A Systemic Indicators Framework for Sustainable Rural Community Development

Abstract

Community indicators have been of special interest to scholars worldwide, because of their vital role in community development. Nevertheless, the best way to identify indicators is still unclear, especially for rural communities in developing countries where the complexity of rural systems give rise to special challenges. Following conceptual and empirical stages of the development of a systemic framework for identifying indicators for rural community in developing countries, our participatory action research moves to critical reflection, undertaken with the participants in the original fieldwork. This paper discusses findings from that reflection, in workshops and in-depth interviews, considered, also, in the context of our experiences in the previous stages of research. It finds that the positive impact of the framework was reflected in increases to the communities’ human and social capital, although several weaknesses in the framework implementation were also revealed. This paper introduces reflection-based improvement to the framework and also discusses a set of principles as a foundation for implementing the framework in rural settings in developing economies.