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1.
What is the meaning of 'rural reconstruction'?
The word
"reconstruction" is an English adaptation of two Chinese
concepts: Gai, which means, "to change" and Zao,
meaning, "to build." This English term was adopted in
the 1930s when the word "development" was not yet a
popular term to denote the kind of work Dr. Yen and colleagues
were doing in rural China under the Chinese Mass Education
Movement. Dr. Yen asserts, "While we aim to build a new
society, we must not forget we're doing it within an old society,
thus the need to change and build or reconstruction." This
perspective recognizes the local and indigenous knowledge present
in a community with which a rural reconstruction worker would
begin and build upon. Rural reconstruction espouses a humanist and
people-centered philosophy of development reflected in its Credo.
2. What
is a 'learning community'?
Learning
communities are "people exploring group-defined issues and
opportunities, distilling local knowledge, developing
understanding of system relations and effects, taking action,
reflecting on action, and continuing the process". Examples
of learning communities are (a) a community which constitutes a
governmental administrative unit such as a province or a district,
(b) community formed by shared natural resources such as
watersheds, lowland, coastal areas or highland areas, (c)
marginalized community such as an ethnic minority or (d) a
community formed by vocation such as farmers.
IIRR
endeavors to achieve both developmental objectives (i.e.,
meaningful change and improvement in the lives of poor households
and families) and research objectives (i.e., generation of
practice-based knowledge on participatory and people-centered
approach and strategies to development). In the Philippines, the
learning communities are four watershed sites in the Bicol Region.
3. IIRR's
perspective on 'participatory development'?
The
principles of rural reconstruction are embodied in the Credo. The
lines "plan with the people' and "work with the
people" underscore the participatory nature of Rural
Reconstruction, where the relationship is not one between
benefactors and beneficiaries nor one between providers and
receivers of development goods and services, but one between
partners - where both development workers and rural people have
contributions to make toward planning and implementing solutions
to the community problems. It is the poor households and families,
the rural reconstruction facilitators, and other partners planning
and working with one another in the spirit of genuine partnership.
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