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Development. Copyright © 1999 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (199906) 42:2; 57–63; 008410.

Local/Global Encounters

Sustainable Governance of Livelihoods in Rural Africa: A place-based response to globalism in Africa KOFI ANANI1

ABSTRACT Kofi Anani examines the community resource bases in the rural areas of Africa as the entry point for understanding the place-based consciousness of organizing livelihood activities in Africa. The goal is to present an argument for concerted efforts to utilize the community resource bases to promote sustainable governance of livelihoods in Africa as a place-based response to the globalization of the rural African world. He presents the placebased organizational principles of community resource bases in contradistinction to governance under globalism, which disrupts the participation processes of the community resource bases. He suggests the technological choices and investment commitments necessary to enhance the participation of the community resource bases in governance of livelihoods which would be a place-based response to globalism.

A place-based analysis The dialectics of the relationship between ‘globalism and place-based consciousness’ as set out by Arif Dirlik is a useful grid for an analytical reflection on governance of livelihoods in rural Africa. Globalism can be interpreted as the universal application of the Euro-American knowledge-based systems to shape human interactions, relations and adaptations in the world. From this perspective, national administrative institutions and their local variants in Africa, for example, have become local reference points for the global agenda. Western values, norms, aspirations and expectations are supposed to provide the ground rules and principles for organizing African peoples in all aspects of human endeavour – politics, economics, socialization, education and ecological activities. Despite the agenda to globalize Africa through industrialization and urbanization, over 80 percent of Africans still live in rural areas and depend on their indigenous knowledge system for their day-to-day sustenance. This means that while Africa’s ‘modern’ institutions at the national and local

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Development 42(2): Local/Global Encounters levels imitate organizational principles and values of governance derived from globalism, these attempts run parallel to indigenous arrangements of governance which foster place-based consciousness of how human interactions and adaptations are organized for livelihood activities. In this regard, the adherence to solely western principles of governance of livelihoods in both urban and rural Africa by the leaders and scholars of ‘modern’ Africa implies negation to marginality of the indigenous African knowledge systems which nurture the place-based consciousness of organizing the rural African existence. The consequence of this anomaly is a profound crisis of legitimacy and credibility of rural leadership essential for mobilizing and organizing rural labour for sustained livelihood activities. The internecine conflicts and malaise of poverty which have become the hallmark of Africa are partly due to the separation and negation of the place-based consciousness of organizing livelihood activities in the agenda of globalism in Africa. Well-thought-out procedures for incorporating the place-based consciousness of the majority of Africans into presentday administrative practices are needed to provide the foundation for viable solutions to the myriad of problems engendered by globalism in Africa. Defining the community resource bases

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The community resource bases are the community organizational resource elements in the rural areas of Africa. Some structural features of the community resource bases are: village leadership, kinship, religion, rural occupational associations, indigenous medical practitioners, markets, social gatherings, diviners and oracles and village labour tasks groups.The community resource bases are the repositories of indigenous African knowledge and operate under the broad principles of collective responsible reciprocity. Essentially, the community resource bases are the appropriate entry point for policy-makers and non-rural dwellers to understand human interactions, coping and adaptation strategies of indigenous rural community existence in Africa. The community resource bases provide the mechanisms for rural dwellers to

perceive and understand their existence and coexistence with others in the broader realm of society. Such place-based consciousness of organizing rural community existence constitutes the bedrock for inducing actions to promote sustainable livelihoods in Africa. Conceptualizing the sustainability of the community resource bases: philosophical foundation The premise of sustainability and sustainable development There is the need to conceptualize the ability of the community resource bases to sustain their existence as the premise of the philosophical underpinnings of the place-based consciousness of organizing rural Africa. Sustainability, conceived as the capacity of the community resource bases to produce and regenerate themselves, is based on collective human rights and actions, responsibilities, solidarity, accountability, collaboration, initiatives and concern for intra- and intergenerational equity. In terms of contemporary interactions of the community resource bases in Africa, sustainable development is a transformation process. This process addresses: governance; unequal terms of trade and surplus appropriation; the problem of idle and vulnerable labour forces; and the interpretation of natural and human environmental relations. The notion of community as life and rural living as livelihood Attempts to address problems of the transformation process require first and foremost an understanding of the notions of community and rurality as perceived in the context of the community resource bases. The form and meaning of community in the realm of the community resource bases are derived from the basic concepts of life, creation, personhood and work which underpin the existence of the community resource bases. Fundamentally, the community resource bases conceptualize life in holistic terms since life encompasses all aspects of nature, human nature

