
small villages and settlements surrounding Oodi and is resident in
Modipane. He owns a van which he uses on government duty and claims
the mileage and fuel consumption allowance. His main duties are to go
around the villages and fields advising people on modern farming
methods and how to cultivate plots. He occasionally addresses
villages at a kgotla giving information about new schemes such as the
above mentioned ALDEP, ARAP etc. He has newly arrived in the area (6
months) and during the time of study he was twice a week spending time
at the previous station to do the handing over to his successor. The
AD seems to spend more of his time consulting with the more
progressive farmers rather than working with groups of the new
arrivals on the modern farming techniques. This is quicker and best
for him given the area he has got to cover. However, the majority of
the farmers are left out in his duties and eventually in government's assistance. The AD, however, works with other farmer committees such
- 172 - as the dam group in charge of Kalapitse dam where cattle owners water
their cattle, the fencing group and 4B club. Usually these are also
members of the Farmers Committee. The AD has, in certain areas of his
work such as distributing seeds and fertilizers, to rely heavily on
the assistance of the Farmers Committee. The AD is also an ex-officio
member of the VDC, the PTA and other organizations. He is a member of
the Village Extension Team (VET). The AD's supervisor, the District
Agricultural Supervisor, lives in Mochudi but is supposed to come to
the village every two weeks. Generally the AD is more respected than
his fellow extension workers because he deals with the most important
aspec ts of people's lives. Apart from the Farmers Committee the AD
works closely with the 4B Clubs.
4B Club
The 4B clubs are run by the Ministry of Agriculture for in and
out of school youth and are usually based at the village primary
school. The children participate in games and activities designed to
make them good farmers and good citizens. The movement was introduced
in the 1970s and are usually run by the ADs assisted by the ACDOs. In
Oodi the 4B at tenders are only school children. All out of school
youth no longer attend. The AD and the ACDO are the ex-officio
members while the AD is also the chief organizer.
b) Veterinary Assistant (VA) The VA started in Oodi in 1984
after working two years in Mochudi after his animal husbandry training
at Botswana Agricultural College in Sebele. He works with the village
committees already cited above. However, his area of concentration is
limited to livestock. He liaises closely with the co-operative manager because the co-operative store sells the livestock drugs and
- 173 - other agricultural inputs. The Veterinary Assistant I s programmes
cover livestock diseases. He also monitors projects dealing with
small livestock, such as poultry, piggery, educating and advising
livestock farmers on prevention and treatment of livestock diseases.
His main target group is livestock owners (goats, cattle and sheep).
He covers Oodi and the surrounding areas - and he works more with
individuals and small groups. He sometimes takes farmers on
educational tours and demonstrations. He helps farmers who apply for
the Financial Assistance Policy (FAP), a financial scheme introduced
by government to help finance any enterprise, though economically
viable and having a potential for creating employment. Both the AD
and the VA work closely with the Kalapitse Dam Conservation Committee.
This committee was formed in 1979 and leads a dam group using
Kglapitse Dam from which the name .is derived. It is situated about
four km from Oodi and belongs to both cattle owners and the residents
of Kalapitse area. The members are mostly farmers and they come from
neighbouring lands as well. The main aims of the dam are to have a
fenced dam from which livestock can drink in an organized, orderly
fashion, to have a dip tank, and to have a vegetable garden. Each
members pays P3 fee but not many have paid and this causes a delay for other activities. The committee keeps money in the co-op.
c) Assistant Community Development Officer (ACDO) The ACDO came to Oodi in 1986. She holds a Community Development Certificate from
BAC, Sebele. Her work covers all sections of community and social development programmes as stipulated from headquarters. These sections; are community development "general", which covers work with all voluntary organizations such as VDCs, PTAs and all voluntary organizations, to encourage the spirit of self-help within all the
- 174 - committees. In the Youth Section, she deals with 'in' and 'out I of
school youth, assisting them in undertaking youth activities which are
training oriented, so that they can be profitably engaged either in
school or on their own, out of school. The objective is to try and
keep the youth busy thereby curbing the rural-urban migration, as well
as minimiSing juvenile delinquency. In Home Economics she trains
women in simple home management, child and mother craft. She does
this by group formation, after which a course or a workshop is held to
teach women. There can also be weekly meetings to teach women certain
skills: knitting, sewing and cooking. The ACDO's work also embraces
social case work. This is the area where she works closely with the
clinic staff helping in the counselling of TB patients, mental
patients and giving their families the necessary counselling support.
Recently they have tried to form a social Welfare Committee which can
help them to identify the destitutes. Despite the fact that the CD worker has tried to start work in these mentioned areas, not much has
been accomplished. She cannot get people to attend meetings and it becomes difficult to teach them. Her work is made particularly difficult by the fact that people no longer want to do voluntary work but want to be paid for their labour. The CD workers also covers other settlements in the neighbourhood of Oodi. She appears to enjoy working with these neighbouring villages more than Oodi. Group formation in other settlements is much easier than in Oodi and more stable. In Oodi even people who do not go to work in Gaborone, leave the village in search of work the whole day, and only come home in the evening, thus causing irregularities in attendance to certain programmes. The main committee with which the ACnO works is the VDC.
d) Co-operative Manager The mUlti-purpose consumer co-operative
- 175 - in Oodi is run by a board and a committee. The Co-operative manager
is the ex-officio member and she is responsible for organizing
seminars and talks on co-operative education after consulting with the
committee. The co-operative committee chairperson works for a multi
national company and is resident in Gaborone but tries to attend
meetings whenever he can. The target group for the co-operatives is
all villagers above the age of 18. At present all members are adults
ranging from 25-80+. Apart from selling foodstuffs the co-operative
also sells cattle for members at Botswana Meat Commission (BMC). The
AD and VA liaise closely with the co-operative manager because of
selling agricultural farm and livestock inputs. The co-operative
society also operates savings for the members. The co-operative
manager is a government official and is supervised by the Ministry.
She works closely with the Botswana Co-operative Union Bank while the
Co-operative Development Education Centre (CODEC) in Sebele helps them
in training the members. Training is sometimes done locally but other
times it is done at CODEC. The co-operative manager is not a member
of any other village committee.
e) Health Staff The health staff consists of a staff nurse, two
enrolled nurses, two Family Welfare Educators (FWEs), two sanitation
project assistants, a cleaner who works as a general duty assistant,
and a driver. The staff nurse who is also the supervisor does more of
the curative side especially in cases which can be handled at the clinic. Any serious maternity, mental or TB patients are referred to the hospitals in Mochudi and Gaborone. The enrolled nurses assist the staff by visiting the neighbouring settlements. Their emphasis is more on family health education. The FWEs do house to house visits conducting family welfare education. The sanitation project aims at
- 176 - improving environmental sanitation by educating people in the
importance of latrines, how to keep them clean and by assisting people
who show interest in the projects by helping them to build latrines.
One FWE and one enrolled nurse are members of the Village Extension
Team. The nurses and FWEs are also members of VET. They attend the
meetings and participate in the decision making process at those
meetings.
f) Department of Non Formal Education (DNFE) There is one
literacy assistant (LA) covering Oodi and the surrounding villages
assisted by literacy group leaders. During the time of the study the
number of group leaders had dropped from fifteen to one. Most of the
group leaders had left the village in search of work in Gaborone and
other towns. DNFE also offers correspondence courses for JC, GCSE and
all these are co-ordinated by the LA at the local level.
Correspondence students send their study scripts to Gaborone for
marking.
g) The Ladies Knitting Group Annexed to the factory is a
knitting group which is run privately by a lady from Scotland
currently living in Botswana. The project started in 1986 with 20 women who were trained in knitting. The women receive a sum of PIS.OO for each finished item. They are allowed to take their work home to do in their spare time and only come for new instructions to the little office where they are taught. The number dropped from 20 to S in a period of six months in 1986. However, new recruits raised the number to 20 in 1987. Most of the running of the group rests with the organizer who lives in Gaborone and comes to the village daily. She
- 177 - is, however, away most of the time, out of Botswana, and she blames
this absenteeism for the inconsistency in the group formation and
performance. The group, however, has made a good start and was
represented at the 1987 Gaborone Trade Fair.
5.6 Other Committees
5·6.1 Burial Societies
Burial societies are a new phenomenon and yet powerful economic
organizat10ns in Botswana. Burial societies have, however, been in
operation in the country for over two decades now but their main base
was in South Africa. Faced with problems of transporting their
deceased relatives from South African mines and other parts of South
Africa, People of Botswana formed themselves into groups and made a
monthly subscription towards funeral funds in organizations which they
called burial societies. Through these funds they were able to cover
some funeral costs such as the coffin and its transportation to the
country of origin accompanied by a number of the members. The idea
soon spread within Botswana not only in urban areas but even within
the rural areas. Sometimes members of one household may belong to
several burial societies. In Oodi there are seven burial societies.
Their main function is to help members with funeral arrangements and
costs. Burial societies are very popular among both the youth and the
adults. The meetings are mostly attended by women even though
membership usually covers couples where people are married. They do
not work or liaise with other organizations, but they have recently
started to support one another. Members of the burial society pay
P3.00 membership fee and an annual subscription of P6.00.
- 178 - &6.2 Village Extension Team (VET) Hembers of extension work everywhere
are expected to work as a team for the smooth running of programmes
and co-operation of workers at village level. These extension workers
have to have a committee - namely the Village Extension Team (VET).
rn Oodi the VET was formed but disintegrated in 1979. It was revived
later in 1981 but it hardly meets. The problems facing it are more
organizational than attitudinal. The VET is supposed to work with
the close co-operation of the District Extension Team (DET) but this
is not happening because the DET itself is not active.
5.6.1 Thrift and Loan Society The society was formed after Independence in 1966 through the
initiative of a co-op officer from the Co-operative headquarters in
Gaborone. A kgot1a meeting was called to introduce people to the
idea of a Thrift and Loan Society whose main activity is to act as a
bank for the poorer people. They register as members without a
membership fee and can start their savings with a minimum of lOt.
Members can then borrow money any time they have problems for a
stipulated time and the loan does not exceed borrower's savings.
5.6.ik Lentswe la Oodi Co-op Bank
The weavers factory runs a savings bank similar to the Thrift
and Loan Society for its members. The main difference is that the
borrower can get more than they have saved provided there were
sureties pledged by other members. The loans are usually recommended
for burials, school fees and ploughing costs. There is no interest
charged.
- 179 - 5.6. 5 Football Clubs
Football is the great sport in Botswana and even in Oodi where
no other youth clubs seemed to succeed, two football clubs are in
existence. The organizer of one club is a senior government official
who got married in Oodi and attained Oodi residence from another
village. His influence on the village youth, especially those in the
football club, seems to have positive results in channelling the
youth's minds into something recreational in the absence of job
opportunities in the village.
5.6~6_ Crime Prevention CODlBlittee
With crime being on the increase, the police find it useful to
involve communities in cracking down crime. There has been, as a
result, an establishment of Crime Prevention Committees in a number of
villages and urban centres. The members of such committees are
elected by the community at a kgotla. Their work involves reporting
any suspicious incidents to the chief and the police. Members of the
community also report incidents. to these members who then pass the
information to either the chief or the local policeman confidentially.
In Oodi the committee was formed in 1986 and seems quite popular.
Most people seem to welcome its existence.
Finally, Oodi is changing rapidly and change has had both good
and bad effects on the community. Notably there are changes in the
village administration which has either modified or completely
diminished traditional structures and institutions. Marieanne Enge
pointed out in her study Dependent Yet Independent: Women in Botswana
Today /1 that one needs money to survive in even the most distant
- 180 - villages. The money is needed to buy school uniforms, to pay school
fees, even pay for food and other necessities.
-- ;.... While it was customary for people to work together, e.g. "a . J ..Motshelo, woman would brew beer and prepare food and sell it, or in
Letsema, where she brews bee~s and prepares food so that other women
and men eat and drink and subsequently help her do her task (this
could be weeding, harvesting or threshing), these traditions are dying
now since many people need money to pay for services. Some people
have relatives and children sending them money to hire labour. A new
attitude has now arisen where people choose to work for money rather
than to be paid in kind in the traditional forms mentioned above. Two
things are emerging from this change, cash labour and the pressing
need for money to pay for different amenities. This has no doubt
dampened the spirit of community self help and continues to do so in
great proportions.
- 181 - Footnotes - Chapter Five
1. Guide to Villages and Towns of Botswana, 1983 (Gaborone), Government Printer, 1983. '1981 Population and Housing Census: Population Projections 1981- 2011, Gaborone~ Central Statistics Office.
2. BNDPVI 1985/91. op.cit., p. 12.
3. Brown, B., Women's Role in the Development in the Kgatleng District in Botswana, National Institute of Research and Cultural Research (N.I.R.), University of Botswana, Gaborone (1978), p. 2.
4. Guide to the Villages ~nd Towns in Botswana, (1981), op.cit.
5. Brown, C. et. aI., (1986) op.cit., p. 6.
6. Apparently these were the first residents of the Oodi area and possibly descendants of Bahurutshe who migrated from East Africa and occupied the present Hurutshe, Kgatla, Tlokwa and Kwena (which later broke into the Kweneng, Ngwaketse, Ngwato and Tawana groups) •
7. Since this time Oodi and Matebeleng still do not have smooth neighbourliness.
8. The migrants from Tlokweng fled their village because they complained about the two taxes they were forced to pay in their village. One tax was to be paid to the government and the other was paid to the local white trader who owned a store in the village.
More about the History of Kgatleng including Oodi can be found in several works by Schapera, I., and Sillery, A., Botswana: A Short Political History, Richard Clay, The Chaucer Press Ltd. (1974), p. 138. ~. For Oodi in particular, see also Lewycky, D., Tapestry - Report from Oodi Weavers, University College of Botswana (NIR) (1980).
110. Ibid. 11. Enge, B., Dependent Yet Independent: Women in Botswana Today. Lusaka, (1978).
- 182 - CHAPTER SIX
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND METHODOLOGY
6.1 Framework and hypothesis
The purpose of the field work in this study is to examine and
test out in one village two linked hypotheses. The first hypothesis
is that any development strategy. including adult education. which
seeks to spread benefits to people by tackling community needs of a
social nature before people's basic needs is unlikely to succeed.
This is because several factors prevail which make it hard for
people to identify with such programmes. As long as the majority of
the rural people fall into the basic needs category. their capacity to
participate remains limited physically and psychologically; limited
in choice. limited in action. limited in what and how they can
contribute to their community's development.
The second hypothesis is that changes in the institutional and
social framework of rural communities today make it difficult or
impossible for communities to function as one homogeneous group for
the common good. These changes have led to a shift away from
community consciousness and orientation towards a concern with family
or self-centredness. These hypothes~s suggest strongly that many of
the claims made for community participation and benefits through rural
development may be based on rhetoric rather than reality.
There are two key dimensions on which these hypotheses are framed 1 and tested. (See Fig. 6.1). The first dimension drawing on Maslow. classifies people's needs in terms of a hierarchy ranging from basic economic survival security needs at the bottom, through social and esteem needs to self-actualization at the top. The second dimension
- 183 - Fig. 6.1 Needs and Orientations: A Framework
, I " '. Self actualization " Altruistic, , Esteem , " , Communal Social Individual Social " , Social ~ommunal Extended Family '\ Nuclear Family Individual ~ o ~ " ..-I ~ CIS " ~ '\ ~ Communal .... OJ ... Individual (Xl ..... Economic -I'- 1-1 '\ Economic o Security , , " Communal "- Individual Survival " Survival Basic , t ,
Needs concerns people's orientation and ranges from a highly collective
outlook, through concern for the extended and nuclear family to a very
individualistic outlook on life.
In simple terms, these dimensions suggest that programmes can be
planned on one of four bases: communal-social, communal-economic,
individual-social and individual-economic. Many extension programmes
have in the past concentrated on the social needs and development of
rural people, and many have done so on a communal rather than familial
or individual basis. The study questions the appropriateness of this
approach. How well grounded are these strategies? Is there an order
of priority among needs that has been ignored? Are rural people
orientated mainly towards their community, family or themselves? And
what is the relationship between the two dimensions? Could it be said
that orientation is merely a function of need or are the two
dimensions reI a ti vely independent of one another, and more dependent
on other factors of a cultural and socio-political nature? This
theoretical framework pointed to the pattern and level of
participation and attitudes towards various programmes in the village
as a measure which ought to give some answers to these questions. The
theoretical framework was used creatively as a base against which 2 modifications could be made as the research unfolded.
Blauner 3 points out that where there is a need, there is identification and where there is identification there is involvement.
In the same vein are the motivation theorists who suggest that 'the drive or power which forces a person to change, act, or do something originates from a need which in turn is influenced by intrinsic and/or 4 extrinsic circumstances or conditions. According to these theorists an unsatisfied need creates tension which then stimulates drives within the individual. The drives generate a search behaviour and
- 185 - through such behaviour, particular goals are found which, if attained,
will satisfy the need and lead to the reduction of tension.
If the above theories are accepted, it is probably correct to
suggest that a community approach which approaches rural development
through community participation, benefits enhancement decided by
geographical or constitutional localities, assumes that there is such
a thing that can identifiably be called 'community'. This assumption
leads to another assumption that people in one locality can willingly
and collectively co-operate and share benefits equitably and that they
are propelled by the same drive and force and are exposed to the same
conditions and capabilities. Thus when programmes and aid schemes are
introduced to rural people, little regard is shown to the disparities
in ~nefits given the diverse conditions of the recipients. If such
an idea occurs, it does not present much of a threat to policy and
implementation. It becomes something that programmes can learn to
live with. The result for those who benefit less, is bound to be
absence of identification and therefore no real involvement, or as it
is in the majority of cases of the poorer section of the community,
there will be tension arising from basic needs, but the goals sought
by the search behaviour to satisfy such tension (needs) will not be
attainable due to acute lack of the basics in life. This state in turn widens the gap and weakens further the community ties, while also creating disillusionment and helplessness which makes a mockery of all development themes, most of all participation. 5 In Botswana. Colclough and McCarthy revealed in the 1970s that the disparity between the rich and the poor was widening and that significantly more people were poorer then than when Botswana gained independence in 1966. It is suggested here, that because the majority of the rural people are poor, they are more likely to identify with
- 186 - poverty-oriented programmes which attempt to satisfy their basic
needs; later they may identify with social needs. More importantly,
where the basic needs are met, the tendency will be that of liberation
from the poverty trap, from selfwards towards higher levels, upwards
to social needs where their horizon of consciousness widens and begins
to conceptualize the needs of their society, to perceive the role they
can play and to respond to such communal demands. The important thing
here is that the meeting of basic needs also increases people's
capacity to respond accordingly, economically, socially and
politically; in other words people start to march to self confidence,
self fulfilment and a sense of worth. In this we can see a model
which though it starts with the hierarchy, as described by Maslow,
begins to lean beyond self towards family and then community.
The provision of basic needs brings about psychological growth as
well as physical growth and capacity. And it increases freedom, the
freedom to choose, to decide, to alter situations and to control one's
environment. In other words, it performs the major task of liberating
men. and women from squalor and defencelessness. On the extreme end,
lack of basic needs excludes any positive outlook in life. Thus to be
excluded by poverty is to be denied the full freedom of choice which
is supposed to be the pivot of a modern industrial society.
Apart from the obvious fact that lack of basic needs can cause
malnutrition and therefore physically incapacitate people, it can
restrict psychological growth as well. Maslow, arguing for such
growth, emphasizes that at the extreme end, the need for self
actualization is a healthy man's prime motivation but argues that at
the other end there can be no motivation where the needs below are not
satisfied. Considering that the majority of the people are at the basic needs level, if Maslow's argument is accepted, it is logical to
- 187 - set the basic needs as a parameter in tracing people's participation.
Maslow further says that self-actualization means realization of one's
full potential, becoming everything one is capable of becoming.
What then facilitates the process of growth from level one of
need to the self-actualization stage? In other words, what is 'the
influencing factor' in this process? This question introduces
another parameter in our discussion. If at the survival needs level,
people are dependent, passive, ignorant, have limited abilities,
narrow interests and can only manage few responsibilities, it would be
difficult to appeal to them through a community approach. The efforts
at reviving community participation therefore seem likely to incline
to where their level of need is, where they can be reached and be
liberated and helped to grow into maturity. independence, and all the 6 positive stages of growth. Kooijman's study points out that it was
difficult to investigate felt needs and their implications for
educational courses because rural people were not able to
conceptualize their needs in any form which was directly usable and
they were not able to think creatively in terms of educational
courses. Obviously people at this stage are still trapped in the
psychological prison of physical need.
Another parameter in the framework which warrants scrutiny is the
community. There are still people who regard communities today as
coherent units and deliver packages of programmes on that under-
standing. Ashurst warns against this:
A common characteristic in the popular use of community is to regard it as being uniformly almost cosily, homogeneous in essence. Community work experiences reveal residential communities as places which often display signs of tension, conflict and diversity ••• to represent community essentially as a consensus concept7 is generally speculative and could be misleading.
The essence of community is no longer a 'sense of common bond' and the
- 188 - sharing of an identity, or membership in a group holding something
physical or spiritual in a common esteem, coupled with the
acknowledgement of rights and obligations with reference to all
others identified, referred to in Gulbenkian Foundation papers - the
papers describe a residence community (sometimes called an ecological
community) as 'one in which the bond which unites the members is
common habitation of socially delineated physical space ... ,8
Communities have suffered fragmentations which render baseless
any efforts that use a community approach especially to non-economic
activities. Certain paradoxes arise as a result of these
fragmentations, modifications \ and sometimes removal of community
values, institutions and structures. There is, for instance, the
paradox about basic needs. Basic needs are motivators - without them,
for manY,life becomes mere survival and as such people will struggle
on an individual basis. Where the situation is one of survival, the
general tendency will be to say 'everyone for himself and God for us
all' .
Having accepted the notion of a community as a coherent unit,
with a common bond and a caring and sharing spirit, planners tend to
use it as an ideal platform for rural development delivery packages of
aid, education and general information. Planners and educationists
thus have an idealised view of communities but as Foster says:
communities are no longer what we would like to believe they are and the assumption is misleading with regards to communities and their participation. Communities no longer work for the common good; instead it has been observed that, particularly in areas of poverty, individual concerns often override community goals. Only when'extreme scarcity of resources is removed and people are more ecorwmically better off can co operation take place.
It is also assumed that knowledge will automatically create desired behaviour change. From the five stages of adoption, we know that the
- 189 - process entails creating awareness, followed by interest, trial of an
idea, evaluation and only when it is workable do people adopt it.
Being workable could imply many factors: resources, labour and time.
The idea that community leaders always act in the best interests of
their people is also misleading. In the past traditional practices in
the institutional framework made it possible for leaders to meet the
needs of their communities. Authority, community and the economic
base were inter-dependent factors in community life. This
relationship was weakened with the modifications of traditional
institutions, especially chieftaincy.
Other misleading assumptions are linked with government's goals
as opposed to its worker's goals for rural development and the
professional and bureaucratic structures that go with the extension
service. All these are areas that may inhibit people's participation
in a community. When it comes to programme formation, for instance.
professionals may decide not to involve the community, especially
where there is generally a low level of education. It will be argued
that they cannot follow the technicalities.
The decline of traditional institutions raises questions about
their suitability as the administrative focus for local participation
in development efforts. On the one hand they are the best understood
and most authoritative institutions operating at a village level. But for a variety of reasons these same institutions are declining in power and influence. There seems to be a 'conflict of recognition' about chiefunncy on the part of the government. From one angle chiefs are recognised as the central pillars of community life, co-ordinating both social and economic activities at a village level. The personal qualities of the chief are often seen to be 'the single most important variable explaining the outcome of communal development efforts' and
- 190 - the kgotla where they preside over village meetings is recognised as a
strong and legitimate forum for community decision-making. From the
other angle, government policy strip s village chiefs and all the
traditional institutions of real power and legitimacy by incorporating
them more into the government bureaucratic structure, making it
difficult for chiefs to assert strong leadership to mobilize people.
There is an irony in this situation for chieftaincy and traditional
institutions for they seek to be traditional and customarily
accessible to their people, yet are beset by internal hierarchy,
surrounded by modern institutions and are themselves part of local 10 government legal and bureaucratic hierarchies. Ashurst notes that
influence of hierarchies makes an irony of community education which
seeks to be flexible and accessible to its users. Chiefs can no
longer regulate people's social and economic behaviour, hence people
increasingly turn to the MP with their problems. The kgotla is also
'plagued by numerous difficulties in making and implementing decisions
while the ward boundaries are becoming increasingly unclear or
irrelevant'. (Brown, 1986).
Much of this decline is blamed on government policy. As
Brown's 11 study points out, the government has taken away the chief's
authority to regulate most aspects of people's social life and
economic lives by reducing most of their financial, material and human
resources. By making chiefs civil servants, government has undermined
the chief's legitimacy and authority. The village chief is now at the bottom of a large government bureaucracy often carrying out directives from higher authority.
Economic institutions have also been undermined. In the past both the poor and the rich depended on each other.
A man was well aware that only by investing his energies and resources in the strengthening of the
- 191 - group would he have some security if misfortune should befall him. Kinship co-operation was no charity but a system of mutual benefit. A man with many cattle could benefit from the labour of a poor person and the poor man benefited from the use of the cattle. Those rewards were considered to be equal. Furthermore, a rich man was well aware that tomorrow he might be poor and that he would be dependent on those who now depend on him. Thus he furthered his own and his children's future security by his present1~enerosity towards the other members of his group.
Community participation involves three key areas in its process,
firstly the community organization of resources, secondly, community
development, sense of fulfilment and thirdly, community action where
people can stand against exploitation by elite groups and government.
These key areas need a coherent base which seems not to be there
in our present communities. The need for basic needs satisfaction has
led to migratory patterns which make the village something less than
an independent viable community. People I S source of livelihood is
elsewhere, their social horizon extends beyond the village. In short
the village boundaries are not the relevant geographical boundaries
for people's main social and economic concerns. 13 Alverson notes that Batswana who have lived in the shadow of
apartheid and poverty have been affected in their individual values
and consciousness. Having been exposed to the Westernized life in
South Africa, their aspirations about development are reflective of
their experience in South Africa. Thus the effects of migration are
shown to go beyond the absence from home but the change in perception for those who get a chance to be exposed to the other style of life outside their villages. Kooijman observes that:
Though the villages of Botswana continue to be talked of as 'rural areas', it should be realized that this is a distorted depiction of reality.
He argues that the villages are actually integrated into the industrial economy where their men go to work. Almost every man
- 192 - spends a larger part of his life as a labourer than as a farmer and it
requires a tremendous readjustment when he settles finally in his
village.
Speaking about involvement in agriculture, he says,
the frequent use of the term I rural population I blinds one to the indisputable fact that agricul ture is for many of these people only a secondary or partial source of income. They are labourers for the African economy and it could not be otherwise than that the values of the system have pry{oundly affected their lives and thinking.
Given all these complexities and effects of social change on
communities the study thus suggests a new focus for raising people's
participation for rural development - the satisfaction of basic needs.
6.2 Choice of methods
What makes the researcher decide on a certain method as opposed
to another is the kind of situation under study and also the kind of
information wanted. It is against such a background that the
researcher will decide on the research techniques and instruments to
use.
There are various research approaches; the two main ones being
a) the qualitative method, which is exploratory and which tends to
analyse situations in a descriptive manner, and b) the quantitative
method which tends to measure situations and issues numerically. Thus
the quantitative research method uses statistical tools more, whereas
qualitative research includes case studies, life histories and
observation. Both these approaches are widely accepted in the field
of research. The present study used the qualitative method of investigation. In this section different aspects of this method of investigation are discussed in the light of three questions: what it is, why and how it was used.
- 193 - 6.2.1 Qualitative Research: What it is and why it was used
In the broadest sense, the phrase 'qualitative methodology'
refers to the research that produces descriptive data, people's own
written or spoken words and observable behaviour. 1S
Rist 16 set out seven points which are useful in explaining why
qualitative methodology was used in the present study.
(1) Qualitative research is inductive. In qualitative studies, researchers follow a flexible research design often beginning their
studies with only loosely formulated research questions. In this way
researchers are then able to develop concepts, insights, and
understanding from patterns in the data, rather than collecting data
to assess preconceived models, hypotheses or theories.
As is the case in many community studies where the many inter-
dependent, intertwined variables make it difficult to hypothesize, the
present research design began with exploratory questions and only a
general statement of assumptions and hypotheses. Unlike a situation
where a programme or one institution is studied, a community is a
complex system which. can best be approached through illuminative 17 methods. Following Stake's 'portrayal' evaluation, and Parlett and
Hamilton's18 'Evaluation as Illumination' approach
The task of the evaluation researcher is to 'get inside' the group he is studying. He may see his first task as familiarizing himself with its day to-day realities. Ultimately he hopes to present a picture, a model, an account that constantly expands in size and complexity as he gains access to new information. He does not 'screen out' complexity as in experimental research. but screens it in, gettin~9a variety of perspectives on the central issues.
The fact that only limited research was done in this area in this village lent support to the approach.
(2) In qualitative methodology the researcher does not look at settings and people as separate entities but holistically. This
- 194 - approach thus helps the researcher to study people in the context of
their past and the situations in which they find themselves. It was
important, in order to find out what made people behave the way they
do at present, to reconstruct the people's past, to put oneself in a
position where one could be informed of the past by the present, and
could speculate about the future from the present situation. This
could best be done by following a holistic approach. It was when
adopting this method that it became clearer why people were opposed to
certain issues.
(3) Qualitative researchers are sensitive about their effects on the
people they study. Qualitative research has been described as
naturalistic; that is researchers interact with informants in a
natural and unobtrusive manner. In participant observation, another
method of qualitative research, researchers try to 'blend into the
woodwork', at least until they have grasped an understanding of a
setting. In in-depth interviewing they model their interviews after a
normal conversation rather than a formal question and answer exchange.
It was often during seemingly normal conversation, that crucial points
relevant to the study surfaced which were otherwise not covered by the
interview schedule. Examples of this come later in the discussion of
the conduct of the study.
More importantl~ qualitative research enables researchers to try
and understand people from their own frame of reference. It was
essential to see issues through the eyes of the villagers so that one was distanced from identification with programmes or policy that directed those programmes. As Bogdan et.al. put it:
Central to the phenomenological perspective and hence qualitative research, is experiencing reality as others experience it. Qualitative researchers empathize and identify with the people they sttWy in order to understand how they see things.
- 195 - Their argument is supported by Blumer who explains that:
To try to catch the interpretive process by remaining aloof as a so-called 'objective' obs2Iver •.• is to risk the worst kind of subjectivism.
(4) 'The qualitative researcher suspends or sets aside his or her own 22 beliefs, perspectives, and predispositions'. Bruyn noted that
qualitative research views things as though they were happening for
the first time. 'Nothing is taken for granted'. I had to exercise a
lot of self restraint and caution in order to abide by Bruyn's dictum
because having known the village fairly well in the past I would
assume a lot of things.
(5) Qualitative research gives parity to all perspectives.
For the qualitative researcher, all perspectives are valuable. The researcher seeks not 'truth or morality' but rather a detailed understanding of other people's perspectives. All people are viewed as equals. Thus the juvenile delinquents perspective is just as important as the judge's or counsellor's or the psychiatrist's. In qualitative studies those whom society ignore, the poor and the 'devi2~ t " of ten receive a forum for their views •..
(6) Qualitative methods are humanistic.
The methods by which we study people of necessity affect how we
view them. The danger is that when we 'reduce people's words and acts
to statistical equations, we may lose sight of the human side of 24 social life'.
The researcher's concern may be to improve programmes or the titles of programmes and their clients, without necessarily bringing any real benefits to the people being researched. The following illustration will help to explain:
I used to think I was poor Then they told me I wasn't poor I was NEEDY Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy I was DEPRIVED Then they told me deprived was
- 196 - a bad image I was UNDERPRIVILEGED Then they told me underprivileged was over used; I was DISADVANTAGED I still don't have a dime 25 But I have a great vocabulary.
Blumer points out that
By observing people in their everyday lives, listening to them talk about what is on their minds, and looking at the documents they produce, the qualitative researcher obtains first hand knowledge of social life unfil tered through concePt~~ operational definitions and rating scales.
Of course this approach runs the risk of lack of reliability and
replicability which the quantitative research emphasizes, because
quantitative researchers are concerned about the accuracy of their
data. But those who argue for qualitative research say that
it would seem far more worthwhile to make a shrewd guess regarding that which is essential than accurately ~asure that which is likely to prove irrelevant.
(7) All settings and people are worthy of study in qualitative
research. No aspect of social life is too mundane or trivial to be
studied and though due to limited time this village study had to be
restricted to certain areas an effort was made to ensure that all
settings and people studied were taken as unique.
(8) Qualitative research is a craft. Qualitative methods unlike
other research approaches, have not been standardized. Thus
qualitative researchers are flexible in how they go about conducting 28 their studies. The researcher is then seen as a craft person. Mills suggests that the qualitative social scientist is encouraged to be his or her own methodologist.
The main limitations of the qualitative approach is that due to no standardization of format in eliciting information but rather exploration and reliance on people's views, which are each
- 197 - individual's opinion, the interviews are liable to lack uniformity.
There is no comparability of data to allow for more statistical
treatment. The intensity of the method of interviewing limits greatly
the size of the sample. This limited sample, on the other hand,
renders less reliability and therefore the validity about the facts
gathered. There is a high vulnerability to interview bias and high
risk of inconsistency which gives more room for interviewer error and
hence higher unreliability and invalidity. Thus qualitative methods
are generally subject to the errors of human judgement compared to
quantitative research where measurements are quantitatively accurate.
Qualitative t unlike quantitative, research's success depends largely
on the ability of the investigator. Because of lack of standardized
procedures often results tend to be a superficial look at people or
settings rather than systematic investigation.
6.2.2 Qualitative research techniques
There are several qualitative research techniques open to the
researcher. These techniques vary and are often influenced by the
type of study conducted. Mohamed observes that research findings must
rest on evidence and this has a lot to do with the techniques by which
evidence has been gathered. In this section the discussion focuses on
techniques in brief but how they were actually used comes later.
Observation: This is a technique which involves systematically
selecting, watching and recording behaviours or people or other
phenomena and aspects of the setting in which they occur for the
purpose of gaining specified information. There are basically three
types of observation technique. Firstly, there is participant
observation, in which the observer takes part in the situation he observes. The phrase 'participant observation' is used here to refer
- 198 - to research that involves social interactions between the researcher
and informants in the .milieu of the latter during which data are
systematically and unobtrusively collected.
Secondly, there is non participant non concealed observation in
which the observer watches the situation not hiding his presence from
those observed, and thirdly there is the non participant concealed
observation in which the concealed observer watches the situation
hiding his presence from those observed. Although there are
advantages in this approach the disadvantages also need to be born' in
mind when opting for the technique.
Written Questionnaire: This is a technique for research that presents
written questions that are to be answered in written form by the
respondents themselves usually in quantitative research. The main
efforts then focus, as Warwick et.al.. suggest, on the number and types
of questions, their sequence, and the means of motivating the 30 respondent and maintaining his interest.
31 Gardner has advanced other reasons where it might be better to 32 use questionnaires rather than an interview. But Nisbet warns that
where enquiries are of a complex nature questionnaires are not
appropriate as one cannot always tell in advance which questions will
be applicable to this or that group.
In the village studied the target groups of investigation
comprised different categories of respondents, learners, non-
participants, extension workers and key people in the society and
therefore needed a variety of methods and techniques.
A list of the disadvantages of questionnaires includes the low rate of response from 15% to 50% against 70% to 98% of interviews.
The interview: This is a technique for research that involves
- 199 - questioning orally one or more respondents. It is verbal
interactional exchange in which one person, the interviewer, attempts
to elicit information or expressions of opinions from another
person(s), the interviewee.
It is a conversation with the purpose specifically of information getting. The success of the interview depends on the quantity and quality of the information ex~nged between the interviewer and the respondent.
The point about interviewing is that it is an encounter and in
any social encounter between the two people, the way in which one
participant plays his role invariably affects the performance of the 34 other. Equally, however, there are other factors which affect an
interview and the quality of data which it yields. These are
dependent on four interacting conditions; the interviewer, the
respondent, the topic and the immediate interviewing situation. 35
Interviews vary widely in many ways, ranging from interviews intended
primarily to gather information about the characteristics of
interviewees, (age, sex), to exploratory interviews which are often
indepth in character. The different purposes which interviews are
required to serve and the different types of data which they are
expected to yield influence the choice of the interview method. The
extent to which the interviewer has clear and definite ideas about the
information which is being sought also determines how the interview
shall be conducted. A census survey might need a strict control type of interview while in other cases, for example, in an exploratory interview bearing on a situation about which little is known in advance,
the interviewer may quite intentionally allow the interviewee to 'take control' in the hope that unexpected or unsuspected information may be volunteered, or may simply emerge fr~ a relatively unrestricted flow of conversation.
