Strategies for Stimulating Poverty-alleviating Growth in the Rural ...

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development programs of North East Brazil (Tendler 1993). The vast majority, however,
remain defunct and largely discredited as overly ambitious, excessively expensive, and too
difficult to manage (Ruttan 1975, 1984; Holdcroft 1984).
Decentralization and delegation to local governments. Early in the 21 st century, as
during the 1970s, decentralization has emerged as a popular strategy for spurring rural and
local development efforts (Rondinelli 1981; Pearson 1997; Manor 1999; World Bank 2001).
Recent thinking also supports the synergistic roles of central and local government, and the
need to find an appropriate combination of the two (Tendler 1993). As with the previous
approaches, this strategy is based on the premise that a combination of ingredients –
agricultural technology, rural roads, and communications facilities – is necessary to stimulate
broad rural growth. Unlike the other integrated strategies – the rural development ministries,
ministries of agriculture and the high-level coordinating committees – this approach relies on
local administrations rather on central government agencies. The premise of this approach is
that local knowledge is necessary for effective priority selection and that local commitment is
necessary for infrastructure maintenance and on-the-ground tracking necessary to monitor
and ensure desired outcomes.
In spite of the resurgent optimism of its proponents, local governments throughout
much of the Third World remain bereft of fiscal resources and decision-making authority,
both of which financially beleaguered central governments prove reluctant to devolve (Bahl
et al. 1984; Bahl and Lynn 1992). While some countries have made progress, in most
instances the transfer of real authority and resources to local level decision-makers remains
largely an unmet challenge.