Course Level: Advanced

OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course, the participant should be able:

• Explain and critically review current debates in rural development regarding rural livelihoods and the respective roles of markets, the state, institutions, property rights, agriculture and the rural non-farm economy.
• Critically evaluate past and existing attempts to supply rural services, such as infrastructure, finance, research and extension, health and education.
• Analyze critically alternative rural development policies in terms of their potential impact on rural poverty, equity and economic growth, taking account of different regional and geographical circumstances.
• Outline and evaluate different approaches to the management of land and water resources and their potential impact on rural development goals.
• Understand the special challenges of rural areas that are traditionally associated with rural and agricultural credit directed to the poor.
• Build a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues of rural finance.
• Have skills in conducting a rural and agricultural portfolio assessment and loan analysis – applying 5 C’s in rural finance.
• Be familiar with several innovative models and alternate ways of offering rural finance services.
• Gain skills in conducting seasonality analysis, preparing cash flows, assessing risk and appraising loans.
• Develop an understanding of new and innovative loan products and savings approaches for agriculture and rural areas.
• Gain awareness of sources and reference links to further information and support for addressing future challenges in the application of financial services in rural areas.
• Apply participatory approaches in community development
• Apply different strategies and tools to bring about rural development and manage crisis

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

Module 1

• The rural non-farm economy
• What is the Rural Non-Farm Economy?
• Determinants to access to Non-farm Rural Employment and Income
• Policies and Interventions for Growth 15 of the Rural Non-Farm Economy
• Promote the Growth of the Rural Non-Farm Economy

Module 2

• Agricultural research and extension
• The framework of development
• Understanding extension
• Social and cultural factors in extension
• Extension and communication
• Extension methods
• The extension agent
• The planning and evaluation of extension programmes
• Extension and special target groups

Module 3

• Practical integrated approaches to rural development
• Concepts of rural development
• Effective Approaches for Rural Development
• Improvement of Human Capabilities

Module 4

• Introduction of smart skills for rural development
• Using a skills-based approach
• Organizing the team
• Ensuring sustainability
• Building a training plan

Module 5

• New opportunities for rural development

The evolution of rural development policies

Module 6

• Models of rural development
• Sectorial model
• Multi - sectoral model
• Territorial model

Module 7

• Indicators for rural development and after crisis monitoring

Table 1. Indicators and methods in different development contexts

Module 8

• Role of actors in rural development and after crisis development
• Rural Community Leader’s Toolbox
• Group Decision-Making Processes and Tools
• Understanding Personality Types (MBTI)
• Developing Community-Led Strategic Planning Processes
• Ways to Deal with Conflict in Communities
• Developing Projects and Managing Volunteers
• Light, Quick, and Cheap Strategies for Your Downtown
• How to Organize and Train a Local Economic Vitality Team

Module 9

• Monitoring and evaluation for rural development
• Planning, monitoring and evaluation for development results
• Planning for monitoring and evaluation
• Planning for results: Practical applications
• Planning for monitoring and evaluation
• Enhancing the use of knowledge from monitoring and evaluation

Module 10

• Key concepts for integrated rural development
• Communication Development planning for agricultural and rural development
• Communication for agriculture and rural development
• Integrating communication development in project design
• Communication development planning
• Mainstreaming communication development at country
• Tips for effective use of communication for rural development
• Implementing a Communication Development initiative

Module 11

• Culture and work
• Sustainable Local Food production
• Art & Festival in agriculture
• Migration and resilience in rural development
• Integrated Landscape Management

Module 12

• Participatory Communication Development planning
• Implementing a Communication Development initiative
• Creating a window of opportunity for policy change
• Strategic planning approaches for development
• Livelihood and essential basic skills
• The market access and rural development
• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene basics
• Planning of recovery from disaster
• Disaster recovery procedure
• Recovery plan for mobile site
• Restoring the entire system