- 200 - Thus the variations encountered in the form of interviews are ones of
degree: a) the degree to which information is sought in standardized
form, and b) the degree to which the interview is structured in
advance by the interviewer. There is an overlap in the degree of
standardization and degree of struc ture. At the extreme of these
forms is the unstructured interview which is also very useful. All
these methods were used in this village study due to the complex
nature of the study. Below we discuss what each method implies.
a) Structured and unstructured interview methods
(i) The structured interview
This is the form of interview which is sometimes known as a
formal, systematic, controlled, standardized, extensive or guided
interview. Questions and. answers in this type of interview are asked,
and recorded in a standardized form. The questions to be asked are
all decided before the interview, the same wording is used in each
interview and the sequence of questions is strictly controlled and in
many cases the answers are recorded according to pre-coded categories
in a standardized form. Thus the interview takes more the form of an
oral questionnaire and not quite the flow of a natural conversation.
The notion of standardization stems from the assumption that not only
is it possible but often desirable to seek information from a number
of interviewees in such a form that it is directly comparable. Pons'
comments that such an assumption in itself carries further assumptions
that
each interviewee hold comparable information and that each will und~and any questio~~ asked in a standardized form in the same way .•.
There was a fair amount of comparison among and between the programmes, what they offered, their target groups as well as methods
- 201 - adopted by the different programme leaders and extension workers, and
therefore desirable to follow in certain respects a fairly structured
interview schedule with some amount of standardization. The notion of
structure refers to the way different phases and aspects of an
interview may be related to one another and form a consistent and
coherent whole:
When the interviewer has a clear set of goals and expectations (wpether on paper in the form of a questionnaire or interview gUide, or simply in his or her head) the interviewee will naturally be guided as far as possible towards those goals and expectations. In other words the interviewer will attempt to structure th~8 interview to meet the specific requirements
(ii) Unstructured interviews
The unstructured interview is at times known as an informal,
unsystematic, uncontrolled, qualitative, intensive or unguided
interview. In this form of interview, the interviewer has a number of
key points around which to build an interview. The interview appears
more like a conversation but it is still a conversation with a
purpose. The interview may vary from structured to unstructured or
may be a mixture of both where it begins in an informal style and
finishes more formally or vice versa. This is the style which was
also followed in this study. Because of the exploratory nature of the
study, especially in cases where the villager's opinions were sought
about change and the place of adult education in the development
process, the interviews usually followed a very special style of
informal interview, leaving the direction of the conversation in the hands of the subject without much guidance from the interviewer, thus allowing the respondents to express themselves and follow their own thoughts without much interference from questioning.
Instead of having specific questions on various relatively well- defined aspects of a situation or event the interviewees were invited
- 202 - to 'tell their own story' - to talk about, describe, and discuss their
lives, work or family. This was particularly useful during the
familiarization period where by adopting the non-directive interview
style I discovered further insights into the topic of my study which
helped to redesign the final interview schedule. In the case of non
directive interviews, the interviewer deliberately
refrains from giving structure to the interview, to ensure that no direct questions are asked which might by their v y nature influence the respondent's answers. 39
The interview has its own strengths and weaknesses. These have been 40 documented by a number of authors. Sometimes it is for the
appropriateness of the method for a particular study that it is
preferred to the other methods. 41
Both structured and unstructured methods of interview also have
their limitations. The strong points of the unstructured interview
are that interviews can be very penetrating. The method avoids
imposing any hypothesis or any assumptions, but it is a time consuming
method as some respondents may talk around the topic, not coming to 42 the exact point. Gardner mentions the same difficulty in his study.
Unstructured interviews can also be liable to interview bias. In
the unstructured interview the interviewer partly determines the trend
of the interview, the questions that are to be asked and the details he takes note of. 'His report may have more of him in it than the . ,43 case 0 f using a questionna~re • There is also the concern that in unstructured interviews the reliability (that is consistency between interviewers) is less than with structural interviews. 'Generally speaking, what is not very reliable cannot have high validity, if two interviews produce different results, how can one tell which is the answer? ' 44
On the whole, however, unstructured interviews are richer in
- 203 - details and go deeper, provide finer discrimination and are more
qualitative. For this reason they were found appropriate for this
study. The structured interviews on the other hand have greater
unif ormi ty ; they are standardized and therefore provide greater
comparability of data, allow for more statistical treatment, can cover
a greater sample, are quicker, less vulnerable to interview bias and
inconsistency, give less room for interviewer error and hence have
higher reliability.
The study also used triangulation methods, whose strength is
expressed below:
different techniques are combined to throw light on a cornmon problem. Besides viewing the problem from a number of angles, this triangulation approach facilitates the cross checking of otherwise tentative findings.
At the outset, the researcher is concerned to familiarize himself thoroughly with the day-to-day reality of the setting or settings he is studying. In this he is similar to social anthropologists or to natural historians. Like them he makes no attempt to manipulate, control, or eliminate situational variables, but takes as given the complex scene he encounters. His chief task is to unravel it, isolate its significant features, delineate cycles of cause and effect, and comprehend relationships between beliefs and practices, and between organizational patterns and the responses of individuals characteristi cally in illuminative evaluation there are three stages: inves tiga tors In this method the technique 'does not reject quantitative data, but subordinates it within an approach that is broadly interpretative, and heavily reliant on qualitative data'. There is a danger implicit in this as already mentioned, that of over-reliance on subjective judgement. - 204 - 6.3 The Conduct of the Study Target population: the majority of the interviewees came from Oodi, the location of the study and largely from extension programmes. The rest of the respondents were either non-participants, extension workers and drop-outs from some of the programmes and a few who were either the senior staff mostly based in Mochudi, the district head quarters, or the influential members of the community, some of whom were in Gaborone. Most respondents were adults even though there were a few youth among the target population. The respondents were mostly subsistence farmers keeping two homes, one at the 'lands' and the other in the village. Some commute to the 'lands' while most stay at the 'lands' for about six months during the farming season between March and August. Most people are illiterate and the literate ones did not complete primary school education. Quite a sizeable number of able bodied men, women and youth work outside the village and there are many female-headed households in the community. Some traditional institutions and. structures have been either modified or completely destroyed. The rest of the information about the target population has been given in Chapter Five. The field work took eight months from March to November 1988. 6.3.1 Preparatory Stage There are basically five phases to the study that were followed even though there was some overlap among the phases. The month of March was spent in Gaborone meeting the relevant authorities and making appointments for the initial introduction to the heads of the extension service at the Ministerial level. It was important to establish such an understanding so that they became aware of my - 205 - involvement with their field staff and to pave the way for any interviews with them at Ministries at a later stage should the situation arise. At the Institute of Adult Education and among University colleagues, it was time to share my research plans and present the research problem, which was done through individual contacts as well as presenting papers at research seminars. This was useful in eliciting colleagues' reactions to the research problem especially as people who are on the spot and up-to-date with the changes that continue to emerge in the communities. These consultations culminated in the formation of a reference group to give continued professional support and advice f.or my field study. The reference group comprised two University colleagues and an ex senior sociologist in the Applied Research Unit of the Ministry of Local Government and Lands. Through the assistance of the colleagues and the reference group I managed to develop a framework which then guided my reformulation of the interview schedule. My initial plan was to study two villages comparing the effectiveness of adult education programmes between those villages. During visits to these villages conversations with programme organizers indicated that people were not coming forward to participate in the programmes, and that was why programmes were less effective. Reading documents, especially government reports and some research studies, also confirmed the point that some improvements had been made in introducing some schemes but not everybody was taking advantage of these. In a way this answered my initial question - there can be no effectiveness in the absence of participation. The main question that needed to be asked was, why there was low participation? This is where the empirical focus of the study - 206 - emerged. Instead of evaluating the effectiveness of extension programmes.I decided to examine the level and pattern of participation seeking to know who participated. where and why. This entailed formulating a research problem around the client variable within a number of programmes. The centrality of the client in this question is apparent in order to bring to light what surrounds the client facilitating or inhibiting him in moving forward. The broad assumption which was emerging at this point was in fact what the literature review had suggested - that is the notion of poverty which in a way incapacitated people on many fronts. Working with this assumption a number of questions arose. How can a poor person take part in the decision-making process? What alternatives are there for such a person? Could it be political inclinations. people opposing government to the point of alienating themselves from extension programmes? Could it be the whole aspect of social change with its consequences of breaking up traditional institutions to impose new ones on people? It was such broad questions that indicated an exploratory method of investigation which would allow me to get to an illuminative stage through the investigation process rather than to start with a fixed hypothesis. Once the theoretical framework was formulated questions were set to guide the interview. Most of the questions were open ended questions. allowing an exploratory approach rather than a statistical approach. The actual conduct of the field study comprised four phases. The first phase was access to and familiarization with the research location. The second phase was the pre-testing and reformulation of the interview schedule and questionnaire~ the third phase was indepth interviews. - 207 - The last phase included a preliminary report of the findings which was presented to the reference group, the identification of the key themes emerging from the study findings and follow ups and further inquiries in other directions, especially in response to the identification of the key themes. These happened simultaneously with archival and library research. 6.3.2 Phase 1 - gaining access This was a crucial time in the research process where gaining access meant learning how to play one's role and maintaining and severing relationships without compromising the research principles. The first step was to meet the key people such as the village leaders and the programme organizers. These were the gatekeepers who are 46 referred to by Burgess as those individuals in a research set ting that have the power to grant or withhold access to people or situations for the purposes of research. But it was more than just meetings with these people; it was familiarizing oneself with the entire set up of the community. For this reason I decided to spend the first two weeks of Apri~ meeting and mingling with people in their various settings to know more about their community life style. During this period key informants were identified. Two were actively involved in the extension programmes and two were not. The idea of having two types of informants was to bring a balanced view between those who were inside the programmes and those who watched from a dis tance. Both the key informants and the gate keepers were briefed about the research study without much elaboration since they were also units of analysis in the study. These were the headman, councillor, head teacher, extension worker and weavers' factory - 208 - managers, including the newly established knitting group annexed to the Lentswe La Oodi Weavers factory. In Mochudi the District Commissioner introduced me to the council officers who supervise the extension workers in the village under study; and I also went to the tribal authority office for further introductions. As is usually the case in Botswana, the councillor wanted to introduce me at a kgotla meeting. This offer was declined in order that I could quietly mingle with the villagers. During the first week one of the key informants drove me around the village and showed me the village set up including development prOjects, recreational places and public places. It was during this tour that I realized there were a number of things which I had not thought of in the interview schedule. There was a p~lUltry project about to be opened, run by the Ministry of Agriculture. There was a site for a piggery project and an annexe of the knitting project at the weaving factory. These were all innovations aimed at helping people but villagers seemed to know very little about their goals. My aim was to see how much people knew about some of these programmes. Could one of the basic problems leading to lack of participation be from lack of knowledge about programmes? These questions were then noted down to be covered under the interview schedule. In the days that followed, the methods that were employed were informal, non directive interviews and observation. This was the time when different households were visited, sometimes just sitting and chatting away with people in a relaxed atmosphere following a conversational path rather than an interview and only occasionally throwing in a question that would lead the discussions in a certain direction. Through this method I learnt a lot about the village which I had not known, empathizing and identifying with the people I - 209 - studied in order to understand how they see things. Sometimes, especially where people were ,drinking, many issues of interest would be raised, people freely giving their own views about certain programmes or events in the village, mentioning names of people they knew took part in certain programmes. One example is when I asked casually about literacy classes in the area - whether they had such classes: 'Oh that one is effective, you should see our headman, he can now read and write. He did not know a thing before they started these classes'. Here lay the strength of the qualitative method of investigation. Through these observations and talks I was able to get accurate information without using questionnaires. Using questionnaires would have meant that some of the willing informants could have been hampered by illiteracy and for some of the literate ones it might have been a question of not being willing to be interviewed. Mostly I resorted to the place of a silent listener and let the conversation take its course. Later when I met another villager or key informant I would cross-check some of the stories I had heard by starting a conversation on the topic, thus my status as an inquirer or investigator was successfully concealed. In this way people gave their views of their setting without attempting to either mislead me or impress me by saying what they thought I wanted to hear. I was trying to interact with informants in a natural and unobtrusive manner - blending into the woodwork as it were, at least until I had understood the setting. What I had seen during the tour of the village became very useful in these informal discussions. Sometimes throwing in a question like ('Oh I see there is a big building by the roadside, what is it for?') would trigger very interesting discussions which offered me a chance to see the reaction of the people to some of the projects in their - 210 - village or sometimes just how little they seemed to know about some of the developments in their own village. People generally accepted my being in the village as a normal holiday visit to relatives and talked to me about the village as an old acquaintance, sometimes voluntarily starting the conversation. The questions and discussions during this familiarization period contributed immensely to the revision and reformulation of the research tools, the interview schedule and questionnaire. A great deal was also achieved at this stage in paving the way for the next stage which involved indepth interviews. On many occasions during the indepth interviews, many breakthroughs were made through reference to the previous discussions at the familiarization stage. . It was also a very useful period of creating rapport with villagers and the programme organizers, e.g. extension workers. Through the observation technique mainly used at this stage, I managed to watch and record behaviours, or, people and other phenomena and aspects of the village setting in which they occurred} for the purpose of gaining specified information for later use. Visits to institutions such as schools, factory, shops, clinic, post office and many others provided me with a fair knowledge of the village setting. It is, however, essential to mention here that such information could not guarantee an exhaustive and sound knowledge of the community as this could only be achieved through long term ethnographic studies. 6.3.3 Pre-testing After a period of two weeks, living and observing the villagers, I met the reference group to get the feedback and to upgrade the questionnaire and the interview schedule before the pre- testing. The pre-testing was done for the specification and - 211 - identification of what was wrong and the elimination of errors. This was done in Tlokweng, six kilometres away from Gaborone, because Tlokweng, though bigger, bore similarities to the village under study. The pre-testing was conducted on three types of informants, the extension worker, the non-participant and the participant, the three main categories of the Oodi study. The research tools were tested in terms of their reliability in getting the needed information and their validity given the nature of the study. The time used by the investigator to administer each instrument was noted (it ranged from 45 minutes to 1 hour), the format and presentation of the questions and instruments was also checked. The findings from pre-testing were that some questions were repetitive and could be combined. Caution was also taken with some words like 'change' when translated to the vernacular so that respondents answering in English would have the same interpretation. Change can sometimes be synonymous with progress or development but it could have negative connotations like change from cultural values. On presentation it was evident that leaving the discussions to evolve rather than following the format strictly seemed to work better. Following the pre-testing, three questionnaires were produced; one for extension workers, one for the study population and the other for policy makers or senior council staff heading the extension service at the district level. Originally these were included in the extension workers' questionnaire but after informal discussions with the extension workers in the village and the ones in Tlokweng, through pre-testing it became obvious that it was important to separate the two due to differentiation in roles and administrative status. The questionnaires and the interview schedule are given in Appendix 2. - 212 - 6.3.4 Sampling Procedure The crucial question after the pilot study was the selection of interviewees; who was going to be interviewed and why? The answer to this question obviously informs the sampling procedure to be followed in the research. Certain aspects had to be delineated from the start. As this was not a piece of quantitative research the question of representativeness was removed. Though respondents largely came from the existing adult education programmes in the village, no similarities other than their participation were taken into account when picking the names, as such the resul t ing sample could not be expected to yield a random technical sample because of the incompleteness of the sampling frame. Summarily sampling can be divided into two kinds: probability or random sampling and non probability sampling. Due to the nature of this study non probability sampling was preferred in the research. Non probability sampling is suited to the historical sociology of rural communities: households are not located in one area nor have they streets or addresses, the units of analysis are not always neatly organized in one place. Non probability sampling divides into three sub-divisions: (1) the theoretical sampling which can be defined as the process of data collection for generating theory, whereby the investigator collects. codes and analyses data and decides what data to collect next and where, in order to develop his theory as it emerges; (2) judgement and opportunistic sampling which refers to the selection of action, events, people according to special qualities or status they possess. The notion of opportunistic sampling refers to a conscious selection based on the special qualities possessed, but also willingness to be interviewed; (3) and snowball sampling which denotes a research situation where an informant who possesses special - 213 - knowledge or experience is identified and then asked to name other informants with similar experience and knowledge, thus increasing the 47 Ii st 0 f potential informants as the research gets under way. Through snowball sampling other categories came in to my target, population, e.g. privately owned vegetable gardens and the handicraft programme attached to the factory. Care was taken that the research design, which is an embodiment of the hypotheses, predispositions and research objectives, indicating procedures which are to be followed, could be used creatively as a base on which modifications could be made as the research unfolded. 6.3.5 Selecting the Respondents In the absence of participants' records from the other extension. workers I used the co-operative register which holds the maj ority of the adult names in the village. Out of 424 registered names, the officer presented to me, 220 names were randomly picked by counting and picking every fifth name. Amongst these adults there were people from Matebeleng and· Modipane, and other nearby settlements. Among those picked a few were either dead or working outside the village. These were eliminated. However, where the individual previously held a key role in the extension programmes and could be reached, his or her name was left on the sample. The initial number was kept small (30) so as to allow the increase from the snowball sampling which was going to be maintained through the interviews. The first group in the sample were adults and this naturally left the youth out. In order to redress this bias, the youth in the study population were picked from the programmes which had a youth component. These were the community development literacy and feeding programmes. Some of the youth like some adults were - 214 - picked up through snowball sampling as the study continued. Substitution procedures existed in case of inappropriate persons either because they came from outside the village or were too far to reach, so a person from the village would be picked in their place. In some programmes like the weavers factory and literacy, people from three villages attended literacy classes in Oodi, therefore they were left in the sample. Some of the respondents who came through snowball sampling were suggested by their colleagues or friends and they included committee members, ex-committee members, initiators of certain programmes, dropouts, those who had introduced others to the programmes and non-participants. Sometimes information came out voluntarily in the discussions. At other times it was through asking if they knew any other person who did a similar course, who left or never wanted to take part. Some respondents like the headteacher, the councillor, and the ex-headman were included in the key informant list like the extension workers because of their prominent positions in the village. I verified information received by direct questions or I would start a conversation which would lead to the information I wanted with the key informants. The prominent people category, the MP, the chief in Mochudi, and the chairperson of the co-operative were arrived at through judgement sampling. For the main population, the absence of records of participants meant that I had to work from the centre outward. The co-operative register names provided served as a central point from where other information could be sought. Each respondent was asked which programmes they belonged to or participated in. Here it was soon discovered whether they belonged to one or more or none. Altogether 64 people were interviewed. - 215 - 6.3.6 The Investigation and Recording of Interviews The main technique that was used to conduct the study was the indepth interview and the tool was the interview schedule. However, other techniques were used where necessary. Sometimes methods and techniques were used simultaneously using triangulation methods of qualitative, quantitative and observation research. The indepth interview is a qualitative method of interview which refers to face to face encounters between the researcher and the informants directed towards understanding informants' perspectives on their lives, experi~ftces or situations expressed in their own words. Other methods of investigation followed in this study included documentary research from reports and newsletters from extension workers, the district headquarters offices in Mochudi as well as the UniverSity library and the National Archives. The main task at first was to select the events of the study and the order in which they were going to be followed. Kahn draws attention to the interview sequence and illustrates how some steps in the interview precede and anticipate the interview itself J' with each step dependent upon the other one preceding, and suggests that in stating the objective and determining the method of investigation we have to think about questions and their organization in terms of the choice between open-ended, or closed and 49 -,). their sequencing'. (See Figure 6.'2). I found that the sequencing of events was just as important as sequencing of questions in some cases. The extension workers came first in order to broaden my understanding of the programmes which would help when interviewing the participants. After the participants came the senior staff members in Mochudi and some in Gaborone, sometimes in reaction to what was got from the interviews with - 216 - Figure 6.2 The Context of the Interview INTERVIEW --...... QUESTIONS \ \ CODING - TABULATION 1 SPECIFIC I OBJECTIVES . ,/ ANALYSIS / c--/' GENERAL -PURPOSE Source: Kahn, R.L. and Cannell, C.F., The Dynamics of Interviewing, -r John Wiley, London (1961), p. 103. - 217 - extension workers and participants. The prominent people came last and were presented with data that was collected to hear their point of view and analysis of the situation. The sequencing of events included the routine events, those which happened almost daily, fortuitous but anticipated events such as attending certain village ceremonies, and focusing on the untoward which might include emergencies, dramatic situations and crises. This last sequence would be dealt with when the situation called for it so it was borne in mind all the way. Because of the highly complex interview which needed to be conducted with detailed knowledge and full appreciation of the problems inherent in the whole research, I decided to administer the interviews myself. The plan was to interview four to six people a day and probably finish the whole study in a period of three months. But as it turned out, due to some commuter respondents, some interviews could only be conducted in the evenings or at weekends. Sometimes due to delays in transport, people arrived late from work and sometimes too tired to sit for an interview thus causing the interviews to be postponed to some later date. The number that could be interviewed in a day also depended on who was being interviewed. The adult population took much longer in their interviews than the youth. They seemed to enjoy looking back and relating the process of change as they had experienced it over a period of time. In the case of officers, questionnaires were left with them to fill in where policy matters were concerned and interviews about other issues came before and after so that it shortened their interview time. Both the interview schedule and questionnaire started with personal information about the respondents" but care was taken not to bring up the sensitive question of literacy or level of education - 218 - right at the beginning in case some people might be put off. Though the study did not set out primarily to gather information on these personal factors but rather on people's subjective opinions and attitudes about social change and their participation in programmes, it soon became clear that information on such factors mattered a great deal. Thus the method of allowing the respondents to 'take control I benefited the investigation greatly, as often the unexpected and the unsuspected information simply emerged leading to links to problems of change and participation. Personal information primarily answered who participated more in which programme: was it a woman, a man, an adult or a young person? Once the personal information was gathered the unstructured interview was used to ensure that no direct questions were asked which might influence the respondent I s answers. I thu~ followed issues as they flowed from the conversation, and most of the respondent I s stories then unfolded from such conversations. 6.3.7 Recording the Interview Recording what the respondents say accurately and completely entails conveying through the respondent I s words a full picture of their knowledge, attitudes, feelings and other personality character- istics. The aim, in other words, is to follow the rule of providing verbatim records of all materials relevant to the study. Such careful recording should greatly facilitate the organization and analysis of data later on. I had two options of recording, note-taking and tape recording. Note-taking, which involves a record of responses immediately during the interview, posed a problem because I had to consider whether as the interviewer I really was able to confine my 50 attention to one task. Goode and Hatt warn that while recording the - 219 - answer the interviewer is perhaps preparing or actually asking the next. At the same time he has to be alert for vague and qualified answers and for signs that the question has been misunderstood. Interviewers vary both in the amount that they write during the interview and in their interpretations and summarising of lengthy discussions (all reasons why unstructured interviews are less 51 reliable ). I therefore opted for the use of the tape recorder but even with the tape recorder there were certain points to bear in mind. Firstly one should not use a tape recorder without the respondent's consent as this would be an infringement of the ethical code, and secondly, some people might be put off by the tape recorder and would hesitate to give their true opinions on the subject discussed. Thus the tape recorder could reduce their spontaneity. Other respondents might give a tape recorded interview so that their friends could hear their voices on the ai4 and might give answers aimed at impressing or annoying an audience rather than their true feelings about the subject discussed. I decided to use a tape recorder for the following advantages; When using the tape recorder~ the interviewer is left free to concentrate on the questioning process and this virtually eliminates the problem of selective recall and distortion in recording. When the two methods of recording are compared, the note-taking interviews indicate remarkably large amounts of material are lost compared to 52 tape recorded interviews. Bucher illustrates this case clearly when he makes a point that even a person who takes rapid shorthand while interviewing may lose one third to one half of the total material in an interview. The loss may range as high as 75% for a person who does not possess shorthand or some form of speedwriting skill. The tape recorded interview eliminates a major source of interviewer bias which - 220 - is the conscious and unconscious selection of the material to note down. In this selection the important question that arises is the nature of the material lost or distorted and how this loss or distortion affects the reliability of the data. There were, however, several disadvantages in using the tape recorder. First, the procedure required extra time for transcribing the information from the tapes and as most interviews were unstructured and long, this was a laborious job which took considerable time. It was, however, necessary because often it was after the replaying of tapes that certain respondents had to be interviewed again, sometimes for more information or clarity. Other times it was because the new information brought out something one wanted to pursue. Second, respondents may feel reluctant to give tape recorded interviews. This happened on a few occasions in the Oodi study,but whenever it happened the respondents told me that they did not want that part recorded and I would switch off the tape recorder. Sometimes I would start a conversation before using the tape recorder, and the respondent would say a great deal on·a topic, but when the tape recording started, they became very selective in what they said. In most cases I did talk to respondents generally then asked if they would like to be interviewed. This helped to get more from the respondent than if one method of asking or recording was used. I also noticed that some respondents, even though they did not ask me to stop recording, only after they were sure we were through with the recording would they go over certain points and give more of their opinions and judgement - they would say 'actually this is what is happening, but I did not want it to go on tape'. In one case the respondent wanted to prepare the answers she would give which would not get her into trouble with her bosses but I - 221 - reassured her that her bosses were not going to know what she said if she did not want them to know. I had to resort to conversation and note-taking in her case. As a result of these variations in the recording procedures, there were those recorded on tapes and those whose responses were in note form only. Twenty-four interviews, including some of the policy makers, were not on tape. Every evening I would transcribe information from tapes and put together notes and make a summary of the findings. I would also note what seemed to emerge form the responses and follow it up if possible. In one case I learnt about a night school which I had never heard of before. When I went to one of my key informants who was an elderly lady and mentioned it, she gave me the names of those who went to such a school in 1929. The coding of responses was difficult when it came to open-ended questions. In listening to tapes and going through the notes I had to make sure that the objectives of the questions and indeed those of the study were sufficiently covered. Weisberg and Bowen 53 identify two coding systems for open-ended questions: manifest and latent coding. Manifest coding codes the substance of a respondent's answer to a question, latent coding codes the style of the respondent's answer. These codings help with the tabulation of the findings. In this study there was no tabulation as the information elicited was based on case histories and life stories as different individuals told them. Even the questionnaire responses are also treated as individual respondent's reactions rather than as the collective voice of the extension personnel. All the research methods and techniques used in this study have their advantages and disadvantages. On the whole, however, their use in this study has been reasonably adequate. - 222 - Footnotes - Chapter Six 1. Maslow, A. op.cit. (1974). 2. See Gaborone, op.cit. (1986), pp. 51-53. His study covers this procedure in detail. 3. Blauner, op.cit. (1964). 4. These theorists include: Brown, A., Symposium on Current Research in Motivation, Nebraska Press (1953). Cohen, J., 'Eye-Witness Series' in Psychology, Vol. 7 and 8, 1970. Robbins, S.P., The Administrative Process, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (1980). 5. Colclough, C. & McCarthy, C.S. The Political Economy of Botswana: A Study of Growth and Distribution, Oxford University Press (1980). 6. Kooijman, op.cit. (1980). 7. Ashurst, T. B., The Rhetoric and Reality of Participation in the Community, PhD thesis, Hull University (1987). 8. ibid. 9. Foster, George, 'Community Development and Primary Health Care. Their Conceptual Similarities', Medical Anthropology, Vol. 6, No. 3, Summer, 1982. 10. Ashurst, op.cit. (1987). 11. Brown, in I A study of local institutions in Kgatleng District I , op.cit. (1986). 12. Roberts, S., 'A Restatement of the Kgotla Law of Succession to Property' (1972) and Schapera, 1., 'The Political Annals of a Tswana Tribe', University of Capetown, School of African Studies, in A Handbook of Tswana Law and Custom, London, Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., (1955), p. 191. 13. Alverson, H., Mind in the Heart of Darkness, Yale University Press (1978). 14. Kooijman, op.cit. (1980). 15. Taylor, R. & Bogdan, S., Qualitative Research Methods - The Search for Meanings (2nd ed.), John Wiley & Sons, New York (1984), p. 5. 16. Rist, R., 'On the relations among education research paradigms: From disdain to detente', Anthropology and Education, 8 (2) (1979), as quoted in ibid, pp. 5-8. 17. Stake, Robert. Stake offers what he calls prototypes of curriculum evaluation and is discussed in Unit 20 of Curriculum Education, Open University, Croom Helm (1975). - 223 - 18. Parlett, M. & Hamilton, D., Evaluation as Illumination: A new approach to the study of Innovatory Programs, Centre for Research in the Educational Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Occasional Paper No.9 (1972), quoted in ibid, pp. 41-42. 19. ibid, pp. 41-42. 20. Taylor, R. & Bogdan, S., in op.cit. 21. Blumer, Herbert, Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (1969). 22. Bruyn, S. T., The Human Perspective in Sociology: The Methodology of Participant Observation, Bos ton College, Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (1966). 23. Rist, R. and Bogdan, S. et.al .. op.cit. This view is strongly held by Oscar Lewis who in his Latin American studies says 'I have tried to give a voice to a people who are rarely heard'. Lewis, 0., La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty, San Juan and New York. L. Secker & Harburg (1961) quoted by Taylor & Bogdan in op.cit., p. 6. 24. ibid. 25. Jones, H.A., 'Education and Disadvantage', Vaughan Paper No. 22, University of Leicester, Department of Adult Education (1977), p. 1. Jones was using the illustration of Jules Feiffer, the American cartoonist in his keynote address at the Conference of the European Bure.au of Adult Education at Farm Castle, England from 6-10 September, 1976. (The illustration shows a seedy old man sitting on a wooden chair). 26. Blumer, op.cit. (1969). 27. La Piere, R.T., 'Attitudes and Actions', Social Forces, 13:230- 237, (1934-35) quoted in Deutscher, I., What We Say, What We Do: Sentiments and Acts, Glenview, III, Scott, Foresman, (1973). 28. Mills, C. W. , The Sociological Imagination, London, Oxford University Press (1959), in Bogdan et.al., (1984), p. 8. 29. Mohamed, M.A.B., Training for Co-operative Development, PhD Thesis, University of Hull (1983). 30. Warwick, D.P. and Liniger, C.A., The Sample Survey: theory and practice, McGraw Hill, New York (1975), pp. 214-216. 31. Gardner, R.G., Social Surveys for Social Planners, The Open University Press, Milton Keynes, (1976), pp. 85-87. See also: Nisbet, J.D. & Entwistle, N.J., Educational Research Methods, Hodder & Stoughton, London (1970), pp. 32-43. 32. Nisbet, J.D. and Entwistle, N.J., Educational Research Methods, Hodder and Stoughton, London (1970). 33. ibid, quoted in Mohamed, op.cit. pp. 182-187. - 224 - 34. Pons, Valdo, 'Interviewing: Asking, Asnwering and Listening' in An Introduction to Methods of Social Investigation, University of Hull and Dar es Salaam (1988). (Forthcoming). Pons gives a brief review of the three writers on interviewing: Thompson, The Voice of the Past (1978) 'dwells on the good interviewer as a person with an interest and respect for people as . individuals and understanding and flexibility. SimIlarly, Prewitt, Social Science Research Methodology: East t\fricaR Applications, Institute of Development StUdies, University of Nairobi, considers 'that interview is an art •. which is extremely difficult to teach - some interviewers can antagonise respondents - whereas others find it easy to create a rapport. Mubili, Hints on Interviewing, Housing Research and Development Unit, University of Nairobi, gives guidelines and co»ers various states and aspects of the interview. 35. ibid, see also Mohamed, op.cit • 36. Pons, op.cit. 37. ibid. 38. ibid. 39. Nisbet, J.D. and Entwistle, N.J., op.cit. 40. The disadvantages of interviews are discussed in Gardner, G., op.cit.; Moser, C.A. & Kalton, G., Survey Methods in Social Investigation, Heinemann Education Books, London (1977); Young, P.V. and Schmidt, C.F., Scientific Social Surveys and Research, Prentice-Hall Inc., New Jersey (1947); Goodey W.J. & Hatt, P.K., Methods in Social Research, McGraw-Hill, New York (1952). 41. Mohamed, M.A.B., (1983), pp.182-l83. 42. Gardner, op.cit., p. 81. Gardner gives an example of this when he began with unstructured interviews and found that the foremen talked about everything connected with their work except the one thing that interested him most, namely the methods of supervision they used. Apparently he had to change to a structured type of interview in which he asked them specific questions about their contacts with subordinates - quoted in Mohamed, ibid, p. 187. 43. Mohamed, M.B.A., op.cit., p. 187. 44. ibid. 45. Stake, R., 'Prototypes of Curriculum Evaluation', op.cit. - 46. Burgess, R.G., In the Field, Allen & Unwin, London (1984), p. 48. 47. Gaborone, S. S., OPe cit. (1986) refers to several authors on this method of sampling. 48. Taylor & Bogdan, op.cit. 49. Kahn, R.L. & Carnell, C.F., The DynamiCS of Interviewing: Theory Technique and Cases, John Wiley, New York, (1961). - 225 - 50. Goode, W.J. & Hatt, P.K., Methods in Social Research, McGraw-Hill, New York (1952). 51. Mohamed, M.B.A., op.cit. 52. Bucher, R. et.al., 'Tape-recorded interviews in social research', American Sociological Review, Vol. 21, (1956), pp. 359-364. 53. Weisberg, H.F. & Bowen, B.D., An Introduction to Survey Research and Data Analysis, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, (1977), pp. 68-80. - 226 - CHAPTER SEVEN FIELD REPORT 7.1 Presentation of Data through Case Histories and Interviews This chapter presents data collected regarding people's views on participation. Most of the chapter comprises case histories which are either given verbatim or with some amount of paraphrasing. It is hoped that through this presentation the cases can speak for themselves without the researcher's interpretation, thus providing a balanced view of the situation. The presentation, however, does not claim to cover the silences, hesitations, and the pauses in between questions, which often accompanied responses. But their importance is not under-estimated. Thus the reporting is not strictly verbatim in the true sense of the word. Although some interviews were more formal than others, the guiding issues were the same. These were people's views on (I) the causes and effects of the process of social and economic change in the village; (2) the role adult education has played in that change and how individuals have responded to that change; (3) their involvement or lack of it and their pattern and level of participation as reflected through the various extension programmes; and (4) what influenced their response to such programmes either as inhibiting or facilitating factors. There are 34 cases presented which form the bulk of recorded interviews. ( See Fig. 7. 1 ). The other interviews were used as background information and blend into the general discussion. While these case histories do not form a representative sample of the village in the strict sense, they have been selected to give a picture of the participation in each programme, though there - 227 - Table 7.1 Summary of Interviews Conducted: The Respondents' Background --- -- , ~GE GROUP SEX NO. . PARTICIPATION - OCCUPATION EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND M F Total Partici- Drop-out Non- Formal Self Unempl. pegree Prof. GCE JCStd Std Semi- I1lit- pant Partie. Empl. emp1. Course VII VI ill. erate 16-25 2 7 9 6 1 2 3 J 4 - - - 3 4 - - 2 26-34 4 8 12 4 1 7 10 1 "1- 1 7 1 2 3 - - 1 ~ 35-44 4 8 12 9 - 3 10 - 2 - 3 - - 1 6 ·2 1 45-54 9 6 15 10 1 4 9 4 ~ - 3 -- - 2 10 1 55-89+ 9 0 9 6 2 1 3 2 4 ------5 4 Other 5 2 7 35 5 1"'1- 35 .q .. ($ 1 13 1 5 8 8 IT 9 33 31 64 "'- There are discrepancies in figures because some people were counted more than once in one category. have been overlaps in certain cases. The key issues were meant to guide and assist the eliciting of information related to the hypotheses but did not restrict respondents from saying what they wanted to say. The key issues mainly served as checkpoints to make sure that such issues as the study set out to discover were not pushed aside but were adequately covered. It was soon discovered as one respondent after the other gave their views, unravelling the social context which moulds their daily lives, that truly each life has a tale to tell; regardless of age, sex or educational background. The abstracts at the beginning of some case histories attempt to highlight this uniqueness of each individual story. An attempt is made to present the pattern and level of participation as it occurs from programme to programme. Several things are noteworthy here. Firstly, due to the nature of provision in extension work, which combines educational aspects with aid schemes, it is not always easy for one to isolate participants from non-participants. Some people attend a seminar or a workshop when a programme is launched. By so doing they receive some educational aspect of the programme. Others go further than that and take active part after the initial stage. Thus what is revealed by the study in some cases is a pattern of low, medium or high participation. On a few occasions we come across cases of non-participants. Secondly, the very nature of a programme may make it difficult to spell out the level of participation with some programmes such as social and community development, where people are involved as committee members in the PTA or VDC t and the educational element is implicit. Whereas people in the above committees do take time to diSCUSS, formulate plans and make decisions about the village's development, more often than not they are not regarded as being - 229 - involved in an educational programme, though the fact that they have participated in a programme cannot be disputed. On the other hand, co-operative and agricultural programmes and indeed any programme that has an educational programme drawn up and broken down to show an element of teaching and learning, tends to be explicit. The implic it and/or the explicit form of the programme in turn influence~ the organization and the method of approach by each programme organizer and causes variances whose end product is the pattern of participation. People's needs, however, still come out as the strongest determining factor in the level of participation though in various forms: culturally, psychologically, financially and to some extent, politically. Each set of case histories is intended to provide a summary of views expressed in relation to a particular programme, for example, what people say about CD, agriculture, the co-op and so on. However, it is not possible to avoid overlaps, firstly because all respondents were guided by the same key issues and secondly because some people featured in more than one programme. Each programme has a set of case histories which are numbered. The numbering is to facilitate the analysis and interpretation of data in Chapter Eight. 