Rural Development Policy Research Articles

Unpacking gender mainstreaming: a critical discourse analysis of agricultural and rural development policy in Myanmar and Nepal

Conventional gender analysis of development policy does not adequately explain the slow progress towards gender equality. Our research analyses the gender discourses embedded in agricultural and rural development policies in Myanmar and Nepal. We find that both countries focus on increasing women’s participation in development activities as a core gender equality policy objective. This creates a binary categorisation of participating versus non-participating women and identifies women as responsible for improving their position. At the same time, gender (in)equality is defined exclusively as a women’s concern. Such discourses, as constitutive practices, produce specific knowledge about rural women and new subjectivities that prescribe and govern them solely as subjects of development. Our research suggests that such a limited discursive practice invisiblises gendered power relations and structural and institutional issues, ultimately slowing progress towards gender equality. We demonstrate the importance of studying policy as discourse, beyond the effectiveness of policies or mainstreaming tools, and call for empirical evidence on the impact of these discourses on women’s subjectivities and lived experiences.

Determination of Indicators for Livable Communities in Malaysia's Sustainable Development

Emerges since the 1950s, the livability concept has gained significant attention internationally and locally. In Malaysia, albeit the growing recognition of the livable community or livable development, for that matter, however, the definitive criteria of what constitutes livable remain ambiguous, particularly from the angle of community and sustainable development. With this in mind, this exploratory paper was designed to identify the livable community indicators related explicitly to Malaysia as a case study and has a substantial nexus to sustainable development. To do that, the paper employs a qualitative method or content analysis or, to be precise, a technique to identify the livable criteria. In this sense, this research identifies the livable keyword and its synonymous terminologies. This study examined official national documents, namely the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (RMK12), Fourth National Physical Plan (RFN4), National Community Policy (DKN), National Urbanization Policy 2 (DPN2), National Rural Physical Planning Policy 2030 (DPF Desa Negara 2030), Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (WKB2030) and Rural Development Policy (DPLB). Eight indicators in assessing livability in Malaysia are infrastructure, health, housing, air quality, education, public participation, transportation, and recreation/leisure. Besides expanding our knowledge horizon concerning livability criteria to the community in the context of sustainable development, this paper offers society's contribution via baseline variables essential for community sustainability.

Regulatory and Legal Support for the Development of Digital Infrastructure in Rural Areas as a Factor in Improving the Level of Sustainable Development and Quality of Life of the Rural Population

Widespread problems of rural development have been the subject of scientific analysis and discussions for many years. The current debate is the result of reflections on improving the effectiveness of rural development policy and the search for new approaches to their development at the local level. They are also the result of the need not only to implement the Sustainable Development Goals more effectively but also to reduce the social and economic inequality between the village and the city, which is possible through the development of the digital infrastructure of rural areas. The purpose of the article is to identify priority areas and institutional and legal barriers to the development of digital infrastructure, the tools necessary to overcome them, and regulatory and legal support for the development of digital infrastructure in rural areas. The article identifies the advantages of digital infrastructure for the socio-economic development of rural areas, the priority level of the introduction of digital infrastructure and technologies for various sectors in the life of the rural population, institutional and legal barriers to the development of digital infrastructure of rural areas, as well as tools of regulatory support for the development of digital infrastructure of rural areas. It is concluded that the creation of the necessary regulatory framework that would stimulate the formation of digital infrastructure while protecting the interests of rural residents is the most significant of the problems of rural areas.

Factors Affecting the Decision of Rural Households to Participate in Non-Agricultural Activities in Dien Bien Province

The paper examines factors affecting the decision of rural households to participate in non-agricultural activities in Dien Bien province through the Logit model, using the Vietnam Access to Resources Household Survey 2016 by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam. The results indicated that the decision to participate in non-agricultural activities is driven by both “push” and “pull” factors, but there is also an indication of an “ability” factor at work. Access to the information variable has the greatest influence on the decision of households to participate or not. Moreover, education is not significant and has no influence on the decision to engage in non-agricultural activities of households in rural area of Dien Bien province. Based on the findings, as well as the rural development orientation of Dien Bien province, the author proposes some solutions to promote rural non-agricultural economic development. Rural non-agricultural development policies should attend to promotion of the education level of rural households and create favorable conditions for households to access resources.

