2. The Participatory Eco-Development (PED) Programme – Summary of the concept and objectives (7)
2.1 Concepts
The term "eco-development" seeks to reflect the interdependency between environmental problems and those connected with economic growth, demography and poverty. This leads to the principle of a trade-off between development and ecology or "eco-swap"(8), according to which the project undertakes to support activities meeting the community's immediate needs in exchange for the latter's commitment to environmental restoration or conservation activities, in the spirit of a "social contract for long term concerted development" (Michel & Lazarev, 1997).
The notion of participation brings the human development dimension into the eco-development concept, by introducing the idea of local control over decision-making (Michel & Lazarev, 1997).
2.2 Levels of intervention
With regard to the geographical level of intervention, the programme designers envisage working at the level of the village community and its terroir on the one hand and, on the other, at the "local area" level. The latter is defined as "the smallest territorial unit having its own administrative structure" (UNCDF, 1994b). This combination has various consequences from the operational point of view:
- The need to support not only sustainable development of the terroirs, but also the establishment of a forum for dialogue with local structures, whose programming and monitoring capacities are to be developed (Michel & Lazarev, 1997).
- As a corollary, this implies development based on partnership. Partners are understood in the widest sense of the term to be local structures and institutions, grassroots communities and associations, with particular reference to specific interest groups (Michel & Lazarev, 1997).
- Another consequence of combining the two levels of intervention relates to the need for projects to consider peri-urban areas, both in terms of analyzing the local environment and in setting up activities.
- Finally, the designers of the eco-development programme feel that this combination of levels of intervention means that an overall view of the characteristics of the local area must be gained before development activities properly so-called are undertaken. This should help to make a better selection of terroirs on which to focus, facilitate project entry and identify the initial strategic directions (UNCDF, 1997a). This requirement highlights the importance of knowledge-acquisition, as well as monitoring and evaluation, activities.(9)
2.3 Objectives
In keeping with the spirit of Rio 1992, the purpose of eco-development projects is to combine guaranteed ecological balance with economic and socio-political dynamism at local level. More specifically, these projects aim (UNCDF, 1995a):
- "to provide direct assistance
to community programmes, with a view to reducing poverty in ecologically fragile regions;- to test cost-effective solutions on a small scale, which might be replicated on a larger scale throughout the country;
- as in the case of local development funds, to increase the autonomy of community groups and foster interaction between these groups and the local public authorities, as well as the private sector, thus strengthening local governance".
Part Two: Critical analysis of concepts, approaches, tools and issues related to the management of PED projects