Participatory Development: A Typical Method for Building a New Socialist Countryside

Author: Rong Zuntang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: After the reform and opening-up, with the deepening of the economic system reform, the process of urbanization has accelerated, and the connotation of urban communities has undergone significant changes. Currently, in the process of building a harmonious society, a major historical task has been proposed to build socialist new rural areas. Coordinating urban and rural economic and social development, advancing the construction of modern agriculture, comprehensively deepening rural reforms, vigorously developing rural public services, and making every effort to increase farmers' income have been identified as the strategic direction of the national "11th Five-Year Plan" to address the "three rural issues." The overall requirements for accelerating the construction of socialist new rural areas are: developed production, prosperous lives, civilized customs, tidy villages, and democratic management. Public services in cities, including education, culture, healthcare, social security, and infrastructure in rural areas, will experience rapid development. To achieve this, the institutional environment needs improvement, the capacity of grassroots government officials and community workers needs to be enhanced, the current low level of participation needs to be changed, and the traditional concepts and work methods of administrative departments need to be transformed. This will mobilize the enthusiasm of development subjects to formulate reasonable and efficient public policies. As a result, all stakeholders will have a better understanding and participate in relevant knowledge, using participatory methods to guide development practices to achieve good results.