7.2 Participation by Programme Case 1 - a CD Worker (ACDO) If I was a Veterinary Assistant they would come running to me for help. The ACDO in the village, whose work covers seven other set tlements, was initially reluctant to give an interview for fear of offending her superiors. But after the tape recorder was removed she was able to give her views about her work and experience in the village. She - 230 - revealed that apart from the VDC, the PTA and the 48 which she runs in conjunction with the AD, there weren't any educational activity groups organized in the village. The active group in her programme was the drought relief project where about 21 men and women were involved in brick making. This seemed to be the only popular programme because workers received some remuneration. She has tried to organize youth and women into groups where she could teach them home economics and simple handicrafts. But the majority of members have all disappeared. mostly to urban centres in search of jobs, leaving the small organizations moribund. As her work mainly involves the encouragement of self-reliance and mobilization of villagers by persuasion rather than force. she finds herself in a dilemma and at her wits end. For this distracting and discouraging situation, she blames several factors; the organizational and instit utional problems, lack of resources, the nearness of the village to town, her personal limitation and most importantly. people's attitudes which are money oriented rather than self-help inclined. On organizational aspects, she feels that as a junior officer. decisions concerning how she should conduct her work at the local level place her in an awkward position. In the VET she has to work with people who are sometimes detached from her work. For instance, the nursing department may have a staff nurse on the VET while she would have preferred the District Nurse since they share common ground in the field. She says the membership of VET is decided by the superiors who may sometimes elect someone who has neither interest in nor knowledge of what she has to do in the committee. This weakens the organizational aspects of their work especially in the areas of co-ordination and co-operation among workers. Lack of resources is her other concern. They invite women and - 231 - young people and ask them to list things they would like to learn in the clubs, but they are not able to provide the materials for the activities groups might want to learn. They get stuck with materials delayed at headquarters or not covered by the budget. They are then told to encourage the club members to bring their own materials. When club members find they cannot afford to bring their own materials their numbers start to dwindle. There is virtually nothing to keep members interested. She also points out problems related to transport. To attend meetings outside the village she has to get transport from Nochudi. Sometimes it is delayed, other times it does not show up at all. Meanwhile people might already be waiting for her in a gathering. Sometimes the transport delays her coming back from another settlement to meet a group in this village which makes people lose confidence in her. But she says: The unfortunate thing is that you cannot even make people aware that it was not your fault, but the fault of your superiors. You feel you ought to take the blame in order to save the face of the department, so that instead of the people losing confidence in the whole department, they blame it only on you instead. This is a great risk because from such incidents the few people still left in committees, or in the village, don't turn up. They say 'She might not be there'. The irony of it all is that later one gets reported to the very officers one was trying to shield. The village's nearness to town has contributed to lack of attendance at committees and at clubs. When compared to the other settlements a bit further from the roads and public transport, the village's residents abandon the programmes more because they commute to town every morning coming back only in the evening; mostly this is done in search of work though some people just prefer to go and spend the day out. It is thus difficult to run clubs on a regular basis. This is particularly so with the out of school youth, who unlike the - 232 - school-going children, are out of school reach and control. The ACDO also feels that as field staff they are expected to cover much more work than they can handle, some aspects of which they themselves don't understand. How do we encourage people to take part in something that we cannot adequately explain to them? I am supposed to organize a social welfare committee, my training didn't cover much on social welfare so I am not clear on some matters regarding that. We tried to form such a committee but it was not clear what they were supposed to do. You see, people may show interest but may feel that they don't know what they are supposed to do so shy away. It is a fact that people's low level of education is also a hindrance because when asked why they don 't attend meetings well, they'll tell you that they fear they might be elected and if they are elected they wouldn't know what to do and what to say. Politics is also beginning to affect our work. Some of those who don 't belong to the ruling party see us as the ruling party agents and whatever we do is aimed at crediting the ruling party and not them. As a result they disassociate themselves from anything that we say - especially for self help programmes. They also think government should do things for them and not hide behind the 'self help principle' . Kgotla meetings tend to be increas ingly viewed as the ruling party's forum and some opposition party members say they boycott kgotla meetings for that reason. I recall one incident where an agricultural officer was introducing a new programme that was gOing to help farmers. In appreciation one man shouted the ruling party's slogan - 'Tsholetsa Domgrag ' and in reply the opposition party member shou ted their slogan - 'Kopano I and soon there were shouts of party slogans all around making it impossible for the officer to continue the meeting. The chief also seems not to be highly regarded by the majority of the villagers. His meetings are always poorly attended compared to Paramount Chief and the MP's. There is poor attendance, even at the committee level and this weakens all manner of communication and democratic decision-making. Sometimes it is only myself and the headman or the head teacher if it is a PTA meeting. We wait for hours hoping people will turn up, eventually we give up. When we ask committee members why they don't attend meetings, they say (Kana wena 0 gatisa ticket) meaning that I attend the meeting as part of my - 233 - paid job to have my job card date-stamped ensuring pay at the end of the month, whereas theirs is a voluntary service. There is also a question of ability. People are usually elected because they happen to be in attendance not because of their ability to run committees or interest in a particular task. As a result they stay away because of lack of confidence in themselves. One time they elected a VDC secretary and a treasurer who were both illiterate.· There was a mix-up with VDC funds but the poor people had no records to back them or to clarify what had gone wrong. Sometimes some people are. members of a number of committees. If they are capable people it is better, but if they are not it means all committees will malfunction. Belonging to several committees is strenuous due to other commitments people may have, especially around peak periods in farming. People then cannot afford to attend all meetings as schedule. It is, however, the ACDO's conviction that above all these problems, the leading problem comes fr~m the nature of her work which 1s more socially inclined rather than economic in nature. She says at the end of her observations, Most disturbing of all. people no longer want to do anything free of charge. CD involves voluntary service and community work. For this reason it doesn't compare well in status with other fields with other programmes where people see they benefit directly as individuals. If I were a Veterinary Assistant they would come running to me and say 'Please come and look at our cattle - something is wrong, they might die if you don I t hurry'. They can more clearly see their need for a Veterinary Officer than they can for me because his job involves their personal property. their very source of living in fact. But as for me, I am the one who has to do the pleading. The CD worker's remarks seem to give a fairly general picture of the village's response to CD programmes. It is corroborated in many ways by other observers as well as the villagers themselves as case after case unfolds. - 234 - Case 2 - Mr. S - the head teacher One, observer who is directly linked with the community voluntary work through the PTA and VDC is the headteacher. His views confirm what the CD worker said, especially in relation to basic needs. He says: People no longer attend meetings because they do not see the worth of voluntary community services. 'What is in it for us?' they ask. If you talk of agricul ture THEN! ! you are saying something because it is their stomachs you are talking about. Mr. S., who came to head the village school in 1983, sees a considerable change in the village. There has been a notable increase in school enrolment and fewer dropouts. Adul ts are more aware of educational benefits and the PTA development proposals reflected that well on the list of things they presented to President Masire when he came to the village. The list included electricity to increase job opportunities, a maternity ward, more water reticulation, a vegetable garden and a secondary school. Mr. S. thinks that as the village people hear through the radio what other communities are doing they feel challenged and want to keep up with the wings of change. Their major handicap is the lack of resources to realize their goals. His comments follow thus: There's a change in the trend of thinking about what should constitute village development. Surely 'if wishes were horses, beggars would ride'. You see people are interested in develop ments but they are hampered by lack of resources. When I came there were no toilets. But after the sanitation programme was launched, almost every household built a toilet - some sign of change. There are better and stronger buildings than bef are and people's expressed needs signify progressive thinking. About his role in the village he says: I have confined myself to the school. In my spare time, I do nothing except read newspapers because I am not a bona fide of this village. I had some - 235 - hobbies at home like hunting, but here in my spare time I get bored. I get reckless (he laughs heartily as he says this). At this point I was unaware that this was a major concern among villagers. They are worried that the school is aloof and detached from the community because the staff are all outsiders who care very little about the village welfare. Generally Mr. S. notes that the village people are good farmers who are unfortunately debarred from achieving their ambitions by droughts and lack of resources. I have seen this even where people wanted to raise funds or to make subscriptions towards building a project. They like to do that for their village but they are hampered by lack of money. This lack of money has also affected attendance at meetings. If you dare to ask a committee member who does not attend meeting regularly why they did not turn out for a meeting, they say: 'You are paid, I am not'. Asked if this was a general feeling in the village, he said 'Yes, this is a general feeling allover Botswana'. What about where they are supposed to gain skills from a training course or a seminar? Even in that, I remember there was a course in Mochudi and committee representatives from this village were supposed to attend but they didn't. They just said: 'We are trying to struggle in our own art of living, we can't go there'. And he repeats 'Poverty is a handicap'. Apart from the PTA and VDC, Mr. S. is a member of the co- operative, and has shares in the multi-purpose co-op store in the village. Case 3 - Non-Participant Those who used to be good at whistling have lost the skill because all our cat tIe have been wiped away by droughts. Mr. M's story is a sad one; handicapped by physical blindness, diSillusioned by poverty and excluded by government aid schemes, he is - 236 - one who fitted the non-participant category. Mr. M., once a very active family man and enthusiastic farmer, is confined to his homestead with blindness and misery. In his early eighties, he sees change in the village, but the benefits from that change for him are so discriminatory that he is apathetic and despondent. He and his wife are dependent on their widowed daughter-in-law. She struggles to bring up her own children and to do the best she can for her ageing in-laws but faces a lot of handicaps common to most female household heads in Botswana. They have lost most of their livestock due to droughts and inadequate care, and lack of labour makes crop farming a nightmare and futile. Reflecting on the misery of the past, Mr. M. appreciates physical changes such as strong corrugated iron-roofed buildings. 'If we were to rely. on thatched roofs we would find it hard to get grass due to droughts'. Independence to him has brought fairness on the market. People get fair prices for their livestock and crops. Incomes are also raised for workers. Our times were different. The best you could settle for, for a big heifer with the local trader was £10.00. But the sad thing was after that you were forced to look around the trader's store and take home goods worth that £10.00. Never even touch it - the expression was - 'go llala' - we were told 'llala' meaning, look up on the shelves and get something regardless. After spending the money you pleaded with the trader - 'Mme tlhe morena mphe a lekgetho fela' ('Please master give me something out of that for my tax fee - only for tax, master please'). This was our situation. Things have changed for the better. The only problem is that there is still an illusion that some people who owned cattle some time back are still rich our livestock has disappeared completely. Those who used to whistle have lost the skill due to lack of practice. (People whistle to rally cattle for inspecting and milking, in the Botswana custom). Some people were known to do the whistling a lot better and nicer and this was a common thing amongst herd boys and cattle farmers. It was a pride for farmers like Mr. M. to see cattle - 237 - respond to their whistling, but what's worse is what the loss of that skill signifies - abject poverty. Pausing a little as though to recollect he says - 'I don't know when I last whistled, I can no longer do it'. To farmers like Mr. M. droughts have left a permanent impairment physically and psychologically. Once champions of their communities, now relegated to the degradation of destitution. It is bad enough enrolling as a destitute from that standard of life, but it is worse if you are even misunderstood by the welfare system. I have nothing but just because I used to have cattle I'm refused government help. Our names were on the destitute list. We were told to expect maize meal rations. Later our names were scratched off 'because we had means' - cattle, they said. This is not true, they are all gone. We can' teven get assistance through ALDEP and ARAP - seedlings we may get from government but we still wait a long time to get the tractor, if we can. If we had cattle we could use them to plough. Mr. M. thus says they are not interested in any scheme because they were excluded from the scheme that related to their most urgent need - the destitute fund scheme. We depend on our daughter-in-law and good will of friends and relatives - occasionally when we go around someone gives you a cup of tea or a basin of porridge - but we are too weak to go around all the time. The emotional tension was really building up with these reflections and Mr. M. said furiously and frustratedly: The irony of it all is when the literacy assistant came and asked us to join the literacy programme, to learn how to read and write. What do we do with knowing how to read and write? I can see how people on food for work would want to know how to read and write. At least they could count the number of their ration scoops. But what can I do with such a skill? Is it to make me aware of what other people are getting and how I am discriminated against? No, I'll rather stay here and die than join any of the extension programmes. Let those who are helped by this government join the programmes. - 238 - Case 4 - Mr. N. - ex-headteacher I once had to trick the community into coming to a meeting. Mr. N. was born in the village in 1932. He is married and has 11 children and grandchildren. His career as a school teacher took him to several villages in Botswana but he has always been in touch with the village because his family always stayed behind engaged in farming and running a butchery and a small cafe. He worked in this village from the middle seventies to early eighties as a headteacher, and got transferred again. He is now in Molepolole heading one school there. He sees a tremendous change from the time when he was a school boy through to his early career days. People have generally changed. Everyone seems to want to send their children to school and the village already has a good number of pupils who are now teachers, who are placed outside the village. But he is concerned that the village's potential is not really reached because of lack of monetary motivation and petty jealousies. There's a lot of pet ty jealousy in the village which hinders development. In the area of teaching there is quite a good number of local children who are qualified teachers who I feel would be reluctant to come and teach here due to petty jealousies, especially after seeing how these jealousies soured relationships between me and the community during my stay in this village. If the local teachers were in the village, there would be closer ties between the school and the community than there are with the present staff who seem detached and uninterested in the community beyond the school premises, according to his opinion. He notes the problem of poor attendance at meetings and analyses the difficulty it presents to extension workers and teachers in a democratic society. During his office, this problem was still acute and he remembers how one day he had to resort to tricks in order to get parents to attend a - 239 - PTA meeting. People hardly attend meetings. This makes it difficult first of all to elect a committee and afterwards to run it. People elected to commit tees sometimes have excellent ideas of how to improve the situation, but fail to come and discuss them with others or even to share them. Re-electing is difficult as well. People generally say they want to be paid for taking part in the committees. This is getting more and more pressing probably a system like the sitting allowance for councillors should be adopted. Asked how they managed to maintain a democratic decision making process under such circumstances, he hesitates a little, looks up directly at me and laughs and with a lingering smile recalls what he once did: I once had to trick the community (parents) into coming to a PTA meeting. I gave each child a letter in which I had stated that all parents were required to come to school that moment to fill up some forms. Very soon each child came with their parents and we had the biggest crowd for years. I stood up and said to them, 'We are very pleased you could all come today. As you all know the time for electing a new committee is long overdue. The purpose of this meeting is to dissolve the old committee and to elect a new one'. This was done. There was another incident where the parents refused to come and prepare sorghum powder for school meals (go thugela bana). Their argument was that the headteacher's wife (my wife) must do the job and only then would they follow her example. For three weeks nobody came to school to prepare food for the kids. My wife heard this rumour and together with three volunteers started coming to school to prepare sorghum powder. Afterwards a few more people joined them. Now that they are paid they all want to come. They now see stamping as a source of income. As for the young people, they don't care. The Government School Feeding Programme existed before the introduction of sorghum, the provision of maize meal powder ready for cooking. The new scheme provides sorghum and parents and the schools organize the stamping of such sorghum to get it ready for making meals. Originally it was done purely on a voluntary basis, hence the - 240 - resistance. But now parents engaged in stamping sorghum are paid a small wage monthly. That is why it has now become popular. The head- teacher's wife and some of the ladies who volunteered before payment left the stamping as soon as more people got attracted. The parents who are doing it now do it on a permanent basis as a job and may feel threatened by the idea of getting volunteers to the scheme. On the question of leadership Mr. N. had this to say: Whether out of fear or ridicule, I don't under stand, but villagers tend to follow naively what ever Mr. Councillor says. Unfortunately he is paternalistic in his approach and this does not help the community much, it is what he wants that wins. The headman seems to fear him too, and just follows what he says. Some of the leadership problems go back a long way and are the result of a conflict between the old and the new tribal leadership. From those who are change agents in the community development movement, extension workers and headteachers, we move on to others who are directly involved with the mobilization of the community, the VDC members and the tribal leadership; the councillor and the two headmen, one previously and another presently leading the community. Case 5 - the VDC member When the wife comes back from the meeting, the man rushes from his drinking party to ask about the meeting; and this is how the conversation goes: Man: Who was at the kgotla meeting? Wife: Tau (naming headman). Man: 0 that was no meeting then. Who else was there? Was the AD there? What did he say? Immediately the man has ascertained that no message regarding farming was given, he goes back to join his drinking party. Mr. M. was about to finish his term of office as a VDC member after a two year period, but he leaves his office a disillusioned man. He feels that as a committee they haven't achieved much and this he blames on the village leadership and the community's negative attitude - 241 - towards community work. He feels the community's closeness is disin- tegrating because of the invasion of outsiders who have come to settle in the village, not with the intention of joining efforts with the rest of the community for its development and growth, but for personal advancement and greed. Firstly, these people acquire plots, primarily to build houses in the village for commercial reasons. They have other houses elsewhere, either in their villages of origin or in towns where they work. As a result they have no interest in the village. They isolate themselves from the rest of the village and community's way of life. I feel this is eroding our community system of life. In our custom, we settle by ward system. A newcomer into the village must. be given a ward in which case he/she should be able to be part of the system. For instance, if anyone of them was to die, the VDC and the headman must know where their relatives are to inform them 'not the police or hospital'. We've told the chief that these people isolate themselves. They don't come to meetings or funerals. We want the chief to. tell us about these people before they are given residency in our village so that we may check on their genuine ness and whether they have fulfilled all removal requirements before they came here. Mr. M., a church deacon and a farmer's committee member, lives in the village with his family and in his seventies he remembers with gratitude to the present government, all that the village used to put up with in the past. All this change he attributed to the opening of the factory and the availability of water. People had built a small road for themselves through self-help and with the introduction of the factory came a tarred road and piped water. Women sell beans and buy building materials which they need since thatched roofs are no longer possible because continuous droughts make it difficult to get grass. He recalls that they used to use one oxspan to plough three to five fields and would never catch up with the moisture. They also had to water their cattle 12 miles away from the village at Tlhaakgame. On agriculture, he notes how farmers have been assisted to plough free - 242 - of charge. 'Those who cannot afford tractors can still plough because government will pay. This has encouraged many people. The AD is always around to help people'. At the field people use measuring tapes no more measuring by footsteps. The AD's presence to encourage farming and weeding has encouraged many people in their farming. Now there is fencing. Fields need to be fenced to protect crops. Fencing also discourages soil ero~ion, because it bars cattle from roaming the fields. We share our AD with the Modipane community and recently he has been here to teach and to give people fertilizers. I did not take it. I only like it when we've had lots of rain because fertilizer works better where there's plenty of moisture. Turning to the work of the committee he says people literally run away when there's a mention of committee election - only a few people are there all the time willing to be elected hence some people are on so many committees. He is also a co-op committee member and he remembers how at one stage he was in a committee with his nephew and niece and there was a move that people from the same family should not be in the same committees. He remembers how this regula tion could not work because they happened to be active members everywhere. Apart from shunning elections, there is poor attendance in general in all meet- ings including the kgotla. This he largely blames on beer drinking. Beer drinking is a setback. In the olden days people used to be charged for drinking and absenteeism to meetings. Issues are discussed and government schemes are introduced but who is there to listen?, only a few people. Courses are badly attended even by committee members. But in Mochudi if you missed a meeting and said (kene ke ile go batla dikgomo) ('I had gone to look for my stray cattle') you would be told to give one of your cows as payment. I used to be a party committee member, church committee member and always attended all meetings except where meetings collided. Women attend meetings a lot. Men don't because the beer drinking would stop if they did. They leave everything to women. When the man did not - 243 - go to the meeting he would ask the wife: Who was at the meeting? Tau, oh that was no meeting then, who else was there? Was the AD there and what did he say? and immediately I go back to Join my drinking team. This is obviously causing problems for women. Though women go to these meetings it would still take them some time to implement what they have learnt because they have to wait for my permission and sometimes my assistance. If on the other hand the woman goes ahead with what has been taught, probably joining hands with another woman next door, menfolk look down upon me saying 'These are types of men who give in easily to women - he is under the petticoat government' - and I may easily be ostracised from my group - may even have no-one sharing beer with me. Look at all these toilets in the village, they are mostly spearheaded by women. We praise the ruling party. We are satisfied with what government is doing for us, that's why there is little affiliation with other parties. Though people are slow in implementing what they learn from extension. work generally, they highly participate where agricultural aid schemes are concerned. For instance, many people joined ALDEP and ARAP. If ever there's a way of sharing benefits with Government it is in these schemes. Turning to the youth, he says: 'They thought independence meant irresponsibility'. He blames drinking for youth idleness (he believes the creation of more jobs in the village would improve the situation). Case 6 - ex VDC member. 'A Tale of Two Cultures' Mr. R's story is an experience with conflicting values. For him education is not a liberating force but a limiting force. He ends his interview with these words: If you have money and you open a bank account you've literally entered imprisonment. You have volunteered to be a prisoner. (Ga ona Ie madi 0 bo oa baya mo bankeng 0 itseentse mo torokong). Rather than call him a non-participant we shall call him a 'drop out' • Mr. R. was born in this village in 1904 and is of the royal line. His father was a brother to the first headman of the village. - 244 - He was in this village all his life except during the period of the Second World War in which he took part. He used to be an active farmer and a traditional doctor. He is married and most of his children have families of their own. He is generally regarded by villagers as a carefree person but he makes a lot of observations which make a lot of sense, even in that nonchalant manner. I approached him as a village elder and also learnt other things about him. His case gives insight into how the community used to run its economic affairs before Independence but even though he appreciates that, he welcomes the way things are handled today. However, he personally would like to keep in his 'traditional camp' because he feels more secure with the old methods than· the new ones. He is also old and lacks resources to do what the extension workers suggest he should do to improve his farming. Asked about his views about the present Oodi and the old one as he knew it, he answers first by quoting scriptures. He says: Trust in the Lord your God. It's Him who said you should trust Him. Nothing else matters even our herbs (charms). God has given everybody some amount of intelligence, so each one has a potential to develop himself. That is why even at trial in court, the accused will be heard saying: 'It's you who said I must say this' (ke wena 0 rileng ke bue jalo) (probably to his friend or lawyer) . Oh yes, there has been a tremendous change in this village. Imagine in the past you could lose a whole heifer for failing to pay tax. I was born in this village in 1904 and belonged to the Machama regiment. Our elders were the Maoketsa regiment born in 1902. At the time when I was born Taukobong, my father's brother, was the headman. Mr. R. then goes on to describe what they used to do in the village administration in the past. He discloses that in the olden days the ward system was crucial in the village administration. All family disputes were settled in the wards by wardheads. Serious - 245 - crimes, e.g. stock theft, were settled at a kgotla by the village headman. A cry for help or an appeal is something that is inseparable from mankind and is heeded. For an example, if a woman had a newly born baby, that confinement was reported to the headman. The headman's reply would be, 'Does the family have enough food to maintain themselves'; if the answer is no, the village store man would be instructed to send a few bags of sorghum to such a family. 'Take these few bags and give to my children on the other side of the village who have a newly born baby and have nothing to eat'. It was the same with natural disasters. If, for instance, a house caught fire and the family lost everything, the chief would ask how many bags they had lost and they would be given help, mostly replacing the number of sacks lost. But all this was related to our way of life. The law governing this welfare scheme evolved around the 'lesotla ' . Lesotla was an act of communal ploughing of a big field belonging to the chief. This .was normally done through regiments. Regiment members would come each with his oxspan and help plough this big field. The weeding and harvesting was done by the community and the proceeds were stored separately from the chief's household stores, though still under the chief's supervision. These community stores gave the chief the capacity to deal with village needs and also gave him a personal advantage and weal th. Sometimes people think these chiefs used to get too much out of community's effort. But the communities at that time were aware of how much their chief did in return for what he received from them. The chief was on duty every day waiting for reports. As a result, cases were tried instantly. He only got a brief period to go and see his cattle or his fields but even then he would leave one of his uncles to listen to disputes, thus ensuring that the community's cases are given priority all the time. Working with his uncle or assistant had another value. It was to ensure that the chief had no favours when trying cases. Therefore whatever gifts people brought to the chief, they were always to be received by the 'assistant'. If by mistake someone approached the chief directly with a gift, the chief would fold his arms to remind the person to follow the right procedure. In this way the chief remained impartial in dealing with cases. Thus the chief's assistant shared most of what the chief had - ~ ntona - he was the 'henchman'. All this changed when the chiefs were put on the government pay - 246 - roll. But I personally welcome the change. The present arrangement is better. Then he goes on to give his views about the benefits of developments and change from the old practice, especially with regards to women. Looking around we see developments of different sorts. But most of all, women have been greatly assisted by the present arrangements. Young single women of your age were not allowed to leave their parent's homes to build houses for thems~lves even when they had children. Now women have been given a chance to build houses, start homes for their children. In the past they were supposed to be at their parent's homes, but as soon as the grandad died, the children would be told by their uncles that 'You don I tactually belong here you are only grandchildren you know! I Thus young women were denied a chance and boys were given every privilege. There was greater potential and responsibility among the young women than among the young men which was stifled. Men are not intelligent. Women, even during hard times of famine, will stick with the family and children. Men, on the other hand, will leave home under the pretext that they are going to seek employment. Of people's participation, generally, he says people have always been poor at attending meetings: Meetings are badly attended but this was always the case in the past. The only difference was that there were troops who used to go around forcing people to go to meetings. There is a tendency to say (Ba tlaa tla ba re bolella monna gore ga tweng) 'Never mind they will come and tell us what has been said. Women, on the other hand, have always been interested but were not allowed to attend kgotla meetings. On village potential in general he says: Village growth is obvious. There is no longer anything the village needs - plenty of water - that's why we get drinking problems - at the clinic there are various kinds of meal rations unlike our 'masotla', this is a daily affair. Less and less time is spent on preparing our traditional sorghum meals. We depend on these (maluti) maize meal rations. Lesotla was different because everyone was involved irrespective of their background. - 247 - Educational programmes are found everywhere. In the past, we had only the option of the night school. The night school was good. I attended the night classes and learnt how to write and read the alphabet, '26' letters. Unfortunately, teachers were not paid. As a resul t only one teacher, who was a primary school teacher, tried to run the school. He had to stop due to the strain. The idea was to give herd boys a chance to learn in the evenings. For savings we used the co-operative bank. We used to save underground in the past using a three legged pot. You look here and there, when you see nobody is watching, you dig the ground and save your money. Today we use small jam jars. But personally, I am afraid of banks. All you have to do is write the whole day. Sometimes you want to draw money quickly, you are told to wait for the big man. You wait till sunset. I asked if he had tried to apply for any loan or to join one of the government schemes and he says emphatically: No! I can never do that. You become a real prisoner when you deal with these banks and these extension programmes. I was once a VDC chairman. When I joined I wrote my name like this (he illustrates on the soil). Later as my writing improved with attending seminars, I wrote it like this. When we went to the bank to draw money, the bank refused to give me money. They said, looking at my improved handwriting, this is not you. I tried again, they said 'this is not you'. I felt embarrassed, there was a long queue behind us and I felt like a prisoner. You have money and save in the bank, you've gone into imprisonment. I have withdrawn all my money from the co-operative bank now and I have gone back to my saving underground. I don't reveal to anybody where I have put the money - but my wife knows just the whereabouts of the place - she gets only a rough idea of where I've left the money. Now that we have jam jars I don't even fear that money may soften up with moisture or get rusty. R's case shows what has been lost through the modernization of local structures and institutions even ·though he finds the change more beneficial in some aspects. Unlike Case 3, R's is not one of disillusion but of being overwhelmed by change. - 248 - Case 7 - Mr. M.S. - ex-headman If I don't have a child I am lost. Mr. M.S. was born in 1889 and became village headman from 1947- 1967. He is a widower and a father of four. His story reflects on the past and on the broken ties of the communities today with their sad consequences. He starts with the ward system. Wards used to- come together to try cases. People thus covered for each other. People could co-opt someone to their trial case but the final word comes from the ward head. What's happening now is really different - we don't like it but there's nothing we can do. They have already taken the fat (Ba nole mafura). They benefit greatly from the present arrangement so they won't accept change. People generally see the loss from the traditional ways but they are not government. Unfortunately people are deeply hurt by these new procedures. Imagine what happens today. People go to the office because they have a dispute. When they get there. they are made to question each other. only increasing tension between them. Yet they went there in the first place because the two of them could not agree and therefore needed someone to go between them to settle their disputes. People are made to ask each other and get at each other's throats right in front of the headman. When two people brought their disputes to the kgotla they each related their story to the listeners. not to each other. Then the chief would pass judgement with no favours. Today people talk of lawyers but this does not heal people's 'hurts'. Our idea was to heal hurts. When people left the kgotla most times they would go and leave together happily. This is no longer so. Cases are only settled in courts, but outside the squabble continues. This weakens community togetherness. In the past people worked together. People were valued as human beings. If I assis ted someone. e.g. helping to plough for him, we would later work together so much that when our children grew up they could hardly tell that there was no blood relationship between us. People used to value each other. I would plough my field then go and plough my assistant's field who had 'brought his hands' to me then go back and plough my last acres. Thus ensuring more or less a fair share of ploughing season between us. Then this person would respect me and would always be willing to - 249 - offer his labour around my farm and know that I am a friend indeed and in need. At the end of harvesting you see him regularly coming to look after my cattle. He does this voluntarily. . He may go with my herd boy to the cattle post and when he gets there, he does everything that he might find needing attention. Even though formal employment arrangements are not discussed, things work themselves out naturally. He comes back from the cattle post and reports whatever was amiss. Automatically he becomes part of the family. He becomes one of my children and we share whatever I have. Sometimes from the bags he gets from ploughing he may buy cattle of his own. Each time he buys a cow he brings it to my kraal. That's why our children would not even know where and when we started working together. They' 11 see a perfect unison as though we are blood relations. How did people manage to participate so fully unlike today? Well, people were co-operative but most of all- the chiefs were also rain-makers. If the chief came to a village and remarked about lack of rain, on his departure it rained. So people respected him as a go-between or true representative of people and God, their Creator. Thus chiefs commanded high respect among their people and people quite willingly obeyed them. People regarded chiefs as God's messengers among them. Chiefs were generous. On sending people on errands, say for gathering the stray cattle, the regiment sent out on that errand would be told to slaughter beasts from among any cattle bearing the chief's and chief's uncle's brand. Today money has spoilt everything. It's true money was used to betray God's Son. Nobody wants to do anything without being paid money. Looking for straying cattle also helped people who could not otherwise have managed to look for their own cattle. After three months elapse, when many people had been given the chance to come forward, even several from other districts, and claim their own cattle, the remaining unclaimed cattle were branded with the chief's brand. When the chief called a meeting from small villages, it was through these cattle that food would be provided because it was known they had families in the village. This pleased people very much. Usually after such meetings. nobody rushed home. There was much co-operation. There was absolutely no water anywhere. We built the Chankaneng Dam and the big chief - Chief Molefi came and joined us. He spent three days here in the village. We used our own oxspan to work on the Chankaneng Dam project. His presence seemed to attract people more and more to the project. - 250 - What killed this community spirit? It was killed when government started hinting that people are being exploited by the chiefs. They say people must be paid. Now we cannot even send our own children on small errands. They want payment. In the past nobody was for nobody. We all belonged to one another. If I suddenly f ell ill and needed an oxcart to take me to hospital no matter what distance, the chief in the nearest village, on receiving the report of my illness or indeed anybody' s, would ask the nearest person with his span to rush me to hospital. If I were to die, a young man nearest there is called and asked if his father is at home. He goes to call him and to come with him. When he comes he is sent to go and report the death. But today the first question will be 'Can someone go and report the death of someone he does not know? Where are his children?' Today everything has changed and it hurts. If I don't have any child who is mine I'm lost. If I say help me with this car of yours - you say there's no petrol. Is it not because today all these things cost money? He replies emphatically. What about my cattle? Were they not like. your car today? There is selfishness and individualism. Even burial societies are modernized though they at least show that people want to do things together. But even then the government which has discouraged self-help takes a long time to pay people for the tasks they do. People engaged in Famine Relief projects say there are delays in getting their payment. The relationship with school was good. There were no school committees or secretaries. The chief kept an eye on the school and the headteacher also helped in writing or interpreting certain things for the village. Now the PTA is supposed to do all the work related to school. As for CD work I'm not sure of what is being done but I used to work closely with them when I was still a headman. The factory was a great contribution to the village. I've been completely isolated by all manner of assistance through programmes. I tried to join ARAP but my acreage did not qualify me for ARAP but I qualified for ALDEP. I don't understand because I have never used any of the schemes. Twice I was turned down on the argument that my acreage was small. One said I have three acres, the other said they were four. I have given up on programmes now. If I am lost, I am lost - there's no use. No sense in frustrating myself. As regards the aid given to needy people, I told them that I don't eat maize meal. My children said I should just take it to - 251 - help their kids. I refused because it will give the impression that I am being assisted, that I am after all eating maize meal. I am completely discouraged. My real need, basic need of what I eat, has not bee met. I have been denied that. Now I've completely lost interest in everything. I no longer go to listen to any meetings. I just stay here in my house. Once dead, forever dead (ke sule ke sule). I don't even see extension workers coming to talk to me at home. At the end of the interview he asked me 'Can you tell me what is meant by 'thuto ga a golewe?'; what is meant by the slogan 'You are never too late to learn'. Then I told him. When I left he was gOing to try and see the AD for ALDEP. Case 8 - Mr. K. - the village headman Later on you are forced to change back to the old methods not because you don't like the new methods. As a headman, Mr. K. has formed his impression of the community and his view presents the community in three distinct categories. In general he thinks the community likes isolating itself hence the complaints about the outsiders coming to settle in the village. But the three main categories are shown in relation to response and participation in development in general and in extension programmes in particular. There is. according to him, the majority of people who are satisfied and complacent therefore no longer care about further developments. These, he says, are people who since the introduction of some important amenities - roads, government aid schemes, water and health facilities - got so satisfied with developments that they seem not to think that further developments are that important any more, much less urgent. The councillor whose story comes after this holds the same view 'Baakgora' (They are satisfied and feel no pressing need). In the middle category. are those few people who, though very - 252 - interested in developments and the progressive methods taught through extension, are in a frustrating position which often forces them to go back to their old ways. He says when asked about the response to extension programmes, There are a handful that I notice are diligently trying to follow the techniques. The major problem is lack of resources - if you have nothing of your own,you 'just wish'. You go to the tractor owner; many times he is not ready to come to you quickly. Later on you are forced to change back to old methods not because you don't like the new method but because it takes longer to get the appropriate assistance. The third category comprises those members of the community who are either overwhelmed or reduced to a state of confusion by the very methods of conscientising them, especially with regards to politics. Some people don't participate in programmes even where they would directly benefit just because some. other people scare them by saying that they are literally moving into a trap, or even risk confiscation of their properties, if they take the government's free supply. Someone can discourage another by just saying '0 tswa go etsaya tereta ya mpho - e a tIe e fiwe fela mpho, tsa tanki?'. You mean you also went for this so-called free fencing material? Have you ever really seen or heard of such a thing - 'take' and I thank you '? - can I t you see that the idea behind this is to strip you of your property especially farmland? This has indeed made peo?le hesitant. 