Authors
M I Zuberi, G P Ghosh, P Dixon and Paul Sillitoe, DFID- SEM Project, Ujankhalsi,
PO
Durgapur, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. e-mail : zuberi@drik.bgd.toolnet.org
Title
The demand for action research to facilitate participation: an example from Bangladesh
Abstract
In Bangladesh , more than 80 % of the 120 million, live in rural communities and
consist of
very poor farmers/farm laborers, their livelihood traditionally depending on subsistence
agriculture, and utilization of local natural resources. The life-style of the rural
poor still
involves the traditional practices based on indigenous knowledge. Although the forces
of
centralized eonomic development and modern knowledge are increasingly influencing
and
changing the livelihood strategies. In this complex transitional socio-economic background,
the
majority of the rural poor confront scores of unfamiliar forces and crises in their
adjustment
processes between traditional and modern ways of life.
The recent trends in research and development to understand the indigenous knowledge
and
traditional systems and to utilize this understanding for sustainable development
have created a
much needed opportunity to study this struggle for livelihood of the poor villagers
and to
improve their coping strategies. While the local natural and social scientists have
important
insights on the social context of rural Bangladesh, there is an unfortunate lack
of systematic
theoretical and methodological training to study a host of complex issues. Mechanisms
are
developed to provide opportunities for the local and foreign researchers to interact
closely and
develop joint research ventures. New methodologies and working set-ups are to be
adopted to
bring the foreign and local social and natural scientists and the village communities
in a
coherent team for action research to facilitate participation in decision making.
This multidisciplinary collaboration itself generates many problems often difficult
to resolve.
There are many conceptual and methodological gaps which the foreign and local scientists
need
to attend. One of the more apparent is the difference in attitude and method of the
social
scientists with their natural scientist partners. Moreover, the rapport building
between the
researchers and the village communities require time and effort, the top down practices
of many
government and non-government organizations have already orient the rural poor to
expect
elitist solutions to their problems. A cultural reorientation of the rural poor along
the line of a
participatory framework is an imperative. But this gives rise to another important
issue, the
question of cultural identity, how much important it is to the poor villagers to
adopt modern
knowledge and technology, given their very different socio-economic environment which
is
seldom brought under the rigors of scientific analysis.
The identification of indigenous knowledge or traditional practice is another problem,
even the
local scientists often fail to identify or access to the poor farmers' knowledge
and practices.
Often, to the researchers, the poor farmers' livelihood activities or strategies
are too trivial to
consider. Sometimes the farmers themselves consider many of their knowledge not worth
mentioning or demonstrating. The women's knowledge and practices are often totally
ignored.
There is also an epistemological confusion between scientific and traditional knowledge,
both
on the part of the researcher and the farmer. In order to revitalize and adopt indigenous
knowledge for sustainable development, it is important to identify its distinction
from formal
scientific knowledge.
Last, but not the least, while sustained scholarly / practical efforts are needed
to address these
problems, as Bangladeshi researchers in a multidisciplinary project participated
by several
foreign researchers, we would like to contribute to these efforts. |