Reports - Kenya- Uzbekistan- India

I was one of the participants in the 12^th International Course in 1965 at the Afro-Asian Institute for Cooperative and Labor Studies. I took a course on cooperative communications that helped me to establish the Kilimo Consumers' Cooperative Society in 1983. It still is progressing today. The main activity has been the members' canteen at the Ministry of Agriculture Headquarters in Nairobi.

My news is that I opted to retire at the end of September 1999 and started retired life the next month. The newly-appointed Chairman and Manager are committed to seeing progress at the Society.

Now I am studying other cooperative projects to see which will be my favorite, even if I am in my home village where there is a problem in raising funds for such purposes. We live in a world of trial and error, so we must never sit doing nothing, rather we must cooperate with others.

Countries in transition to a market economy such as the Republic of Uzbekistan need to consider the causes of poverty. The situation in the labor market is reflected in the worsening of the problem of unemployment among the rural population and requires speedy measures to be undertaken to provide new jobs. Experience abroad in extension of economic reforms, small business development and an increase in self-employment all help to lay the foundation for increasing economic activity in the republic.

The month-long course on the Role of Women in Agricultural Development, held in March, 1999, and conducted by CINADCO at the Kibbutz Shefayim training center, brought together 31 participants from 19 different countries. Participants from Uzbekistan, the author, a researcher in living standards at the Macroeconomic and Social Research Institute, and Malika Mirzaeva, a member of the Association of Business Women, came to this course with a unique agenda - to obtain know how to help reduce unemployment, especially among youth in rural areas by providing new jobs for them.

During the course the Uzbek specialists attained much useful information about the dedication and hard work of the Israeli people who have brought the country to its present stage of development and given it the distinction of leading in agricultural development. But it is necessary to assess the achievements and problems of social policy that Uzbekistan faces in the process of on-going market reforms if we are to adapt the experience of Israel.

In Uzbekistan reforms are targeted to meet human needs, so every step of economic and social reform should be supported by adequate measures to help people adapt to the new situation. Such an approach has enabled Uzbekistan to go from the first phase of transition - reforms based on traditional social protection of the population - to the second - programs to develop democracy to allow the population to participate in the reconstruction of the society.

For nearly 70 years Uzbekistan was controlled by legislation and economic decisions taken thousands of kilometers away in Moscow. At independence in 1991 officials, academics, lawyers and professionals had little knowledge of how a modern public sector raised funds or allocated them to different areas. Soviet economic legislation had to be transferred out of state hands, since state property and command administrative allocation had applied to just about all sectors except plot agriculture.

Given the still very dominant role of the state in the economy and for other historical reasons, the state is Uzbekistan's principal reformer and agent of transformation. The state tries to balance the interests of the various groups in the population. In the difficult transition from a totalitarian to a democratic society, political stability is a necessary condition for the carrying out of effective and decisive reforms, especially economic but also political and social reforms. In transition countries with complex ethnic or economic legacies, the fear of losing social stability is very real to the leadership, and many other estates like business and the intelligentsia are deeply concerned about it. The shock of transition could potentially lead to a buildup of pressure that increases the risk of extremism, terrorism, unrest, civil conflicts and so on. The citizens of Uzbekistan tend to hold traditional views on roles in society. The government has therefore opted for a step-by-step change.

The government's social policy in Uzbekistan comprises: social welfare, income generation, employment, pension, education, health care, support to women, and so on. In a transitional period employment policy plays a prominent role as an instrument to arrest sharp industrial decline, stabilize and create conditions for economic growth but also provide social justice.

Trends and arising problems in the republic's employment sphere for 1991-1998 may be described as follows:

Influence of demographic trends on the labor market. The population of the Republic of Uzbekistan is nearly 23.5 million, 38% live in urban areas and 62% in rural areas. During the last years the rural population has grown faster than the urban. Rural areas' growth rates for working age population are higher than growth rates for other groups.

Structure of employment. The slight decreasing of absolute employment in Uzbekistan has led to the reduction in employment of the working age population and the total population. Employment in non-public sectors reached nearly 70% in 1998. More such employment is being registered in trade, services and agriculture. Sector shifts in employment reflect insufficient and incomplete structural changes in the economy. The share of industrial workers and service fell. At the same time the share of employment in agriculture grew.

Unemployment. The gradual implementation of the reforms, the absence of facts concerning real bankruptcy and closure of state-owned and privatized enterprises, managers' need to retain qualified cadres while awaiting future economic stabilization and growth, desire to avoid social tensions, a social mentality incompatible with the mass dismissal of workers - all of these phenomena promote the revealing of hidden employment in the form of forced holidays for workers or a shorter work week.

An analysis of the labor market reveals that economic decline has led to lower real demand for a workforce. In a free market economy this would have led to considerable decrease in employment. In the field of employment the new human-oriented development strategy seen creates an environment where every working age person can provide a decent living standard for himself and his family.

