Prioritizing Public Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via Multicriteria Classification

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Title should be:

Prioritizing Pubic Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via an ABC Multicriteria Analysis

Line 6: mainly in rural areas (is a repetition)

line 40: "to be" instead of "to been"

line 85: of a developing country regions

well structured and good methodology

The author(s) conducted the research in Colombia, and he (they) stated that  the study is partially funded by a project "ImPUlse" about citrus by-products in the mediteranean area. He (They) should explain the benefits/ relation of the study for/to the citrus production in the Mediterranean area.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The title has to be changed to: Prioritizing Pubic Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via an ABC Multicriteria Analysis

Minor changes as explained above

Author Response

1. Title should be:

Prioritizing Pubic Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via an ABC Multicriteria Analysis

Thank you very much for the suggestion, we changed the tittle accordingly.

2. Line 6: mainly in rural areas (is a repetition)

line 40: "to be" instead of "to been"

line 85: of a developing country regions

Those typos have been corrected. Moreover, a comprehensive English copyedit has been carried out.

3. well structured and good methodology

Thank you very much for the comment.

4. The author(s) conducted the research in Colombia, and he (they) stated that  the study is partially funded by a project "ImPUlse" about citrus by-products in the mediteranean area. He (They) should explain the benefits/ relation of the study for/to the citrus production in the Mediterranean area.

Thank you very much, a discussion and generalization section has been added with some insight and information about the possible implications of the research on Mediterranean countries, and more precisely for rural zones of citrus production, as well as a double field validation (Colombia and Mediterranean area) involving experts from the initial study and from the Impulse project.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The English language is very poor, need a thorough revision from native speaker.

The paper developed a methodology to prioritise the government programmes. The methods consider needs and goals of the rural population and used a multi-criterion for prioritisation. 16 rural settlements in eight localities were considered. The paper considered a set of policy priorities which meets both population needs and also authorities.

The thematic map 1 is satisfactory, but not clear. Should be more elaborate in the 3^rd node.

Figure 2 also require further clarity. Authors may see  “Reddy, A. A., Bhattacharya, A., Reddy, S. V., & Ricart, S. (2021). Farmers’ distress index: An approach for an action plan to reduce vulnerability in the drylands of India. Land, 10(11), 1236” ; Douxchamps, S., Debevec, L., Giordano, M., & Barron, J. (2017). Monitoring and evaluation of climate resilience for agricultural development–A review of currently available tools. 

Sometimes, it is mentioned as “City studies” in Fig 3 and elsewhere, in my opinion, city is different from Rural. Please clarify.

Table 4 is very complex to understand even by a scientist, make it simple.

Fig 7, also needs improvement, full variable name is not visible.

Table 8, first rows should be high priority, followed by low priority for more readability.

Needs major revision before acceptance. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Very poor English, needs thorough proof reading by native English speaker.

Author Response

1. The English language is very poor, need a thorough revision from native speaker.

The English language have been checked and a comprehensive copyedit made.

2. The paper developed a methodology to prioritise the government programmes. The methods consider needs and goals of the rural population and used a multi-criterion for prioritisation. 16 rural settlements in eight localities were considered. The paper considered a set of policy priorities which meets both population needs and also authorities.

The thematic map 1 is satisfactory, but not clear. Should be more elaborate in the 3rd node.

The thematic map 1 has been modified to elaborate the 3^rd node more in-depth.

3. Figure 2 also require further clarity. Authors may see “Reddy, A. A., Bhattacharya, A., Reddy, S. V., & Ricart, S. (2021). Farmers’ distress index: An approach for an action plan to reduce vulnerability in the drylands of India. Land, 10(11), 1236” ; Douxchamps, S., Debevec, L., Giordano, M., & Barron, J. (2017). Monitoring and evaluation of climate resilience for agricultural development–A review of currently available tools. 

Figure 2 has been changed to increase its clarity, considering the proposed references.

4. Sometimes, it is mentioned as “City studies” in Fig 3 and elsewhere, in my opinion, city is different from Rural. Please clarify.

The differences between urban and rural studies, and the specificities of the territory in terms of rural development, are now clarified and specified in the text.

5. Table 4 is very complex to understand even by a scientist, make it simple.

Table 4 has been eliminated and replaced with a written explanation of the scale, which can be assimilated to a Likert with 9 values.

