Do Community Members Share Development Priorities? Results of a Ranking Exercise in East African Rangelands

This study investigates development priorities of individuals living in 11 communities in the arid and semi-arid rangelands of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. We first asked individuals to describe development efforts that have been implemented in their community. People were then asked to rank the usefulness of these different interventions. Finally, we asked them to rank their priorities for future development activities in their community. Econometric analysis of their responses indicates that variation in rankings of future priorities is primarily driven by variation across communities rather than across households within communities, lending support to community-based approaches to priority setting.