Sustainable rural development

Abstract

The author argues that the conventional project mode of operation, with its short time frame and unrealistic attempts to deal with uncertainties through the exercise of control, is no longer viable. Funders must become genuine stakeholders with long-term time perspectives, and evaluation must replace appraisal as the key procedure for resource allocation. This, the author suggests, would allow rural development practitioners to work in a participatory, gender-sensitive, holistic manner, evolving their strategy and organisation to make the maximum possible contribution to positive and sustainable developmental processes. The end-result of such an approach would be to put ordinary rural people firmly in the driving seat, with development agencies playing a supporting role. The book links together advances in content, approach and organisation to provide an integrated new framework for development practice. It provides detailed coverage of a wide range of policy issues and of the implications of the new paradigm for each of the different types of organisation involved in rural development. The author concludes that most need to change substantially and sets out a range of agendas for development practice, management and policy into the twenty-first century.