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Anani: Livelihoods in Rural Africa and, in a technical sense, resources. Life is not divided into sacred and profane, religious and secular, spiritual and material. The source of life is life itself and life (which must be revered) can mainly be affirmed by the community resource bases within a community (Sindima, 1989). The fusion of life under community resource base is the rural African perception of no dichotomy between the visible and invisible. Both worlds are continually communing and are interlinked by the cycles of birth and death. Creation embraces everyone, and nature is not separated from people. Nature and people are basically one entity, woven by creation into one texture or fabric of life. To the community resource bases, the destiny of nature is the destiny of people since they will be adversely affected if the ecological balance around them is upset (Tedla, 1995). An expression of individuality or personhood by the community resource bases implies fusion with the community. Incorporation of people into the community of persons through designated rites is considered by the community resource bases as very important because personhood, in the realm of the community resource bases, is a process of becoming fully human. For the community resource bases, personhood is something to be achieved and is not given simply because one is born of human seed, and this is meaningful only in relation to the community. Furthermore, work is neither defined by time periods nor is it separated from everyday life and characterized as a job. Work embraces all aspects of livelihood activities – farming, governance, instructing, counselling, judicial service, healing etc. Regardless of its nature and type, work is done any time and takes place everywhere, whether outdoors or indoors. Work for the community resource bases has been communal in nature and enables the meaning of caring to be comprehended by community members. Work creates for the community resource bases opportunities for learning, understanding and practising of generosity which, in turn, provides security and mutuality for everyone. Salient features of community The salient features of a community are:

• a community is an organic whole within which the community resource bases are bonded to each other, to the rest of creation and the creator; • a community is the surrounding in which the community resource bases, bound in time and space, strive to comprehend life within temporary contexts; • a community authenticates the community resource bases, their identities, kinship relations, duties, obligations to each other, the whole of life and the source of life. In this regard, rural living for the community resource bases is livelihood – that is, the totality of life of millions of people for whom no other life or different life exists. Such life of the community resource bases has its distinctive qualities, characteristics and peculiarities, and is clearly different from the semi-urban and urban worlds of developed and developing countries fostered by globalism. Place-based organizational principles of governance by the community resource bases Underlying the essence of promoting sustainable livelihoods in Africa is the inherent and learned capacity of the community resource bases to manage conflict. In this sense, the key organizing principles of a community’s life provide the operational domain within which the unique knowledge of a particular place is utilized to overcome crises and ensure security for all. The place-based consciousness and strategies of the community resource bases to manage conflict are ingrained in the rural political organizational principles of indigenous knowledge. In other words, the capacity of the community resource bases to manage conflict is embedded in indigenous knowledge relating to the right of representation, autonomy, accountability, transparency, dissent and the type of empowerment that would ensure the making of decisions and choices with the probability of effecting political changes. The capacity of the community resource bases to utilize this category of nurtured knowledge to cope, adapt and manage conflict is governance.

