Collective actions for empowerment and poverty reduction in rural Chiapas, Mexico
Master thesis
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/135125Utgivelsesdato
2007Metadata
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Sammendrag
The present thesis is an investigation of rural community development in the Venustiano
Carranza Province of Chiapas, Mexico. The objectives have been to analyze people’s
experiences of collective work, and how this work, the social capital formation and
access to capacity building courses might be leading to individual empowerment in the
rural communities.
The thesis begins with an introduction to the study area and an outline of the theories of
alternative development and community approaches, and a presentation of the theories of
empowerment, social capital and collective actions. It is argued that developing the
intellectual, physical and environmental capacities in rural communities can lead to
various processes of individual empowerment (Monaheng, 2001), and that the strong
social capital can enhance these achievements (Narayan et al, 2002b: p.15; Villager and
Enes, 2004: p.6). Further it is argued this can be actualized only through a participatory
rural organization, as the most important element in a capacity building model (Friedman,
1992; Monaheng, 2001).
Using the case of the NGO DESMI’s work in rural Chiapas, important discoveries were
made in the fieldwork. The collective work, assisted by DESMI, clearly led to social
capital formation as trust-building between the members. This was particularly visible in
collectives where the members participated in regular meetings, and jointly planned and
carried out the work. Norms of solidarity and reciprocity were established between them
from being in the same life situations, which serve as protection against sudden poverty
or difficult times for the member families.
The members of the collectives investigated, further enjoyed several processes of
empowerment from the participation. As a collective, they achieved contact with DESMI,
and obtained loans to improve and advance their work. And maybe most importantly,
they have gained access to capacity building courses. The access to new information and
knowledge has signified social empowerment and enhanced self-belief and self-reliance.
Particularly have the courses about organic farming methods the prospects of being
economic empowering. The capacity building approach is without doubt geared towards
empowerment, but it is the social capital formation in the collectives which have helped
the members to fully enjoy and benefit from the access.
The thesis further argues that smaller organizations, like DESMI, have the potential to
become an appropriate participatory institution for people's empowerment. The empirical
findings from the field research, mainly focusing on a number of collectives in Chiapas,
suggested successful performance of the organization in some economic, social,
technology, educational and training areas. Important discoveries backing this up are that
the organization promotes and trains the collective members to participate in the
collective related decision-making processes. I am left without doubt that the
empowerment impact of collective work and new knowledge formation through capacity
building courses, has multidimensional outcome.
Beskrivelse
Master's Thesis in Development Management - Agder University College, 2007
Utgiver
Høgskolen i AgderAgder University College