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This article provides information about the importance of cultural consideration as a part of development planning!
Sustainable development needs development approach from within the community. Earlier it was felt that technological and capital transfer from other countries would bring development. This has been gradually found ineffective in continuity of development process of society.
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Groups of scholars believe that to make the development sustainable there should be participatory and community based programme. The development approach should be identified by the local people themselves on the basis of their own needs.
The designing and the implementation of the project principles and techniques suited to the local people are developed with the help of local people from whom the development planning is being designed. Since it is the development for the people the development process essentially depends on people’s participation. Development cannot be successfully imposed on a society from outside.
The sustainable development put stress on the participatory aspects of the local people on decision-making process that affects their lives. The people for whom development programme has been adopted must take part in planning and the execution of every aspects of the programme. It believes that the development programme which does not involve the local people often fails. Therefore community participation or people’s participation is essential.
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During the colonial period colonised societies have tended to modernise themselves for their own development. They have tried to adopt the attributes of modern societies, i.e., their colonial rulers. Therefore, modernisation and development mean westernisation of colonised societies and culture. The process has established strong trend in social transformation. But this approach and belief have started to decline along with development of colony- free national culture. Culture has gradually become a part of development studies. Along with the World Commission on Culture and Development in 1996 there has been increase of importance of the cultural dimensions and development. Now culture is not considered as an obstacle to the development process, rather as influential factor for development of a society.
In due course of time, the development studies have been oriented more to cultural dimensions on the basis of cultural diversities. Earlier in most of the development studies Nation has been considered as the unit of development. But gradually this “Nation” has undergone considerable changes. Now the nation is not always considered as unit of development; it is the community or small section of a nation considered as the unit of development.
The community development, local economic development and micro- regional development are gaining importance in the development studies. Local development in the various forms, like urban development, rural development, regional development, regional inequality, regionalism, ethnic development (ethno- development) is the common orientations of the development studies.
However, there has been a trend of development beyond the nation, at the macro-regional level with international cooperation and global macroeconomic policies. The regional has become a familiar unit of development. There is yet another developmental approach at the world level with global macro-policies of the international institutions and UN system. Consideration of culture in development is now new. Culture is found to be implied in many earlier approaches. The culture and development studies originated from Anthropology, particularly, Development Anthropology.
Therefore, the anthropological methodology has influenced and modified the development studies in course of its changes. The anthropological participant observation method has gradually emerged as participatory and action-oriented development studies. Participatory action research, rapid rural appraisal and goal-oriented project planning have been commonly used in the development studies.
Now development planning is generally “based on culture” because it is not possible to operate development outside culture. In development, culture is interpreted in relation to economic development. Political and social development gets less importance. The Dutch Development Corporation policy asserts culture as the basis of sustainable development. The argument of culture for sustainable development has been developed by Stavenhagen and following him by Hettne.
According to their view and development should consider the “ethnos” (people) for whom development is intended. This is what is known as ethno-development approach. It is the approach that is concerned with the development of indigenous culture. The Dutch Development Policy recognised communities as bearers of culture, not the nations as a whole. It maintains cultural diversities and cultural differences among communities of a nation.