Visiting Kibbutz Shefayim, the Beit Berl College, the Golda Meir International Training Center, carnation and potato plantations and various other agricultural settlements in Israel we learned how development of small businesses to a large extent determines the possibility for expanding employment. Our introduction to the economic system of Israel showed that gender is one of the key factors in determining household division of labor and access to resources. Women are important contributors to the household, community and national economy. They are much more likely to undertake multiple activities in the various economic domains and much less likely to specialize.

The overall achievement in rural development in Israel - the promotion of broad-based economic growth through increased agricultural productivity and food security, sustainable natural resources, increased rural incomes and improved standards of living - allowed participants from Uzbekistan to practice and share with colleagues the knowledge and experience gained in Israel and to attain know how in order to find solutions to the problems of employment, gender issues, economic activities and living standards in their own country.

I underwent training at the 42^nd International Course on the Role of Trade Unions in National Development in 1979 held at the Afro-Asian Institute, Tel Aviv, which motivated me to change my profession and to form a Voluntary Agency in India. Immediately after I returned from Israel, I, after careful thought and on the basis of the training in Israel, formed the Rural Development Organization (RDO). Today, the 20-year-old organization is recognized as the best NGO in the region. More than 110 full time staff and 750 volunteers are actively engaged in the integrated community development program. I am sending herewith a report of activities. The credit of birth and growth of the organization goes to my professors at the Afro-Asian Institute.

The Rural Development Organization (RDO) is a politically and religiously neutral body dedicated to the empowerment of rural poor in India, particularly the Nilgiris. Our cooperation with poor communities is unbiased, and predicated on values of transparency and accountability to our stakeholders. In this way the RDO's membership consists not simply of its registered staff but its rural partners also. The RDO is committed to a process of continuing self-evaluation and reform. It aims to improve its own efficiency and effectiveness for the benefit of the rural poor.

An India where illiteracy, caste discrimination, poverty and injustice no longer exist.

To offer whatever service, experience, advocacy or advice within our power to poor communities (particularly in the Nilgiris) for the betterment of their lives.

Comprehensive community development

The RDO believes that all people, regardless of caste, are entitled to the basic human rights of existence. We believe that partnerships build worthwhile change. Without these partnerships self-sustaining growth and improvement cannot occur. The RDO believes that the people most directly affected by alterations to their circumstances are the best qualified to dictate terms.

• Self-sustaining economic viability of rural poor through Income Generation Programs.
• Eradication of poverty and employment creation throughout the Nilgiris via the promotion of value-based primary education and training programs.
• Empowerment of women through consciousness raising training and education.
• The regeneration and protection of the environment through liaison, advocacy and lobbying with various government and non-government organizations.

Primary education for rural children and sustainable poverty reduction among rural communities is the overarching objective of the RDO. We create opportunities for the rural poor to map their own way forward and avoid simply providing charity. We encourage and facilitate people's fight for better wages, good working conditions and against injustice.

The RDO's development strategy addresses issues of both human and material resources. Comprehensive Sustainable Community Development is the core activity of the organization. The means by which we will reach this long-term objective is via access to education, efficient employment generation, safe water supply, adequate housing, labor market reform, credit establishment, technological advancement, micro social gender reform and regularization of land tenure rights.

RDO touches the lives of over 225,000 people in the Nilgiri Hills of south India. Our philosophy is one of participation for change. RDO and Tribals work closely together to achieve our combined objectives. The RDO brings its accumulated knowledge, expertise and commitment, and the villagers bring their determination, direction and clarity of purpose. Disadvantaged communities living in remote and inaccessible areas are mobilized, motivated and trained to determine the shape of their own development process. Organization at the local community level is a vehicle for generating and channelling the participation of the people along constructive lines. This is determined generally by the people. Grassroots level organizations - self help groups - are the formal identity of the people's participation.

Today we break the journey and look back at the terrain that we have crossed as partners, recognizing the successes and failures, and also seeking to understand the processes involved. The journey over the past two decades is a two-way process of benefit between the RDO and the people. To the villagers, the journey has helped form a critical awareness of their situation and the causes for it. It has helped them to understand that unity is strength, and collective action can be creative. The foundation has been laid for self sufficient, self reliant and self managed communities, which was always our vision for the people. To the organization, the journey has been a learning process. It has helped us to understand people not as labels - Dalit, rural, poor - but as human beings. Holistically. Nature, environment, culture and values are all concepts whose meanings have been distilled and redefined into RDO through our relationship with the villagers. The organization has widened its organizational and human perspective, and deepened its commitment to the common cause. We are extremely happy to see that the path we covered over the past two decades has been useful and relevant.

The participatory work done by the people and the Rural Development Organization makes it clear that there is optimism for the future. To the people, this may mean taking more control over their own life situation. To RDO it may mean that the call is wider with newer spheres. Whatever it is, the journey must continue with greater fervor.