Rural Community Level Research Articles

‘Urban’ and ‘Rural’ Islam in the Caucasus: Modernisation versus Conservation

Today two different forms of Islam are competing for primacy in the Russian Caucasus. The first of these is the ‘old’, traditional, everyday Islam. This form has already exhausted its potential for reform and represents the remains of the first wave of the region's Islamisation. This first wave, which swept across the world in times of slave ownership and feudalism (seventh to eighteenth centuries), began its decline during the Enlightenment and with the birth of capitalism, and today this form of Islam is largely represented at the rural, local level. The second form of Islam is more common in urban environments, in the Caucasus as well as in other Russian cities. This is an Islam of a renovationist, modernising, reformist wave, and since the 1980s has been growing steadily larger. It is an Islam which marks the birth of a new era – an era of information technology, transnational economics and an all-pervasive, interconnected world. It is this that explains why today it is the cities that have become the centres of Islamic revival and Islamic mission, despite the fact that it was on a local rural community level that Islam survived in the years of Soviet oppression.

Preventing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at the rural community level: a case study from Cambodia

Poultry is an integral part of the rural livelihoods in Cambodia, with more than half of the households keeping poultry in their small-scale, traditional, and extensive backyards. More than 20 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks have been reported since 2004 with deaths of over 21,000 birds. During the HPAI outbreaks, some of the flocks in the rural areas were culled without compensation and producers were not allowed to sell outside of the community. Heifer International worked with 2,000 rural families through local project partners in the target communities to develop an effective intervention mechanism to mitigate the impact of the HPAI crisis. Heifer International provided training, public education, and networking as well as promoting model farms based on improved scavenging poultry management. Each community selected one farm family to serve as a model farm. They were trained in Heifer's working approach and committed to practicing integrated farming systems based on scavenging poultry management. One Village Animal Health Worker (VAHW) in each community participated during the project implementation, playing a key role in the information exchange and the interaction between the communities and the avian influenza experts. Formal and informal trainings were conducted for all project partners and project recipients through experts and VAHWs, respectively. There have been no outbreaks reported in the communities in the project areas. Farmers have started using appropriate techniques to maintain biosecurity. They are passing on the knowledge and the skills to the surrounding communities. This participatory approach in educating rural farmers can serve as a model to mitigate HPAI in the developing countries around the world.

Ecotourism development in China: prospects for expanded roles for non-governmental organisations

China's flourishing economy is contributing to rapid development throughout the country, but prosperity is not evenly distributed and rural communities are experiencing social and ecological problems. Ecotourism has potential to foster both local economic development and environmental conservation. Capacity to promote and deliver ecotourism services is, however, poorly developed at present, particularly at the level of rural communities. We assess such capacity through an institutional analysis, focusing on interactions among public agencies, businesses, and civil society actors. Specifically, we study the roles and potential of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as an emerging class of development actors within China's civil society. We present a case study of an ecotourism demonstration project in the Laojunshan area of northwestern Yunnan Province in western China. A review of project documents and field interviews supported analysis of Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats that the relevant actors perceive as constraining and enabling the ecotourism enterprise. NGOs served unique coordination functions across institutional sectors and mobilised critical resources for conservation and development. Recommendations for NGOs engaged in ecotourism in China include investment in training programmes with local people and community-based organisations, facilitating collaborations between businesses and communities, working directly with businesses, and promoting cooperatives.

Multifunctional ‘quality’ and rural community resilience

The aim of this paper is to contribute towards emergent debates on the ‘quality’ of multifunctional trajectories in rural development. The focus will be placed on the local rural community level, as it is at this level that multifunctionality is most often implemented. There has been an identified need for a new concept of multifunctionality that is conceptually and theoretically better anchored in current debates on agricultural/rural change, and for a globally applicable model that draws on existing holistic debates. The paper will suggest a conceptual framework for understanding rural community trajectories based on economic, social and environmental resilience and vulnerability of rural areas. The notion of multifunctional quality will emerge not only as a conceptual model for understanding rural pathways of change, but also as an explanatory tool and as a normative ideal for rural development. The paper builds on debates on multifunctionality extensively shaped by human geographers with the aim to extend the conceptual boundaries of the notion of multifunctionality, to further refine existing understandings of multifunctional transitions in rural communities, and to critically interrogate the components for strong multifunctionality. The paper concludes with a discussion of the complex policy implications associated with a transition from weak to strong multifunctionality.

