Understanding MESO-level institutions : if empowerment is the question… the answer is not in maintaining status quo, but in honestly rethinking our approaches to community development / IRSP.

“June 2001”.

“IRSP-Pakistan is here with an alternative and a difference”—(title page).

Contents: 1. What is poverty and how do we try to alleviate it?—2. Rethinking community development—3. Understanding the neglected Meso-Level in Gr5assroots institutions—4. Ways to real empowerment—5. Power and participation—6. Conclusion—7. Introduction to IRSP.

Summary: “Reflecting on the above recommendations for participatory rural development in the light of government new initiatives for poverty alleviation and devolution of power, it seems to be an exercise in high expectations, but also in modesty; while it charts a new and exciting potential for rural development initiatives, it also serves to underscore how little is yet known about conducting effective rural development in the economic, institutional and political context that prevails in Pakistan as it tries to emerge from structural adjustment. It also leads to a better understanding of the fact that there is no unique solution and that much local innovation to the proposed participatory structures will be needed”—(p. 30).