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Australia’s considerable contribution to the rural sector in Laos in the 1990s included:
• the Lao Uplands agricultural development project;
• two projects in Xiagnabouli Province, in primary health care and integrated
village development; and
• Community Aid Abroad’s rural development and institutional strengthening
project.
These latter projects, Cornford argues, have been particularly successful in improving
rural lives.
Cornford concludes that development assistance should strengthen sectors of the
state and/or civil society organisations that have the greatest potential to advance rural
livelihoods. This would certainly be the type of assistance with the potential to
significantly benefit poor women. For Cornford, this includes local government and civil
society strengthening, and strengthening those central departments which themselves
may promote a critique of current economic orthodoxy (such as those concerned with
social or rural development).
It would be worthwhile if more studies similar to Cornford’s were to be conducted, but
with an explicit gender focus. Governance projects which simply enable national
governments to more easily integrate into the global economy may worsen inequity and,
hence, gender inequity. Those which strengthen community or local decision making
processes and which adopt a more holistic view of the local economy may improve it.
Further reading
Cornford, J. 1999, Australian Aid, Development Advocacy and Governance in the Lao
PDR: Mixed messages and emerging possibilities, Working Paper No. 1, University of
Sydney, Sydney.
Dollar, D. and R. Gatti 1999, Gender inequality, income and growth: Are good times
good for women?, World Bank Policy Research Report on Gender and Development
No. 1, World Bank, Washington, DC.