Goats under household conditions

Goats account for about 30% of Africa’s ruminant livestock and produce about 17 and 12% of its meat and milk, respectively. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for over 60% of the total goat population in Africa, with an estimated 147 million goats representing about 80 indigenous breeds or strains distributed across all agro-ecological zones and ruminant livestock production systems. Goats are particularly important in marginal agricultural land areas, especially in arid and semi-arid areas, which together hold 64% of the goat population. At the rural community level, goats play a significant role in the food chain and overall livelihoods of the poor rural households where they are also largely the property of resource poor women and their children. Indigenous goat breeds/strains are adapted to the diverse local production circumstances and are able to thrive with minimum inputs. Goats still remain largely marginalized, even at the household level. This paper attempts to look at the challenges and opportunities of goat keeping at the household level for the improved welfare of the keepers, using SSA as a representative of other developing sub-regions.

Are we leaving the community out of rural community sustainability?

SUMMARY The Rio Earth Summit and publication and distribution of Agenda 21 (UN, 1992) have generated much activity in many nations towards development and implementation of community indicators of sustainable development (SI). In recent years efforts at development and implementation of SI have intensified at regional and urban government levels, although fewer efforts are evident at a rural community level. In response to initial ad hoc efforts, methodologies for SI construction are currently being proposed, tested and refined. Within this evolutionary process, increasing recognition is being given to the critical need for, and importance of, ‘stakeholder’ involvement in SI development and implementation. This paper critically reviews these and related efforts from the perspective of rural communities in Canada. The argument is presented that the process of development and implementation of rural community-level SI can significantly benefit from development and implementation of a methodological approach in support of principles and practices of effective stakeholder involvement. It is further argued that development of SI must be stakeholder-driven, and that a pivotal element in the SI development process is the facilitation of information sharing. The paper concludes with a proposal for an approach to stakeholder participation and information sharing achieved through research, testing and refinement, and integration of these concepts within the process of rural community sustainable indicator development.

Field performance of lead-acid batteries in photovoltaic rural electrification kits

A field survey was carried out in 83 rural communities within seven different states in Mexico, to assess the performance of photovoltaic (PV) rural electrification systems previously installed and to sense the degree of user satisfaction with PV technology. The present work reports on the performance of lead-acid batteries associated with domestic PV lighting kits. A sample of 555 batteries, from a total of 2512 PV kits installed in the region of study at the time of the survey, was randomly taken for analysis. Batteries were rated using a semiquantitative methodology developed at the Electrical Research Institute of Mexico (IIE). Results obtained from the survey are on the positive side, meaning that car-type batteries (representing 87% of the sample) perform reasonably well as part of PV lighting kits. However, there may be reasons for concern. A number of factors of technical, environmental and socio cultural nature, can negatively influence the performance of batteries in the field. Results from the survey show that undersized storage capacity is one of the main technical factors contributing to a rapid decrease in battery performance. However, improper operation and maintenance practices, derived from socio cultural factors and a lack of proper user training, are important recurring elements that may result in battery lifes shorter than anticipated, and the subsequent disappointment of the user with respect to PV rural electrification. Local availability of spare batteries at the rural community level is identified as one critical issue for the sustainability of massive PV rural electrification projects. Proper disposal of spent batteries is seen as a potential environmental problem requiring due consideration.

Conflict between the Meiji Written Law and the Traditional Common Law at the Rural Community Level : A Court Case concerning the Ownership of Land in a Kanagawa Village, 1880

Conflict between the Meiji Written Law and the Traditional Common Law at the Rural Community Level : A Court Case concerning the Ownership of Land in a Kanagawa Village, 1880

Vegetative fallows and potential value of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) in the tropics

Research into the systems of agriculture based on vegetative fallows should begin from enquiries into the shrubs and trees most efficient in restoring soil productivity and providing firewood, timber, fodder and other products essential to meeting basic needs at the rural household and community level. Local processing of such products can give rise to the establishment of thriving village industries and thus generate employment and additional income. Neem tree,Azadirachta indica, of the semiarid regions is one outstanding example of a species which is not only an efficient soil ameliorant but can also provide a series of products highly competitive in price and quality with petroleum-based synthetics. Enough scientific evidence has been gathered from several hundred references on the subject to warrant the launching of a well coordinated multidisciplinary research and development programme leading to agricultural, industrial and commercial exploitation of this tree. Proposals for the implementation of several projects within the programme are briefly outlined in this paper.