Organization and Administration of Integrated Rural Development in Semi-Arid Areas: The Machakos Integrated Development Program

摘要

Despite substantial worldwide experience with integrated rural development (IRD) projects, knowledge of how such projects should be organized and administered is insufficient. This report examines the potential for IRD in semiarid lands based on a case study of the Machakos IRD project in Kenya. Part I describes the design, organization, and administration of the Machakos project. In light of the project's goals of decentralization, integration, and participation, as well as its various components, project experience is explored, emphasizing the success or failure of administrative and organizational mechanisms. The author highlights questions about dispersion versus concentration of project resources and the choice and sequence of project activities. He argues that IRD is best effected through the lower levels of the bureaucracy, assuming the presence within this group of minimal planning and implementation skills.