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Development 42(2): Local/Global Encounters Chieftaincy is the rural organizational principle of leadership which nurtures indigenous African knowledge for conflict management at the local level. Chieftaincy is not about the position of an individual personality but a form of place-based indigenous social technology or know-how of mutual problem solving that operates on the basis of reciprocity in the relationship between the ruled and the rulers. More importantly, the institution of chieftaincy exhibits elements of imposing constraints on the use and exercise of power, and the legitimization process of the institution provides a form of empowerment for the community resource bases to participate in the making of meaningful and responsible choices and decisions. Further, chieftaincy is the indigenous leadership that provides the normative and utilitarian attributes in which the values of the community resource bases are based and this indigenous leadership is crucial to harnessing indigenous knowledge for sustainable livelihood. The placebased consciousness of coping and adaptive strategies of the community resource bases for conflict management are thus inherent in the institution of chieftaincy, and this political organizational principle of leadership at the local level holds the key to promoting sustainable livelihoods of the community resource bases. Participation processes and the community resource bases

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Currently, aspects of the community resource bases relevant to governance are negated and marginalized in ‘modern’ local government practices and restricted to ceremonial and recreational activities. Local governance is practised within a context where there is widespread belief and conviction among the community resource bases that major rural decisions regarding the entire community can only be made by the traditional leadership (Ngwainmbi, 1995). Modern local government structures are superimposed on the popular indigenous organizational arrangements set up by the community resource bases. The policy decision-making process is devoid of inputs based on the values and ideologies of the community resource bases. Modern local officials are

seen by the community resource bases as ‘outsiders’ who encroach on their interests and aspirations. Policies emanating from the modern officials are often carried out in a docile manner, irrespective of their context, content, objective, goal and effects. This scenario, however, contradicts the enthusiasm, willingness, energy and vigour with which the community resource bases rally around their place-based leaders when called upon to engage in activities for the benefit of the community. Superimposing of modern officials on the indigenous institutions presupposes that the community resource bases are expected to be loyal to an outside authority to the neglect of their leadership structures. Consequently, the community resource bases consider this as a form of threat and the continuous debasement of the sacredness of their revered institutions. Any threat to the social and cultural identity of the community resource bases represents a threat to their self-identity and wellbeing, and this hinders the place-based coping and adaptive processes of the community resource bases. While the indigenous leadership structures of the community resource bases might seem anachronistic from the perspective of some ‘modern’ educated Africans and outsiders, the so-called modern Africa is yet to produce local leaders with greater capacity for rural mobilization, organization and communication than the indigenous leaders (Vaughan, 1995). The existence of this scenario has created deep-seated confusion and conflict of interests regarding the credibility, legitimacy and administrative power of local leadership in the rural African world. In a sense, the issue of conflicting legitimacy and credibility of modern local administrators embodies the basic problem facing Africa – lack of management, hence leadership. If leadership is conceived as management of resources and people: ‘The problem is not one of mainly lack of resources as it is usually portrayed – but lack of management or lack of dedication to management’ (Obasanjo, 1996: 304). And the major cause of this discrepancy, particularly at the local level, is the negation to marginality of the place-based indigenous leadership structures of the community resource bases.

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Anani: Livelihoods in Rural Africa Policy action plans,technology choices and investment commitments Elevation and empowerment of the community resource bases There cannot be progress in any field – be it education, agriculture, economics, etc. – towards the promotion of sustainable livelihoods of the community resource bases without stable political systems. And, needless to say, stable political systems have to be built on the cultural principles of mobilization, organization and communication of the community resource bases in the rural communities of Africa. The holistic outlook of the community resource bases demands that any deliberation on the promotion of sustainable livelihoods through the use of indigenous coping and adaptive mechanisms should be inclusive of the appropriate place-based political organizational principles, roles and status of the structures of governance of the community resource bases. The urgent policy action required is to devise well-thought-out procedures by which the indigenous structures of governance of the community resource bases can be elevated and incorporated into modern day administrative practices. What makes this suggestion a propitious policy undertaking is that, in many African countries, the demarcations for modern local and district councils correspond to or are based on traditionally-delineated paramountcies. Instead of the national governments appointing district secretaries or commissioners to preside over these councils, under a concerted agenda to promote sustainable livelihood, the paramount chiefs of the areas become automatically the presiding authorities. Indigenous organizational principles of governance involving the paramount chiefs, divisional chiefs, queen mothers and village councils would become the foundation upon which the modern states and institutions of Africa are built and operated. It becomes imperative that where these indigenous institutions of the community resource bases already exist, they need to be strengthened; where they have become defunct, they should be reestablished, and where they have never existed, some other form of local opinion should be encouraged (Kakonge, 1995).

