アフリカ農村部貧困問題への一接近

―ザンビア国孤立地域参加型村落開発計画を事例として―

抄録

Three quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas, and the figure reaches up to 83% in Zambia (UNDP 1998). The poor, or deprived people in such areas are vulnerable to natural disasters and socio-political changes. They are exposed to fatal famine once drought or floods prevail in the region, often leading to loss of life. For many years, the rural areas in Zambia have not been left alone from developmental activities. On the contrary, several approaches have been applied. In spite of tremendous efforts, however, the rural areas especially the isolated ones have not been adequately developed to date for a number of reasons, including those of agricultural and economic nature. Consequently, these have contributed to the emigration of substantial numbers of the rural population, especially among the younger generation. Although some models of participatory approach have been developed by several donors, they have not duplicated by the Government of Zambia, mainly because all such models require heavy budgets, skilled human resources and/or organizations which are beyond the present capacity of the government.

It is in this context that an Asian Participatory Approach, CIRDAP Approach to Rural Development: CARD, was introduced in order to verify its efficiency and shortcomings in two pilot villages. The trial was implemented smoothly and has generated several lessons which have helped to evolve the Asian approach into the Participatory Approach to Sustainable Village Development: PASViD. There are five phases in PASViD, namely ①Preliminary village analysis, ②Implementation of micro project, ③Decrease numbers of the absolute poor, ④Leap of village economy and ⑤Creation of livable space and symbiosis with natural environment and urban areas. PASViD further emphasizes sustainable agriculture which seeks to halt the deterioration of soil productivity. Encouraged by the results of the pilot project, JICA initiated technical cooperation project entitled “The Project for Participatory Village Development in Isolated Areas in Zambia: PaViDIA” through which it is intended to apply PASViD in all the isolated areas of Zambia by the government in future. Self reliance of the villagers will be nurtured in the endogenous development of PASViD.