1-1r. K I S interview follows below. I came to the village in 1970. There were no developments - all these new houses were built during my time here. Before that you could count the tin roofed houses. Many people want to come and settle here. Some have already got plots. Oodi people like developments but they want to isolate themselves. However', I feel developments will come with outsiders coming into the village to open up businesses, shops etc. which will in turn give our youth jobs. Water was the major handicap. But when you call - 253 - people for meetings, people are now satisfied _ there's water, there's a school. Before these were available, people attended meetings anxiously hoping to solve those problems. Sometimes they want to bring their grievances when a visitor comes and they are told that the particular meeting is not the forum for that. We try to call them and they don't come. VDC asks me to call meetings but people don't come. The committee is elected from here, the villagers think, 'that's it, we leave all to the committee'. When the MP comes they state reports and grievances about the committees and councillor which are not true. . This is a great setback because otherwise the village would have been progressive. They want to push every responsibility on to the government. The government on the other hand encourages community involvement. We could have gone far. All community projects are now done by hired people. No pure self help. Then I asked him 'Is it not hunger that makes them want money?' No! Government is helping. Everybody has brought a few bags from their fields. VDC is trying its best but has no community support. People are even told about FAP but nobody has shown interest. Sometimes as a leader you've got an idea to share with your community, but they won't show up to hear the idea. When the MP is around they seem to I?how interest (This is repeated) • ALDEP was the popular one of the programmes. Sometimes I call them to pray for rain, they don't come and you wonder how they expect plants to grow without rain. The factory helps greatly. They give a contribution towards education and have built schools in the three villages represented in the factory. The workers there are highly involved. The factory has really raised their consciousness about development. But we need an additional borehole to assist in other developments. I do work with extension workers. They usually start by coming to see me and I introduce them to the community. I once joined the literacy programme (gopadile ke a bona ke jaaka tlhogo ya aka e thuntse). But it was difficult because of old age as you can tell from my grey hair. There was too much to think about because of all the other commitments. I used to read and write in the class. as soon as we put away books, everything went off. I enjoyed the lessons but my head was too occupied with other things. - 254 - Why didn't many people join?, I asked him. You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make him drink. It was difficult to understand why many people didn't respond to programmes. There were a few that seemed to know already - they have been greatly improved - only we are left behind. About courses, Mr. K. replies: I have been to Sebele to get new farming techniques. I got most of these in farms in S.A. I only go to Sebele to upgrade myself. There are a handful that I notice are diligently following the techniques. The maj or problem is lack of resources - If you have nothing of your own you just wish - You go to a tractor owner. Many times he is not ready to come to you quickly, later you are forced to change back to your old methods, not because you don't like the new method but because it takes longer to get the necessary help. He mentions a few people who are progressive farmers. He was assisted by a councillor after ploughing for him. He had his tractor and planter and he was quite pleased with his harvest. Asked about members of the community who are not participating he said: The maj or i ty of people are not involved. Mas t people are farmers but don't always shown an interest in programmes. Participation is very low. If they were progressive in thinking they could be coming to suggest things that can be done. They don't want self help. They want to be paid. We are faced with youth delinquency but parents are very defensive. Extension workers have come to help this community but if the community does not make efforts to take advantage - nothing will be accomplished - as it is said Mokoduwe gotsoswa 0 0 ltsosang (Help goes to those who help themselves). Many people say independence is freedom from doing anything - they make a mistake. On politics he says: Some opposition parties bring divisions by discouraging people from taking pa~t.. 'They say, ~",b government~Jo tso e tsaya terata mpho, ba tsilo go go tseela tshimo ya gago' (You also have taken this free f "ence - you are going to lose your land) • - 255 - Case 9 - Mr. M. - the village councillor Mr. M. who has held a leadership role in the village from the time of Independence takes the question of development/modernisation education with a pinch of salt. On the one hand a process of change since Independence has brought opportunities for people to improve their lives due to the availability of certain amenities and facilities which the village used to lack: water, post office, clinic and tarred roads linking the village to major towns and villages and the transport network. Better access to education means that more people are enlightened and should be progressive in their thinking. But, there seem to be disadvantages connected to these advantages especially freedom and education. Freedom from colonialism for some has resulted in complacency and individualism. Independence has 'freed' them from working hard for either themselves or their community. Each person lives entirely for himself. Education, on the other hand, produces militant attitudes. Every backward negative attitude towards progress is explained away by being 'educated'. People don't follow leaders and they say 'they are educated and he is not'. They refuse to participate in village programmes because they are too 'educated' to engage on such backward jobs. They are too 'educated' to be exploited any longer - so they need payment for whatever activity they take part in, even if it means cleaning their own premises. If you don't drink, they say you are not 'educated'. If you lead, they want to know who you are, what you've done at school and who your parents are, and yet, in the olden days, we had choir teachers who were chosen solely on ability and prowess not on the level of education. But we used to respect such leaders and co-operated with them. Mr. M. believes that all this complacency and negativism results from the state of 'abundance' that now exists. Like the headman he is of the opinion that poverty in the past and lack of basic things - 256 - such as water brought people together because they had common problems which they felt they could solve as a community. They were so poor that they would hesitate to go and work for a neighbour in exchange for food or a little payment. Mr. M. thus reflects what used to be the situation in the past. Mr. M. grew up in the village and worked in South Africa for the best part of his youth and he married there. He is in his late fifties and has five grown-up children alive; five have died. He is a well known traditional doctor and herbalist but since 1966, after Independence he has held the position of councillor for the three villages of Oodi, Modipane and Matebeleng. He has never been to school but has gathered experience about his work over a long period of service. He reflects on what was the Oodi of the past with regards to .participation and what the present Oodi is like. We used to do self help projects for our villages using our own implements but without any rations. 'No maize meal'. We built the ACDO' shouse, the road linking Oodi and Modipane, taking money from our pockets and staging fund raising concerts. We were used to regimental work without payment. There used· to be terrible droughts which just pushed people to find some sort of a job even if it meant working for your neighbour. There is no drought today, people have plenty. All they are showing are 'crocodile tears', make-believe stories about droughts - (A ke matepe fela - ga go nat tlala). I see these as fat years (Batho ba a kgora, kgora ke yona e e dirang batho). People really have plenty to eat and this is why they behave like this. Droughts used to push people into seeking employment from others. But working did not stop us from contributing towards community projects. If I had a job thus could not join others on a community project I would contribute say SOt towards the project. We used to do all these things under very difficult conditions because there was no water and less money. There is plenty of water these days running everywhere, as for money there's so much of it you can't even find enough room to contain it. Asked about what has suddenly changed people's attitudes, the - 257 - L councillor gives his verdict. The educated people feel they should be paid. Since Famine Relief rations started, people want payment for their labour. Only the older generation like to do voluntary work for their village development. Young people are the worst lot. Even during the President's visit to the village the old people were happy to clean the kgotla and its premises in preparation for the visit 'because their oesophagus was not made before their intestines' (Ga ba a bopiwa memetso pele ga mala). But the youth will see you cleaning your own premises and ask you if you are gOing to be paid. Instead of helping you, he will even throw the beer can he is holding on the ground for you to pick up. They say they are educated but if you see the kind of filth they leave around, littering the place with used tissue papers, peels, beer cans etc., you wonder wha t education is. We did not leave litter lying around everywhere in our time. After making their environment so unbearable, they leave the village and go to Gaborone where as they put it 'it's nice' . But it is nice because people there make it so. They ought to do the same for their village. Youth don't seem to understand Independence. They take it for laziness and irresponsibility rather than freedom to behave as responsible human beings. They can't even make use of their own money. Coming together and working together is difficult because people no longer respect 'talent' but rather look at 'education'. In the past a choir would choose a leader and they would duly follow him. Today they ask who is he? What does he know? Whose child is he/she? instead of looking at ability. If you don't drink they look at you as a fool. People's expectations are very narrow and short sighted. If it's food, they concentrate on what is already in the spoon - what's already scooped instead of the next scoop (Ga ele bogobe ba lebile fela bo bo mo leswaneng). They don't look far into the future. They don't attend meetings even on Saturdays because they say Saturday is a free day from their bosses and they need to use it for their personal affairs - and mostly they mean 'boozing' • The councillor goes on to attribute the problem of extension workers to people's attitudes. In running committees, he says soon after the committee is elected, the number drops drastically and the - 258 - .. dropouts are usually the younger generation. Though he says some committees work better than others, he feels generally Batswana are used to being ruled and led. Even leaving them to lead meetings is difficult betause they'll say the councillor, headteacher or headman are not present. Even to put out the fire, they'll say 'let's wait for the chief to issue an instruction for us to put out this fire'. Those who were poor and needy in the past, and used to work for others as servants, want to remain servants. They still believe in receiving 'left overs'. They prefer food for work to ALDEP and ARAP. 'You know when the belly is full people behave irrationally; even cattle try to leave the kraal when their bellies are full'. On extension workers generally, the councillor feels that their impac t is dependent on the progressiveness of the community. They themselves may have varying abilities but most of all those who come with enthusiasm soon get discouraged because of the community's attitude. He/she may try hard but the complacent attitude of the community may lead him/her to say 'Why should I struggle - I've come to the "relaxation station'" (Fa ke kwa a bo korobela pilisifa). On the other hand, there are elements in the community of these people who due to lack of understanding, discourage others from getting involved in government schemes. These may either be the ruling party members as well as the opposition party members. It is worse when the ruling party members discourage people thus because people are likely to believe them. The usual scare is in agriculture, where people scare others saying government is eventually going to share their properties, especially land, with them if they participate in certain programmes, because they think they'll have to pay back government somehow. On the whole, we in leadership work together smoothly. We try to tell our people what we can. I take their requests to council and if they are approved we get what we asked for. For example, we have sent in proposals for a police station due to the many burglaries we have had recently. We - 259 - are at present covered by Mochudi and Gaborone. Electricity is now our next concern. But the councillor's main concern is still with the youth and alcoholism. Youth, both boys and girls, are so captivated by drinking that they can even predict which woman will be brewing next. But drinking has stripped them of everything. Even those who work cannot buy clothes for themselves. You should see them sleeping - they are a picture of a 'pocket knife' (thipa ya kopelwane). I pity them because they are lost. They speak good English around the bars and the She been 's places, but how does that help them? They can't even fetch firewood or help with some errands around the home it's 'old fashioned'. But older people always advise us to move forward like other communities. The conditions are deteriorating because the older generation is dying and decreasing. We don't know whether the educated councillor can bring change. It is not that we discourage education if it can bring progress. But parents also have a role to play to instil good behaviour in our kids. Government expec ts this. Some parents don't do that. Adults don't attend meetings and offspring, when they get older. follow suit. I have children. one is in the Army but when he comes to visit us. he knows we expect him to help with various chores around the home. It is evident from the foregoing case histories that community organization or mobilization for self help oriented projects is no longer easy. People want money. people no longer take notice of the voice of the chiefs and people tend to be more individualistic in outlook. The reasons for this behaviour may have varying inter- pretations as indeed the case histories show. There are those who blame this present behaviour on government policy - which introduced payment for voluntary labour. There are those who think people's complacency is to blame. while another view points at the weakening of the local traditional institutions and structures and persistent poverty. It is the link between these notions that come to confirm in part our hypothesis that community as a coherent unit no longer exists. therefore community organizations in the traditional - 260 - conventional sense can no longer work. Firstly, the government policy which weakened the power of the chiefs, financially and their status, also in turn weakened their economic base. Traditional institutions and structures are part of a people's culture and if we agree that culture is a people's total way of life, we imply that both social and economic institutions are imbued in people's culture. The mode of life and productive forces are linked to this culture, the centre of which is chieftaincy. This is illustrated very well in Case 6 and Case 7. The economic base was related to people's response to their chiefs. When government removed most privileges from the chiefs, it weakened the very centre of people's culture, their total way of life. Their economic base as it was known was destroyed hence the need for payment set in. In other words, this weakening of togetherness exposed poverty more, because those poorer members of society who were once covered by arrangements cited in the two leaders' cases are now completely left on their own. The chiefs are also in no better position to help them so the struggle for survival makes everyone fend for himself. As the headteacher's case points out, people are too preoccupied by their poverty to be interested in anything else. It is also obvious that some no longer cling to cultural values as they used to and become despondent in their minds. People have become individualistic because the struggle is for survival, and the principle is 'everyone for himself'. For the older generation the change is often too much. They are lost and overwhelmed, as can be detected from Case 7. Things have changed so much from the way they used to be. People used to value one another. I am extremely afraid. I live under constant fear that if I were to drop here and die today I would be nobody's concern - until my next of kin arrives. That's how far we have gone away from our culture - 261 - and this worries us a great deal. The importance of the meeting of basic needs comes out clearly above all else. The CD worker's words: 'If I were a veterinary assistant they would come running to me because it concerns their source of living'; the headteacher's words: 'If you mention agriculture then you are talking because it is their stomachs you are talking about', and even those who would take part say they did not because their basic needs - something to eat - was not provided. Cases 3, 6, 7 and 8 seem to expect people to participate because their basic needs have been met. In other words because of the assistance through ARAP and ALDEP people's basic needs have been satisfied. That is why they think there's complacency. One way or anot her there appears to be a link between participation and the satisfaction of the basic needs in these case histories.. It might. however. be lack of resources rather than complacency that makes people participate less as the pattern seems to show in other programmes. Case 10 - The co-operatives As long as you own a cow, or you have money you are O.K. with a co-op. Miss p's observation as a co-operative store manager reinforces the limitations on people's participation imposed by lack of resources, especially those of an economic nature. In her assessment of this community and their participation she sees the pattern and level of participation among members as a reflection of the economic imbalances in the village. Interest in the different activities of the co-op - selling of cattle, selling of foodstuffs, selling of farm implements and savings - varies according to members' ability, age and sex. These variations weaken the general support that the co- operative store needs, consequently other benefits, e.g. bonuses, are - 262 - affected. Unfortunately, people cannot make these links and they abandon their co-op for the local stores diminishing even further the chance of the co-operative making any profit that can give them any bonuses at any time. For two years now people have had no bonuses. The co-operative store in the village was built in response to the villagers' felt need. Almost every household has co-op membership. Soon, however, it has become increasingly clear, that it is not just the availability of a facility that matters but many other factors and conditions prevailing in the locality which affec t people's socio economic participation. The interview with the co-op manager reveals some of these. Firstly in savings, only 184 people have put their savings in the bank out of a total membership of 424. There are several reasons for this. Since the majority of the people live from hand to mouth, there is usually nothing left to put away. There is also a question of who holds assets like cattle. It is normally after cattle sales that people save, but as it might well have been for a pressing need that sales were made in the first place, such as children's school fees or ploughing costs, so the money after cattle sales may go directly to that need. However, the other observation made is that since cattle are controlled by men, and men are not generally as meticulous as women in caring about future security, the likelihood is that the balance after attending other pressing matters, ends up in the man' spocket, where it soon finds its way into the hands of a bar man, a shebeen queen, or tobacco trader. Men, it is observed, don't have the patience to save very small amounts as women do. They might therefore postpone saving for when next they can lay hands on larger sums of money, which is itself a rarity. Women, on the other hand, make regular savings but with very small amounts ranging from P2. 00 to PIO. 00 in months or even years. - 263 - But this is for emergency cases rather than for long term purposes. Often these are withdrawn after very short periods as needs arise around the home. Very rarely savings exceed P300.00 a month from one person - usually from better farmers. Sometimes people disregard the limited period of seven days' notice before they can draw money. They want the money instantly and when the staff explain that it has been taken for banking they close their accounts with the co-op. This pattern of saving and drawing money from the co-op does not sustain the co-op. There are no bonuses at the end of the year and the interest is minimal. 'But where will the bonuses come from if they don't give their co-op the necessary support?' asks the bewildered manager. On selling cattle through the co-op, the main problem is that it usually takes three months to get your money after the whole process. As most cattle are sold under pressure from an urgent need, people naturally opt for the first offer with anyone who would be willing to pay them right away, sometimes half the price of what the beast would have fetched at the BMC. People opt for. this method not because they don't see the benefit of going through the co-op but they are limited by pressing needs around them. The co-op manager ref lee ts this in talking about the daily purchasing of goods especially foodstuffs: We hold courses to teach people about the importance of their support to the co-op and how they can benefit from their own support. They seem highly interested when they attend courses, but after that they sit back. They are not satisfied with the conditions of running a co operative. They are disillusioned by the fact that they have to pay cash for the food items. Due to lack of income, they prefer whenever they get money to buy from local stores, which fact guarantees them credit in time of need. especially food. They always say - 'At such and such a store you can be given food items on credit. We buy where we know we can get help when our children have no food'. People say 're reka ko e kareng re sena madi ra tseela bana ba rona sekoloto teng'. - 264 - (We buy where we know we can get help for our children on credit terms should the need arise). The other thing the co-op lady points out is that the youth and the rich don't support the co-op. The youth see the co-op as something for adults and something rural and because they are near town, they get amenities in town unlike where the village solely depends on a co-operative. The rich prefer to send their cattle on their own to BMC rath~r than go according to fixed quotas. It may so happen that the co-op in any village is given a quota of 12 cattle in all and meanwhile the rich man may want to sell 20 cattle at a go. Obviously he will prefer to go it all alone. There is generally poor attendance at meetings. Sometimes committee members are illiterate and can easily be cheated. This can cause misappropriation of funds and only weakens the co-op further. And yet when in the past they elected people who were enlightened, things worked a lot more smoothly and it helped the co-op a great deal because the committee ran the whole show. The community's general level of participation is poor. I don't know whether education can improve the situation or not. The co-op manager's observations were confirmed on many occasions through other interviews. In one case Mr. M. (Case 10) relates his disappointment with the co-op. I am a member of the co-operative. We were taught about co-operative formation and procedures, benefits, shares, interest and things went on well initially. Everything seems to go wrong now with the co-op. They blame us for not supporting the store but we tell them that they are expensive. For instance, I could have bought building materials here for my house but I got all the materials in Gaborone. In Gaborone I buy a packet of cement at P5. 50 and here I have to pay P7. 70 for it. I have few savings in the co-operative. I use the co-op shop not because it is ours (members), it serves everybody the same. We buy stamp books, we get no bonuses. They deceived us the first time telling us stamp books will be - 265 - free, that they'll give a bonus and that their interest would be higher than in other banks. Officers came from Sebele to tell us all these things but now we are discouraged. Mr. D.M. then stresses his disillusionment, especially with reference to basic needs. If I am in this shop, and I run short by ten thebe (5p) to pay for my shopping, my shopping will be withheld until I bring the remaining ten thebe. I ask myself - 'How can my children go to bed hungry - almost starving to death, when there is a shop full of foodstuffs which I call mine and yet I can go to a butchery where I did not contribute in any way to its building and get necessary help?' I find it difficult to understand why my shop which was built to assist me should be the one tha t should hold my groceries until I bring the last ten thebe. I see that the co-operative is for the well-to-do members of our society. Then it means I must stick to what I see is a true friend - a friend in need. That is why I buy in the local store. In time of need they will help me. Once .again we see how survival needs take precedence over those of identity and affiliation. Mr. D.M.'s story, however, does not end in despondency. His son was helped through the help of a social worker who facilitated his transfer from Botswana to a better hospital in South Africa. Above all he is impressed by government aid schemes in agriculture. Since the persistent droughts government has stood by our side, especially through the ARAP scheme. To receive P500.00 for ploughing ten acres of your own field is a great help. a wonderful gift. If God helps us with a good harvest, this can be a great step forward. Some people tell us the government is not doing anything outstanding which other governments would not do - but we are not impressed by nice speeches. We want what is the source of life for us (food) (Kana rona re batla borekhu) . Imagine! How can someone who is not my father give me P500.00? Anyway politics is for the educa ted, we want what can give us food. The government helps a lot. There were women who were completely lost. without children, without husbands. They could hardly do anything for themselves. Their fields had turned into forests. but now with government assistance crop farming - 266 - has improved. There is a problem though for those who show enthusiasm and would have liked to participate fully in these programmes. Though we all receive and appreciate the new methods of farming as taught by our veterinary assistant and our AD it is often the few who own farming implements and machinery who follow the teachings to the full. For instance, it is recommended that we should plough first and use a planter later to sow. Many farmers can only afford the tractor but not the tractor and the planter. The government offered a PIO.OO per acre to tractor owners if they ploughed and planted our fields but tractor owners refused the PIO.OO offer saying it was too little. Therefore, many, instead of ploughing first and waiting hopefully for someone to come along with a planter, which is not guaranteed, resort to broadcasting seed with their initial ploughing - lest they end up with empty soil. I personally had that experience - but I see the difference in output for those who have fully adopted the new methods. I am getting poorer and poorer, ·no draught power, no donkeys to pull the planter with. And he says with concern, hesitatingly and yet emphatically: How long have I been born; yet my cattle haven't yet reached ten in number. But D.M. is encouraged by the aid schemes in crop farming and he confidently says with ploughing he should be able to buy more cattle. It is bet ter than looking for a job. That's how he manage:s to get the few that he now has, he says. Mr. M. does not show any enthusiasm for literacy though. He sees it as removed from his daily struggles \ I feel despondent with programmes that aim at teaching me how to read and write. I have so many things in my mind so I cannot concentrate for a long time. It's too late for me to do that kind of work. Even to work as an apprentice in pursuit of a skill is not my line. I don't like being exploited by the one who knows. He points at a young man who is a builder and says: 'I'll follow this young builder, mixing mortar for him (Ke Ie dakaboy ya gagwe). He finishes the house he is building and gets P5,OOO.OO and gives me PIOO.OO only. No, it's better to stay as you are, rather than make it worse by being exploited. Besides, I am too weak, I can't pick this brick up. As for literacy, after a long day's work looking after cattle, I would be sitting on a chair but not listening because I will be too preoccupied by numerouS problems of poverty to get anything the - 267 - literacy teacher is trying to teach. M's assessment of community participation reiterates the concern raised by the others. He says there is poor attendance at meetings generally due to lack of love and respect for the tribal leaders. It was not like this in the past, the chief only had to send people around to gather people for a meeting and they would corne. Today, they just say 'Get away with your chief'. Only a few people become committed. We had difficult situations especially due to lack of water. Some people migrated to Mochudi due to lack of water. People used to get up early in the night to go and leave their buckets in the long queue for water. But people used to co-operate and made sure that each household had at least one bucket of water. Now things have changed. But change has its bad effects on us. Alcoholism has the upper hand of our people, the youth and women alike. In the olden days beer drinking was for men and elderly women only. Nowadays, if I get married today, in the evening my new wife would like us to go to the bar. If I refuse there's a divorce. One wonders why we even bother giving children in marriage at all. There are problems with men as well. Due to lack of job opportunities at horne most of them leave families behind to look for jobs in South Africa. But those who remain don't help much. They leave everything to women. Youth get money but it all goes to drinking. They get about P400.00 monthly. I worked for PlO.DO in South Africa but accomplished a lot. Women, by nature, have more on their hands. The man can leave the house in the morning and corne back in the evening. A woman can't. She is there when the child cries for food, when the child wants water, when she runs a temperature. These worries make women take an interest in all manner of programmes so that they may know how to contain the situation should the need arise. If they borrow money to buy food, they'll be forced to get it back somehow so they take up jobs indiscrimin ately. Mostly their attendance at meetings is bet ter than men's, but when they corne back and report the meeting's proceedings, they either do it to deaf ears, or they get a rebuff which instantly switches them off from whatever idea they might have got from the meeting. The man may say 'What nonsense is that? You mean you people also let that useless talk go on like that? You people are not serious'. We need to attend meetings, because we miss a lot of things, even programmes for our very basic needs are discussed at a kgotla. Some projects had to be tried - 268 - elsewhere because in this village no-one attended the meeting to hear about them. There is yet another problem which limits participation. People have not accepted the headman. They say he is not educated. The one they want though not educated, is 'born' (meaning is of royal line). The councillor also works in isolation from the headman except when he uses him. He wants things done his way only. Off the tape he relates a story where his regiment wanted to volunteer their service and gathered rocks for building the kgotla shelter. The headman had requested them and they had agreed but the councillor discouraged them by saying the government would interpret that as forced labour. Mr. M. though reluctant to take up literacy or a skill offering a job is enthusiastic about farming. He has remarried and has four children and grandchildren. He is promising as a potential progressive farmer. Though he worked in South Africa from his youth till 1978, he is determined to get fully engaged in the village which he says has changed drastically from his time of birth in 1937. From his case we see a move from disillusion in the previous cases, but it is still obvious that the main motivator is basic needs and the limiting factors emanate from lack of resources and the disintegration of community life. This trend of struggling for opportunities in the case of government schemes shows more clearly when we turn to agriculture. Case 11 - Animal Health Mr. S. who is in his twenties, holds a certificate in agriculture from BAC. He observes that generally there is poor participation in extension programmes. In his case only a handful of farmers show any keenness but he has also discovered that lack of participation may result from lack of understanding of issues when discussed at a kgotla - 269 - meeting. QUite often discussions held at a kgotla leave a lot of things unclear, but some people are not brave enough to ask questions or to air their views or display their fears openly, especially when they think that other people understand and agree with what is being discussed. "Only when you visit them and you show them that you mean to help them, do you win their confidence and you discover a lot of things that hinder their participation - their anxieties, fears, aspirations and needs". Though he still uses the kgotla, he relies more on individual and small group methods. On some occasions he introduces a scheme by using the group of highly motivated people who then spread it to the rest of the villagers. He has occasionally in this regard used the factory workers whom he regards as a highly motivated group in the community. On the whole the people who show interest are those who own livestock. Those who don't, don't see how teaching can help them. Participation is thus affected by the level of assets such as cattle, sheep and goats. Some people have tried poultry farming and a piggery. All these faced financial constraints and don't do well. It is often lack of funds and other resources that discourage farmers. Often they are taken to Sebele for demonstrations or to other places to visit certain projects. On coming back they are all enthusiastic to begin, but problems ranging from management to labour and finance hinder them. So small livestock programmes don't work so well but with adequate help they can work because people are interested. Cattle farmers seem to do very well and are highly motivated. However, the problem they face comes from the Ministry. Sometimes there seems to be undue competition between animal health and crop farming departments. At other times the Ministry asks him to identify farmers to them who would be keen to experiment with a scheme. After - 270 - introducing these people, the research and Ministry staff deal directly with them without involving him anywhere. This is what happened with the present dairy cows given to the farmers. I did not know anything. One day the farmer came and said to me, that calf is sick. The Ministry also set up a poultry project in the village and we were not told anything about it. Our farmers ask us about the project and we appear foolish without any explanation about what they take to be our work. The other problem that the VA points out is that of covering a big area. His work involves demonstrations, dehorning, organizing farmers committees, building dip tanks and making sure livestock are dipped regularly against ticks, and injected against certain diseases. All this must be accompanied by education, and to cover all his areas t,' . :.>'. makes the work almost impossible. Sometimes he keeps appointments and people get discouraged and may resort to their old styles of handling things. Case 12 - Mr. M. Most of what the VA said was reiterated by some other farmers. One of these worked at the clinic as a gardener. He is one of the farmers who has gone to agricultural courses at Sebele on several occasions and would have liked to do farming on a larger scale. Droughts have wiped out his cattle and he is now only using the farming information he received at the clinic on the garden. He stresses how lack of funds limits participation. If you don't have resources you don't know what to do with your knowledge. Many farmers have been taught about gardening, for instance, but I am the only one who is practicing gardening and only because of this job. I wanted to start a garden of my own but needed fencing materials and a water tap in my yard. Without these it was hard to do anything that could provide us with basic essentials. That is why I have resorted to work - 271 - here at the clinic. Case 13 - Crop Farming The AD is in his middle thirties and resides in Modipane and had been only six months in the area at the time of the interview. He divided his time every week between covering the village of study and several other settlements and going back.to Pelotshetlha, his previous station, where he was still involved in the handing over exercise. His was a tight schedule indeed and it was not easy to get him for interview. Even though he owns a vehicle, he still cannot reach out to all his clients adequately. The number of farmers he works with far outweighs that of other extension workers. Crop farming is part of life for almost every household. Even though there is a sharp decline in agriculture many more families still show an interest. Besides the usual ploughing, there have now, through ALDEP and ARAP, been introduced de-stumping and the fencing of fields. All these have to be done under the close supervision of the AD. The processing of forms and the reimbursing of farmers after their work is done on their fields has turned the AD's work from a seasonal job to a round the year painstaking job. This obviously affects the AD's credit worthiness and relationship with farmers. Nonetheless everywhere one went most people were eager to get help. Even some of the people who did not show an interest in anything at all did show an interest in either fencing of the field or de-stumping. This goes to show the sharp contrast between programmes relating to people's fundamental needs and those that did not directly do that. There probably could have been a slight change in the load of work if the AD had worked closely with his colleagues in the field. - 272 - But he does not. In fact when asked about his work relationship with the VA he laughed and said What have I to do with him? I am concerned with people's source of livelihood but all his work involves is chasing dogs and injecting them. It came as a surprise that there was still acute shortsightedness and undermining of one another's work even among people who have trained together. Perhaps there are still serious problems arising from lack of co-ordination and co-operation among extension personnel which have been underrated. The major problems that were cited related to resources especially farm implements such as tractors, planters and of course, the labour force. Land was not so much cited as a problem in this study even though it is increasingly becoming a problem in other areas. The assistance ,according to acreage does, however, cause problems for some people who either own small pieces of plots or most of whose fields are not de-stumped yet. There is an amount of scepticism about "free assistance". From experience people don It know that the government can give freely. They fear that they might be asked to pay back later or have their property confiscated especially if there's a change of government. There is some fear from a political affiliation point of view. Some people think if they are members of the opposition parties, they should disassociate themselves from all the schemes because they stem from the ruling party. In the case studies that follow we begin to see a trend of struggle and hope, no longer despair, and a steady rise from mere survival needs to the levels of security and self esteem. Noteworthy is the way the respondents say "I used to be poverty-stricken". They have moved up from that and gone ahead. Noteworthy also is the way - 273 - they encourage others, they take themselves as the disciples of light for others apparently moving away from individualistic concern towards more concern for others. Case 14 - Mr. K. The early bird catches the worm. I've not caught them all but I've made a start. Mr. K. is a genuine convert to the modern ways of farming. He started from nothing but with a little help here and there and finally concentration on the use of donkeys, he has made tremendous strides. He is married and is ~onstantly at his farm. There's hardly any time to spend on anything else. His kids are still in school and he is mostly working with the sole assistance of his wife. He is interested in crop farming as well as livestock farming. Around his farm there are poultry, goats, sheep, cattle and donkeys. As regards crops, there are sorghum, beans, maize and millet. He is .. ~ _.J in the Kalapitse Dam syndicate. 1\ I came into contact with the VA and AD when we formed a syndicate to build a dam. My name was mentioned to them by other farmers in this area. Ever since that time they have worked closely with me. They used to come and give me advice on modern farming such as the use of a planter. Initially I rejected the idea of a planter thinking that it delayed one from getting done with ploughing. Eventually I borrowed a planter from a friend and tried it on a small plot and still ploughed the same way on the other side of the plot. The difference was astounding. Since then I am for the planter. I would not exchange that method for anything. If I fail to plant the whole field I know I'll still win if I use a planter even better than ploughing the whole field without a planter. After three days, with a planter your plants start to show. Mr. K. and several farmers got into a dam syndicate with government subsidies. Afterwards the dam fence was torn down by intruders and the syndicators made personal contributions to rebuild - 274 - the fence for themselves. But he says he personally has not had many visits from the AD for a very long time. He learns some of the improvements to his crop farming from radio talks aimed at teaching farmers. But he is quite pleased with his achievements. He says he would like many people to come and see what the planter is doing for him. If anyone doubts he would just tell them to wait until harvest time. My children don't survive life by picking up crumbs under tables any more like some other people's children do. (Banake ga ba sele mo dijikeng jaaka bana ba batho ba bangwe). 'I see they swear by their planter', I said. Yes and when they say by my father's planter I say by my father's scuffle (Ga bare ka ntate ka plantere, nna kare ka ntate ka scofole). Then he goes on to describe how the scuffle works and its advantages. It helps weeding, breaks down soil to allow more air and water infiltration. I was poverty stricken. So I got interested in what I saw enabling other people to live. I borrowed these implements and started using them so when the AD talked to us about them I got even more interested. With a government subsidy I eventually bought my own farm implements. I always attend seminars and I am always welcome because they see that I try to implement what I learn. He has also received dairy cows from Sebele and is thrilled with them. He talks about the general lack of response among other people with great concern. He says he always tells his neighbours to take advantage of these schemes like him. I tell them ever so often especially my close friends and relatives. I always say - don't wait until its too late. You wake up and catch something for yourselves. You see, when people are together and they fall asleep, the one who gets up first shakes up others. This is what we try to do but people simply wouldn't listen. Help comes to those who help themselves. But if you tell someone and he takes no notice he can't be - 275 - helped. These are people who act like blind people. Though there's much to see, they seem not to see anything. We are sent to training courses and seminars so that we may give light to others, but we never see anyone who says 'How did you do it? I would like to follow your example'. So a few of us who show interest, we have been given these dairy cows - it's all of benefit to us. We sell milk all around the year. We get more calves, drugs and cattle feed and we are also taught how to use chaff from our crops. Asked what could be contributing to all these changes he says: All these changes come with Independence. We did not have anything, any help in the past. The only help you could get during the colonial period - was being held to a post in a kraal the whole day for failing to pay hut tax. It did not matter to them that you had nothing to pay with. I don't know why some people have not responded positively to these educational schemes. We are given the chance to use resources free of charge but none of these people around show interest. Then he proudly takes us around his farm. Come and see how I have tried. My crops were dead, scorched by the sun. I took a planter and instead of sorghum sowed millet. I got 96 bags altogether. He has, on his own, built a very strong storage hut where all the 96 bags stored were counted by using one bag for measuring. The wife did the counting. But like other farmers he says he hardly ever sees the AD. He is still puzzled by other people's lack of response to what he sees as very easy to follow. Looking around his farm and what he has achieved, he says: This does not need reading and writing. This is Botswana oriented development, nothing complicated. People are simply not interested. Anyway a few seem to show interest in cattle. But you don't always need cattle to succeed. For example, donkeys are my tractor. As long as you are patient you will make it. People on this side (pointing at the fields north of his farm) are not interested. My own brother is among them. I told him long ago. Only recently have I won him over to following these methods. He went to Mookane to buy one donkey. Since then he is so enthusiastic - 276 - he can't contain himself with excitement and he wishes he could bring back the time he has wasted (0 itatswa maroba a dinko). In Mr. K's yard, there is a water catchment, which traps water during rainy seasons. This water is then used around the farm all the year round when other sources of water have dried up. Only drinking water is drawn from the nearest tap which is usually in the village and not around the farm. Looking at this little well in his yard, i'lr. K. then says: Developments are given freely but we don't respond enough. Look at this dam. I got the advice and built it. Cement came from the government. This is for washing and other things, while we reserve the clean water for drinking. We also drink the water in this well because its filtered. My friend and I dug the hole. We hear about these things from the radio, the BAC students and officers from the research station in Sebele. They refer us to the AD for further information. For instance, I heard about ALDEP after I had already de-stumped my fields. I asked: Could it be other people don't have any of the resources that you have and that is why they are not responding to these educational programmes? No, I also have been given assistance. Can someone lack everything, plough, fence, and so on? At least one can sell something and buy the essentials. But to fold arms, and not make an effort to buy even a few chicks puzzles me. It is very unusual to find latrines around the farm areas, how did you come across the idea of building one? I learnt about their importance on my own - for cleanliness and privacy. I sometimes feel people will think I am greedy. But I'm prepared to take more of these educational schemes. Some of the programmes I cannot even call by name. I don't know their names but wherever possible and with education I intend to do my best. For Mr. K. information is education. He does not wait to know how to pronounce the name ARAP before he can benefit from it. - 277 - Case 15 - Mr. M. - farmer If I had a tractor I wouldn't sleep. Mr. M. is steadily moving away from subsistence farming to commercial farming. He is struggling no longer for survival but for esteem as well. He sees problems as no longer insurmountable. Mr. M. started as a very poor man. After leaving his poorly paid job at the PWD (Public Works Department) in Gaborone for many years, he resorted to farming. But he had no resources, no tractors, no draught power but then he turned to 'donkey power'. This is his story. If only I had resources I tell you I would go far., _'l. (advance.). ARAP and ALDEP are very good schemes I but we need money to buy tractors. My main problem is resources to develop. I have ten acres here, and nine acres the other side of this area. With ARAP I was able to plough the ten acres but still had to hire the tractor for the rest and on the other field I used donkeys. You see poverty reminded me of donkeys. I used to work at PWD on a very small salary, today my boss is an ASS. Since I resorted to donkeys, I've got into commercial farming and I've been that way for some years now. I tried to get as much information as I could from the AD and all the material help they give, seeds such as black-eye beans. The chaff from the beans and sorghum goes back to feed the livestock so nothing is wasted. By the time ALDEP was introduced and people got free fencing material I had already finished paying for my fence because I feared to be in debt for a long time. I am still struggling with the fencing of the other fields. I really wish the government could go further than helping with ALDEP and ARAP and start to give us loans to buy farm implements. But they say we must go through our ADs. Our AD on the other hand does not seem to be sensitive to our needs. He is not like the previous ones. I desperately need a trac tor, donkeys are slow. Those who manage are those with farm implements. If I had a tractor I wouldn't sleep. Recently I passed through South Africa - Hei - tractors everywhere, every farmer seemed to be busy. I believe if we came together in syndicates and bought a tractor, we would solve our problems - 278 - in this area. But the problem is where to park it. Lack of trust among one another is now our big setback. We won't trust the person who has the tractor parked at his farm not to use it more than all of us, so we tend to be individualistic. But with tractors this village would be transformed completely. In Mochudi, for instance, they work in groups. If we kept fuel records and mileage records we- would know if another member had used the tractor unofficially. It's quite easy to get over that but still we fear the risks should it not happen that way. Today it is everybody for himself, not like in the past. Mr. M., who was this time taking us around his farm and showing us his efforts, came to a dairy cow and said: You see - we are moving forward. Recently we have been given these dairy cows. All you do is give one of your cows and they bring you a dairy cow instead. It's all yours. Milk and when it calves, those also are yours. They constantly keep watch over it. Animal health students from BAC come regularly to check on these cows and bring salt, bonemeal and all necessary cattle feed. They are very good. I wouldn't hesitate to sell all my cattle to get a few of these cattle. All the assistance we get is geared towards this new breed. We are often taken on courses to learn about new methods of caring for the new stock. Yesterday we had farmers from other areas on an educational tour coming to see what we do here. Mr. M's problem, after resources, is labour. To look after cattle of this nature, which need special feeding, and to look after crops is labour intensive. We are grateful for the teaching we receive and we appreciate why we should be around the farm all the time - but occasionally I have to attend other duties somewhere else leaving my wife alone. We still have some cattle at the cattle posts so when I am there, it is chaos behind here, my wife cannot manage on her own. Those who manage are those who already own farm implements (meaning they wouldn't have the extra job of looking after donkeys) . But lack of funds makes it difficult to secure loans. "Every time I apply for a loan, the question is 'do you have money in the bank?'''