6. Fig 7, also needs improvement, full variable name is not visible.

Figure 7 has been also improved to make more readable the variable names

7. Table 8, first rows should be high priority, followed by low priority for more readability.

This table has been restructured to order it from higher to lower priority.

8. Needs major revision before acceptance. 

Thank you very much for the comments, we made our best to improve the paper and took all suggestions into account when reviewing it.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper employs a methodology to identify the needs and assessments that local communities establish in relation to specific items related to certain dimensions of local development. Indeed, such identification can be of some utility for policymakers; however, further research effort is required in the discussion to demonstrate the relationship and hierarchy among these items and to highlight the importance of economic indicators in advancing the rest. This emerges not only from the literature on local development policies where employment opportunities appear as the main axis of development for the rest of the variables, a phenomenon that does not occur in reverse. This fact is addressed in this work with an isolated comment regarding local leaders in lines 394-396, "Finally, in the individual evaluations, the rural leaders group expressed the need to work on young people opportunities offer in terms of economic activities and leadership." In the discussion and literature review, which should appear in a separate section within the structure of the article and not integrated into the introduction, the point about employment as a central axis for development should be elaborated and given prominence over the other variables. There is also no discussion of the development of social capital necessary for collaboration among local communities, which directly influences the way in which the methodology of the study identifies and implements local needs. It should be explained how productive, cultural, social, and administrative characteristics, given the different forms of administration and coordination between local and supralocal entities worldwide, interact with each other. This is essential for understanding certain assessments in this specific case study. This should also be included in the paper, either narrowing the generality of the methodology or at least demonstrating how it should be complemented with other tools that emphasize such particularities.

Author Response

1. The paper employs a methodology to identify the needs and assessments that local communities establish in relation to specific items related to certain dimensions of local development. Indeed, such identification can be of some utility for policymakers; however, further research effort is required in the discussion to demonstrate the relationship and hierarchy among these items and to highlight the importance of economic indicators in advancing the rest.

A discussion section, more structured and developed, has been added. This discussion has been enriched by a double field validation assessment (considering comments of reviewer 2 to make a relationship to the Mediterranean area) and, following an expert feedback (3 from Colombia and 5 from the Mediterranean area) a hierarchy and relationship of the policies, according to a framework on inclusive growth and social improvement explained in a new background section, is now proposed.

2. This emerges not only from the literature on local development policies where employment opportunities appear as the main axis of development for the rest of the variables, a phenomenon that does not occur in reverse.

A background section on local development policies and the notions of inclusive growth and social improvement has been added to sustain the discussion and show which are the main drivers of development (according to literature, socio-economic issues including employment, health and education mainly).

3. This fact is addressed in this work with an isolated comment regarding local leaders in lines 394-396, "Finally, in the individual evaluations, the rural leaders group expressed the need to work on young people opportunities offer in terms of economic activities and leadership." In the discussion and literature review, which should appear in a separate section within the structure of the article and not integrated into the introduction, the point about employment as a central axis for development should be elaborated and given prominence over the other variables.

As said above, the new structure sees a background section setting the context ant the main issues regarding policy needs and drivers, then a discussion showing how those drivers appear in policy making and how they are related among each other.

4. There is also no discussion of the development of social capital necessary for collaboration among local communities, which directly influences the way in which the methodology of the study identifies and implements local needs.

A discussion part about the role of education and social capital has been added.

5. It should be explained how productive, cultural, social, and administrative characteristics, given the different forms of administration and coordination between local and supralocal entities worldwide, interact with each other. This is essential for understanding certain assessments in this specific case study. This should also be included in the paper, either narrowing the generality of the methodology or at least demonstrating how it should be complemented with other tools that emphasize such particularities.

This issue is now addressed in the discussion and the conclusion.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors incorporated all the suggestions  made of  earlier draft. The paper examined and prioritised a set of indicators for tracking the development at local level in rural areas. The paper developed a robust methodology in assessing the public policy and its implementation at local level by using appropriate theoretical framework which is tested for a sample of areas. The developed methodology is replicable in China and also in other developing countries. The paper is acceptable in its current form.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Moderate English editing is required. 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have no further suggestions for this paper after the changes made