Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T23:01:43.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Social Sciences in Rural Development Planning: The Case of Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Seleshi Sisaye
Seleshi Sisaye*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Recent literature on rural development planning emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach in the preparation, formulation, and execution of development plans (Chambers, 1974; Whyte, 1975). This argument has been based on the assumption that for development planning to be successful, there needs to be an integrated knowledge of ideas of various disciplines, such as the physical and biological sciences (agriculture, engineering, etc.) and the social sciences (sociology, political science, economics, anthropology).

However, for the last few years, social scientists, with the exception of economists, have played a peripheral role in agricultural development planning. Program design and the implementation of development plans have been conducted mainly by technical scientists. In most cases, social scientists have been invited to justify the decisions of the technical scientists after the selection and the designing of the projects.

Such development projects have usually had unanticipated consequences because of this lack of input from social scientists. At present there is a growing concern by international funding agencies and other research institutes to involve social scientists not only in the evaluation and appraisal of development projects, but also in the planning and formulation of these projects. The rationale behind this is that social scientists can contribute to the understanding of social, political, and economic problems in a society and help to plan development projects in such a way that they address basic developmental needs.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , December 1978 , pp. 75 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Yemane Ab, Aberra. (1968) “Self Help in Ethiopia: A Study of Selected Voluntary Organizations.” Addis Ababa: B. A Thesis, H.S.I.U. Google Scholar
Gizachew, Adamu. (1971) “A Historical Survey of Taxation in Gojjam 1901-1969.” Addis Ababa: B.A. Thesis, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Gebregziagher, Betru. (1975) Integrated Development in Rural Ethiopia: An Evaluative Study of the Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit Bloomington, Indiana: A Publication of PASITAM.Google Scholar
CADU. (1968) Introductory Agrobotanical Investigation in Grazed Areas in the Chilalo Awraja. Assela: Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit, Publication No. 11.Google Scholar
Chambers, Robert. (1974) Managing Rural Development: Ideas and Experience from East Africa. Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Cohen, John M. (1975) “Effects of Green Revolution Strategies on Tenants and Small-Scale Landowners in the Chilalo Region of Ethiopia,” The Journal of Developing Areas, 9 (3): 335–58.Google Scholar
Cohen, John M. and Sisaye, Seleshi. (1976) “Research Problems in Describing and Explaining Ethiopia's Socioeconomic Development: Past Failures and Future Issues in Rural-Urban Studies.” Paper presented to the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the African Studies Association, Boston, Massachusetts, November.Google Scholar
Cohen, John M. “Research on Socioeconomic Development in Ethiopia: Past Problems and Future Issues in Rural-Urban Studies.” Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Rural Sociology Bulletin Series, No. 84.Google Scholar
Degefu, Dawit. (1970) Fertilizer Effects on the Yield of Vegetables in Alemaya Area. Alemaya: H.S.I.U., College of Agriculture, Experimental Station. Bulletin No. 65.Google Scholar
Kristos, Fassil Gebre and Mehretu, Assefa. (1975) “Survey of Socioeconomic Characteristics of Rural Ethiopia.” Addis Ababa: H.S.I.U., IDR Research Bulletin, No. 1, April.Google Scholar
Mikael, Haile Wolde. (1969) “The Lack of Decision in the Ethiopian Social and Economic Life and Its Implication for Modernizing Ethiopia.” Paper presented to the Interdisciplinary Seminar of the Faculty of Arts, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Mikael, Haile Wolde. “The Lack of Psychic Mobility and Its Implications for Nation Building.” Paper presented to the Interdisciplinary Seminar of the Faculty of Arts, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Harrod, R. F. (1960) Towards a Dynamic Economics. London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.Google Scholar
Kifle, Henock. (1970) “Investigations on Mechanized Farming and Its Effects on Peasant Agriculture.” Assela: CADU Publication No. 74.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. (1968) Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lipton, Michael. (1970) “Interdisciplinary Studies in Less Developed Countries,” The Journal of Development Studies, 7 (1, October): 5–18.Google Scholar
Library of Congress. Africa South of the Sahara, 1: 367–444.Google Scholar
Lystad, Robert A. (1969) “Research Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Sudan, Ethiopia, South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland,” African Studies Bulletin, 12 (2): 111–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClelland, David C. and Winter, D. C.. (1969) Motivating Economic Achievement New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Moseman, Albert A. (1970) Building Agricultural Research Systems in the Developing Nations. New York: The Agricultural Development Council, Inc.Google Scholar
Ayele, Nega. (1970) “Centralization vs. Regionalism in Ethiopia: The Case of Gojjam, 1932-1969.” Addis Ababa: B.A. Thesis, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Rockefeller Foundation. (1976) “The Role of the Social Sciences in Rural Development” Working Papers, January.Google Scholar
Rostow, W. W. (1968) The Stages of Economic Development: A Non-Communist Manifesto. London: At the University Press.Google Scholar
Rural Development Committee. (1974) Training and Research for Extended Rural Development in Asia. Ithaca: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Mangesha, Sahleselassie. (1966). “History of Labor in Ethiopia and Its Functions in Ethiopian Economy.” Addis Ababa: B.A Thesis, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Schultz, Manfred. (1977) “Organizing Extension Services for Integrated Rural Development in West and East African Countries: The Commodity Approach,” Sociologia Ruralis, 17 (1/2): 87–105.Google Scholar
Stahl, Michael (1977) New Seeds in Oil Soil: A Study of the Land Reform Process in Western Wollega, Ethiopia, 1975-76. Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Research Report No. 40.Google Scholar
Tecle, Tesfai. (1975) The Evolution of Alternative Rural Development Strategies in Ethiopia: Implications for Employment and Income Distribution. East Lansing, Michigan: Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University, African Rural Employment Paper No. 12.Google Scholar
Mulat, Teshome. (1974) “Credit and Indebtedness in Rural Ada Wereda,” Part IV. Addis Ababa: H.S.L.U., IDR Research Report No. 10, Ada Baseline Survey.Google Scholar
Wagaw, Teshome. (1971) “Multiplicity of Holydays in Ethiopia: Their Possible Effects on the Psychological-Economic Development of the Country.” Paper presented to the Inter-Disciplinary Seminar of the Faculties of Arts and Education, H.S.L.U. Google Scholar
Wagaw, Teshome. “The Participation of Youth in Ethiopia's Rural Development,” Rural Africana (30 Spring): 75–86.Google Scholar
Trappman, Christopher. (1974) Change in Administrative Structures: A Case Study of Kenyan Agricultural Development London: Overseas Development Institute Ltd.Google Scholar
Uphoff, Norman T. and Esman, Milton J.. (n.d.) Local Organization for Rural Development: Analysis of Asian Experience. Ithaca: Cornell University, Rural Development Committee, Special Series on Rural Local Government, RLG, No. 19.Google Scholar
Whyte, William F. (n.d.) “Potatoes, Peasants, and Professors: A Development Strategy for Peru.” Cornell University, mimeo.Google Scholar
Whyte, William F. (1975) Organizing for Agricultural Development: Human Aspects in the Utilization of Science and Technology. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Inc.Google Scholar
Whyte, William F. (1976) “Toward a New Strategy for Research and Development in Agriculture: Helping Small Farmers in Developing Countries.” Prepared for the Summer Institute on Science, Technology and Development (July 11-August 6, 1976). Program for Policies for Science and Technology in Developing Nations, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., mimeo.Google Scholar
Whyte, William F. (1977) “Research and Development in Agriculture in Guatemala: A Preliminary Diagnosis,” February, mimeo.Google Scholar