. But Mr. M. is confident that he will eventually succeed. He ends his story by saying: - 279 - I've applied and I'm still waiting. Others don't seem to bother but I want to forge ahead. There is one woman who tries much better than men - you should see her. Others don't try at all. Case 16 - Mr. R. - farmer We have received tremendous help in our standard of living. Since these schemes were introduced there has been a great transformation. Can you imagine being allowed to plough ten acres and to weed them free of charge and yet still remain in control of all your assets - 'I tell you, it is tantamount to saying 'open your mouth, let us feed you' (alhama re go j ese) • Mr. R's story is similar to the two previous farmers. They have not yet come to the end of the journey but unlike others who still grope in darkness and despair, they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. R. is a dedicated farmer who tries to put into practice what he learns but as his story reveals he is limited by problems of finance, labour and other resources. He is a semi-illiterate, whose youth was spent herding his father's cattle until he started work in South Africa. Finally he came back to Botswana and for ten years he was unemployed and solely dependent on subsistence farming. He finally got a job as a security guard at Botwana Development Corporation headquarters (BDC) in Gaborone in 1971. He has held on to that job alongside improving his farming. His wife works at the factory and between them they try to cover as much of the farming activities and their employment as possible. But as R. puts it: one needs a salary to maintain their farm because it is risky to leave a job before one's farming can fully sustain itself. Once he was a VDC member and at the time of this study he was a farmers' committee chairman. The farmers' committee is divided according to different land areas. Each farmlands area has a leader who assists the AD by identifying those who qualify for seeds and - 280 - planters and in the distribution of these. What the committee establishes is whether people coming. for assistance do have farmland (tshimo). Sometimes it has been discovered that people come to collect seeds but do not take them for ploughing - they take them for direct consumption - 'Hey! people say frightening things - we hear some people actually wash these seeds and make a meal out of them. But this is very dangerous' (Heela ra re batho ba bua puo tse di maswe, gatwe batho ba di tlhatswa) says bewildered Mr. R. With the introduction of ARAP, some people who had abandoned ploughing and had lent their fields to friends or relatives took them back at the last minute. These are some of the problems that the commit tee comes across. R's case brings up broad issues about the village, its people's struggles and setbacks. On the personal aspect he says: I never went to school. I learnt reading and writing in Johannesburg. I started by herding cattle. I remained ten years without work but farming helped me. Even now I have men in my field destumping. Cattle and work have to go together because my cattle industry is not yet adequately developed to cater for all my needs. In other words, hanging on to a paid job ensures a salary at the end of the month. This is of course dividing one's attention from farming but there are too many risks in leaving the job at the moment. The salary can help me maintain the few cattle I have. One day my cousin brought a little calf tied to his truck and he said to me, 'I have sold all my livestock because I see I cannot manage them alongside full time employment in Gaborone. This is all that is left. I've sold all the bigger ones'. I was astonished - You what? I could not believe that a proper Motswana young man could do such a thing. Sell all the cattle he owns. And he said, 'There's no way I can keep this little calf, let's slaughter it. I'm through with cattle rearing'. Well I took the little calf from him and kept it with a few of my own bu t I have since come to realize wha t he meant. It is hectic with no herd boys to help, I eventually had to sell most of my stock. It 1s not easy to do farming and work without extra labour. - 281 - I have been to agricultural courses where I learnt a great many things including soil management, how to enrich soil, and the use of fertilizers according to different soils. As a result I have benefited enormously from extension. Today we want more when harvest comes - no more set tling for 26 bags. Tractor use costs a lot so it must pay for itself and for my labour. There was one course I had to refuse though. They were trying to train us in time management. I couldn't do that because of my mUltiple roles - one hour I'll be in the field and the next hour I've got to be with the cattle, then rush back to the village and then to Gaborone to be in ·time for work. All the same we appreciate what BAC students teach us during their field practice - the old methods are no more for me I can no longer follow traditional methods properly these days. I've abandoned the 'broadcasting' method of sowing completely. I've wholeheartedly adopted the new method. You can weed easily with donkeys. Rows make weeding and spraying manageable. The main problem is drought and for this reason commercial farming is still behind. He then turns to people's attitudes generally. Government has tried so hard to meet our basic needs but people don't seem to be interested. In the past there used to be tractors and planters and seeds which were to rotate among farmers to assist people during the ploughing season. Today the government says, 'buy these things. I'll subsidise you' but many people prefer to stick to the old tools. Some people find farming too demanding a task because of the absence of labour and the small output. They think they can do better in salaried employment. Thus they abandon fields and go and seek employment. By the time they try to return to farming, their fields have turned into bushy forests and they get completely discouraged, hence the decline of agriculture and slowness in adopting the schemes. On self help he says: People are money-conscious. They come in great numbers to any meeting where they think there will be employment - like recruiting people for famine relief projects - not otherwise. Even to elect a committee is difficult. People just say to one another 'stay away, they are going to elect a committee'. This village is still backward. We don't have - 282 - real developments. We have district council assistance not community self help. He sees lack of education among other things as a great setback in village development. There are only a few people of progressive mind. They fear to take risks lest they are caught in a debt trap. 'We might get ourselves into deep trouble'. This is how they answer if you ask them why they don't participate in government extension programmes - even getting donkeys. That's all they say but they readily come for maize meal rations and seeds. Anyway this year the response is better. Quite a few came forward to join extension programmes. Some of the adults are now weak and frail but the youth who should have been the torch bearers for the older generation are the worst. They are not helping the adults (Kana gatwe maoto a nong ke phofa). (We have a case of the blind leading the blind) . Village leadership is not bad but the handicap of both the councillor and the headman is lack of or low level of education. . Education which you can get by reading and learning from papers and other people's experiences enriches the community. Lack of education among our leaders is therefore a big setback to our village progress. I was in the VDC and our VDC seemed to accomplish a good number of things because we did our best but another VDC was elected after us. I haven't seen their efforts at all. Committee meetings are poorly attended., as a result there are delays in discussing and taking action about issues hence no progress. There was a time when the community had to send three representatives to the Land Board. There was no one who qualified in this village. Someone had to come from another village to represent us. You see, when education was still cheap, we did not have schools in the village. Our children had to go and finish their primary education in the other villages which posed problems of accommodation, especially concerning the age of the kids at that time. So we failed to educate our kids. PTA is also weak but this can also be traced to the level of education. The majority of parents are illiterate or semi-literate, therefore feel intimidated and lack confidence in themselves. They don't know anything about education and yet we expect them to discuss educational issues. How do we expect them to make intelligent suggestions? They feel intimidated in front of the teachers. Hence some go for a drink before the meeting. It's sheer frustration. In that case they can not - 283 - make any suggestions worth noting because they'll now be under the influence of liquor. The MP should also show an interest in community life, what the school's role is and what people's thoughts are. The other problem is that our school is not staffed by our children. Our educated children have abandoned us. But even with progressive, thinking people like R. one still notes a cultural bias in certain issues. For instance, pigs are not highly regarded livestock - you have status with cattle not pigs, and so he says: We suffer greatly from a low level of education. Someone approached me and asked me to join him in a piggery project. He is working and I was to leave the present job and be on-the-spot manager. But I was afraid that whenever we had a squabble with my wife - she'd say ~Could it be the pigs that you feed that make you behave this way?' (A a diriwa ke tsona dikolobe tse 0 di fang?) He praises the good work of the factory women but disagrees with equality of status with men. The factory has amazed me. I thought there was gOing to be chaos after the white man had left but I found that in fact women are best all round. Burial societies are literally run by women even jobs where men feature as well as women, women do a better job because of their patience. They are patient and they accomplish much in different levels of teaching. Personally, I couldn't stand teaching a little child especially if she was not bright. But while I would leave such a child the woman would take him and teach him successfully. But I disagree with equality of status with men. Women attend meetings better than men. In the olden times men attended meetings but it is because they were forced by troops. Today there is much drinking. Young people fold their wings instead of spreading them. But the society is to blame. We are not educating our children properly. Once I was shocked. Near the bar there was a large crowd of both adults and youth. I thought someone had died. But no - they had gathered to drink. I talked to one of the adults. I said 'Have you now started meeting in the same - 284 - recreation centre with children chatting with them' (Nna a re kaj eno Ie itisa Ie bana?). He said (pointing inside the bar) - 'Those who share jokes with them are in there'. Can we have development taking place with our children in bars like this? I know one very active unique lady. I sometimes wonder if she could have made the same progress with her fields if her husband was still alive - because men can also cause backwardness for their wives. Men generally are drawbacks. Case 16 - Mrs. M. Mrs. M. is the lady farmer who has been referred to by other farmers as unique. Her husband died in 1962 and ever since then her life has been full of struggle, bringing up eight children on her own and now helping to bring up her grandchildren as well. Her main source of income is crop farming and small stock farming at a subsistence level. She shares a few bags she gets from farming between daily consumption and beer brewing. Money from selling beer covers almost all areas needing money payments but beer is also used to acquire labour for different errands around the farm which she cannot handle personally. Commenting about this life, she says: When my husband died, I had to make a choice between going for a job, re-marrying or continuing with farming. No option was easy. Going to work or re-marrying would mean leaving my children on their own - starting a new life on my own. If I went to Johannesburg to work I would still worry about their security left all by themselves. I settled for farming because I could look after them here at home. I like brewing beer because it is the only way I can get money to buy sugar, tea, etc. Just wait, you see I have no tea now. Later when I brew I'll get tea. As soon as the first customer comes, I put a kettle on the fire. I send the child to the store to buy tea, milk and sugar, then I make my tea. I like beer brewing for convenience also. Whilst the beer is fermenting I could be at tending to other duties. I cannot do that with other jobs. Mrs. M. has taken full advantage of government assistance. Her - 285 - field is destumped and fenced and has an extra field where destumping has taken place. Every year after harvest she buys one or two cows with farm proceeds 'to build her children's future' as she puts it. But farms next to hers are neither destumped or fenced despite the fact that they belong to male-headed families. Her fields thus present a sharp contrast to her neighbours. That is why she was referred to as unique by some farmers. She is a very enthusiastic lady who has taken part in many village development committees, PTA, VDCs, Independence committees and she is a staunch member of the burial society movement. She proudly discloses that it is their burial society which started in the village and has given birth to several burial societies and that they work closely together in all the 'societies'. Due to the heavy burden of rearing children and farming single-handed, she admits she no longer gets as much involved as she used to do in the past. She comments: Eventually I felt that it was too much work to be a member of all committees. You hardly do anything for yourself. Other villagers don't do anything. Can one person be a sacrifice for the whole village? But she does not agree with unscrupulous selection for committees. Afterwards people resorted to the idea of picking anybody who has not been elected before but this was foolish because it does not work to choose an incapable person just because he has never had a turn. I suggest to people that they could always coopt people into committees whenever they were going to discuss something where their contribution will be fruitful. I am ready for that kind of thing. I'll not be an office bearer but will share my views. The CD worker, also gave the same advice. So that people can benefit from the previous committee's experience. It's no use having a new committee start every time. For instance, there was one way we managed to buy school sports through community effort. It was not easy. People refused to pay money to purchase the pots. We had to adopt a tough measure. Each week a committee member went to school to check who had not contributed, very soon money was collected and we got big pots and tanks. We gave - 286 - a scoop to these committee members, not as payment but a token of thanks and the work went on smoothly. We managed to buy pots and tanks for storing water during the rainy season yes, something that is named after our committee but we could help the other committees with views if we could be coopted. A problem arose later, when the other committee took over. Very soon there were complaints about misappropriation of funds and when people were asked to account they said they got mixed up in their calculations because they were illiterate. The seniors looking into the case were surprised tha t illiterate people could have been elected to hold the offices of secretary and treasurer in the first place. The answer they got was that it was not the abilities that were considered but the fact that they were at the meeting and had not been elected before. I was asked to be on the crime prevention committee but there I refused also. It is not my line. I am too outspoken and I can easily make enemies if I were to be on such a committee. Besides that, those on the committee are themselves thieves. I don't see how they can be genuine about preventing crime. They go to seminars and courses to learn about their job but as long as they are thieves, crime prevention won't have any effect. On attendance at meetings she says: People are very poor in attending meetings so much so that the turn up was surprising when the President came. I.feel sorry because due to pressures of work at the lands I fail to attend meetings. Otherwise I usually went to hear things myself because when you rely on other people you don't always get the correct version of things. But whenever discussions are about food everybody wants to come. When we go to collect dipeo (seed) everybody comes. Even when the President came the great motivator for people to go was to go and hear if ARAP is coming again. Is Masire really saying ARAP is coming again? (A tota Masire are ARAPO oetla?). I was given P790.00 to cover fencing costs for my field. I was told to bring PU8.00 when I got there but I paid only P62. 95. When I looked at this money I could not believe it. I was so thrilled, P450.00 for ploughing. I was so hurt when drought scorched my plants. I was going to claim money for weeding but I was so satisfied that I behaved like a proper Christian and was contented with what I had already received. Apart from that, it was also difficult to leave the fields alone as birds were beginning to pick the corn. It is very difficult to do farming without adequate labour, let alone doing - 287 - it all by yourself and managing other things as well. Mrs. M. in a way finds herself privileged for she can take decisions on her own because married women, whose husbands do not attend meetings are likely to hinder them, saying it's all idleness going to such meetings. On village leadership Mrs. M's worry is that the headman does not seem to ass~rt himself. He sees you, he agrees with you, but when he sees me opposing you, he agrees with me. There was a time he was heard saying 'I don't mind, at the end of the month I receive my salary'. Women generally don't like social clubs and women's clubs yet they like Namola Leuba (famine relief project,) because they are paid. If you mention Self -help you scare people. They only did that when there was maize meal. Only older ladies know what true self-help is. The headteacher is useless. The headteacher brews beer, alcohol,at the teachers' quarters and he has friends in the VDC. You will be surprised that there's no vegetable garden when we have so much water. We are sent teachers from outside the village, rejects who are only interested in going to Gaborone after school. When can they attend to school work let alone community work? There were teachers from the village and they used to strive hard to improve the school and the village. All that has changed. On the contrary, the clinic is very well organized. You can see the garden. They have a garden. But the health committee is weak. It doesn't seem to do what they are supposed to do as a committee. Mrs. M. says with concern that no self-help effort is applauded. People want money. Now if. a commit tee is paid, it's going to do everything because everybody will say 'whose labour is to be free?' But this attitude will weaken us. We could have plenty if we learnt to do things collectively. Now we wait for government handouts but we can't be satisfied. Sometimes people refuse help because they are opposition party members but others receive the aid all the same. The other day I met someone who had said he'd refuse everything that was from - 288 - government aid. He had gone for the fencing materials and I looked at him pityingly and said - 'You do waste time don't you?' (Le a tIe Ie itii ruril) Sometimes you people cause necessary delays for yourself - it is a pity. Mrs. M. is definitely impressed by the development in the village. She says heartily, reflecting on the past and how their lives have been changed: This government has taken us from misery. If it were possible to call back the dead, I would have called back my husband to come and see how this village has been transformed. She then tells of the difficult times, especially due to lack of water. She recalls how on many occasions she and other women were found stealing water from white owned farms and how there used to be a scramble for water on the rocks after a few drops of rain. But she is now determined to take full advantage of government assistance. One of her sons is a mining engineer, one a teacher and the other is in the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). Some of the younger ones are in school and with the rate of development and improvement of her standard of living she anticipates a better future for them all. Case 18 - Mr. R. I started ploughing with four donkeys. I built on from there that's how I really started my life. R. is married, and of the 11 children he had, two have died. He was born in 1934 and never went to school. As the youngest of the chief's sons his future was thought to be secure from his father's property, especially cat tIe. He learnt reading and writing through the first night school in the village. Instead of academic work his line was to be inducted into the traditional way of life, knowing the customs and norms of the society and the general conduct of a chief's son. His father died in 1947 and because he and his two brothers were still too young the ex-headman led the village. - 289 - Even though he admits his father had a rough time bringing them up, he would have secured a better future through his father's cattle but the 1965 droughts and subsequent years wiped out their livestock literally leaving them destitute. He started working in South Africa but later decided to come back and look for jobs at home. He got a job at Sebele as a farm labourer and it was while he was there that his passion for farming grew. Making a start with donkeys he soon made remarkable improvements that attracted ADs and government assistance to help him improve even more. He is now one of the few dedicated farmers who feel they are true satellites in their community. Others can see them and follow their example. Af.ter the 1965 droughts in which we lost our cattle, I started ploughing with four donkeys. I went on from there. I was able to build this big house. I started selling sometimes two bags and went on up to 60 bags. I had chickens as well. I bought some doors from poultry sales. I also managed to buy cattle with some farm proceeds about two. And six from a National Development Bank (NDB) loan - but trusting that I would pay back the National Development Bank loan with farm proceeds. That's how I really started my life. Unfortunately at one stage my herd boy left and I was forced to leave my work at Sebele so as to come and look after my cattle. I had heard people talk about NDB but the man who was very instrumental in our lives was Mr. Rankgate, the first AD after Independence in the village who has even married my cousin. He told me how to secure a loan and other farm machinery and implements. I then managed to fence my farm. I continued to work with NDP. Had it not been for droughts NDP could have assisted me greatly. They saw my farm and my general enthusiasm. I kept on getting loans and paying them back. The cattle (all) calved the following year. But due to continued droughts later all these cat tIe died. This was before I paid back all the loan. Each beast was P260.00 My success comes from listening to ADs. I used donkeys and used a planter and scuffle. These things improved my farming and outputs. My wife is not strong so these also help to lighten work for her. I have worked closely with each and everyone of the ADs as years go by. Many people - 290 - don't show interest. All around people are just dormant. Look at your cousin, we've decided to help his mother because we felt sorry for her. So and so is so rough and we are even afraid of suggesting anything to him. These were examples of progressive farmers. People don't even discuss their problems. They don't come to ask us how we manage yet there's evidence that they see a difference in us. It is thus difficult to help those who lag behind. We elected a farmers' committee in 1984 to help the AD and another one recently. People all around don't seem to bother. They don't even come to ask us how we manage yet there's evidence that they see a difference in us. It is difficult to help those who lag behind. He sees the low level of community participation stemming from lack of confidence in the tribal leader and the fact that people are interested in food rather than other things because of lack of basic needs for the maj ority of the people and droughts. Apart from the main problem of drought, which discourages even those who are keen on extension programmes, the people of the village lack proper tribal leadership according to R. There are certain things that the headman does which alienates him from the people or infuriates the villagers: The present chief is illiterate but worst of all he hasn't grown up in' the traditional community and does not know what things would offend people. For instance, he allocates residential plots to outsiders without discussing the matter first with the community. Recently I hear, he says the hill area is to be fenced to make it a no-go area for people. He hasn't told the community. But hills are part of our livelihood, they are our cultural heritage where we graze our livestock and it is where our women go for firewood. However, it is also true to say that many people don't want to get fully involved in community programmes. They don't like being elected to the committees. I personally feel committees are important so that we may get involved in our village's development. This Thursday a meeting had to be postponed because very few people turned up. At the same time the AD reported that on Wednesday he would be discussing seeds (dipeo). They came yesterday in great numbers. It must be something that motivates them. Anything that seems not to deal - 291 - directly with food or employment is taken lightly. There is, for instance, a poultry project in the village which is direc te.d by the Ministry, which at one time it was suggested I would come and manage before I got transferred to Mogoditshane. Now several people have already come to me inquiring about when we shall start recruiting. It is not the education but the employment aspect of the project they are interested in. In the farmers' committee people participate fully. We were 12 in number in 1984 and this year we are 14 and we work smoothly with the AD. We try to help him identify real farmers from imposters. Coming back to leadership, R. says: The councillor is trying his best. For instance, he has raised the question of a secondary school on several occasions but people don't rise up to do their part. But the chief is out of touch. I serve on the farmers' committee and Independence committee. I am also a member of the co-operative but due to pressure of work I don't attend meetings as I would have liked. Case 19 - Mrs. J. M. Today, we are so fulfilled that we never leave our village. People commute from Gaborone to come and see us. Our problems are finished, you had better come and join us. These are the words of a satisfied person. Mrs. J.M. who is one of the factory managers has been transformed by her job in the factory, both educationally and economically. After leaving primary school at Standard VII her main occupation was working at the lands and she started working for a salary as a domestic servant in 1969 in Sebele. She applied for work at the factory in 1975, and in April of the same year, she was employed. Right away she found she liked all areas of the f ac tory, tapestry, spinning and making of bedspreads. But with her educational background she soon got involved in interpreting for visitors, taking measurements of items and keeping records. She looks back at this educational aspect of her job and says: - 292 - The organizers were teaching us all the time, but we were not aware of it. Right from the start, they told us that this factory was ours, they taught us everything, giving us on the spot training but we didn't even feel that we were doing an intensive course. But now looking back I see how much we have learnt. They taught us how to advertise ourselves, how to do simple arithmetic using calculators, and how to deal with cheques. Before that, if anybody tried to buy with a cheque we would send them away or if the Goweniuses were around we would go to them and say 'People are trying to buy but we can't see money anywhere'. But they patiently taught us everything. Before they finally left, they gradually withdrew from the factory so that we could get used to the idea of managing ourselves. When they finally left we were on our feet. We became a registered co-operative in 1979. Each one of us holds a member's certificate where shares are shown. We used to give 25% of our profits towards village improvement. But even then we did not know what our bonus was - today not only do we know how much it is. but we can calculate it ourselves. We have a card showing that this co-operative is ours. Mrs. J. is proud of what the factory is dOing for the three villages from which workers come. There is a committee composed of representatives from these villages whose main task is to monitor loans from the 'Sethumuya sa ditlhabololo' Village Trust fund of one quarter profits. Initially though, they knew about the trust but they didn't know how it worked; "but now we understand". From helping individuals they started thinking about the village in general. At that time there was only one shop in the village: With the advice, we thought of a co-operative multi-purpose store. We subscribed P2. 00 each from the factory but later decided to sell the idea to the whole village at a kgotla. People liked the idea and subscriptions were raised to PIO.OO. We had already paid P2.00 each so we paid P8.00 each and finally built the co-operative store for our village. Thus the factory has assisted the village greatly. Financial assistance towards brick moulding and building contract facilitated building of houses in the village. The vegetable garden has also provided the village with a constant supply of - 293 - vegetables. Mrs. J. sees the change in the provision of roads, water availability and availability of transport as all due to the factory. People used to work in South Africa but with no achievements. With the road and availability of transport people commute to work from the village. Water availability has also changed everything. Most of the village people are attracted to stay in the village over weekends because there is transport and outsiders from Gaborone frequent our village, visiting the factory bottle stores and bars. This increases money circulation in the village. We also have government visitors regularly coming to visit the factory. We used to fear people. When we saw a visitor coming, we were terrified, thinking of our poor environmental conditions in the homes and our general lack of things. We would say 'Where is he/she going?', 'Where shall we put him?' but now we are O.K. We have started to attract people from Gaborone for weekend tournaments (football). This is a healthy thing for businesses besides making the village popular. We are so self-fulfilled that we never go anywhere. We want visitors to come and see us. We are no longer scared that visitors might find us shabby and dirty because even if they did, I know I can soon rectify that. I just go into the house and change into something presentable. In general Mrs. J. sees the role of extension workers as a crucial one especially in relation to interpreting government policies and introducing aid schemes . She has worked with all the extension workers. But she feels the village needs a bank apart from the Co- operative. People tend to draw their money easily from a co-op, any little need that arises, e.g. if there's no sugar in the house, people go to see the co-op manager. With a bank like Barclays or Standard Bank, they tend to hesitate because they want to see their savings grow. It's for long-term security. However, usually people save against hard times, e.g. in burial societies. Personally she feels that not only income has helped her but education as well. - 294 - The factory's employment has transformed me. Working as a manager and as an interpreter has made me understand the history of our village. I interpret for people from allover who come to visit the factory. Somehow dealing with people has made me maturer. Old and young people come to me seeking for advice on different matters. I am like a social worker. I was a thrift and loan chairperson, a co-op steering committee chairperson and a weavers factory committee chair person for a long time. I try to attend all meetings if I can. Where I fail, to make sure I go to the AD, VA or CD to hear what was discussed at their meetings. I have already benefited from most schemes. ARAP, ALDEP. Mr. Goweniuse used to encourage us not to neglect farming. He would ask each one of us if we had ploughed, now we are interested in farming. Sometimes extension workers use us to spread an idea because we are more alert to adult education programmes. The factory has really been a great adult learning institution for us. It's as though we have been prepared specifically as adult education facilitators. There is, however, concern about soDie villagers in Mrs. J.' s view. Some ~ho would not take up projects for fear of the debt trap, and others who think they will be identifying themselves with the ruling party. Some people stay up drinking. They say they will be arrested if they fail to return the money. This is the experience with the previous schemes. There are two people that I personally convinced about these programmes who had thought they were only meant for the ruling party members. Today they are happy with their farm produce. There is generally poor attendance in committees because of fear of being elected. People fear commitment and getting involved. Some people resigned from the opposition party and started to join these programmes. They just don't understand. Case 20 - Mrs. T. Mrs. T. is another of those working at the factory who are taking full advantage of the schemes made available. She is a storekeeper at the factory. She says with gratitude: Because now I am sure of pay at the end of every month, if there's any job that needs hiring - 295 - someone for I never look here and there - if it's ploughing I ask the tractor owner to start ploughing because I know I can soon pay him from my salary or from the loan provided at work. When Mrs. T. started work in the factory in 1974 the future looked bleak for her and her family. The family depended on subsistence farming and hardly ever saved anything. She worked in Sebele briefly before joining the factory. But she was always interested in extension programmes. Her first contact with extension workers was with Mr. Chengeta the CD worker, who recruited them to be literacy assistants but just after training them and before they started anything, the CD worker was transferred from the village. In 1972 she took a course in first aid but the group soon disbanded when everybody went out to look for jobs outside the village. But the transformation of her life started when she joined the factory in 1974. In a very short space of time she found she had learnt things that she had never heard of during her school days and it is the way each person's potential was tapped that amazed her. She says in all assurance and sincerity referring to the initiator of the programme: If that man had not left so soon he could have tapped great talent and unearthed much potential from among many people here. I learnt sums that I did not ever see at school. And many people here are very good at all the tasks we were given to learn. Courses are offered alongside practical work such as spinning, tapestry, etc. If you are good in a certain area you are made to concentrate on that. In 1978 we were given lectures in English by one gentleman from the University. At the end we sat for a test equivalent to a junior certificate level and we all passed. We are in fact still waiting for our certificates. But it was very good. I t raised some people, like one of our managers, to a managerial level. I am sure that with a manager who had links outside the country we could even do better than we are doing now because we could also learn a lot from others. - 296 - It is the income part of the factory that she applauds most: I personally have been assisted greatly by this factory. I shudder at the thought of what could have happened had we not got our jobs in this factory. We could have left our husbands saying they are useless, they can't maintain families and we could have been scattered allover the country looking for jobs, leaving children with virtually nothing to eat and no attempt at education whatsoever. The advantages of working here are countless. See, f,our of my children received their education up to secondary school level through the help of this factory. The two others in primary school are assured of better education if they do well as long as I still work here. In the farming season I just order someone to go and plough for me - I no longer look here and there (ga ke Ie be kwa Ie l.-wa) because I know I have something to pay him with. We could have left our village and children, we couldn't have asked for a better job. As a mother, if my child is ill, because of the nearness of my job, I can go and check on him or even take him to the clinic and still manage to come back to be on duty with others. Originally we were to pay income tax but we decided that our income tax should go into improving our village. Indeed this has been done through our assistance, the village has a butchery, fresh produce, a vegetable garden and near us someone is planning to start a poul try farm. But Mrs. T. is not pleased with the general participation among the villagers. Some think they'd get into trouble. Usually people don't go for self-help projects and where they go they are mostly women. As a result committee members are mostly women. Men don't attend meetings eventually they complain that women are the only ones discussing things at the kgotla. They say women 'like things' (nosy). We are called 'those who like things' (the nosy lot). If it is something they benefit from. they encourage it but if it's a woman's thing it lacks the men's support. They say 'that's for you women'. Men only come to meetings when the big chief is around. I think they are afraid of him. She is pleased with farming. In farming she says people are so - 297 - motivated that those who do not have land borrow some acres from others. But her main concern is with the school. Though schools work with PTAs they don't show any interest in community life. When the teacher punishes the child, the mother threatens to beat the teacher. Teachers don't seem to care about children's back ground - once out of school the teacher doesn't care. They don't at tend kgotla meetings. This also weakens self-help support because teachers fail to set an example. In the past the headman used to address us before we finished school and our examination results were announced in a public gathering of parents. This encouraged children and brought the community together with the school. Small kids are supposed to bring reports to parents but sometimes we don't even get reports and the books are kept at school. But the leading problem is that of being unable to discuss things together as a community. We only say things on the grapevine. It seems this is going to continue. No meetings are well attended at school or when called by the ACDO. Worst of all the village leadership has been weakened. Children can report anybody even their parents at the office. Even at school they are not supposed to be punished. We cannot succeed without showing the kids the right way to behave. This change has weakened the discipline among the youth. Case 21 - Mrs. D.T. - weaver I lost my husband in 1969 and this factory helped me a lot since. I have been able to pay for all my three children's education and now they are all working. I started with the factory in 1974 as a spinner and came to tapestry. From nobody I became a capable woman. I was a helpless poor person, depending on poorly brewed beer for my source of income. This work needs dedication - you need to put in your best in a very short space of time and in the process you are transformed. Men say there's no money in the job but we, women, rather than be confined to our homes we take up this factory job. Mrs. T. has really been changed in her outlook. Ever since she got this job she has been a PTA committee member, and she is now the party secretary for the local BNF branch. She is now looking ahead and taking advantage of many programmes, some of which would normally - 298 - have been only for men. I wanted five dairy cattle. Unfortunately. I. did not have enough money P208.00 for each of them. it was too much for me to raise but I still want those cattle. That is why I want to see the AD. She also sees weakness on the part of village leadership. The councillor does not want criticism. That is why people are afraid of getting into committees where he is a member. The headman's a9andonment of the kgotla for the office does not help either. It is. according to her. causing delays in trying cases and when they come to be tried it is the village police that is trying them and not the headman. Case 22 - Miss L.N. - weaver Miss L.N. worked in South Africa as a domestic servant for a very long time. She started work in the factory in 1974. She says lif e was barely bearable in the village before the factory. The reason why people did not all migrate and leave the place is because "if you are born in a place you try to survive in that kind of environment". Apart from farming. people had to go to Johannesburg. The interesting part is that most who went to Johannesburg. men and women. were semi- literate or illiterate and how they managed to communicate with whites looking for jobs baffles one. Miss N. says: We just had to break the ice and make an attempt to communicate with whites in South Africa. They soon got to understand our English and we theirs. During our time there weren't these severe prolonged droughts as we have these years. We therefore got by with clothes and a bit of money. Food came from the farms. We used oxploughs for crop farming - those who did not have their own cattle helped others and thereafter had their fields ploughed some hired people's oxplough with the whole span but that hiring was not expensive. So everybody managed somehow. Community work was done free of charge mainly through regiments. - 299 - Miss N' s view is vehemently a different one about self-help today. Though she attends meetings whenever she can, she sees why the rest of the people, especially those unemployed, will find it difficult to engage in self-help projects. She says, raiSing her voice at this point: Nowadays the headman daren't call anybody for free labour. He knows we won't go. We want him to pay us. If I go I must expect payment. We used not to be paid for communal labour but then we had food from our farms. But today poverty, famine and droughts have changed everything. Our attitudes especially are no longer the same. I would find it difficult to go and work on a community project only to return empty handed to a hungry family in the evening. The other thing that causes lack of participation in the village, according to Miss N. is excessive drinking by men and the youth. She says: I don't know how CD workers ever get people. Men don't attend meetings, only women do. We sometimes leave work to go and attend a kgotla meeting but we never find men there - only old women but just look around the cafes and bars, you see them there all the time. Youth are so uncon trollable that it is difficult to manage them. If you try to say anything they go to the office to report you. In the past when there was a meeting no beer was sold - nowadays because people pay for a licence to sell beer nobody can make them stop. Our children feel that as long as we work they are secure. They don't think much about tomorrow and the contribution they can make. Miss N. does not know much about the 'work of a CD worker or her impact in the village but she works closely with the AD, VA and co-op manager. 'I don't know much about CD workers, how they work, but I know a lot about AD and VA because they tell us how government schemes work'. She believes that jobs bring improvement faster than anything. I hope that more industries can come to the village because it will make a difference in many people's lives. It has already made a difference for those of us at the factory. If I was at home doing nothing, I wouldn't be able to share in these schemes because even there government only - 300 - subsidises you. You've got to have something in order to be a beneficiary. On the whole there is progress in the village but men are a hindrance because by not getting involved they make it difficult for women, especially wives, to forge ahead because they need their permission. Commenting about how at the factory they manage their affairs together so well, she says: We here have learnt to manage without a boss. We ignore side talk and petty jealousies. The previous boss told us to learn to run our own affairs - warning us that the white boss would only come and take the money from our enterprise. We suffered a lot in the past. If you suffer first you tend to hold on to what you see to be security for you. In education also our former boss taught us a lot and we are sharing that education, by teaching the new recruits. Miss L.N. '5 words are echoed by a colleague who also used to work in Johannesburg before joining the factory. She is Mrs. R.S. (Case 23) who says working at the factory has many advantages for her. She can now look after her grandchildren and her ageing parents. She shudders to think what could have happened had she not got this job. But for her it is also an eye opener to other possibilities and brings increased participation on development schemes. There is no way in which she could have been involved in any extension programme whilst working in Johannesburg. Their visits were often short, around Christmas, and they were completely detached from what was being taught in the village. Their fields had turned into bushy forests. If you're far away you cannot see what is urgent in your environment. If I still worked in Johannesburg. I would have found ARAP and ALDEP very complicated and would not have attempted to get involved in them. But since I was here when they started. I followed everything about them and was therefore able to take the advantage of being involved. My parents have also joined the schemes. The unfortunate thing is that men and youth's participation is very low in these programmes due - 301 - to drinking even school children drink and smoke. Parents try hard to educate children, but their drunken behaviour, smoking and fighting defeat the whole purpose. But education is going to make us even better and more progressive people. What strikes one immediately about this group from the factory like the group before is the way people are willing to assert themselves more. From a state of helplessness they suddenly see possibilities of rising higher and influencing others to do the same. It would seem that if you give a person the opportunity of meeting basic needs you are also giving him/her the opportunity of spreading her wings sideways to reach beyond self and the nuclear family to the larger community around. There seems to be a great sense of personal worth in the cases we have just looked at and a feeling of fulfilment in having managed to assist others. The following three cases are a direct product of the spreading out of individuals to reach out to the community which has been referred to. These are case histories of three people who have managed to set up small businesses through the assistance from the factory. It is not only the financial assistance that stands out here but the educational aspect of the assistance which creates the drive in these individuals to believe in themselves and believe that they can make it. We start with a lady - Mrs. G.M. Case 24 - Mrs. G.M. Mrs. G.M. is married to a Motswana but she comes from Moruleng in South Africa. She recalls the village in the early 1970s. When I first came to this village it was difficult for me to figure out just how people managed to survive in that abject poverty and total lack of crucial facilities. No water, no health facilities, no crops and only a few people were better off. It was sheer misery. Personally I suffered too - no money and the absence of basic - 302 - facilities and services was a new blow to me. But now there are lots of developments and people's lives have been improved. I used to be really poor, but now I have been able to give employment to another person who was also starving terribly and poverty stricken. The factory has improved people's lives a lot. After getting a job at the factory people are now able to get money on short loan from others to feed or help their children knowing that they can give it back at the end of the month. In the past that was not possible. Mrs. G.M. sells tea at the factory for both visitors and workers. Though she did not get financial assistance directly from the factory, she got the job through the factory workers' encouragement and once she started working one lady in particular, one of the managers, took it upon herself to teach her how to run her business successfully. She says she started with a very small sum of money and each time an item was sold she would go for another. Later she collected enough money to buy stock and to pay P20.00 rent. With this meagre amount she augments her husband's salary and looks after her grandchildren whose mothers are all single parents. She tried to get a loan but she was advised to sell all her ten cattle to invest in the business. But Mrs. G.M. says even though her husband's salary is always taken up by debts, she is encouraged with the turn of things in their small business. She attributes it all to a friend in the factory who helped her with simple book-keeping. She says: You see I am not a very intelligent person. I left school when my grandmother was deserted by my grandfather and could not provide me with any of the school requirements. I used to have no uniform, no subscription fee for any activity at school and one day I was sent back home and told that if I did not have those things I should not come to school. I can read and write my name but I could not add up figures very well. Mma - Pina told me not to lose heart with my business. She showed me how every evening I should add up money against sold items to see whether there was a profit or not. She said - 303 - 'Sometimes after adding the total you might think you have lost, but look at what is left of your stock, then you can see whether you are losing or not. You must only get worried if you have no money and the stock is all gone'. She actually taught me how to do this on an exercise book for some days. I am pleased with her advice and already I see a difference. One month I got P170. 