An overall evaluation of the Special Rural Development Programme

Abstract

This report was prepared as a result of a request by the Ministry of Finance and Planning to the Institute of Development Studies that the University of Nairobi should undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the Special Rural Development Programme for the period ending December 1971. It reflects the close involvement of the Institute of Development Studies with the SRDP, and the value of the multi-disciplinary approach. It is stressed that the appendices form an integral and indispensable part of the report, since they not only provide a fuller analysis and supporting arguments for many of the points made in the main report, but also capture the essence of this pioneering effort in accelerated rural development. The single most important conclusion emerging from the report is the need for better and more imaginative planning of all phases of the SRDP - in establishing objectives and targets, in selecting strategies and their individual components, in designing the pilot projects, in eliciting local participation, and in implementation and evaluation. Most of the faults and failures of the Programme can be traced to deficiencies in various phases of the planning process