Strategies of Integrated Rural Development Adopted by Communities in Delta State

Abstract

The study examined the integrated rural development strategies adopted by communities in rural development in Delta State. The concept of rural development was put forward and the basic idea was that it is a development process embracing the efforts of individuals, self help groups, non-governmental and governmental organisations, collective thinking, collective action and participation. Each of these groups identifying with different roles towards increasing the social and economic well-being of the people and the advancement towards the nation's growth. The study, therefore, identified some integrated rural development strategies and their application to community and rural development processes. These were represented in a schema as stated in figs 1 and 2. The application of these strategies gave rise to the execution of developmental projects like the market stalls, town halls etc. It could be observed that the integrated rural development process takes place through definite structures and strategies used by local agencies to execute developmental projects in which case the several institutions in the community have hands in any given community project. Introduction Rural development means a process of social action in which people of the rural area organise themselves for the identification of their needs, planning and action to meet those needs with maximum reliance on their own initiative