00. I was able to buy stock and pay rent. The other month I got P200.00 and I have begun to save P30. 00 each month at our co-operative bank. I have been given a licence which enables me to buy from the wholesalers. I am confident I will make more profit in futux:e but it's all because of the education I received from friends, especially Mma-Pina. Mrs. G.M. is a very keen, dedicated person. Not only has she started saving with the co-op bank but she has already bought a sewing machine. She sews for her family. While at the factory she learnt of a course in knitting run by one lady next to the factory. She was working on another jersey when I was there - and she told me she had already received P50.00 for the previous one she made. Another lady came and asked me to knit a jersey just like the one I knit ted for her friend, so I think there's a market right here. The good thing about this knitting project is that women are allowed to take their work away from the place where they are taught. This makes it a lot easier for Mrs. G.M. who then can attend to selling her tea and still be able to get on with knitting. Mrs. G.M. looks at the jersey in her hand and says: I'm very pleased I was not lazy. After 19 of us were recruited others dropped out of the knitting lesson saying the money was small. But if people are serious, they can make a lot of money. I see I have used part of that knowledge. On community participation in general, Mrs. G.M., who was once a PTA committee chairperson, says: Meetings are not well attended. I don't know why. In 1982 I was a PTA chairperson and sometimes it would be the two of us, only the headteacher and myself till sunset. People are generally afraid because we don't have the know-how so we get - 304 - afraid of how we can handle the situation. Some people feel being involved will take their time from their work on the lands. They might be called for meetings, workshops and seminars. But I realized that it is only when you get involved that you learn. Men are generally behind in ever thing. As the saying goes - 'the mother holds the knife blade'. Women are always in the majority, as you can see here at the factory. Generally people participate fully where there is a basic need. ARAP and ALDEP are examples, though I could not qualify because of my small acreage, only a three acre plot. But we all took part in the initial subscriptions towards a co-op because it was where people saw they could meet certain baSic needs. Case 25 - Mr. G.S. - born 1937 Mr. G.S. - who left school at Standard III in 1941 due to poor conditions at home, is a self-made man in the village today. He owes much of what he is to his self-determination and the great inspiration he received while working at the weavers' factory. He still recalls his school days with remorse. School days were difficult. I was often absent from school, sent on other errands like looking after goats. My parents died when I was still young and I was left at the mercy of the relatives who did not seem to understand anything about education. I used to go to school wearing (mongato), a primitive dress for men, the skin is cut in such a way that it would look like a baby's napkin and men and teenage boys wore it to cover themselves, almost in the same way that babies wear napkins, except that with mongato the buttocks were bare. I was the only one who went to school in this kind of dress (normally people would change into that kind of dress after school). I couldn't stand the ridicule at school. Mr. S. left the village in 1951 for South Africa where he worked and started his family. He had ten children and only five of those are alive. In South Africa he gained business experience while working for one businessman who owned a chain of stores in South Africa. 'He treated me like a business partner or his own son, - 305 - showing me everything about running a business and I learnt a lot from him. It is because of that knowledge that I am today running this business' . Apart from his small grocery shop, he also owns a brick moulding business. When he left South Africa with his family he was used to a white collar job, but life in the village drove him into farming. Due to droughts he tried supplementing their poor harvest with paid jobs. He worked for two butchers in Mochudi and finally came home with PIO.OO in his pocket. He bought four packets of cement and started moulding bricks. The first batch was sold immediately and he continued from there. It was around this time that the fac tory was started. The organizer involved him in the building. He taught him a building skill and he helped build the factory with his bricks. He was encouraged to form a building contract with young men who had done the Brigades course. It was here they discovered how much potential they had. After the completion of the factory he bought all the tools from there and for a time everything seemed to work well. For the first time the village had a locally-based contractor and bricks. This revolutionised the village. Modern buildings were built in great numbers. We brought real change in the village. I can honestly say we brought civilization to this village. However, some parents later discouraged their youth from the Brigades from working with him, saying that since he was illiterate, he was making gains through their children's education and skills. He says: You need patience to succeed in any form of work. I needed patience to be where I am and for the contribution I made in this village. I assist the villagers even with this little shop. I made all that you see now, the building, the shelves and this storeroom all this is my planning and building. This is all from PIO.OO. In fact PIO.OO managed a number of things, children's - 306 - education, cattle, business. I've tried, he says happily. He sees problems mainly related to the low level of education. We want our children to be educated. I fail to attend any courses or seminars due to lack of time. Educated people are an asset to their villages. But we have problems in this village. Men, youth, women, all take their orders from drinking. In the evening father, son, wife, mother-in-law come home drunk, the two smoking and the woman taking snuff. Tell me how can such people think constructively? Look around - what time is it? 12.00 noon but these young men and women and their fathers and mothers have been hanging around bars since morning. Have you seen anything like this anywhere? Mr. S's concern for the progress of the village goes even to the leadership. He blames this on the low level of education. In businesses he says people would still go to Gaborone for a certain item if there is a difference of lOt (5p) gain. This shows lack of progress in their thinking. He is asserting himself as much as he can. But he had a terrible setback when one lady came into the village and asked him to build her a house. On the completion of the house the woman who came from Europe disappeared before she could pay him. He owes the bank several thousands due to this, and hopes the District Council, who are now selling the house, will pay him back. But he is looking ahead with his brick making project, farming and restaurant. His main problem is labour. Case 26 - Mr. M.M. Mr. M.M. is a vegetable grower, an illiterate father of 11, who like many others discovered his abilities through adult education in the factory. He describes the weavers factory as a place 'which helps - 307 - man to discover his potential'. Mr. M.M. worked in South Africa for a long time and he learnt much about gardening there but when he came to this village he did not know what to do without capital and without water. Everything seemed hopeless. I asked him how he found the village when he came and his answer was: "DEATH" it was "death" all around. Water was fe~ched from Sims farm 7 km away by the village women carrying buckets on their heads. I tried hard digging little holes in the ground to get water. Compared to that time our present village is 'Canaan'. I often wonder why people still go hungry in Canaan. If only we could work hard we would tell a better story. Our cattle already tell the story. They come here to drink with no one driving them. Whereas in the past they used to walk miles to ·get water. (He was at his garden by the riverside where cattle came for a drink) The factory performed a miracle. The initiator Ii ter ally opened people's eyes. Had it not been for 'Ramasisi'* I don't know where all these people would be. The village has turned into a fertile land overnight. That man knows how to educate adults. Most of these working in the factory don't even know the shape of the letter 'a' but he has transformed them into artists. If you look at their work you wouldn't believe that they are illiterate. Then he turns to himself and says: He showed me all the ideas on farming. He said to me 'There is no-one who does not know anything at all in this life. There is no such thing as a hopeless case. Whether literate or not I can teach you what to do' and he taught me how to run a vegetable garden. I was temporarily lost when he left because of lack of funds and other resources. But I got a loan from the factory and started this vegetable garden. I remember him saying to me 'You can plant fruit trees as well and if you develop it, it can be your investment when you retire. * 'Ramasisi' was the name commonly used for Mr. Goweniuse by the villagers. - 308 - Mr. M. is so highly motivated by the results of his gardening that he wants to involve the whole village if he can. He is convinced that if his vegetable plot is well developed, fenced and well equipped, interested villagers can hire allotments from him and the village can be a big vegetable producing area for Gaborone and the villagers themselves can buy vegetables cheaply. His main problem is securing a loan which would enable him to buy all the necessary machinery for the garden. He also has a problem getting hold of the AD. He hopes the AD can help him fill in the FAP forms for a loan of P900.00. He looks at his garden and says proudly: I have brought up my eleven children with no white man's help - my children should see how reliable this project is. But he is concerned about the villagers as well. He says they are not keen to learn and to get involved. When they come from seminars and workshops they don't try to practice what they have learnt and for those like him who try, there are no colleagues with whom to discuss and compare methods since others don't make any efforts to do anything. We should be learning from one another. At the moment my neighbours who are also engaged in gardening are not from this village but we learn from one another. But it is my belief that if more people came from the village to work here with me, it would even make the work of the AD easier. He would assist us collectively. If only our people would know! This is a better business. With farming crops fail due to droughts but you can never go wrong with vegetables. l've tried hard to encourage villagers, youth as well as adults, but no-one seems to show an interest. I even said I could start them off by lending them plots and seedlings free of charge and they could use water from the river but no-one wants to come. I am an isolated man working here only with my family. As regards the other extension programmes he says: I would have liked to join the literacy class to learn the shape of the letter I a I at least so as - 309 - to read road signs and some instructions when I travel on my own but I hardly have time off from my gardens. He is also concerned about men's and youth's drinking habits. If only men would be like women, this village would accomplish much but they are always found around drinking places. The youth are a concern. When the President addressed us not so long ago, his first words were 'We are being threatened by a great danger' (Re wetswe). He said the words so sombrely, I thought Smith (or Botha his uncle) had invaded the country and he said the lawlessness of our youth was shocking. Drinking is our enemy. Even with me here if I frequent the bar, the third time I come to the garden my hands can't handle the spade properly or firmly. Case 27 - Mrs. K.M. If I found my letter in the mailbox I left it not knowing that it was mine. I used to put a thumb on paper when my friends wrote down their signatures. Mrs. K.M. tells what can be called a success story. She is a Ration Clerk at the clinic where she is in charge of the underweight feeding programme. Her work entails keeping records and rationing of weekly packages for parents of the under-S kids. She is married and has one 21 year old son who works in Gaborone. She appears to be highly motivated and has taken full advantage of the extension programmes. She is an ex-literacy participant and her story starts thus: I heard the literacy group leader talk about literacy classes and I joined the programme. I studied all the courses offered up to 'Primer Five' • Before that I didn't know anything. I couldn't even identify my letter in the mail box. If I found my letter among the mail t I left it there, not knowing it was mine. But now I use my education a lot in my work, counting, recording and reading. It's very useful to me. I would definitely like to continue if I get a chance. I couldn't have got this job if I had not gone to the literacy class. I used to put a thumb where my friends put a signature. I no longer put a finger for a sign where my contemporaries sign. - 310 - There were ten of us in our group and the lazy ones dropped out, giving excuses that they cannot go to school with their kids - kids going in the morning and they going at night. But they can see the difference in us and how we have improved. At the clinic where she was, Mrs. K.M. was knitting a beautiful sweater putting in motifs. The kids had been fed and gone and she had completed her register for the day. I asked her about the knitting skill and the sweater. A white lady by the name of Susan started this knitting project. She was interested more in our ability to get the knitting skill and not our educational background. That is how I started this project. Twenty-one people started but only 11 were left after a year. Some who left complained about the amount one gets after finishing a sweater which is PIS.aa. They said the money was too little. But she gives us all the materials. In fact she knits a sweater on the machine and we have to put in the motifs. In our finished articles she looks at creativity and neatness. We appreciate what is happening. We learn a new skill and at the same time make a bit of money. My interest was more in get ting the skill. I am hoping to make a living out of this knitting and design skill. I think if we team together with others and form a co-operative we can succeed with this enterprise. Some people are discouraged by the fact that we don't receive a fixed permanent salary. But we understand the organiser's argument. She does not want a situation where some people would benefit at the expense of others. Some people are quicker than others or more hard working. As a result they may finish three sweaters in a short period of time. It is therefore fair to reward them according to their abilities. I personally like the arrangement very much. When I got this job I was already involved with this knitting project, but because it allows one to carry one's work wherever one goes, I have managed to work here while continuing with learning the motifs and producing sweaters, making myself extra money. K. is on several village committees, the VDC. the burial society and the Crime Prevention committee. She says she now wants to learn English so that if English speaking people find her at work alone she should be able to talk to them. - 311 - She says problems of participation emanate from the change in the village leadership especially in the .way things are run through the council staff and local police. She is of the opinion that if the chief had his own office at the kgotla, people would freely come to him with their problems. People's attendance at meetings generally is poor. In her experience as a VDC member people would like to come to meetings if they knew the discussions would be about employment opportunities - perhaps some information about recruitment of workers. 'Often when we ask people to come to meetings they ask us - what is the meeting about? Are we going to be recruited for a job somewhere? ' . VDC's problems are related to the village headman. He does not co-operate with us. For instance, we have always asked him not to let outsiders settle in our village without our knowledge and permission but he continues to grant them permission. to settle here. But these people are not helping the village in any way. They isolate themselves, when we have a meeting and if they need something after the meeting, they wait for us to finish and then come. They don't even come to our funerals. Case 28 - Mr. O.S. I have written to my friends and relatives and actually received replies from them. Mr. O.S. is an employee of the factory. He joined the factory in 1974 after working briefly with a building contractor in Gaborone. Prior to his job in Gaborone he had worked in South African mines. While at home his main job was to look after cattle. A literacy class was opened at the factory to help those workers who did not know how to read and write. Mr. O. S. and others joined this class and studied up to Primer 5. He is a highly motivated person who has benefited from his course. He is a stores clerk at the factory and he knows he could not have managed his job without his - 312 - literacy course. He says: Our course stopped while were were still hoping to learn more things from the programme. I wish it was here in school where we could continue with our studies at higher levels. Lack of continuity discourages one. I write my name but I would have liked to learn how to do sums. Carpentry and other aspects of my job at this factory need knowledge of sums. Sums and English are very important. They help a lot when one has other skills especially in our job here. If you know only 2 + 2 you can't go far mathematically in any business you may want to take up. Engl.ish and sums give one more capacity in work (better performance). Mr. O.S. says the number had dropped even before the classes stopped. He thinks people were forced to leave classes to go out in search of jobs. But he also says people got discouraged when the number of teachers (literacy group leaders) dropped because they also left in search of better paying jobs. 'But I suspect also that literacy teaching is regarded as a low status job'. Mr. O.S. is also a member of the VDC and he says: People need payment. They want money. We are supposed to discuss our village problems and make democratic decisions, but that is difficult because people don't turn up. Sometimes no action is taken because people did not come to hear about the idea in the first place. Men are worse. Women seem to respond better. Youth also seem to leave everything to parents or government. I don't know how long they think they can do that. I think it is great to be allowed to be involved in programmes affecting our lives. However, I can see why some people can't attend meetings. Surely if one abandons his cattle and his crops to spend a day attending a meeting for nothing, one begins to ask whether it is really worth it. I believe if there was a little payment it would serve as an incentive. And he says emphatically: government cannot come and tie up our shoes let's tie up our shoes and move forward. - 313 - Case 29 - Miss N.S. If someone wrote. down my name and told me this was my name I wouldn't have believed him, but now I can write it down myself. Miss N. S. is a young single mother of four, two boys and the twins. She started going to a literacy class in 1979 after hearing about the programme from her friends. In 1983 she got employed at the factory and her problems started. She commutes from her village to work every morning. When she gets home in the evening she has to fetch water and make evening meals for the family before going for classes at 6.00p.m. She finally gave up and stayed at home with her children. Asked about how the kids managed during the day she says: During the day my mother looks after the kids. But as soon as I come home she leaves everything. She tells me that her children are all grown up and she can no longer mess about with cooking for kids. I should look after my own kids. So I had to stop going to classes. I could not cope with classes and my other duties at home. I managed originally when I stayed here alone but at horne my mother would expect me to help. When I arrive she says 'Your children are hungry, cook for your children' • I have four children, two of them twins, so I could not manage with also taking care of them. At school we did not make decisions about times to start either. I had gone as far as Primer 4 but I had wanted to continue. I wanted to learn English so that I could always fill in forms on my own. The literacy programme has helped me very much. If someone wrote down my name, and told me this was my name, I wouldn't believe, but now I can write it down myself. There are those who do not know how to read and write but would not join the classes and they say to us 'How can you go to school with your children?' But I tell them that my child's knowledge of reading and writing won't automati cally make me literate. Personally I would still like to continue with the programme. I would like to see the programme add English to the courses offered. With English I can fill in forms without difficulty if I want to apply for a job. The literacy group leader we had, used a lot of patience. He knew that adults are slow to learn. This encouraged us. Others are very impatient and adults feel insecure and drop out of the classes. I would have continued because I like to learn - 314 - despite the teacher's impatience. We used to have many people - but they have all left to go and look for jobs. Case 30 - Mr. S.K. - weaver Mr. S.K. is 39 years old, married and has nine children. He is a Modipane resident but works at the factory. He never went to school but he has managed to literally teach himself. He says: I taught myself. I used to pick up any piece of paper blown by the wind which had anything written on it. And I would ask people like you who knew how to read and write. I would select letters and put them together then ask - 'how do you read these letters put together?' and they would tell me. I continued doing that with different people until I could read Standard I reader - or Primer I. I learnt here while herding the cat tIe and continued in South Africa. Now I want night school. I want to go further with my studies. I hear the literacy programme does· not cover much, only helps you to write a letter. I would like to pursue education and upgrade myself to a level of a teacher or office clerk. About the village in general, he says there has been tremendous change in the village. The village used to lack so many things that if it was that easy to move from a place, the residents would have left the area long ago. Women used to come here in search of water, sometimes with babies hungry and crying on their backs, and sometimes they would still come back home with empty buckets. If one wanted to sell a cow t one would have to travel days to Mochudi with a heavy coat on his shoulder. Nowadays if I want to sell a beast I can do that through the co-operative without any hassles. He is concerned about the lawlessness of the youth. He says 'the youth are interested in football and drinking to the exclusion of everything else. In politics they confuse issues thinking that they understand' • But he believes that government's assistance is enough to help those who help themselves. - 315 - I personally hold on to the little that I have - no drink, no smoking. I have taken courses on agriculture - dehorning and use of planter. I use this knowledge and I find it very useful. I used to work closely with the previous AD. We still have problems though. We depend on agriculture but droughts defeat us. We plough, crops wither, cattle die. Government might need to subsidise us in factories like the weaving factory so that we sustain the business. I also feel the literacy programme as it is now, is not sufficient for our needs. We need a night school, because through night school more courses can be taught including arithmetic and the VII dropouts can be helped back into the main stream education. Now they are abandoned after Standard VII. Participation is generally poor due to poor attendance in meetings. Sometimes the VDC has an important issue to discuss but nobody turns out to hear it until it evaporates. Some say those who go to meetings just do it to while away time. Men drag their feet. In the factory there are only four men out of a group of 46. Men drink a lot and alcoholism blots out all ideas and co operation. Those who do not drink have a better understanding. The alcoholic dismisses you with scorn and says 'You who frequent these meetings can you show us your rewards - what will you do with them?' (Motho wa b<6jalwa 0 go gasetsa diatla are wena otlhola oile diphuthegong 9 tla a dirang ka tsona?)-:- Case 31 Mr. B.M. Mr. B.M. isa young man about 18 years old and still lives with his mother and brothers and sisters. He is a literacy drop out but unlike Case 28 it was not pressure of work at home that forced him to leave but starvation and poverty. He says: I had to leave the literacy programme because I was too hungry and frustrated to listen to anything else. Since my father died I had to help the family, my mother, my brothers and sisters. In order to do that I had to get a job. I used to go to the literacy class every evening but I was so poor, so hungry that I couldn't concentrate on anything the group leader was trying to teach us. One evening a friend from Gaborone told me he had heard that there was going to be a recruitment of workers for one company in Gaborone the following day early at 7.30 a.m. I didn't even have the bus - 316 - fare to Gaborone, so after trying to get help from friends, I gave up and decided to walk it to Gaborone that night. It was a night I will never forget. Twice I was nearly attacked by wild animals as the route I took was hardly used at any time. I got there early in the morning and went to the place. Everybody found me already there. We were taken to Francistown in a truck and arrived in ,the evening. All that time I had not eaten anything. That's how I left the literacy class. Mr. B.M. who due to illness had left his labourer's job on a building contract was still hopeful he would get a job and resume classes. I am still hoping to resume classes after I get a job, but this time it should be in an urban centre where I would work during the day and attend classes in the evening. The three people interviewed who took correspondence courses are all involved in health work. Two are Family Welfare educators and one is a sanitation project assistant. We start with the sanitation project assistant. Case 32 - Mr. I.S. Mr. I.S. is 25 years old and is presently working on the sanitation project linked to the clinic. The purpose of the project is to promote or encourage cleanliness among the villagers. Usually people are called to a seminar or workshop where members of the health department come to give talks on different aspects of cleanliness and other health matters. At the end of the seminalj people choose what things they want to follow up and the health staff take note of those. The sanitation project is very popular and many people have given their names for the project. The project entails the building of latrines for individuals who don't own latrines provided they pay a deposit of P30.00 prior to starting the pit latrine. Those who are interested give their names to the health staff who then pass them on to the sanitation proj ect assistants. As soon as one raises the - 317 - P30.00 deposit, they are notified and they start the latrines. Mr. S. sees problems inhibiting full participation from lack of resources mainly. Many people like the programme even though it might be more for convenience than from the educational aspect, but lack of resources makes it difficult for them to take full advantage of the programme. Many villagers cannot raise the P30.00 deposit. Sometimes people come to seminars and workshops because there are usually meals provided. After lunch before they reach decisions about an issue they stay away. Thus they sometimes miss part of the vital information about what they should do. S. corresponds J.e. and complains about the late response from DNFE headquarters after marking the scripts. Case 33 - Miss T.M. Miss.T.M. is a Family Welfare Educator. She started work at the village clinic in 1980 after a short training course on family welfare at RTC in Sebele. Her work entails weighing children, giving health talks to parents and people who come to the clinic. They also do a lot of home visits to check on patients and to advise on general cleanliness around homes. Sometimes when mothers bring their kids to the clinic they are asked to give health talks to others, e.g. on simple first aid; how they would save a child who had dehydration due to diarrhoea. This she says is to enable them as staff to see how much mothers understand the programme. They also liaise with the sanitation project and the underweight programmes. She blames drinking for some of the problems they see: As we go around, sometimes we come across filthy surroundings and hungry kids mainly because some women spent more time around drinking places rather than at home. They hardly have time to either clean their premises or make meals for their hungry kids. Others keep their premises clean even the tOilets and to these we give words of praise for encouragement. - 318 - Some people, however, fear that if they got materials for assistance in the building of the latrines, they might fail to pay back whatever government might want paying and might have their property confiscated. For underweight children's mothers the story is different. They say what the children get at the clinic 'is no different from what they give them at home' but really it is just fear of the poverty stigma. The food is not the same and its preparation is different from what we find them doing at home. On a personal level Miss T.M. is hoping to move up the ladder from FWE to enrolled nurse level. She started a correspondence course in 1985 and hopes to sit her examinations this year. Her subjects are social biology, history and mathematics. But like Mr. S. her complaint is the delay in getting feedback from DNFE. She says 'Our papers take too long to be marked. Our teachers are volunteers and only mark our papers in their spare time'. Miss T .M. says their role in the Village Extension Team was ambiguous. People didn't seem to know wha t they were to do. As a result meetings were poorly attended. But she believes that things will improve because DET representatives came to brief the VET earlier in the year about their role. On their side one FWE and one staff nurse are members of the VET. Generally she sees poor attendance from two angles. There are those who cannot attend meetings because they are busy at the lands and those who drink and don't bother about meetings. People drink and when they don't they go away and carryon with their own affairs. We once tried to form a Red Cross group but every time we met one group came and not the other. The group that attends this week did not attend the following meeting till we gave up on the idea. Case 34 - Ms. r.M. Ms. r.M. is another FWE. Her story is the same as Miss T.M. 's - - 319 - but she feels that people from the village are also hampered by superstition especially on health mat ters. She cites cases of TB patients who would stay away from medical treatment because they still trust their traditional doctors. They refuse to corne to clinics until they are about to die. On underweight cases, she says usually it is the single teenage mothers who have underweight children and sometimes they need spacing to give themselves time to bring up the underweight kid. However, when trying to help them through Family Planning their parents refuse. She recalls one incident where a parent of a teenage mother came fuming to her and asked her to stop luring her child into immoral behaviour. This was because she had asked the teenage if she would like to join the Family Planning programme. Fear of cultural norms and behaviour still hampers many mothers from fully taking advantage of the programmes offered at the clinic. She says as they teach people seem to be listening attentively, but as soon as they leave, women start to talk among themselves and say 'we must be careful not to take all that these people are saying, it is against our culture'. Thus frightening away anybody who would have liked to take up the programme. This is mostly in Family Planning. She is herself doing a correspondence course so that she may later move on to enrolled nursing. Others who were interviewed and didn't say much said they did not participate because the programmes did not meet their needs. There were two ladies who had failed Standard VII and had hoped the literacy programme would add advanced courses above the five Primers to help them to study so that they could repeat their Standard VII and be in a position to pass to secondary school level. In one case a young man who was a builder, who picked up the skill when he was working with contractors in Gaborone, only wanted to - 320 - learn English and mathematics and to be upgraded in his building skills so that he could obtain a Trades Certificate. Three teenage mothers from the Direct Feeding programme were also interviewed. They were shy and did not say much. They gave lack of time as the main reason for their poor attendance at the clinic. Most of the time, they are either held up at home, or they are delayed in Gaborone where they go every now and then in search of jobs. Their main wish is to get a job or to go back to school. To friends, however. they have said they do not attend the underweight clinic because they do not want to be seen by the public cooking at the clinic. It makes them look as though they are the poorest in the community or.the worst failures in their age-group. This chapter has given the general representation of people's views in the different programmes. However. assessing who was a participant, a non-participant, or a drop-out in some programmes was not easy. There were cases where someone would be a drop-out in the literacy class but actually very active in farming, VDC and the PTA. In this way the participants far outnumbered the drop-outs and the non-participants. In other programmes participation is very low. The self-employed in this study were actively using what they had learnt from the programmes previously, but were too busy to enrol in other programmes. It is difficult to call them non-participants or drop- outs. - 321 - CHAPTER EIGHT ANAL YSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 8.1 Introduction The previous chapter has provided a broad picture of people IS perceptions of the issues of participation. From these issues arise thematic topics which illuminate the intricacies of why people participate' the way they do and why they do not in the case of non participants and dropouts. As noted in Chapter Three, there seem to be two distinct groups of factors affecting participation. 1 First, there are the broad frame factors which, among other things, affect the environment both at the national and local level in which programmes develop. These are historical, cultural, economiC, social and political. They reflect the degree to which national policy responds to local perspectives, aspirations and needs, the degree of decentralization of government bureaucracy, the organizational structure at the local level and the extent of communication that takes place between the centre and the periphery. There are also the more specific, action factors. The crucial ones the study identified are (i) how community needs are assessed and catered for by a given programme, (ii) how programmes are developed, (111) how programmes are managed, (iv) how resources (financial and manpower) are mobilized, (v) how leadership is developed and (v1) how the problems of the poor, especially the very poor, are addressed. Both these factors can promote or inhibit effective community participation in extension programmes. The frame factors affect each programme but usually planners and implementers have no means of - 322 - l;hanging them. The action factors are interrelated to the frame factors but planners and implementers can change them. They are more specific and direct in influencing participation in programmes. Fi~ure 8.1 Factors Influencins Prosramme Formation Frame Factors Action Factors 1. Cultural 1. Needs assessment 2. Economic, social & political 2. Community organization 3. Historical 3. Programme management 4. Government policy 4. Resource mobilization 5. Decentralization 5. Leadership development 6. Local level organization 6. Focus on the poor 7. Core/periphery communications I Both sets of factors vary in the degree at which they may affect participation as much depends on the nature of the programme. We take each programme in turn and try to see how people's participation has been affected by these factors. It has to be pOinted out also that there is some possibility of overlap, and there may well be other factors which this study cannot link directly to any of the main factors. 8.2 Participation According to Programmes 8.2.1 ,Community Development Community development mainly preaches self-help efforts through community mobilization. The argument for this is that community development can better and more realistically be achieved when the community itself plans and executes plans for its development because benefits in that way will directly flow from the programme to the - 323 - 2 people, the participants. This is a strong moral argument. There is also a political argument which sees community involvement in decision-making processes as a healthy way of ensuring peace and tranquillity due to full understanding on the part of the masses of what government is about. There is also a development argument, that by encouraging participation policies you are actually developing the nation physically and mentally. Physically their standard of living is raised and mentally their thinking improves as they get more involved in development issues. Given this rhetoric about 'community' it is then assumed that communities still exist as coherent units, with homogeneous people having the same difficulties, interests and capabilities. Factors that relate to programme formation seem to act on these assumptions and hence the conflic ts in the programme. Culturally, for instance, the present community can no longer adhere to the institutional and structural frame that the community had in the past. The present chief cannot guarantee that people will attend meetings like the chiefs in the past. There is less regard for the kgotla and poor attendance at it, consequently decisions cannot be taken as quickly as they were in the past. Besides, what may seem a need for one group may not necessarily be viewed the same way by another group. The case of new settlers, who are accused of isolating themselves substantiates this point. As the development process accelerates, the homogeneity of communities seems to be reduced. It thus becomes difficult to get community participation on general communal projects unless those answer their spec if ic needs as a group, e. g. water, roads, clinics. Even these are now more and more viewed as a government responsibility, as political awareness dawns on people. The other point is that, as more entrepreneurship backed by commercialization in - 324 - small businesses and agriculture grips people, more concentration is given to specialised fields and less time is given to communal projects. Thus farmers' participation in group work relates to the projects focused on farming - digging and building dip tanks. fencing of dams etc. They join such group activities with their minds bent on solving their specific problem for a common purpose. Community Development often lacks an economic base. Usually poverty stricken groups~forced by circumstances beyond themselves~such as famine and droughts " join CD projects because under the circumstances such projects would be the only way to a meal for survival. Thus CD projects are not attractive to many people even those engaged in them; - in fact they tend to be exploitative. The traditional community, as we have. seen from case studies 5 and 6, had a kind of economic base which enhanced people's participation in programmes. That has been removed but has not been replaced in any form except by appealing to people's good will. The irony of it is that those who call for people's good will cannot themselves set that example. Cases 8 & 9 of the headman and councillor. both of whom are engaged in community development but get remuneration for their service are typical of the whole government's attitude to community development. It has been argued that if people involved in self-help projects on a long-term basis, e.g. VDC committees were to be paid. the spirit of self-help would die. The same parliament then discussed the motion calling for the increase in both councillorsl and MPs' salaries and sitting allowances. The question that can be asked is whose services should be on tap for community self-help? - who do we refer to when we talk of the community? On many occasions people said that they needed to be - 325 - paid. Case 22 says that in the past it was easy to go to work knowing your child had something to eat. Today one needs to be paid because one cannot go and work the whole day and go back to hungry children. The ex-head teacher does make a point that the VDC might have to be paid as councillors are. It is also made clear by Case 2 who says that people are too hungry to attend the social programmes _ seminars and workshops. 'They are struggling in their own art of life' - a form of life within which one has to weave means and ends in order to survive. The lack of economic base is also reflected in the running of the programme. VDCs have no financial support. They have no clout and therefore neither their words nor the headman's nor the CD worker's carry much hope. As pointed out in Brown's study people go to MPs meetings because there, tangible promises may be made about their problems. The CD worker cannot keep the women and youth's interest without financial support. The social factors affect participation in CD in many ways. Entry into the social arena is often affected by one's economic status. It is obvious people are too busy struggling at the basic need level to join clubs for social reasons only. Most clubs failed to take root because people wanted an income from whatever activity they took part in. It is not surprising therefore that the burial societies which are largely economic in nature are also seen as social gatherings. The lack of an economic base has also resulted in migration of both men and women. Political factors as well affect participation in CD mostly because people more and more start to see the disparities in the arrangement of the workforce in CD programmes and where the benefits eventually go. These two distinct cases lost interest in other forms of programmes also and displayed disillusion where they had hoped to get food assistance but were refused such assistance. This attitude - 326 - is also clear from the way it has been repeatedly said to CD extension workers 'you are paid, we are not', (0 a duelwa rona ga re duelwe). The historical factors have the same implications as the cultural factors,but noteworthy are the historical impacts on the community of a monetized economy. Firstly, the monetized economy has led to serious migration of both men and women into wage employment. This continued absence of certain members of the community reduces communities to something less than the community as it was known before and their participation on CD programmes is reduced. Even when at home, they become detached from the life pattern of the community. Often the women left behind,take up the head of household duties which are often difficult tasks. They try to resort to hiring help buth~ has to be for cash which they don't have. Thus most people who might have come to a CD pr.ogramme, will be hampered by the fact that they have to do farm work alone. They cannot get hired labour because of lack of cash. The worst thing that resulted from migration historically is the complacent spirit especially among menfolk - 3 mental underdevelopment. The councillor's words ring true when he says that people are used to be coerced, if they are left they are not 4 ready to pull themselves together. Kooijman points out the danger of migration in almost the same manner saying that it reproduces values and effects which have gradually filtered down to all levels of village society. There is no doubt that government policy is a factor that is also influencing the pattern and level of participation. The policy regarding community development first removes the base of a community by modification of the chieftancy and its related activities and empowerment, then expects the chiefs to be involved in community organization in the same way it would have done two decades ago. The - 327 - other factors, such as decentralization, local level organization and core/periphery communications all link up with government policy regarding community development and people's participation. Decentralization implies transfer of power to make decisions from the centre to the people to replace top-down management with bottom-up and lateral management. This involves not only making decisions at the village level, but taking actions on those decisions. Such an exercise is difficult without increased resources and policy influence on the part of the local personnel and the local committees. From the CD worker's words, resources are a great handicap to participation but it is often a problem of budget and transport which have to be decided at headquarters. Lack of transport facilities makes it difficult for CD workers or even \l.DC' s to effect any action following a village decision to do something. Supposing the VDC convinces the villagers to go and collect sand, whether or not they can actually go still depends on whether headquarters agrees to release the truck. All these factors affect the participation of people though in a general way. The action factors are specific but very closely related to the above. First the needs assessment factor. It cannot be over emphasized that community participation is engendered first and foremost by community needs. It is .not surprising .. that in tre past before the village had water, roads and t~e. clinic it was easier than' talay ~"G1l people and organize them into some sort of action. People then had common problems which made them approach problems as one people. The needs were more basic than social and therefore were treated as a priority. One thing is clear here, that where people identify with the problem as a group and set their minds to solving it)even if other factors such as migration, the weakness of the institutions and others exist, the oneness of the people will bring success. In the absence - 328 - of resources they are still able to exert pressure by coming together and making their pleas known to the relevant authorities. However, where people do not, as a group, put their force together behind a problem, either financially or by exerting pressure, it is unlikely that they will succeed. It is quite clear from biographies that before people had water, clinics and roads, the kgotla meetings were well attended because everyone wanted to throw their weight behind them and pressurise government to do something. Each person was ready to make whatever contribution they could make. It might be argued that since people's basic needs in that area are met they should be able to participate more. It needs to be pointed out that while these are basic needs, they have not necessarily tackled poverty and its effects for the majority of the people. They have made existence tolerable but there is no real life for many as yet. It is a struggle for survival. Needs assessment therefore in programme formation needs to go beyond community basic needs in general, to individual basic needs, which when met, will make each member of a community an asset in social development and together those assets may be transformed into community development. Community organization is another factor which raises controversies in community participation. Together with resource mobilization and leadership development, community organization means much more than calling people to a meeting. It means identifying leaders, training them for their tasks and equipping them with the necessary resources for their task. Already we have seen how the chiefs powers have been reduced in this regard and how the CD worker is and how the VDCs are incapacitated not only by lack of finance but by the poor educational background and lack of confidence in themselves. It seems the whole task of community organization has - 329 - been taken for granted by the government. Firstly, it is an innovation that neither the chiefs nor village leaders elected through the new structures to spearhead decisions understand. What the chiefs know has been taken from them, 1. e. how they used to conduct their community organization, but no adequate training for the new roles has been carried out. This dilemma is clear from some people's remarks that the chief avoids a confrontation in certain issues, e.g. land issues or even settlement in general. He can't go to some people because he doesn't understand English. Moreover he does not have adequate information about running a community because he did not grow up under the Tswana village structure and the community system and learn .how things were done. Thus the headman is limited in a number of ways. He is not organic in an ethnic sense in the village group, therefore his powers to organize are seriously limited. He is not educated. This limits him outwardly because his credibility is questioned, but psychologically he is also inhibited. It can be dangerous to introduce innovations, in this case the way the modern chieftainq has been modified, without making necessary adjustments. It would seem that the introduction of the modern village leadership struc ture, while displacing a lot of the traditional institutional and structural processes, did not adequately make adjustments that would ensure continued participation. The position of a CD worker is not better either. More often than not she is seen by the very people she is supposed to assist in community organization as overriding and threatening the norm, taking over from the established authority, the chief. But the CD worker as a community organizer has no more clout than the radio that people can listen to and switch off if they don 't want to listen. She cannot make people come to meetings, if they don't feel like it. She has to - 330 - go through the chief to get to people. In the case where the chief is undermined, she is already working at a disadvantage. Worst of all she has no resources that can serve as incentives to keep even the few people who come to her meetings. These limitations militate against another factor which is programme management. Programmes are largely supposed to be managed by the people in CD, PTA, women's clubs, VDCs and so on. It is difficult to expect people to be involved in programme management when they know virtually nothing. It has been said, on certain occasions, that people say they cannot take part or come to meetings because they won't know what to do. The case of the illiterate treasurer and secretary shows this. It is probably the target forum groups in CD also which make participation difficult. Coverage is broad and unspecified - programmes for all the community are not so easy to conceptualize or identify with as programmes with a special message to a specific group of people. It is unrealistic just because women are women to think they can be satisfied by one programme. The same goes for the youth. All these factors culminate in one major theme: focus on the poor. CD programmes lack a focus on the poor in the way of liberating them from poverty. The famine relief programme which is the only one so far acclaimed does not tackle poverty in the long run. It in fact typifies the exploitative nature of the CD focus on the poor. Starving people are indirectly forced to take part in activities not of their choice in order to get a meal. These projects are not necessarily designed by the poor, neither are they designed to alleviate poverty in the participants. The benefits from such programmes are generally removed from the poor who participate in their implementation. Participation is thus narrowly perceived in CD. The famine relief programme which was brick making was in no way near - 331 - answering the basic needs of the participant as a project. The fact that bricks were going to build classrooms and therefore increase school capacity did not in itself directly help people engaged in the programme. They did not even view it that way. However, as an activity offering some payment for survival it attracted participants. Participation thus becomes a conditional issue. The level and pattern of participation in CD programmes thus reflects remuneration and community deprivation rather than community enthusiasm and voluntary involvement. It can without generalizing too much be argued that community participation, as reflected above, shows the significance of the traditional institutions and structures not only as administrative corner poles but as an economic base, and that as a more monetized economy develops, people without income to satisfy their basic needs will continue in the struggle to improve themselves as individuals rather than as communities first and foremost. To continue to introduce community projects such as famine relief, which obviously make the most needy work for further improvement of the better off, is not participation but exploitation. 