Abstract
Saemaul Movement was a community-based rural poverty alleviation policy of South Korea in the 1970s which contributed to ending poverty in rural communities. Its success can be attributed to how Koreans made use of indigenous community practices in policy design. The objective of the research was to evaluate the adaptation of Saemaul in Ghana, focusing on similarities in economic conditions and indigenous practices. The research utilised literature, interviews, and observations as the basis of methodology. The research findings revealed that the rural economic conditions in South Korea before Saemaul Movement was introduced was very similar to Ghana’s current rural economic indicators, which presents a reliable basis for comparative analysis on adaptation of Saemaul Movement in Ghana. Interviewees made a case for replicability of SM in Ghana. The results point to the existence of many similar indigenous rural community development practices which are prevalent in both case countries, and a possibility of developing poverty alleviation policies in Ghana based on existing indigenous practices as evidenced in the South Korean Saemaul Movement case. The researchers conclude that for poverty alleviation policies to work in Ghana, efforts in policy design must be based on utilising existing indigenous practices of rural communities.
Highlights
Saemaeul Movement (SM) started off as a ground-breaking political idea to alleviate rural poverty in post-war South Korea
The researchers seek to: 1) Establish whether if there were/are similarities in economic conditions in South Korea prior to SM and Ghana currently; and to 2) Examine commonalities in indigenous community development practices in the case countries to ascertain whether the factors which made the SM successful in South Korea are prevalent in Ghana. 1.3 Review of Literature 1.3.1 Definitions of Poverty Global extreme poverty rate has fallen from nearly 36% in 1990 to 10% in 2015 (World Bank, 2018)
This study finds its basis on the success story of Saemaul Movement, and how it can serve as a lesson for rural poverty alleviation in Ghana
Summary
Saemaeul Movement (SM) started off as a ground-breaking political idea to alleviate rural poverty in post-war South Korea. It was introduced by the president, Park Chung-hee. It can be said that SM was designed to alleviate rural poverty, for instance, in 2012, Kim‟s report specified that SM is steeped in the values of diligence, self-help, and collaboration as the guiding principles, and sought to turn around the fortunes of the once war ravaged country one village at a time, in line with this, Hong (2013), emphasises that the slogan of SM in itself contributed significantly to its acceptance and recognition by rural South Korea, this assertion is further underscored by Seong (2013), who explains that by diligence, the movement focused on encouraging strong work ethics among community dwellers, through self-help, the movement invigorated a sense of ownership and responsibility within villages which drove the inhabitants to take possession of the initiative, and with cooperation between central government and community level leaders, a notion of community level mutual help was generated leading to improved levels of acceptance and participation by the citizenry.
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