Rural public works programs have been used in South Asian countries like Pakistan as a core part of their anti-poverty strategies. They provide wage employment for the poor during periods of widespread but transitory unemployment in rural areas. Unlike other interventions, public works programs directly target the poor through physically demanding labor. While evaluations of Pakistan's recently launched Khushal Program are not yet available, changes may be needed in its design and implementation to better achieve poverty alleviation goals like ensuring targeting of the poor, maximizing employment and stabilization benefits, and creating useful community infrastructure. Microcredit programs have also become popular in South Asia for providing credit and other services to the poor who lack access to formal institutions.

1. Lecture 6 Rural publicworks.Skill formation
Rural PublicWorksProgrammes
In recentyears,publicworksprogrammeshave beenusedtoprovide wage employmentopportunities
for the poor. These programmeshave beenusedtodeal withsituations(suchasfamine anddrought)
markedby widespreadbuttransitoryunemploymentinrural areas. SouthAsiancountrieswithlarge
populations,highratesof unemploymentandpoverty,Pakistan,have includedemploymentcreation
throughrural publicworks(RPWs) atthe core of theiranti-povertystrategy. RPWsalsoplaya significant
role inreducingthe povertyof the landlesswhoare forcedtorelyon agricultural employmentwithlong
seasonal spellsof inactivity. Incontrastto otheranti-povertyinterventionswhose benefitsare often
capturedby the non-poor,RPWshave the advantage of beingself-targetingsince theyusuallyinvolve
hard physical labour. A more relevantrationale forRPWscanbe foundin the fact that theymaybe
effectiveinequalizinggeographical disparitybycreatinginfrastructural assetsinthe particularly
disadvantagedareas(if one of the reasonsforpovertyislackof access to these).
RPWs have become importantinalleviatingpovertyinanumberof SouthAsiancountriesincluding
Pakistan.The WorldFoodProgramme (WFP) whichactivelysupportsRWPsinmanycoun-tries,usesthe
principle of ‘foodforwork’toprioritize poorerhouseholds,allowingnon-poorhouseholdstoparticipate
onlyafterall poor householdswillingtoparticipate have beencovered.
Unlike inothercountries,publicworksprogrammesinPakistan have failedtosmoothconsumptionin
periodsof highunemployment,inpartdue to theircapture bypatronage politics.Examplesof such
programmesare the Rural Works Programme (1962-1972), and the PeoplesWorksProgrammes(1972-
1983) discussedearlier. Inthiscontextitisencouragingthatthe Government’srecentKhushal Pakistan
Programme incorporatesactive communityparticipationinprogramme selection. Fundsare allocated
underthe Programme to the districtsthroughprovincial governments,the schemesunderthe
Programme are identifiedandselectedatthe districtlevelthroughactive communityparticipation,and
the projectsare managedandimplementedinpartnershipwiththe communities.
While systematicevaluationsof the recently-launchedKhushal Programmeare notyetavailable,the
programme needssome basicchangesinitsdesignandimplementationinorderforitto attainits
povertyalleviationobjectives. These includeensuringtargetingefficiency,maximizingemploymentand
stabilizationbenefits,andcreatingcommunityinfrastructurebeneficialtothe poor.
(i) Microcreditprogrammes
Accessto creditby the poorin SouthAsiahas beenrecognizedasone of the main causesof rural
poverty. Since formal creditinstitutionsrequire tangible assets,suchasland,as collateral forreceiving
loans,the onlyaccessto creditfor the poor isthe informal sector,whichconsistsof generousrelatives,
friendsandusuriousmoney-lendersandavariciouslandlords. Toaugmentthe supplyof loanable funds
at affordable ratestothe poor,group-basedlendingprogrammeshave recentlybecome popularin
SouthAsiaand have takena quantumleapsince the successof the GrameenBank inBangladesh. These

2. programmesseektoprovide creditandotherservicesto poorpeople wholackaccesstoformal credit
institutions.Inthe contextof rural development,theirrole hasbeenmainlytoalleviate povertyatthe
householdlevel,ratherthanthe developmentof communityinfrastructureorto improve accessto
publicservices. Microcreditprogrammestypicallyenable the poortoacquire income-generating assets
by providingaccesstocredit,marketingandotherinputs. Manyrural developmentprogrammeshave
triedto dovetail microcreditprogrammeswiththeirotheractivitiesasanincentive tomembersof the
village communitytoparticipate incollectiveprogrammesforrural development. Mostmicrocredit
programmesalsorequire the borrowerstodepositasmall sumof moneyregularlyinordertobecome
eligible foraloan.
Bangladesh,whichinspiredthe microcreditrevolutioninSouthAsia, establishedthe GrameenBankin
1983 underthe pioneeringleadershipof Dr.M. Yunus,hastwo othermicrocredit programmes:the
BangladeshRural AdvancementCommittee(BRAC),and the BangladeshRural Development Board’s
Rural DevelopmentProgramme,whichengage inavarietyof other developmental activities. A United
Nationsstudy(UNDP/UNOPS/APDC1996)
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