National governments should be formed under a constitutional rule based on the oath of allegiance and upholding the integrity of the revitalized institutions of the community resource bases. The form of democracy would proceed from a background of wisdom and intuition whereby, regardless of which political party or government is in power at the national level, the local indigenous institutional arrangements of governance would remain intact and be guided by indigenous organizational principles. National elected officials would be responsible and accountable to the foundation institutions and recognized as the real representatives of the community resource bases in the day-to-day dealings and interactions at the national and international levels. Change of national government would be by means of party elections. If the community resource bases are not satisfied with the performance of any national elected officials, they would be the arbiters through the medium of periodic elections. While the foregoing provides some insights into what the elevation of the community resource bases would entail, there would be a need for some extensive background preparation and actions to put this ideal in motion. Of utmost importance is the necessity to understand the indigenous working arrangements for co-existence of the villages and to document (in text and audio-visually) these structures of cooperation in clear terms, using both the indigenous and official languages. Such a documentation would include: the indigenous methods of representation; mechanisms of checks and balances; guidelines and criteria for evaluation and performance measurement; and working arrangements determining the boundary, scope, influence and relationship of the national authorities with local institutions of governance. With such steps taken, pace-setting communities would be selected and adopted for pilot initiatives during a period of transition towards full-scale operation. Technology choices: participation of the community resource bases in governance and Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) A prerequisite for effective governance in Africa is the capability of the community resource bases to participate in the administration and management

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Development 42(2): Local/Global Encounters of community resources. Generally, knowledge and information are vital to the participation process, but some types of knowledge and information enhance while others distort, restrict and constrain participation of the community resource bases in the process of governance. It is important that the community resource bases have access to the types of knowledge and information that expedite the formation of group and collective consciousness of the participation process. With the advent of the information revolution, it should be possible and feasible to utilize ICTs and indigenous African knowledge to elevate and empower the community resource bases for effective governance of livelihoods in Africa. Participation and interactions of the community resource bases in livelihood activities take place within the context of indigenous values, ideas and actions. Central to this process are the indigenous forms of mobilization, organization and the means of communication. The pressing policy action is to devise ways to use ICTs to enhance the effectiveness of the existing forms of communication of the community resource bases. Since ICTs are tools and are not self-sufficient or autonomous in action, conscious human efforts are necessary to adapt ICTs to the community resource bases. Mutual relationship is required to utilize ICTs to enhance participation of the community resource bases in the governance of community resources. However, forging a mutual relationship is dependent on prior understanding and acknowledgement of the diversity of the community resource bases’ experiences, practices and knowledge. Furthermore, ICTs are value-laden and must be understood as the translation of an information policy when adapted to the context of enhancing the participation of the community resource bases in governance. There is a need for some social negotiations with the community resource bases for the process of adapting ICTs not to become a superimposing procedure. Negotiations and mediation are needed to deal with issues such as:

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• location, ownership and distribution of infrastructure; • transmitted values and language of transmission; • content determination and formulation;

• purpose and process of skill acquisition necessary for community handling of tools; • programme extensiveness and effectiveness. The operational underpinnings of such technological choices necessitate institutional arrangements forged on collective consciousness and moral responsibility capable of ensuring adequate representation and integration of the views of the community resource bases in the process. In a word, embarking on meaningful actions to promote sustainable livelihoods will require that ICTs are used to support the elevation and empowerment of the community resource bases for viable enabling political and social space essential to the constructive engagement of the community resource bases in governance. Investment strategy and commitment: teleconnectivity for village–village communication and interactions Investment policy strategy for enhancing the capacity of the community resource bases to participate in governance will involve the incorporation of multimedia telecentres into the structural and functional fabric of the village councils of the community resource bases. The village councils constitute the headquarters of contact with the community resource bases and represent forums for the cultivation of ideas, generation of participation capacity and decision-making. The village councils as the information centres of the community resource bases will ‘house’the telecentres to forge a symbiotic relationship between the community resource bases and the centres. The telecentres ‘can be established through a variety of ways: land terrestrial lines, satellite links or radio connections’(d’Orville, 1996: 2). Of crucial importance is to consider in the policy planning process the services the centres would provide, the access procedures which would be most convenient to the users, the criteria for performance evaluation, the capacity of the centres to evolve and meet both present and future needs, the geophysical space of the area, and the cultural psyche of the intended users. A pressing policy need is thus created to locate and document the

