Multi-Sector Linkage

My own experience operating in the “south” showed me very tangibly how much inter-sectoral dependence there is.

In the “north”, when something goes wrong, the solution is easy. Use the telephone to call up a supplier, pay money and almost instantly get the goods or services. Someone operating fishing trawlers in the USA could get all the maintenance needed simply by telephoning. Spare parts are easy to get, and do not have to be sourced from half way round the world.

I did not realize how much this is taken for granted until I became involved with running fishing trawlers based around the world in the “south” ... in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America ... and frequently a long way from the big cities. We needed to be able to do everything for ourselves. We had water wells for water, electric generators for electricity, maintenance technicians and spare parts for everything electronic or mechanical, and took care of absolutely everything ourselves. When a trawler needed maintenance, we did it all ourselves. While our main operations were the fisheries sector, keeping ourselves operating required support from every other sector.

The previous tables show how many sectors and linkages there are. Because of complexity in the linkages it is difficult to optimize with formal “planning”. The process is simply too complex, and the variables too many. The invisible hand of the market mechanism will make order out of this apparent chaos and complexity. Every community in the area knows what it needs to better the community. This knowledge will drive the process if it is allowed to. The program has embraced the concept of “participation” because participation allows families and communities to decide themselves how resources can best be used.

Linkages ... chaotic multi-sector dynamics There are more or less important linkages between people, communities, organizations, projects, sectors and functions. By moving from donor centric development to community centric development, the performance of the relief and development sector can be improved substantially. A community centric development focus is a better way to approach development. It puts community needs as the priority and power into the hands of local people. In a community there are usually a number of different sectors at various stages of development. Some sectors have potential, others do not. Some sectors are needed to support other sectors ... development of one sector is a prerequisite to success in another sector. It is not rocket science, but simply advanced common sense. Planning should take into consideration the considerable interplay and linkages between the sectors. A key sector that is non-performing can be a severe constraint on the overall success of the community. Success with a multi-sector focus Most community development “projects” do not have much thoughtfulness about how best to use scarce resources. I have helped evaluate hundreds of projects, and almost all of then failed because they were limited to a single sector, and though well designed with respect to the sector, ignored the realities of failure in the other sectors. One great success was an FAO fisheries community development project in Shenge, Sierra Leone. It was multi-sector and implemented with continuous performance improvement for the community. It would have created an amazing level of durable value for the community if the country itself had been sustainable. This project took resources and made the best possible use of them. It was wonderfully successful ... so much so that the two expatriate CTOs were honored with chieftaincies by the local community. This project worked on the basis of doing what is best for the community ... using scarce resources in the best possible way, and the results were remarkable.

The FAO Project in Shenge, Sierra Leone

I had the good fortune to do the evaluation of a wonderful FAO project in Shenge, Sierre Leone some years ago (around 1989 I think). This project used its rather limited resources and created community benefit that was perhaps as much as 100 times more than was anticipated for the project. How was this achieved? Two very competent Chief Technical Officers (CTOs) controlled the money and used it to do what would deliver a lot of value in the community ... and people paid for it. Economics 101 says, if I remember well, that price is determined by supply and demand. If you offer something that has a good value, people will pay for it, if they possibly can. So everything done by the project had a price, and to the extent that it was valuable people paid for it.

The project had a valuable inventory of spare parts for fishing boats and outboard motors, and fishing gear. These were not given away, but sold at the local market prices with the money flowing back into the project. The project bought more inventory, and expanded to have a fuel store with a substantial inventory. The fisherfolk went fishing much more rather than having to spend valuable time hunting for fuel, gear and spare parts. The project trained a mechanic to fix outboard motors, and in turn this mechanic started to train other young men to be mechanics. His salary was paid for by small fees paid by the students, and all of them (teacher and students) made money being paid to service the outboard motors in the community.

The same dynamic took place in the fish smoking area. The project was meant to teach six local women about fish smoking, but an initial six had expanded into a group of 60 who were learning new skills and applying them in the market, and prospering. More fish were being caught. More fish were being processed for the market. The community was on its way.

But the community needed to expand its horizon. The road was impassable in the wet season, and the government was not maintaining the road. The government had a road crew in the area, but not paid all the time and never with any material for repairs. Courtesy of the project resources, some modest amount of gravel and cement was obtained, culverts were installed and the road was made functional. The fisherfolk and traders later paid back the project.

What else could the project do? The IDA school built some years before and idle for years because of government budget constraints had great facilities, but no operating funds. The project started to run evening courses at the school using the facilities including electric generators, carpentry and metal working shops, sewing equipment, etc. with people in the village learning and earning at the same time, and the project being paid so that the project could pay ... and never have to stop.

There are many sectors involved in a successful community development, these include the public and the private sectors, the formal and the informal sectors, the production, infrastructure, service and social sectors, governance and so on. In the production sector there are, inter alia: agriculture, manufacturing, construction and more. In the infrastructure sector there are roads, seaports, telecom, airports, water, etc.. In the services sector there is banking, transport, trade, religion, tourism and more. In the social sector there is education and health.

Sectors are a somewhat artificial construct, but they do serve to help organize thinking and the specialized expertise needed in that area of socio-economic activity.

Much more information about sectors is set out later in the book.

Linkages and community

The importance of linkages between the various sectors was recognized in the earlier work. But what was not taken enough into consideration was the importance of value chain. There are more or less important linkages between people, communities, organizations, projects, sectors and functions ... but they remain theoretical constructs until there is an understanding of the value chain, and structures that can take advantage of the value chain.

It is said that “All politics is local” and I like to say the “All life is local”. Quality of life is something that is determined as much as anything by what goes on in our own community. What goes on at any distance from my community may be interesting, and may have an indirect impact, but is nowhere as near as important as what goes on in my community. And within my community, my family is far and away the most important. To the extent that people are interested in far away places, it is often because a family member is there.

Functions

Within a community, an organization and a sector there are a number of common functions. Functions are the activities that are needed in a community, organization or sector that have common characteristics. Accounting for example is a function that exists in communities, organizations and sectors. Marketing is a function. Transport is a function, as well as being a sector. Thus, an ambulance is part of the transport function in the health sector. The success of relief and development and socio-economic progress depends on how all of this comes together.

Within a community, an organization and a sector there are a number of common functions. Functions are the activities that are needed in a community, organization or sector that have common characteristics. Accounting for example is a function that exists in communities, organizations and sectors. Marketing is a function. Transport is a function, as well as being a sector. Thus, an ambulance is part of the transport function in the health sector. The success of relief and development and socio-economic progress depends on how all of this comes together.