Abstract:
Participatory development is said to be an empowering strategy for the poor
in the alternative development discourse. Market failures and government
failures promote donor agencies to channel aid through civil society
organizations for development support. This policy emphasis resulted in
changes in the political process of the developing world. It has either
politicized the Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) or vice versa. The
objective of the present study is to highlight some important syndromes
between grass-root level policy implementer and beneficiaries and to
examine the impact of policy on shaping the political behavior of
beneficiaries. The initial observation of syndromes has been made in a
research work in 2007-2010 in relation to the official poverty alleviation
programme of the government of Sri Lanka, i.e. Samurdhi Programme. The
present study is a further exploration of the syndromes and has done
referring to the Samurdhi programe as implemented in the Galle Four
Gravetus Divisional Secretariat area. Thirty officers of the programme has
been requested to mark a carefully listed of characteristics of the syndromes
in relation to the respondent and of the others in the propramme. The study
finds important sharing points between the beneficiaries and policy
implementers such as political patronage to get into the policy programme
and it raises the issues of feasibility of continuing with this policy initiative.