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Anani: Livelihoods in Rural Africa nexus of village councils within the various subregions of Africa (for example West Africa), as strategic mapping and policy inputs for rural teleconnectivity at the local and regional levels. Public–private partnerships for investment finance and commitment are needed for dynamic equipment supply and delivery procedures. Information on the extent of investment costs and risk sharing involved in the operation of telecentres as public utilities must be made available as policy inputs for decision-making. Potential rural markets for ICTs’ equipment have to be located and assessed to make public-partnership for rural teleconnectivity for governance an attractive venture. In this regard, potential rural markets in West Africa, for example, can be located within the structures of educational institutions and rural occupational groups and associations such as: market women associations and their variations dealing with specific food products and consumer wares, retailers associations, small scale rural industry operators, private commercial transport owners associations, minirestaurants or fast food operators, artisan groups for building, construction and art works, and group labour task forces for farming and related activities.

Note 1 I am grateful to my colleague and friend Dr John Afele for his contributions in shaping some of the ideas and concepts in this article. This article has also benefited from participation in the Global Knowledge ’97 initiatives of the UNDP, World Bank and Canadian International Development Agency. References and further reading Attey, O. D. (1992) Indigenous Knowledge as a Key to Local Level Development: Possibilities, Constraints and Planning Issues. Iowa: Iowa State University. Bardini, T. (1992) ‘Linking Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development: The Potential

Further, training needs and mechanisms for generating culturally-appropriate content for hands-on, built-in training programmes for the long-term operation, maintenance and management of the centres by the community resource bases must be identified and explored. This should result in convenient designs of schemes for blending the indigenous forms of communication and ICTs into viable communication networks for enhancing the participation of the community resource bases in the governance of community resources. Conclusion Place-based consciousness of organizing livelihoods in rural Africa can be used as a foundation for viable solutions to conflicts engendered by globalism in Africa. The potential of this approach to conflict management in Africa needs to be explored deeply and the suggestion taken into consideration if Africa is to avoid in the 21st century the current political conflicts which mire the process of sustaining livelihood activities of the community resource bases.

Uses of Microcomputers’, Knowledge and Policy: The International Journal of Knowledge Transfer and Utilization 5, pp. 29–41. d’Orville, H. (1996) The Information and Knowledge Revolutions: The Advent and Impact of Generic Technologies http://www.undp.org/comm/htm. Dirlik, A. (1998) ‘Globalism and the Politics of Place’, Development, Vol. 41, No. 2. Kakonge, J. O. (1995) ‘Traditional African Values and their Use in Implementing Agenda 21’, Indigenous Knowledge Monitor, Vol. 3, No. 3. Ngwainmbi, E. (1995) Communication Efficiency and Rural Development in Africa. New York and London: Lanham. Obasanjo, I. (1996) ‘The Leadership

Role of the African Intellectual in African Development’, pp. 303–5 in Hans d’Orville (ed.) Beyond Freedom: Letters to Olusegun Obasanjo. New York: Collage Press. Sindima, H. (1989) ‘Community of Life’, The Ecumenical Review, Vol. 41, pp. 537–51. Tedla, E. (1995) Sankofa: African Thought and Education. New York: Peter Lang. Vaughan, O. (1995) ‘Assessing Grassroots Politics and Community Development in Nigeria’, African Affairs, Vol. 94, pp. 501–18. Warren, D. M. (1995) ‘Indigenous Knowledge for Agricultural Development’, Keynote Speech for Workshop on Traditional and Modern Approaches to Natural Resources Management in Latin America, Technical Environment Unit, The World Bank.

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