Effectiveness of population redistribution policies: cases from South and Southeast Asia.

Data limitations confine this paper to a review of population redistribution policies in India Indonesia Republic of Korea Malaysia Nepal Philippines Sri Lanka and Thailand. Most Asian countries perceive the spatial distribution of their population to be inappropriate or unacceptable and have policies that actively intervene in the flow of people between rural and urban areas and in the configuration of human settlements. Population redistribution policies in Asia at present may be classified into: 1) rural development; 2) resettlement and transmigration; 3) regional planning and development; 4) industrial estates new towns and growth centers; and 5) accomodationist policies in urban and rural areas. While there is much variety in the criteria used in the evaluation studies reviewed the following elements are most common: 1) measurement of changes against stated goals of policies; 2) effectiveness and efficiency of standards relating ends to means; 3) target groups and 4) costs. Each of these criteria is in turn evaluated in terms of difficulty and advantage in its use as an indicator of success or failure. Finally an exhaustive review of the sources indicates that the success or failure of a project is usually related to the following factors: 1) the developmental context within which the project is regarded; 2) the level of government commitment; 3) magnitude of resource inputs; 3) management and administrative capabilities; and 4) eventual participation of the beneficiaries in the execution and maintenance of the program.