IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS UNDER UNCERTAINTY: WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SEDHIOU II PROJECT

This paper is centered around rural development projects. But what is meant, specifically, by development? There is a tendency for people to confuse development with economic development and to use national income as a yardstick for measuring economic development. Economic development is too narrow a concept to tell all the development story. There are policital and social dimensions to development. Any definition of development incorporates implicitly or explicitly some value judgements. But where are those value judgements to come from? The common answer is that they should come from governments through their planning documents or the development path of other countries whose present state is judged desirable. A definition of development is basically a political statement. But what are the basic needs all development strategies are intended to satisfy? One answer is obvious, enough food, which is related to the satisfaction of a basic human biological need. Without enough food it is difficult for a human being to fully use her body and her mind. Enough income is a necessary but not sufficient condition for good nutrition as pointed out by Pinstrup-Anderson. Another basic need is a lucrative occupation for people to earn their livelihood and to be able to satisfy their own needs without resting upon outside assistance. Income distribution is another important aspect of development. A country relates its wealth to other countries wealth as do most human beings. The way income is distributed explains the gap between the average income per capita, in a country, and the proportion of the population living in poverty. Other considerations are education, freedom of speech and citizenship of a truly independent nation. But to promote those and other development objectives, plans, programs, and projects have an important role to play