Technology and rural development: assessing technology needs of the Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey

Summary form only given. Governments of most countries are focusing on the development of the rural areas in their countries with the aim of eliminating income and opportunity inequality in these regions. The Southeastern Anatolia Project of Turkey is a major regional development project. Many private and public institutions either have carried or are still carrying out research studies related to the Southeastern Anatolia Project. Most of these studies deal with either “taking the current picture of some part of the region and some aspect of the project” or “reporting on the percentage completion of construction projects”. We were not able to locate and/or access any study which was interested in developing an assessment methodology and assessing the impact of the Southeastern Anatolia Project using that methodology. The lack of an assessment methodology has the effect that it is very difficult for an observer to integrate the results of all research studies carried out so far to get a complete picture of the Southeastern Anatolia Project. These concerns have led us to the present study. We aim to present a methodology for assessing the impact of the Southeastern Anatolia Project on the rural development in the region and examine some of the areas in more detail. This study also aims to draw the attention of private and public authorities to the need for methodology in project management, especially for a project like the Southeastern Anatolia Project with an estimated total project cost of 32 billion USD