Resource information
The authors present evidence that in
Burkina Faso, certain high-performing local institutions
contribute to equitable economic development. They link
reduced levels of poverty, and inequality to a high degree
of internal village organization. The structure of these
high-performing local organizations means they can exist in
a number of African countries, because they depend more on
internal participation, rather than on nay one
country's cultural assets. The authors find that: 1)
Service-asset management groups (SAMs) - one of three local
institutions identified in the study - have helped to
significantly reduce inequality in participating households.
SAMs are a fusion of long-standing development committees,
and indigenous management councils that collectively manage
community assets, such as water. SAMs have combined the
productivity goals of growth, with the values of equity, and
solidarity. 2) Current development approaches use growth as
an initiator, assuming that surpluses will be used to
benefit the poor. SAMs, and other local institutions in
Burkina Faso, start with equity, and solidarity, and aim for
a result of growth, and development. 3) Internal
participation is essential for SAMs to function. Only
locally anchored participation can power the realignments,
and institutional revisions needed to scale up development
action. SAMs, and other local institutions have launched
their communities on equitable growth paths, and are
reducing poverty with little, or no outside assistance,
despite severe resource constraints. Their impact could be
enormous if external development resources augmented their
potential. World Bank programs, and policy interventions
could build on local strength, and make their activities
more sustainable by mapping local institutions to guide new
initiatives in pro-poor investment, and using that mapping
to formalize, and increase internal local participation -
expanding nationwide by using a network of local
institutions. SAMs, and other local institutions, could be
the vehicle for ensuring transparency, and accountability.
Working with the results of local activities, national
policies could favor the development of indigenously based,
but externally oriented local economies.