8.2.2 DNFE Programmes The two programmes of DNFE (literacy and correspondence) differ among themselves and from those of CD in the way their participation was affected by the above factors. The literacy programme on the whole was popular. However, it's inadequacy in needs assessment contributes to the slowing down of participation. It would appear that the programme solely emphasized the three R' s rather than what literacy for development might be. Freire and his followers see literacy as not merely a technical problem of teaching adults how to read and write, rather the achievement of literacy is seen as a key - 332 - element, particularly in backward societies, of cultural emancipation. Freire regards literacy as fundamental to peasants' critical consciousness of the oppressive reality of the social world. The use of 'generative' words often accompanies literacy lessons and can be thought provoking. In order to realise the full significance of communication, dialogue, freedom, generative words are selected in a reading course because they refer to real-life subjects and situations. Words are chosen for their significance in disclosing dimensions of reality which the learners in their everyday life might simply accept ?S fate, or part of the inevitability of things. These words which have the potential of exposing reality to critical appraisal, Freire calls generative words; for example, slum, food, work, swampland. Whether this above element of the literacy programme was underplayed by learners or whether it was not there, it is hard to say but none of the literacy participants cited it as part of the reasons for literacy. Literacy, in the view of the participants, simply meant learning how to read and write. This factor weakened participation because other than knowing how to read and write people did not see how their other learning needs could be met. Much of the programme seems to be programmed and tailored from the centre. But most of all it was the need for income that weakened participation. Both learners and literacy group leaders had to abandon the programme for greener pastures elsewhere. Again it shows how economic needs tend to take precedence over any other needs. I t would seem t ha t , when one is unemployed and hungry, everything is of less interest. Several biographies confirm this the non-participant who wanted to be considered for the destitute fund, the literacy dropout who says 'I - 333 - was too hungry and frustrated by lack of work to think about or concentrate any more', and the other man who said it would be difficult after a hard day's work to go into class with children. It seems the only major difference that the literacy programme is showing from formal schooling is its focus on adults basically, but the content does not offer any issues of challenge. The literacy assistant pointed out some limitations to programme enhancement. 'Often', he says, 'they promise to give practical skill courses to learners but materials are expected from participants. As it is difficult to get these, they lose interest and leave' . Administratively also, he feels there were better ways in which they could have organized their target groups but the organising of who should team with whom is done by the regional office. Most of those interested in literacy or still keen on it were also in wag~ employment. For some, it was difficult to stay at home hungry waiting for a literacy class in the evening. Others simply failed to see how reading and writing would improve their impoverished lives and so did not bother to attend classes. Naturally the basic needs took precedence over social needs. There are, however, cases relating to gender issues. Women are generally interested in taking part even under difficult conditions, but they are often hampered by the many tasks they have to perform at home. Case 29 clearly indicates this dilemma of woman. After a hard day's work she had to fetch water and make meals for the family at the end of which it was time up for classes. But she and her colleagues had no say over the timing of the programme. The literacy programme attracted the younger lot in work because of the possibility of improving one's chances of work or in current employment. It has never been education for its intrinsic value. And as in CD, the - 334 - targeting of participants did not make distinctions among different groups in order to meet their specific needs within the programmes. This indiscriminate programming also affected people's level and pattern of participation in the programmes. The headman attended the literacy classes and he says 'Younger ones seemed to do better, as for us, there was no use, we are too old to learn'. The rich illiterate also seemed to feel there was nothing that literacy would add to what they already had other than take their time. The needs assessment in this particular area must inform the programme management on what to focus on or for whom, even if it is the same programme. Basic needs still emerge as the major determining factor affecting participation in literacy programmes. The correspondence course is discouraged by both internal factors as well as external factors. Internally the village has a very low educational level. As a result there is no enthusiasm for correspondence courses for JC or Form V. Those who have enrolled are therefore few and isolated. The headquarters do not send the corrected scripts back to the learners in time. One man was in his fifth year corresponding JC. Obviously this is a disincentive and does nothing for the image of the programme. According to the LA's report, lack of money is a major constraint, to the correspondence programme. 8.2.3 Agriculture A trend emerges which shows a different form of participation as one leaves the social programmes for the economic programmes. There are distinct features which affect participation positively: the direct benefits to the participants, the specificity of the programmes, and the nature of the programmes which are mostly dealing with alleviating poverty and the programme management. The biographies of the farmers interviewed shows the voluntary - 335 - participation of those involved. Unlike involuntary participation in the CD programmes, here people seem to be fully involved, not for the short term rewards of what they can get from the aid schemes but what the long term rewards of these efforts can mean for themselves and their children. They see the benefits of the programmes coming direct to them in both the short term and the long term. There is therefore a personal commitment to the programme. The focus on specific needs of a basic nature and ultimately the security needs, makes the programme very attractive to the participants. All of them hinted that they had never taken part in the community development projects even though they would like to. They give their main reasons as lack of time because they are full time on the farm and other related activities. However, all of them were willing to participate fully in group activities, building dip tanks, building and fencing the dam. This goes to show that participation is likely to increase where the participants see the direct benefit especially in relation to basic needs. Thus the farmers would use their time, efforts and limited finances to subscribe to an economic basic need project but would not do the same for a social community project. In Case 15' swords, 'government has done its part and it is up to individuals each to do their part because it is now everyone for himself'. There seems to be a high degree of understanding and involvement where adult farm courses are given. Whereas VDCs and PTA committees find it cumbersome to go for courses on leadership training, farmers seem to enjoy their courses and unless lack of resources is a hindrance, they seem to put into practice what they are taught. The more they learn about their programmes the easier it becomes for them to participate in their programme management. Through farmers' - 336 - committees and as individuals, they can suggest what they want to be taught and when they can be taught. They are therefore participants not only as recipients but as 'content' designers in their programmes. Unlike in the CD programmes, the government policy directing agricultural programmes focuses on basic needs and encourages and supports participants, which encourages participation. There are limitations on participation, however, especially in relation to resources. It appeared that most farmers who benefited from these schemes had a male household head and some farm implements. Agricultural work generally is intensive and some of it is too heavy for women but also traditionally men own farm assets more than women so their capacity to participate is higher than that of women. There is also the question of labour. Farmers in general, and women in particular, have acute labour problems which often reduce the degree to which they could participate even where their interest is high. But women who are increasingly becoming household heads find it even more difficult. Women are limited in many ways because there are certain things they cannot do without men. If they had cattle unless they have an adult male to help them span the oxen, they still have to resort to hiring a tractor. They cannot fully utilize the donkeys the way men do, for example, and usually their financial resources are limited. They tend to resort to small livestock, goats, pigs, and chickens because these, unlike cattle, are relatively manageable around the farm. But they need full time attention all the same. Therefore when Case'17'says she could never serve on a committee on a long term basis, because of lack of time, we see what she means. Coupled with small livestock, crops and other family roles, the women have to take care of children. During the school term some are left at the farm, others not of school going age have to remain at the - 337 - lands. It is an extra strain physically and psychologically to make sure all these people are catered for. Thus preference is given to farm work because that is where basic needs are catered for, as is the case in Case l7's account. Though we don't know the size of the problem rela ted to fea r of the 'debt trap' which was often given as an excuse for those who did not take part in the projects of ARAP and ALDEP, it cannot be ignored that an element like that does affect the participation of some people. It would, in fact, make more sense than other reasons of laziness, complacency and political affiliation cited in some Cases - not that these ought to be shuffled aside, for in an exploratory study the unexpected can be expected. It is then a matter for further investigation to check just how much people are prevented by these inhibitions and doubts about the wisdom of taking up these schemes. 8.2.4 The Co-operatives In the co-operatives, it is obvious that lack of participation is largely due to the distribution of assets and low cash flow in the village. As the majority of workers reside out of the village or have access to outside markets, it is difficult to make any profits out of sales in a local store. People mostly save money with the banks where they work and that is where they use that money. It is evident from the co-operative's sales records that this factor makes it difficult for the co-operative store to be sustainable and to give bonuses to members. The records show that at weekends and month ends sales go higher - to P600.00 a day, whereas during weekdays sometimes sales don't even reach P200.00.. Weekends and mostly month ends are when workers are in the village or have sent some money to parents who can then buy from the co-operative. The serious lack of money and - 338 - poor cash flow in the village does hinder full participa tion in the co-operatives. The problem is reflected by members who say they want to buy where they can be given items, especially food items, on credit. Lack of finance makes the question of development ridiculous. Where everything is done in money terms, one wonders just how much people can do without employment. Government is trying hard to assist rural employment creation which includes self employment with small businesses but obviously one needs a flow of cash in the village to sustain such small businesses. Ironically those people who have come to set tIe in the village are not of any help in this respec t. They have their roots in Gaborone, in banks and shops, and have daily access to those facilities. The co-operative records reveal that only one name among the co-operative members was a new settler. Cattle ownership also has a bearing on the pattern. of participation in the co-operatives. Usually women and youth are not involved in the cattle sales aspect of the co-operatives. It is men who sell cattle and therefore who can save. But the richer farmers, who could have made better savings, don 't go through the co-op thus weakening the savings unit. Men generally want to save large sums of money while women would save small amounts even if they have to go back and withdraw the money the following day. Thus even though the number of those who save is small the majority have only P2. 00 or P3.00 in their savings. This does not attract any interest but at the end of the year the members feel the co-operative must give them a high bonus and interest. When they do not, members get discouraged. There is one strength, however, with sales and this results from the co-operation with the AD and VA. As the co-operative plans with these on what to stock, normally sales improve due to farming inputs. However, farm inputs sales are seasonal depending on the commodity - 339 - needed at the farms at a particular time of the year. For crop farming it will be mostly around the ploughing period, while for cattle ranging it will be sometime after harvesting for supplementary feeding. In the case of co-operatives, people's participation is greatly hampered by resources, especially money and cattle - hence the co-operative's manager's words - 'If you have money and cattle you are O.K. with the co-op'. In other words, people understand the advantages offered by the co-operative, and are willing to support it, but as the headman said - 'If you do not have anything of your own all you do is wish'. The story alters as we move to the factory. 8.2.5 The Factory The factory enjoys a high degree of participation. The unique- ness of the factory stems from the fact that all the factors that facilitate participation are in place. Employment answers the crucial question of income and thus basic needs. It increases the power to choose and power to move forward. This is the great advantage: money. But it is not just money in any factory. It is a factory based in the village, the factor that has contributed largely to factory workers' participation in other programmes. As Case 23 states If I was still working in Johannesburg when ARAP and ALDEP were introduced, I wouldn't have understood them and therefore would not have taken any notice of them because my holiday used to be very short, but the schemes started when I was already working here, I understood everything and have taken every advantage they offer. It is also the way the enterprise is organized. Since the main focus is on the poor, workers were made to see their work as an integral part of their subsistence economy farming. Hence the lady continues: 'We are given each two days off to go and monitor ploughing and if - 340 - that is not enough we are given more days'. They also get a loan from the factory to attend to different needs and are also encouraged to save money through the thrift and loan scheme and the co-operative bank. It is this integral aspect of the factory that seems to have struck the crucial chord in the development of workers at the factory. Around them they see developments which were created through the efforts of the factory. They feel a sense of fulfilment and want to do even more. One lady says: 'recently I got money from the factory to go and bury my uncle'. the other says 'my children were educated through this factory'. There is a tremendous sense of security woven into people's daily lives. Another factor that accelerates participation in this factory is the way the programme is managed. It is entirely planned. implemented and monitored by the workers and the benefits directly go to participants - then flow to the community. They willingly subscribe to the development of the village - probably much more than those on VDCs and other committees. but because their needs have been catered for first. it gives them joy to do that. When you talk to them they say with pride how through 25 percent of their profits they have assisted members of the community - those members are also proud to have been part of the scheme. They are also interested in assisting the community. The community participation spirit expressed here is definitely different from the one we saw in CD programmes. Here, there is spontaneity and willingness. Individuals. having been helped out of the misery of poverty and basic needs are now able to spread their wings from individuality to communal efforts. There is evidence of self determination to forge ahead brought out by the self discovery of one's growth potential. The factory's programme seems to offer most - 341 - of what adult education for man's liberation means. It is the most outstanding example that confirms our assumption that as people get liberated from the basic needs poverty trap and rise higher on the ladder of needs, they feel more secure and their horizon widens to see other problems around and to determine to alter those. Because their capacity to do so has been increased, the likelihood of such people carrying out such endeavours is higher than those who are on the first level of need - 'If you have nothing of your own' - all you can do is wish' • Interestingly, those individuals who have been financially and educationally assisted by the factory, who are now on their own, seem to have in them that spirit of commitment to serve as satellites for village development. They want to progress as individuals but they also look for ways in which such progress can benefit the entire community. It would seem that the educational aspect of the factory taps something in a person which is above 'self'; some al truistic instincts which see pleasure in assisting others and altering the conditions of a crude and harsh environment so that at the end of the day everybody has an acceptable standard of life to lead. At the factory itself all salaries are the same, differences are brought only by bonuses earned through hard work and talent. Those running businesses are not stifled by any policy but should engage on businesses which will benefit the community while they are also improved. In this study, it has been assumed that as people's incomes rise, and people rise higher than the security level needs to social and self esteem, they will also become more altruistic and contribute generously to the community. Though the factory currently is an isolated case so far, since it is a unique form of adult education in Botswana, we can say that this is true in this case. We cannot, - 342 - however, substantiate this argument more generally since the only other people who could have assisted in that are the farmers who, due to other constraints, were not yet in a position to assist in the way we see the factory people do. Having said that, it is evident that both Case 19 of the factory and Case 14 of the farmers have actually gone out of their way to help others get started. The factory products have a sympathetic outlook to community struggles. This may have to do with the educational aspect of the factory - as Case 26, a self employed vegetable grower, recalls the organizer's encourage ment: 'He told me, there was no such thing as a hopeless case. Everybody was able to do something if only they could be assisted'. This seems to encourage independence as opposed to a dependency culture. 8.2.6 The Knitting Project The knitting project was relatively new and any conclusions drawn about it might be premature. However, its learner involvement and participation was something to attract attention. It's the emphasis on basic needs since it involves work education and remuneration. The most important factor that encouraged participation among those who took part was the way the work was arranged. As Case 27 pointed out, if the programme wanted their full time at the centre, she wouldn't have been able to take it up because she was already employed full time at the clinic. The other lady cited how she often has to commute between the lands and the village attending to numerous duties. She could not have taken it up if it was arranged differently; likewise with another lady who looked after her children and grandchildren, all of them too little to make meals for themselves, being able to take her work home, facilitated her job of - 343 - looking after her children. One lady says: This is just the kind of work for us. It doesn't tie you down. I carry it when I go to fetch water, on the bus, when I go to Gaborone for shopping and even at the lands. Whenever I relax I pick up my knitting and carryon with it and I get some money at the end of it all coupled with learning a skill. Those who have other jobs see it as a supplementary benefit to their meagre salaries. Case 24 who sells tea at the factory, says 'this is going to be a good market for me. Already it is helping me to increase my stock and since I can do it while waiting for customers, it is a very good supplement to my small business'. It would seem, however, from the large numbers which have dropped out that the programme would have done better with more funds to increase the participant's payment of PIS. 00 a sweater. For those who see it as supplementary to their source of income it is worthwhile but for a woman who is faced with multiple problems and no source of income at all the programme was not adequate. It also had to do with individuals' skilfulness and speed because payment was made on finished articles regardless of time, which means the more sweaters one produced, the more money one could get. Those who left mostly went to urban areas in search of work. Most of them were still unemployed at the time of the study. There is a tendency to want to work for someone and be paid in Botswana. Sometimes this may be even counter-productive when compared with working for a small salary in one's own village. Often people end up carrying home very little in their pockets, because even though their salaries as domestic servants, or office cleaners, may be P20.00 or so higher than what they would have received at home, most of that goes in paying for accommodation in town and food for oneself I, and kids~ back in the village. It is therefore fair to see - 344 - participation not only hampered by limited finance but by the old belief that (tiro ya lekgowa e botoka. ba tlaa nna ba go latlhella makgasa Ie dikokola tsa borotho - mathe a makgowa) working for a white person ('white person' nowadays may refer to 'boss' since even blacks can be bosses - but initially it meant just what it says - because whites were the main employers both in South Africa and within the country) is better - occasionally you are given second hand clothing and dried slices of bread - the crumbs from the table (literally the boss's saliva). This is a historical mental under-development and it may be the task of adult education to correct it before much progress can be expected from such programmes as the current knitting project. However. with the example of the factory. it would seem some people are beginning to weigh seriously the advantages and disadvantages of migrating when there is an option at home. Case 27 is optimistic and says 'I believe with more efforts we can later form our own handicrafts co-operative from this project'. Participation even here is encouraged by the focus on the basic needs - money and employment. It is also realistic to say that participation is positively strengthened by the fact that basically people already had a start in their own jobs which answered their basic needs of food. clothes and shelter. 8.2.7 Health As we move away from income-generating projects to health. we see again a decline in the enthusiasm displayed in the other programmes. The two projects studied show participation on different patterns and levels. On the one hand there is the sanitation project which seems highly popular. The majority of the participants are women who understandably get interested in any project aimed at - 345 - improving the home. Above all, the latrine is a highly needed facility for convenience and for health reasons. Though the list of names for the project is usually given after the health workshop which covers sanitation, nutrition and other aspects, it is still feared that more people take up the project merely for convenience. But the health staff who always make follow-ups are convinced that some people do appreciate the sanitation project for health reasons. They keep their latrines clean and are able to answer the interview questions about why the latrines are necessary. However, the health staff are concerned by those who don't keep the latrines clean, because they might cause more damage. Thus participation, as shown by the building of the latrine, may not reflect the full participation in the usage of education received in conjunction with the facility. Women who are mostly home keepers give lack of time due to numerous duties as the main reasons why the latrines are not kept clean. The FWE says, however, that some women spend more time drinking beer than keeping the environment clean and even making meals for their children. There are some women who fail to dig the pit latrine because there's no male to help nor money to hire someone to dig the hole. This is a trend with women in most programmes where male help would have been ideal. The Direct Feeding programme is another of the health programmes which seemed largely to take in one group - the youth. The Direct Feeding programme concentrates on the feeding of the underweight children and most of these children's mothers are teenagers. Most of the parents are teenagers who have fallen victim to early pregnancy while at school, others are illiterate. Mostly children come from low income families and lack adequate nutritional care, while others are due to premature births, because of the mother's young age. - 346 - Participation is very low in this programme. There were 63 registered underweights and during several visits to the clinic only between five and twelve children came at different times. Apart from an adult who also had an underweight child, those who attended were three teenage mothers and mainly school children, sent to collect the rations. Hence only during school holidays do more children come, this time brought by their school-going brothers and sisters. The number rose from five to 32 during school holidays and this time only two parents came - the rest were school children standing in for their mothers with their little sisters and brothers on their backs. The programme is not only feeding but teaching simple mothercraft and nutrition so that eventually children may be withdrawn from the clinic feeding project. It is extremely difficult for FWEs to run this prog- gramme properly since the mothers who the programme was aimed at were not there to listen. Sometimes they tried to do follow-ups but that also was problematic. parents of teenagers sometimes resented them, thinking they encourage their daughters to go against the culture especially when trying to advise them on Family Planning. The FWE's case is one example of this difficulty. She once visited an underweight child's mother, to give her advice on family planning because she already had two children who still needed a lot of care and attention. But the FWE recalls how the mother of the teenager furiously came, warning her to leave her daughter alone 'Don't lure her into corruption please'. The bewildered FWE then says: This was one of the mothers who we always teach at the clinic and ask for their comments on these things. They won't say they disagree, but as soon as left alone, they condemn all these programmes and discourage even those who would have liked to take advice. Hence others who would benef it are scared to come openly and receive help. There is yet another hindrance to participation which admittedly - 347 - came as something new to me. When the study was first launched I was convinced that whichever programme would start by giving people food would be always welcome. It was when studying the under-nourished programme that it became clear that many young mothers would not come to that programme due to fear of 'the poverty stigma'. The very poor ones feel shy to come forward to help and the better off feel shy to be grouped with such very poor ones. This is a programme where the assumption that once food is provided people will be motivated to come could not hold. When the mothers were asked about the programmes they said it was good but even talking to them seemed to present them with a dilemma. There was a feeling they just were not happy to be identified with such a programme. But according to traditional beliefs, there could be deeper problems than just poverty which will make people feel the way they feel. There is, for example, a belief that a malnourished child is a sign that the mother was sexually active with other men while breast- feeding the baby - or that the mother was still breastfeeding the other one when she fell pregnant (go tlolelwa mopakwana Ie go anya mashi a a bollo). All these beliefs are stigmas on their own and may well cause resentment of participants. Hence some argue that children 'can be born thin' - 'it does not mean they are ill' - finding comfort in the accepted norm. It is a very crucial area in the task of adult education to see how these traditional barriers can be broken down. it The question of basic needs still arises here,/ because". mostly . was also noticed that the young mothers had gone to Gaborone to look for jobs. Sometimes children were left with grannies who couldn't always make it to the clinic. Enrolling with the clinic was seen as tying one down to one place without a job and without school. It could also mean that the idea of the need for a sense of worth - 348 - was prevalent in this group. The poverty stigma diminishes in one a sense of worth and it is a deterrent in programmes which identify people in this manner. Much as the programme is a vital one in people's lives, a lot of caution has to be exercised when designing its implementation. The dilemma facing the health staff is the limited options of what else could be done. Given the age of the teenage mothers and their lack of commitment generally in looking after their children, it is most risky to trust that they will do everything necessary for the babies. If there wasn't this fear, the clinic would probably give mothers food packages to go and prepare individually in their homes. There is a risk that as children are usually left with their grannies, some of whom drink and find no opportunity to prepare proper meals for children, children do not necessarily receive good care despite the education offered. There appears to be adequate evidence from the study to confirm our general assumptions. However, it is also true to say that as well as our general hypotheses about the relationship between basic needs and participation levels, other factors appear to play a role in people's participation. The study therefore opens further avenues for investigation. There are several factors that needs singling out here as emergent key issues. These are the gender issue, the migration effects, the consultation machinery, and programme planning and management. 8.~ Key Issues Related to Participation in the Village 8.3.1 The Gender Issue~ Women's participation in development continues to grow with present day demands. The present study shows how women are now - 349 - increasingly pushed into all other areas of development where men used to feature, e.g. in administrative activities. Women, however, are handicapped in many ways basically because of the status accorded to them by culture and government policy. Other studies in Botswana have " , 6 a 1 rea d y hi nte d at t h ese 1 ~m~tat~ons: no assets or control over them, lack of labour and the increasing role of farm and off farm activities. Women are no longer staying back in the rural areas. They have also started migrating in large numbers. 8.3.2. Migration The absence of able bodied men and women from agriculture and other subsistence activities, with no real financial input from migration to the subsistence economy, is making such programmes as the co-operatives and small businesses self employment very difficult. But worse still is the spirit of despondency which migration leaves deep rooted on the returning migrant. Studies note that there was self sufficiency in food production before the Botswana society was incorporated into the capitalist economy. Schapera points out that: Before the coming in of Europeans all the native inhabitants of the Territory were economically self-sufficient •.. people were more advanced and beside hunting, kept cattle, goats and sheep •.• Each Bantu household produced its own food by raising crops and breeding livestock, it also built its own huts, m~e most of its own clothing and domestic utensils. Shapera also notes that: Since the coming of the European, this old self sufficiency has been broken down and the natives have increasingly depended upon outside soyrces of supply for many of the goods they now use. The lasting effect of migration is expressed by Murray, who says: The prolonged absence of husband and fathers was associated with high rates of conjugal breakdown and desertion, it induced a repetitive cycle of illegitimacy and instability in arrangements for - 350 - rearing children while the concentration of earning capital among younger 9 men subdued the authority of senior generations. Molutsi thus concludes that: On the surface labour migration looked like profitable, beneficial, but a close analysis reveals that thi~omigration was characterised by underdevelopment. The way men have been revealed by the study to be rather nonchalant and complacent causes concern. Concern beca~se development remains unbalanced unless they do something but major concern about the building of the nation. It takes more than money and structures to build a nation. It calls for moral values and cultural identity and this seems to die as men withdraw into their shells. This lay behind the councillor's concern that part of the youth problem today comes from bad examples from the parents. If the father, the son and the father-in-law are all in a drinking place, who can say what to whom? This concern has not been directly addressed in the past except in passing but it is a major one. I would suggest that efforts directed to youth development should include this issue of 'delinquent fathers'. Migration is increasing among women at a high rate. Bryant's study revealed that more women are leaving villages looking for work. But seeing how the majority of the weavers had worked outside the country before, is evidence enough to show how more job creation would keep more women at home and increase their participation in adult education programmes in the community. Migration between districts and between villages and lands also contributes negatively to participation - women especially have to attend to certain activities in the village, burial society meetings, clinic, church, PTA meetings, VDC, funerals etc. During peak times at the lands it is difficult to participate in these programmes. On the other hand, if one takes a - 351 - few days away from the lands such small livestock as goats, chickens and pigs are left unattended with disastrous effects. This brings up a big question of labour. Labour is always a problem. For women it is worse because even though they may have children, the children may all still be at too young an age to make any contribution to labour demands. There are certain things that would make it better for men, e.g. transporting things with donkeys. Women need an adult male to do such activities. 8.3.3 The Consultation Machinery The institutional and structural framework which formed the consultation machinery at the village level has been weakened by the introduction of the modern institutions and structures. But these new institutions such as VDCs do not carry the kind of clout the traditional institutions had hence the need to have them work alongside the traditional ones. However, this has not helped the situation. As Brown says it is even confusing which one to follow. In this village, for instance, the VDC meetings which also have to go through the kgotla are rarely, if at all, attended. This weakens participation. People are just not in touch with the programmes aimed at improving their village. The most crucial area where government seems to have had a serious oversight is the fact that these traditional consultation machineries were also the economic base for the community. When the chief called, the community would go, knowing that for whatever task they would be summoned feeding would be provided. On a long term basis, when they ploughed the lesotla, they knew they were investing for their own future - all that was removed and so was people's desire to go to meetings. Hence remarks like - 'You always go to these - 352 - meetings, what can you get from them? What can you eat from them?' And increasingly people come to meetings where the MP or the paramount chief comes - there they argue they are likely to get their grievances answered. People have accepted the replacement of their consultation machinery with the government machinery even though the government want them to believe that their traditional structures still function properly. Traditional community and authority are interrelated. By weakening one you weaken the other. It would also seem that the replacing of a kgotla as the seat of the headman with an office is not as easy to swallow for the community as the authorities would like to believe. The kgotla appeased people, but also provided a solace where people could go and discuss problems without necessarily bringing a law suit. In the office they see the police and from their experience, police arrest and try cases, they don't do any counselling. Hence one lady said: We have no chief, our chief has been closed up in a 'cell' (meaning office) Rona re batla mapa ko (wooden fence around our chief) where we can go and seek advice without being suspected of mischief. But now we cannot reach our chief. He is in a prison cell, and to make it worse, he is surrounded by policemen all the time; you can hardly see him on his own. Still on the consultation machinery, it would seem the leader's low level of education contributes to people's low response. One said it was 'a case of the blind leading the blind' - nothing good can come out of it because to get new progressive ideas one has to read papers and books and magazines 'but our leaders cannot do that. They are illiterate'. Between the headquarters, the district and the village, there is also some friction on the consultation machinery. For instance, when the Ministry staff decide to launch programmes in the village by dealing directly with the farmers, they are not only demoralizing the - 353 - field staff but confusing the farmers. The decision taken on the membership of .the Village Extension Team without taking into account the working relationship of those on the spot also makes things difficult for the field staff. This confusion can result in lack of enthusiasm and co-operation on the part of the extension workers and therefore discourage the very co-operation that was sought by establishing such a committee. It would seem also that confusion of roles between the VDC, the councillor and sometimes the extension workers, discourages participation. The VDC seemed to think that the chief acted beyond their advice. On the other hand, some people who had followed the chief's suggestion and undertaken a projec t were disappointed and discouraged when the councillor disrupted the whole project, interpreting it as forced labour. Discussing things together and ironing out differences by those in leadership before such disputes and differences spillover to the public, would go a long way to increase understanding and willingness to participate. It has to be mentioned that the role of an extension worker is a crucial one in the whole extension machinery. Any weakness in this role kills people's enthusiasm. However, it would seem that since the field staff don't control other productive factors, finances and transport, it is difficult for them to play their role effectively. The size of the area to be covered also militates against effectiveness. In many cases, especially with crop farming, participants were keen to do certain things but were waiting for the AD; waiting for him for months. This weakens the consultation procedures and dampens people's spirits. - 354 - 8.3.4. Programme Planning and Management Several factors affect this aspect: needs assessment and focus, the stages and extent of people's involvement, the nature of the programme, the running of the programme as well as the benefits. From the preceding discussions on programmes, it is clear that needs satisfaction plays a major role in the whole concept of participation. Either for social or economic purposes the needs of the community are crucial in programme formation. Coombs, in his analytical study of people's participation and basic needs, suggests: A programme that subscribes to the value and ethics of a community-based service has to subordinate its immediate and narrow objectives - be it the acceptance of contraceptives and/or the treatment of parasites, or vaccination against preventable diseases - to the ultimate needs and interests of the community people. These needs and interests of the community as perceived by the community can be the only basis 1~ an authentic community-based service programme. This is acceptable; however, there must be deliberate efforts to focus on the poor. The poverty-oriented programmes still tend to benefit the rich because no specific focus has been made on the poor and their conditions which could inform planners about the limitations of the poor which might make it difficult to participate fully in a given programme. On many occasions programmes such as ARAP, at the end of the day, discriminate against the very people they are supposed to help because of the conditions attached to the scheme. Selolwane, stressing this point, says: The government has had the attitude of not directing programmes, to improve the standard of living of women directly in need for instance; but it is often women who already have certain potentialities who are able to make use of the programmes, while those that have absolutely nothing are left aside. The whole time, those who have some advantage have managed to further increase it, whereas those who have nothing to start with are left standing on the same spot. To improve the standard of living as a whole, special - 355 - attention must be paid to these people. 13 Seloloane's argument is that while help is generally aimed at the poor, people should not be lumped all together and be labelled 'poor' but the government should remember that there are special cases within the group which demand special attention. This is really a point to bear in mind in many programmes because as long as the productive forces favour some people more than others uniform overall assistance will only widen the gap between the bet ter off and the worse off. Most CD programmes tend to make the poor, work for the rich. If few people. the poor. participate on a community project like a road or a clinic which will eventually be used by everybody, that is not focusing on the poor. Programmes that are largely planned, implemented and monitored by the people seem to attract better participation. The factory is the example of this and the success of the burial societies over other village committees is another example. They are programmes which cater for their needs but which are also run by the participants. It is as Rifkin observes in her study that: Community roles in decision-making are most prevalent in programmes where the community people have established their own programmes and decided on their own priorities. In these situations, very few of which have been recorded, outsiders, professionals or planners. sometif~s are asked for some. usually financial, support. The tendency, however. is for professionals to dominate programme planning and execution bringing in the community only where labour or finance is needed. One Village Health Committee member complained that the clinic staff did not listen to them as a commit tee. She reckoned she especially. as a combination of a faith healer and traditional healer, must have a say in the patient's treatment. If patients came to me and went back to the clinic only at the verge of dying or when the situation worsens. the clinic staff get cross with such patients but really they shouldn't, because I'm - 356 - also part of the health staff. Also when we tell them how to deal with patients they should be willing to listen because we were elected by the community to assist them. Obviously there is a conflict here. Th e me d ical staff cannot take the risk of delayed treatment just because pregnant women decided to see the faith healer when they could have been coming to the clinic, or because the TB patients sought help from the traditional doc tor and faith healer, putting back treatment until the verge of death, finally deciding to turn up at the clinic. Some programmes like health~ deal with the technical nature of the problem and a great deal of expertise on the subject is necessary to deal with the problems. Communities then have to know their limitations. There will continue to be obstacles in people's outlook as the process of change carries on. On one occasion, the headman tried to use the old style of forcing people to attend a kgotla meeting and actually asked the clinic staff to stop treating the patients so that people could go and attend a kgotla meeting. This was a conflict of ideology because it is the chief who should co-operate with the clinic staff to make sure people receive medical attention, not discourage or disrupt clinic proceedings. When people talk about how regiments or troops used to force people to attend meetings they hardly see how inconceivable the whole idea is, today, due to numerous changes tha t have taken place. There were no clinics that time for instance, today not only are there clinics but there are tight schedules for doctors, nurses and patients. A loss of one hour at a clinic cannot be afforded. Thus the nature of the programme also influences the extent to which people can get involved. This in some cases is exacerbated by the low level of education. Even with the VDC some people felt inhibited about taking part because they didn't know how to run meetings, how to address people or write down minutes. The content of - 357 - a programme is translated into a meaningful message by good approaches and teaching methods. Part of the programme management involves playing leadership roles t organizing and teaching people. In this case the small group methods and individual visits seem to have worked better in animal health. The approach also seems highly successful in ensuring participation; encouraging one to discover oneself and proceeding from there. - 358 - Footnotes - Chapter Eight 1. Rifkin, S.B., Community Participation in MCH/FP Programmes. An Analysis based on Case Study Materials - Abstract from unpublished PhD thesis, University of Reading, October (1984). p. 27. These factors have been identified in previous studies, e.g. World Health Organization/UNICEF, Community Involvement in Pr~ Health Case, A Study of the Process of Community Motivation and Continued Participation, Geneva, WHO, (1977). 2. Hunter, G., 'A hard look at directing benefits to the rural poor and at 'Participation' in Agricultural Administration Network Discussion Paper 6, Agricultural Administration Unit, Overseas De.velopment Institute, London, June 1981. 3. Several studies on Botswana hint on this point. They include Cooper, D.M., National Migration Study, Working Paper No. 1 - Rural Urban Migration and Female Headed Households in Botswana Towns: case studies of unskilled women workers and female self employment in site and service Selebi-Phikwe, Statistics Office, Gaborone, (1979). Brown, B., Women's Role in the Development in the Kgatleng District of Botswana. A preliminary report, Ministry of Agriculture, Gaborone, July (1978). She notes that in general, colonialism in Botswana not only underdeveloped the country but also undermined the position of women. Here she was making reference to Achola, Pala and Ann Seidman, in 'A proposed model on the status of women in Africa' Conference on Women and Development, Wellesley, U. S .A. (1976). Massey, D. also points to the fact that a dovetailing of British and South African capitalists interests rapidly led to making 'this country' into a labour reserve for South Africa in 'The Hut Tax and Migrant Labour in Botswana', Gaborone: National Migration Study (1977). 'South Africa required cheap labour for economic development. The easiest way to obtain such labour was to "semi-proletarianize" the black population turning them into workers but simultaneously requiring them to depend on rural areas for part of their subsistence and for their family life and the raising of children. In this way capital would not be "wasted" on wages and on social services (family housing in town and on the mines, hospitals and schools, a full service of water and sewerag~, etc.) required to reproduce another generation of labour'. These words summarise the complications of the migration system and how it deliberately made men go away from their families until they got used to that phenomenon. See Deere, Carmen Diana, 'Rural Women's Subsistence Production in the Capitalist Periphery', Review of Radical Political Economics, VIII, 1, Spring 1976, quoted in op.cit" p. 12. See also Bryant, C. and The Development Studies Programme, U. S. Agency for International Development in Women Migrants, Organization and Social Change: An African Case, National Institute of Development and Cultural Research (NIR) (1977), University of Botswana - First paper was prepared for delivery at the 1977 Annual Meeting of the Women's Caucus, American Political Science Association, The Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington D.C., September 1-4, 1977. - 359 - See also Schapera, I., Married Life in an African Tribe, Penguin Books, London (1977). 4. Kooijman, K., Bokaa - Living and Learning in an African village, Cambridge International Extension College (1980). Referring to a small village in Botswana and the after effects of migration on its residents he says: A village such as Bokaa is not a tribal enclave within the Southern African economic system. Its members have, for over a century, been integrated into an industrialised and capitalist society and the values and effects of that system have gradually filtered down to all levels of village society. Giving warning to adult educationalists he says: One may regret the present trends but it would be unproductive to ignore their reality. Any programme which, for instance, wants to promote the acceptance of self help, co-operation and non-material rewards will meet with resistance and rejection and would have more chance of success if this were to be taken into account from the start. Syson, L., Unmarried Mothers: A Report of Clinic and Hospital Patients in Selected Centres in Southern Botswana (U.W.D.P. Project BOT/7l/0l4, December 1972) quoted in Bryant (1978). 5. Skilbeck, Mo and Harris, Ao, 'Cultur~ Ideology and Knowledge' , Unit 3, Ideology and Values: The Open University, Educational Studies. A second level course, Curriculum Design and Development, Units 3 and 4 (O.U. Press, 1976). 6. Enge, Mo, Dependent Yet Independent: Women in Botswana. Economic Commission for Africa, 'Women and the Migrant Labour System in Southern Africa' - paper presented to the Conference on Migratory Labour in Southern Africa, Lusaka, Republic of Zambia, 4-8 April (1978). 7. Schapera, I., Migrant Labour and Tribal Life, University Press, Oxford, (1947), p. 115. 8 • ibid., p. 6. 9. Murray, C., "Migrant Labour and Changing Family Structure", Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 6, no. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1979). 10. Molutsi, P., 'The Historical Roots of Agrarian Underdevelopment in Kgatleng 1930-1970' , BA History_ DissertatiQ.!l, University of Botswana and Swaziland. As quoted in Letsatsi, B., The Impact of Labour Migration on Botswana, A Case Study of Balete of Ramotswq, Bangwaketse of Kanye and Bakgatla of Mochudi 1900-1970, Unpublished B.A. dissertation, University of Botswana (1984), p. 23. 11. Bryant, C., in op.cit., p.3. 12. Coombs, P.H., Meeting the Basic Needs of the Rural Poor (ed.), New York, Pergamon Press (1980). p. 206 in Rifkin, op.cit., p. 45. - 360 - 13. Se1010"ane, 0., Interviews based on a paper prepared for First Conference on Women in Botswana, Gaborone (1984) in 'Dependent Yet Independent: Women in Botswana', op.cit. p. 84. 14. Rifkin, S., op.cit. p. 35. - 361 - CHAPTER NINE CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 9.1 Conclusions The purpose of this thesis was to explore the two key dimensions of extension work identified in Chapter Six and the relationship between them. The first dimension, drawing on Maslow, classified people's needs in terms of a hierarchy ranging from basic economic survival and security needs at the bottom, through social and esteem needs to self-actualization at the top. The second dimension concerns people's orientation and ranges from a highly collective outlook, through concern for the extended and nuclear family to a very individualistic outlook on life. In simple terms, these two dimensions suggest that extension programmes can be planned on one of four bases: communal social, communal-economic, individual-social and individual-economic. Many extension programmes have in the past concentrated on the social needs development of rural people; and many have done so on a communal, rather than familial or individual basis. But how well founded are these strategies? Is there an order of priority among needs? Are rural people oriented mainly towards their community. family or themselves? and what is the relationship between the two dimensions? Is orientation merely a function of need? Or are these two dimensions more independent of one another and dependent on other factors of a cultural and socio-political nature? This study has used the level of participation in, and attitudes towards the various programmes in the village as a measure which might give some answers to these questions. The study has provided some insights and evidence on which some conclusions about the above can be drawn. One hesitates. however, to - 362 - overgeneralize on these findings for several reasons. One village cannot be a replica of all localities. Its proximity to town, its migration pattern and the presence of the weaving factory are some of the factors that make it somewhat atypical. Many other factors which the study did not pursue affect people's participation in extension programmes, and a study such as this can never be genuinely conclusive without running the risk of overgeneralization. As Bryant cautions: Human behaviour and motivation are so deeply rooted in the whole fabric of one's cultural and institutional system that to extrapolate generatly one aspect of that behaviour can be misleading. Nevertheless, having acknowledged these necessary parameters, the study does provide a basis on which to present certain conclusions. After discussing in the previous section many of the factors grouped according to programmes, we can say that there does appear to be a link between the pattern and level of participation and the meeting of basic needs. If we accept that people migrate because of poverty at home; that agriculture is affected by labour shortages because the able bodied men have gone to look for cash employment; that some programmes (e.g. the literacy programme and the knitting project) have been abandoned in the search for salaries to provide for basic needs; and that voluntary community organization is hard to achieve mainly because people want payment for their labour to meet their survival needs; then we can agree that such a lack affects participation negatively. If we also accept that the factory's willingness to assist others is the result of satisfying basic needs, we may also conclude that the meeting of basic needs broadens one's orientation and capacity away from self-centredness towards the community, and from selfishness to altruism. The study concludes firstly that there is a relationship between basic needs and participation. Although the factors related to - 363 - motivation and consequently to participation are numerous, the link between participation and survival appears stronger. There seems to be an order of priority in human needs which when not satisfied can paralyse human development physically and psychologically. If people remain locked into the condition of basic needs deprivation, their capaci ty to develop their potential to alter situations around them, to improve their standard of living and that of their communities, is curtailed. Similarly when the basic needs are met, they seem to feel physically released to move upwards and mentally liberated from inner restrictions. They feel a sense of worth and consequently seize the opportunity of such liberation to improve their lot. Not only do they participate but they enjoy being part of their community's development process. The benefits of participation and their effects on themselves thus make them want to go further, and beyond their own immediate needs. Secondly, the concept of community cannot be taken for granted when organizing extension programmes. The revelation from the study is that the present day communities, having undergone many changes, are no longer coherent homogeneous entities. They have been undermined on the one hand by economic changes and by structural and institutional changes on the other. Communities in the past had institutions and structures which governed people's share in the fruits of their participation. Participation thus was seen as the enhancement of the viability of the community as a political socio-economic coherent force, in which each member had a stake. Naturally) this common ground formed a point of departure with the chief co-ordinating all village endeavours. The satisfaction of basic needs for all was thus ensured under such an arrangement. The regimental work and exchange of labour in kind - 364 - rather than cash not only provided accessibility and availability of assistance but by drawing people together to work in groups increased 'communality' and togetherness because as people worked together, they learnt from each other and learnt to be part of one another which is the main feature of participation. This mutuality was one crucial element in the building of people as one, however intangible. But it is often taken for granted. The ingredients that favoured community togetherness simply disappeared as the common ground - the economic base faded away. When the institutions such as lesotla and activities related to it declined, they affected the community's very existence. The further erosion of the economic strength was caused by the introduction of a monetized economy with the effects of migration on the fabric of the societies and their subsistence economy. Not only did people cease to perform duties on a mutual basis, but migration for cash employment, while robbing the communities of able bodied people to take part in their normal duties in the development process at home, also led to serious impairment of their community conscious- ness on their return home. They became so acculturised to outside cultures that they remain completely disoriented and alienated from their traditional concept of the community. In addition, the modification of traditional socio-political structures and introduction of modern structures which are not necessarily oriented to the people's way of ordering their lives, creates a gap between authority and the community. Authority and community seem to lack the spontaneity in working together which they used to enjoy. Everybody has to fend for himself including the chiefs who are supposed to encourage togetherness and participation. They have authority without an economic power base to give them support in - 365 - organizing people. In the past people used to say 'lefoke la kgosi Ie agelwa mosako' (The words of the chief ought to be taken seriously). This was because there was a lot at stake for them connected with the chief. Now they say 'You get away with your chief? What can he give us?' These economic and structural changes tend to undermine the self-help community approach. In fact it is increasingly becoming naive, frustrating and dangerous to approach present day communities with the conventional methods;' frustrating because organization and mobilization won't be easy and dangerous because those who obey authority and take part will only do so because of the pressures of poverty - but they will engage in programmes that may not even improve their lives but benefit the better off. Most of what is said about the community seems to be nostalgia or rhetoric. The reality is that communities with an economic base which could enhance true participation with benefits to participants no longer exist and obedience to authority has been undermined by many changes. In this particular village, for instance, people who have come to settle here owe allegiance to outside authorities and places. They have vested interests in the nearby urban centres. If anything happened to them and they needed company and comfort, e.g. funeral of a relative, they know their friends will come from elsewhere (in Botswana large funeral attendance is a sign of respect and status and it is both a community and a family matter). In this way, the fear of being isolated if they do not participate in community projects or activities is removed. Individual ostracism which used to enhance community authority and the orders that chiefs could give have been removed and so has the concept of the traditional community. Thirdly, the study seems to confirm that orientation relates partly to the level of need, since the structural and economic changes - 366 - have affected people's orientation to the community. Since the tendency is for each individual to fend for himself, the concern for survival encourages a more individualistic outlook on development. The concentration of efforts to improve oneself and family. however. limited and governed by the vicious circle of poverty which characterizes the lives of many. never yields outcomes sufficient to empower people to look beyond their families to community needs. Where money is no obstacle to participation. social factors such as low level of education. reinforced by the lack of basic necessities, and the psychological defeatism engulfing people. become major hindrances to participation. Questions that linger in their minds are: 'Who am I to say tha t? What can we do - let those who can do something talk!!' On the contrary when people move from satisfying basic needs and feel secure. they become alert to needs beyond their families. They feel a sense of worth which arouses in them the longing and obligation to assist their communities and they do that with no inhibitions. Hence from the social projects to. income generating projects there seems to emerge a pattern of two cuI tures ; a dependency cuI ture arising from a helpless and defenceless state of lack. and an autonomy culture derived from a sense of worth due to financial and educational liberation. The altruistic feeling of wanting to help more does seem to come with the level of need and is manifested in a participation orientation to the community flowing from the self outwards. It is noted that a higher level of needs mayor may not lead away from individualism towards a more communal orientation. However. this is not to say that lower level needs must always produce an individualistic outlook, and high level ones always lead to a more altruistic and communal spirit. Other cultural and political - 367 - factors enter in here. The traditions and structures of the society may emphasise individualism or collectivism or something in between, and what is true in Maslow's America may not be true, say, in parts of Africa. Nonetheless, we can at least say on the basis of this study that the concept of community can no longer be taken for granted in rural development. 9.2 Implications There are five main implications for adult education arising out of the above conclusions. First, it is important to accept that there is an order of priorities in people's minds about their needs. Basic needs are their first priority and adult education programmes need to take that into account when assisting communities. Programmes that start by fulfilling these needs are likely to achieve bet ter results than those that do not. Besides, they will enhance people's sense of worth which should be a basic principle of adult education. Secondly, the concept of a cohesive and organic community can no longer be taken for granted. There is a danger of lumping all needs together because of the tendency to group people in very large categories, women, youth and men. Among each group there are differentiations which call for different content and approaches. Young women, elderly women and working women may not necessarily be interested in the same programme. The youth may want educational advancement or recreation, whilst older women may need economic activities. A community made up of farmers, business people and industrial workers will not be helped by lumping them all together. Each group needs programmes relevant to their own needs. In literacy programmes, for example, there could be topics which cover a wide area of people's lives to attract even those who did not necessarily want - 368 - to learn literacy itself. It should not just be functional literacy but well targeted programming to meet these variations. For instance, there could be included in a weekly or even monthly programme, a talk on the country's economy, and other matters of interest but built into the existing programmes. Such discussions might attract men and youth from excessive drinking and might help them to understand the effects of certain phenomena on them, e.g. migration, and programmes might have positive results. Some topics may be derived from the research findings that continue to emerge about these communities so as to raise people's understanding of their environments. Thirdly, assistance as far as possible must be accompanied by education. It seems the people who eventually display the altruistic tendencies are those who have moved from the basic needs level by 1ncom~ generation accompanied by education which sowed in them seeds of critical thought about their attitudes towards life and those they lived with. Such education counteracts dependency and increases independence. Education is also necessary to prepare people like chiefs and other village leadership for the role they have to play in the development process. Whereas extension workers are trained for their role they have no power; on the other hand, chiefs have power without education. Education is important, not only for roles, however, but for supporting the government assistance scheme. Thus it is not enough to give assistance such as ARAP and ALDEP or any social security measure which is not accompanied by education to widen people's thinking about what good they can do for themselves and their communities from their relatively advantaged position. In other words, adult education should aim at making the assisted people 'disciples' sent out to make more disciples of others, as we see at the factory. - 369 - This can be achieved, if the work place is also seen as a learning place, be it a farm, the shop, or the home. People $hould not be removed from their way of life for learning unless absolutely necessary. As far as possible work and education should be inter related. In that way, one solves problems of failure to attend meetings because of farm work. This, of course, calls for more visiting by extension workers which are already curtailed due to shortage of staff. Probably literacy materials should be produced covering various basic information to reinforce literacy learning as well as to provide information for people's work. This is a long-term exercise of adult education to aim at harnessing the power of the literary world - because then not only will limited personnel be needed but adult education will develop critical thinking among adults. Fourthly, programmes for women should go beyond a family role to an economic role. The role of women in development is not adequately matched by the education they receive especially in women's clubs, where lessons are chiefly for equipping women with what they can do at their leisure time around the house, knitting and sewing for families. There is much more than that in the woman's role. She needs income. However, within the male dominated culture and economy, adult education alone cannot change this view about women's education. There are implications for legislation. Finally, over and above these conditions, adult education still needs a favourable learning climate to encourage participation. This climate should be low in threat and risks and communications should follow a bottom-top and lateral model to allow participant's views on crucial aspects of the programmes to emerge as far as possible. One realizes that due to the technicalities of strict bureaucratic - 370 - structures some participatory decisions will remain with the professionals. This can be eased by teaching and explaining these technicalities. However, it should not be an excuse to shut people out from decisions concerning their lives. Having said all this, however, participation through adult education for rural development to meet people's basic needs still largely remains a policy matter. It is the policy which determines content, defines the roles of extension workers and the areas of emphasis in educating adults. While adult education cannot change this situation, it may have to challenge it, especially through research, laying bare the facts of life concerning communities and their participation in development programmes. It does not seem adequate, however. to lay bare these facts to ourselves as planners, professionals, policy makers and researchers. It would seem that it is now time we took back the data to the people, so that having diagnosed what appears to be the root cause of the problem, we may together with the people we intend to help, fight the battle with a full understanding of what is involved. - 371 - Footnote - Chapter 9 1. Bryant, C, op.cit. (1977). - 372 - APPENDIX 1 GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ACDO Assistant Community Development Officer. The officer is the extension worker of the Social and Community Development and has special responsibility for working with the Village Development Committee. AD Agricultural Demonstrator. The officer is the village extension worker of the Ministry of Agriculture. The AD works closely with the various farmers' committees. ALDEP Arable Lands Development Programme. This programme launched in 1980, is the centre-piece of the government's current efforts to raise rural incomes and make Batswana self sufficient in basic grain production. A wide range of extension programmes, credit schemes and other activities are included under the ALDEP umbrella. ARAP Arable Rain Fed Agricultural Policy launched as part of the ALDEP package to assist farmers. Government pays for ten acres ploughed for each farmer. Batswana People of Botswana. Botswana Country BAC Botswana Agricultural College BMC Botswana Meat Commission BCW Botswana Co-operative Union Bottle Store A store which sells bottled and canned beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Burial Society This is a new phenomenon which can be thought of as being similar to a pension plan. People group themselves together and make small, regular payments into a central Treasury; when they or their family members die, their funeral expenses are paid for out of this fund. Co-op Co-operatives CODEC Co-operative Development Education Centre CUSO Canadian University Services Overseas District Council The elected local government in each of Botswana's nine districts. DC District Commissioner DET District Extension Team DNFE Department of Non Formal Education - 373 - FWE Family Welfare Educators. The village extension worker of the Health Department of the District Council. The FWEs I duties focus upon the preventive rather than the curative aspects of health care. IAE Institute of Adult Education Ipelegeng Self-help, literally "carry yourselves on your back". Ipelegeng is one of Botswana's four national principles. JC Junior Certificate Kgotla A tribal meeting place and a village court where the Chief presides over all the meetings. The kgotla is also an authoritative decision-making body for all matters of communal concern. Lands The fields in the communal areas where Batswana cultivate their crops. Most people move out to the lands once the rainy season begins and only return to the village after harvesting their crops. The words 'fields' and 'farmlands' have been used interchangeably to mean lands in this study. Land Board Appointive body under the MLGL which has control over all matters related to the allocation and use of communal land. Lesotla The Chief's field where the tribal regiments cultivated . crops for the Chief. Usually ploughing in a given area would start with this field. Through the proceeds from lesotla the Chief was able to help the community during famine and other hard times. Mafisa The system of mafisa was an arrangement whereby the cattle owner places some of his stock under another party's care. Receiving household can use mafisa cattle for draught power, milk and periodically (e.g. after a year) receive a calf. MLGL Ministry of Local Government and Lands PTA Parents .Teachers Association. A parent-teacher liaison committee which assists the school staff in various ways. Pt Pula, thebe. The Botswana currency. One pula equals one hundred thebe. Currently a pula is equal to approximately 66 pence. Regiment Traditionally, all adult Batswana, men and women, belonged to an age-set or regiment. A new regiment of youths in their late teens or early twenties would be initiated approximately every five years, at the paramount chief IS direction. Regiments were available for any community task assigned by the chief. The regiments are disappearing in many parts of Botswana, though among the Bakgatla they remain relatively strong.] - 374 - River villages Five villages in South-east Kgatleng District lying along the Marico River, which forms the border with South Africa Maba~ane, Sikwane, Mathubudukwane, Malolwane and Ramonaka. She been An unlicensed establishment selling alcoholic beverages. The proprietors, usually female, are referred to as 'shebeen queens' • The shebeen queens' homes are also the shebeen. There is no separate place for selling the beverages. SWC Social Welfare Committee. A village committee formed to help the ACDOs in their work with destitutes. VA Veterinary' Assistant. The officer is the village extension worker of the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for animal husbandry. VET Village Extension Team. An advisory committee whose core members are the government extension officers working in the village. The VET is supposed to assist the VDC in planning and implementing its projects. VHC Village Health Committee. A village committee which promotes preventive health care programmes. The VHC is guided by the clinic staff. Ward Most villages in Botswana are sub-divided into wards. A ward typically consists of families from a single lineage and usually has its own kgotla and ward headman. 4B A club for school children, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, and usually based at the village primary school. The children participate in games and activities designed to make them good farmers and good citizens. - 375 - APPENDIX 2 INTERVIEW SCHEDULE STRUCTURED/UNSTRUCTURED A. (a) Age: 16-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-75 75+ (b) Gender: Male I_I Female I_I (c) Marital status Married I_I Unmarried /_/ Widowed /j Divorced I_I Separated I_I (d) Famill: size M F T None (j Children (e) Profession/Occupation Farmer Nurse FWE ACDO Teacher Housewife Busines~ Hunter Driver None ASSESSMENT OF THE SOCIAL CHANGE IN VILLAGE/COMMUNITY (All Respondents) 1. How long have you lived in this village? 2. 2.1 What was Oodi like in the past ten year? 2.2 In what ways has it c hanged now? 3. What do you think has caused changes in the village? 4. 4.1 Do you think it will change a lot in the next ten years? 4.2 If yes, why? - 376 - 2 4.3 What changes do think there will be in the next ten years? 4.4 What did people want improved at independence? 6. What role have the DE workersplayed in the change? 7. What do you think the community needed most that it has now (20 years ago) 8. Which of this has been most important to you personally and for your cOlMlunity? 9. What do you think the community needs most now? ASSESSMENT OF ATTITUDES AND PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION PROGRAMMES 10. Do you have development workers in this village? Yes I_I No I_I 11. Who? AD I_I ACOO 1_ I FWE I_I RIO I~ Coop officer I_I LA I_I FEP I_I 12. How did you meet them? i.e. who initiated thecontact? 13. In what way were they of help to you? 14. Do you go to classes 1_/ course I~ workshop 1--1 seminar I~ meetings I_I 15. What did/do you learn? 16. What was the best part of it i.e. what did you enjoy - 377 - ,. 3 RELEVANCE AND USE 17. What use were they to you? 18. Do many other people go to them Yes I_I No I-I Very many I_I Quite many I_I Many I_I Few I_I Very few I_I 19. Why? 20. Do many people use what they learn from these classes, courses etc. Please give examples of how people apply what they learnt? 21. 21.1 Do you know people who use these skills and knowledge more than others? 21.2 Why? resources IMPACT/EFFECTIVESS 22. In what way has your life changed? 23. How have you coped with that? 24. What do you do in your spare time? -I"" 25. By the way have"" been to school? Yes I_I no. I~ 26. How long? 27. What other educational activities have you undertaken? ASSESSMENT OF ATTITUDES AND PARTICIPATION IN ADULT EDUCATION NON PARTICIPANTS 28. Have you met any of the development workers? 29. Do you know anyone who has? Yes I_I - 378 - 4 30. (Why) How did they meet them? 31. Have you heard anything about the development workers? '. 32. What have you heard about them? 33. What do you think they do? 34. In what ways do you think they have helped develop the village? 35. What did those people who work with them think of them? 36. Did you ever think of going to see them? Go back to question 25-29 on impact? IMPACT 37. How do you rate the following areas in Adult Education programmes? g"/J., Interest in programmes? Very high 1__ 1 High 1__ 1 Poor 1__ 1 Very poor 1__ 1 ~'7.,,-z.. Learners use of received skills and knowledge and change of attitude Agric. Literacy Coop CD Health Very high 1--1 High 1--1 Fair I..J Poor I..J Very poor I..J ~7.~ Learners attitude towards change for progress in health matters, nutritionlhygiene I..J 1_'1 I_I I..J - 379 - " 5 37.3 in community development and self reliance 1. I_I 2. I_I 3 • I_I • 4. I_I 5. I_I 37.4 in improved farming methods 1. I_I 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I~ 37.5 in family life 1. I_I 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I 37.6 response to programmes? 1. I_? 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I ON PARTICIPATION 38. Why are only few people. participating?? 19.1 Why is there lack of interest ~.2 Why is there low usage of skills ~.3 Why is there poor response Any other comments - 380 - QUESTIONS FOR POLICY MAKERS AND SENIOR STAFF 1. What are the goals and objectives of your department? 2. How are they being implemented at the village level. 3. Do you have a policy on ruraldevelopment guiding your District and Village plans? Yes I_I No I_I Don't I_I Other I_I 4. What is the policy of Adult on Rural Development? 5. How do you formulate village programmes? 6. Are you aware of any problems in this particular village? 7. Which are they? 8. What are your plans to aleviate them? 9. How would you rate the followingl Are they strengths or weaknesses in theprovision of Adult Education. Staff morale Policies of Adult"Education and Rural Development Resources People's attitudes Village leadership District administration Facilities Environmental conditions Other 10. How do you assess Oodi in comparison to other villages in the District? 11. What improvements do you think are necessary to effectiveness in this village? - 381 - QUESTIONS FOR EXTENSION WORKERS 1. How long have you lived in the village? 2. What programmes do you ,run? 3. Who are your target groups? 4. Who are actual participants? 5. How do you run programmes (organisation and methods) 6. Who chooses what is to be learnt? 7. How are needs for courses identified? 8. Which programmes do people seem to like most? 9. Why? 10. Which programmes do people like less or don't seem to like much? 11. Why? 12. How would you rate the following: 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 Very high High Fair Poor Very poor Why Who , 12'.1 Community's interest in programmes 12.1 Community's response to programme 12.3 Learners use of received skills and knowledge 12.4 Community's attitude towards change for progress I 2 13. In your opinion why is there lack of interest? .. poor response? less used of received skills? negative attitude towards programmes? If any? 14. What improvement measures would you suggest? (a) Village level (b) District level (c) National level (d) Other Why? See also question 9 under questions for policy makers 15. Do you belong~ the VET? 16. Which other extension workers do you liase with and how? Which other people do you liaise with and how? 1. Planning 2. Coordination 3. Cooperation 4. Implementation 5. Training together 17. What facilitates l. 2. 3. 4. 18. What inhibits 1. 2. 3. above 4. 5. Training together - 383 - 3 19. What are the results of 17 20. What are the result of 18 21. What improvements are necessary 22. Do you have any other comments - 384 - " 4 30. (Why) How did they meet them? 31. Have you heard anything about the development workers? 32. What have you heard about them? 33. What do you think they do? 34 •. In what ways do you think they have helped develop the village? 35. What did those people who work with them think of them? 36. Did you ever think of going to see them? Go back to question 25-29 on impact? IMPACT 37. How do you rate the following areas in Adult Education programmes? Interest in programmes? Very high I_I High 1--1 Poor I_I Very poor I_I Learners use of received skills and knowledge and change of attitude Agric. Literacy Coop CD Health Very high I_I High 1-1 Fair 1-1 Poor I_I Very poor I_I 38. Learners attitude towards change for progress in health matters, nutrition/hygien.e ,. - 385 - 5 37.3 in community development and self reliance 1. I_I 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I 37.4 in improved farming methods l. I_I 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I 37.5 in family life 1. I_I 2. I-I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I 37.6 response to programmes? 1. I_? 2. I_I 3. I_I 4. I_I 5. I_I ON PARTICIPATION 40. Why are only few people participating?? 41.1 Why is there lack of interest 41.2 Why is there low usage of skills 41.3 Why is there poor response Any other comments - 386 - PAGE NUMBERING AS ORIGINAL BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY REFERENCES BROWN, C. et.al., A Study of Local Institutions in Kgatleng District, Botswana (ed.), Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Applied Research Unit, Gaborone, 1985. GABORONE, S.S., The Training of Adult Educators in Botswana, unpublished MA thesis, University of Southampton, 1980. 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NISBET, J.D. and ENTWISTLE, N.J., Educational Research Methods, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1970. NOPPEN, D., 'Planning with the People in Botswana: Research Reports No. 13/1982', African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1982. OAKLEY, P., The Monitoring and Evaluation of Participation in Rural Development, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Centre, University of Reading, FAO, Rome, November, 1983. PANT, Pitambar, 'Perspectives of Development, India 1960-61 to 1975- 76. Implications of Planning for a Minimum of Levels of Living' in SRINIVASA, T.N. and BARDHAN, P.K., Poverty and Income Distribution in India (ed.), Statistical Publishing Society, Calcutta, 1974. - 390 - PARLETT, M. and HAMILTON, D., Evaluation as Illumination: A New Approach to the Study of Innovatory Programme, Centre for Research in the Educational SCiences, University of Edinburgh Occasional Paper No. 9 (1972), pp. 41-42. 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ROGERS, E.M. and SVENNING, L., Modernization Among Peasants: The Impact of Communication, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1969. ROSTOW, W.W., The Stages of Economic Growth, a non community manifesto, Cambridge University Press, 1960. ceAJ ROSTOW, w.-w.-I(' the Process of Economic Growth Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1962. ROXBOROUGH, I., Theories of Underdevelopment, MacMillan, London, 1979. RUSSELL, A.J., The Village in Myth and Reality, Chester House Publications, 1976. 1 SANDBROOK, R~The Politics of Basic Needs: Urban Aspects of Assaulting Poverty in Africa, Heineman, London 1985. - 391 - SCHAPERA, I., Migrant Labour and Tribal Life, University Press, Oxford, 1947. Married Life in an African Tribe, Faber, London, 1940. A Handbook of Tswana Law and Custom, Oxford University Press, London, 1955. 'Tribal Innovators Tswana Chiefs and Social Change 1795-1940', London School of Economics, Monographs on Social Anthropo~ogy. Athlone, 1970. SEIDMAN, A., 'The Economics of Eliminating Rural Poverty' in PARSONS, N. and PALMER, R., The Roots of Poverty in Central and Southern Africa, Ced.), Heinemalld~ London, 1977. SILLERY, A., Botswana: A Short Political History, Richard Clay, The Chaucer Press Ltd., 1974. SKILBECK, M. and HARRIS, A., 'Culture, Ideology and Knowledge', Open University Course E203, Units 3 and 4. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1976. ENII!. SELOLOANE, D.O. in .,.M. Dependent Yet Independent Women in Botswana .... Tp~~ Lusaka, 1978. SMITH, \oJ. E., Nyerere of Tanzania, TransAfrica Publishers, Nairobi, 1974. SRINIVASAN, T.N., 'Development, Poverty and Basic Human Needs: Some Issues', Food Research Institute Studies, Vol. 16, No.2 (1977). STAKE, R., Learning Parameters, Aptitudes and Achievements, Princetown University and Educational Testing Centre, 1958. SZENTES, T., The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, Akademia, Kido, Budapest, 1971 SYSON, L., Unmarried Mothers: A Report of Clinic and Hospital Patients in Selected Centres in Southern Botswana (U.W.D.P. Project ~--~~~~---~~~~~~~~~~~~~----- BOT/71/014), December 1972. TODARO, M., Economics for a Developing World (2nd ed.), 1982. - 392 - TODARO, M., Economic Development in the Third World, Longman, New York, 1981. WARD, S., 'Power, Politics and Poverty', in GOLDING, P., Excluding the Poor (ed.), Child Poverty Action Group, 1986. WARWICK, D.P. and LINIGER, C.A., The Sample Survey: Theory and Practice, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1975. WASS, P., The History of Community Development in Botswana in the 1960s, Gaborone, 1973. WATANABE, B. and MUELER, R., 'A Poverty Profile for Rural Botswana', University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in World Development, Vol. 12, No. 12, Pergamon Press Ltd., 1984. WEISBERG, H.F. and BOWEN, B.D., An Introduction to Survey Research and Data Analysis, W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1977. WILLIAMS, S., 'Exclusion: the hidden face of poverty' in GOLDING, p~J.~ Excluding the Poor, Child Poverty Action Group 1986. WILTSHIRE, H. and MEE, G., Structure and Performance in Adult Education, Longman, 1978. WORLD BANK, Rural Development, Sector Policy Paper, World Bank, Washington D.C., 1975. WORLD BANK, World Development Report - 1978, World Bank, Washington D.C., August, 1978. Land Reform, Sector Policy Paper, World Bank, Washington D.C., August 1975. YOUNG, P.V. and SCHMID, C.F., Social Surveys and Research, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1974. YOUNGMAN, F., Adult Education in Botswana 1960-1980: An Annotated Bibliography, University College of Botswana, National Institute of Research, Gaborone, 1981. UNICEF, New Paths to Learning: Learning for Rural Children and Youth, Essex, Conn., 1973. - 393 - UNITED NATIONS, 'Popular Participation in Decision-making for Development', Department of Economic and Social Affairs, U. N., New York, 1975. UNITED NATIONS, Economic Commission for Africa, 'The Integrated Approach to Rural Development in Africa', U.N., New York, 1971. B. Theses and Dissertations ASHURST, T.B., The Rhetoric and Reality of Participation in the Community, University of Hull unpublished thesis, 1987. GABORONE, S.S., The Political Economy of Adult Education in Botswana with Special Reference to the Agricultural Sector, University of Warwick unpublished thesis, 1986. KISHINDO, P., Agricultural Development at the Grassroots: A study of small holders in Malawi, University of Hull unpublished PhD thesis, 1986. KOOIJMAN, K., Social and Economic Change in a Tswana Village, University of Leiden unpublished PhD thesis, 1978. JONES, D.E., Indigenous and Non-indigenous Entrepreneurs in Botswana, historical, cultural and educational factors in their emergence, University of Massachusetts unpublished PhD thesis, 1985. LETSATSI, B., The Impact of Labour Migration on Botswana: A Case Study of Balete of Ramotswa, Bangwaketse of Kanye, and Bakgatla of Mochudi, 1900-1970, University of Botswana unpublished BA dissertation, 1984. MAL I KONGWA, D., The Family Welfare Educator as an Agent of Primary Health Care in Botswana, University of Southampton unpublished MA dissertation, 1982. MOHAMED, M.A.B., Training for Co-operative Development, University of Hull unpublished PhD thesis, 1983. MOGOME, K.S., Adult Education: Prescription for Progress in Botswana, University of Hull unpublished MA dissertation, 1980. MOLUTSI, P., The Historical Roots of Agrarian Underdevelopment in Kgatleng 1930-1970, University of Botswana and Swaziland unpublished dissertation, 1977. - 394 - RIFKIN, S.B., Community Participation in MCH/FP Programmes, University of Reading unpublished PhD thesis, 1984. c. Journals, Articles, Periodicals and Government Reports and Publications AMIN, S., 'Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa - Origins and Contemporary Forms', Journal of Modern African Studies, 10, 1972, 503-529. ARMSTRONG, P., 'The Needs Meeting Ideology in Liberal Adult Education', International Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1982, pp. 293-321. BERTELSEN, P.H., 'The Potential Contribution of Adult Education to the Reduction of Economic and Social Inequalities in Developing Countries'. A paper presented to the 'International Symposium on the Role of Adult Education in Reducing Inequalities and Raising Levels of Professional Qualification and Cultural Standards', University of Madras, Jan 28 - Feb 1, 1980. BUCHER, R. et.al., 'Tape-recorded interviews in social research', American Soc~l~al Review, Vol. 21 (1956), pp. 359-364. COHEN, J., 'Eye-witness Series' in Psychology, Vols. 7 & 8, 1970. DERE, C.D., 'Rural Women's Subsistence Production in the.Capitalist Periphery', Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. VIII, I, Spring, 1976. FOSTER, G., 'Community Development and Primary Health Care . Their Conceptual Similarities', Medical Anthropology, Vol. 6, No.3, Summer, 1982. HARBERGER, A.C., 'On the Use of Distributional Weights in Social Cost Benefit Analysis', Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 86, No.3, pt. 2 (April 1978), Supplement, pp. S87-Sl20. KHAMA, S., 'Developing Democracy in Botswana: Politics and Society in Botswana', UBS Readings, Vol. 4, 1976, p. 469. KUZNETS, S. , 'Economic Growth and Income to Inequality', American Economic Review, Vol. 45, No.1 (March 1955), pp. 1-28. MURRAY, C., 'Migrant Labour and Changing Family Structure', Journal of - 395 - Southern African Studies, Vol. 6, No. I, Oxford University Press, 1979. PALA, A. and SEIDMAN, A., 'A proposed model on the status of women in Africa', Conference on Women and Development, Wellesley, U.S.A., 1976. SEERS, D., 'The Meaning of Development', International Development Review, Vol. XI, No.4 (Dec. 1969). STREETEN, P., '''Basic Needs", some unsettled questions', Boston University, World Development, Vol. 12" No.9, Great Britain, 1984, pp. 973-978. THOMAS, E.J. and JENKINS-HARRIES, G., 'Adult Education and Social Change', Studies in Adult Education, Vol. 7, No. I, April, 1975, pp. 1-2. WILLIAMS, M., 'The Development Challenge of Today - Meeting the Basic Needs of the Poor', Convergence, Vol. XI, No.2, 1978. YOUNGMAN, F., 'The Training of Adult Education Personnel in Botswana', International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 3, No.2, 1983, pp. 129-138. YOUNGMAN, F., 'The Role of the Botswana Adult Education Association in the Development of the Adult Education Profession', Institute of Adult Education, University of Botswana, 1986, unpublished paper, mimeograph. \gdJ; YOUNGMAN, F. and TSIANE, D';I\ ~T..;.;;h~e~o.;:;.rL.y_.;:;.an:..:.d",---_P;;..;r;;..;a::..c;;..;t"",i,,-cO-e,,--.....;o;.;:f,--..,;:P.....;e:...;;o.... p...;.l..,;:e_'...:o.s Participation in Rural Development RECC, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone, 1987. D. Government Publications Ministry of Agriculture: The Department of Agricultural Field Services Annual Plan 1980/81, Gaborone, 1981. CENTRAL STATISTICS OFFICE: Guide to Villages and Towns of Botswana, 1981; Population and Housing Census: Population Projections 1981- 2011, Government Printer, Gaborone, 1983. CHAMBERS, R. and FELDMAN, D., Rural Development in Botswana, Gaborone, 1973. - 396 - EGNER, B., The Egner Report, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Gaborone, 1978, FORTMAN, L., Who plows? Women, cattle ownership and agriculture in Easter Botswana - circulated by the Ministry of Agriculture. Women's agriculture in a cattle economy, Ministry of Agriculture, 1981. MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING, Rural Development in Botswana, Government Paper No.1 of 1972. Rural Development in Botswana, Government Paper No. 1 of 1976. MOLEFE, M.V. et.al" Pelotshetlha Pilot Project: An evaluation study, Ministry of Agriculture, 1981. PICARD, L.A. and ENDRESEN, K., A Study of the Manpower and Training Needs of the Unified Local Government Service 1982-1992, Vol. 1, Gaborone, 1981. Presidential Local Government Structure Commission (LGSC), Gaborone, 1980. RECC, 'Towards Improving Extension Work Services in Botswana I, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, Gaborone, 1983. ROLLINGS, P.J., 'Village Development Committee in Tutume' , unpublished paper, Gaborone, 1970. RUDE, A., Draft Report on Agricultural Co-operatives in the Southern District, CFDA: Applied Research Unit, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, Gaborone, 1982. SIDA, The White Report, Gaborone, 1977. WATSON, D., The Watson Report, Ministry of Local Government and Lands, 1980.