Rural Development Policy in Germany Regarding Coworking Spaces and Effects on Vitality and Versatility of Rural Towns

Remote rural areas have been declining in population for decades, partly permanently as people move away and partly temporarily, owing to commuting. This increasing paucity of inhabitants is causing these places to lose vitality and versatility; this, in turn, renders them less attractive overall. In terms of spatial development, policies devised for rural areas have long been concerned not only with agriculture, but also with holistic development. For some years now, ICT has work become increasingly location-independent. This is often seen as an opportunity for rural development. In addition to the general facilitation of remote working, i.e., working from home, coworking spaces make it possible to separate out our private and professional lives. The aim of this research is to find out to what extent public authorities position themselves on this topic and express their views on coworking spaces. Policies in this area have been promulgated by various federal ministries (Bundesebene) and federal states (Länderebene). Thus, we have collected relevant policies from the websites of federal ministries and three federal states (Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony-Anhalt), examined them for their keywords, and read and analyzed the documents that were found. Further, we have interviewed the founders and operators of particular coworking spaces. At the federal level, it is noteworthy that the ministry responsible for rural areas has published the greatest number of policies in which coworking spaces are mentioned. At the state level (Landesebene), the picture is more diverse, between the various state governments and the respective states. However, the contribution of coworking spaces to the vitality and versatility of rural towns is mentioned only rarely, and the importance of location is seldom pointed out. Comparing the results of this study with previous research in the literature, it can be concluded that public authorities should pay more attention to the opportunities and risks of coworking spaces in rural areas. Based on this, clearer objectives for coworking spaces in these areas can be formulated. When subsidies are disbursed, they should be accompanied by a mandatory evaluation to check what the subsidies have achieved and whether the subsidies have been used in a targeted manner. In addition, a larger database could be created for further research.

What Are Contemporary Rural Development Policies? A Pan-Canadian Content Analysis of Government Strategies, Plans, and Programs for Rural Areas

Au Canada, des débats de longue date ont lieu sur la manière de concevoir des politiques efficaces pour répondre aux besoins des diverses communautés rurales. Le présent article fait le point sur les politiques rurales canadiennes en procédant à une analyse globale du contenu des stratégies, des plans et des programmes des gouvernements provinciaux et territoriaux. Cette analyse révèle que bon nombre des critiques récurrentes concernant les politiques rurales restent pertinentes aujourd’hui, notamment le cloisonnement sectoriel, le manque d’intégration des politiques et la perception permanente des régions rurales comme étant des sites d’extraction détachés de l’investissement. Cette étude souligne également l’importance des approches en matière de politique émanant des territoires du Nord canadien qui démontrent des approches intégrées du développement économique rural.

EU Agricultural and Rural Development Policies Vis-à-Vis the Ecological Crisis

The paper critically analyzes the trajectories of EU agricultural and rural policies, exploring their link to the economic, social, and environmental crises of the last few decades and drawing a balance of their outcomes. In doing so, the authors focus on ongoing patterns of agrarian change shedding light on the complex and multifaceted features of the European agri-food system, as characterized by the hybridization of diverse agricultural models and non-linear processes of rural differentiations. In this respect, EU agricultural and rural development policies, within the context of the ‘corporate-environmental food regime’, have played a key role. In particular, the article makes the point that the various attempts to reform EU agriculture and provide responses to the ecological crisis have produced an ‘institutional ambiguity’, which, in turn, reflects a range of unresolved tensions and conflicts underpinning the EU agri-food system, where discourses about sustainability are contended among actors with divergent interests and vision of rural development. Against this background, new general tendencies are emerging entailing both risk and opportunities for the building of a more sustainable EU agri-food system.

An assessment of sustainable wellbeing and coordination of mountain areas: A case study of Qinba Mountain Area in China

Old economic development theories no longer adequately explain development issues as the world moves toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The key to solving this problem lies in shifting from economic wellbeing with wealth at its core to sustainable wellbeing with equitable development at its core. However, there is a lack of systematic methods and applications for assessing sustainable wellbeing, which leaves policy makers unsure of how to optimize policies for sustainable wellbeing enhancement. Therefore, this research aims to establish a sustainable wellbeing measurement system connection with the SDGs, to value and index sustainable wellbeing, and to explore the progress of sustainable wellbeing in 46 counties in the Qinba Mountain Area from 2009 to 2020, taking the Qinba Mountain Area, which is the most concerned area in China. Methodologically, Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), Ecosystem Services Vuale (ESV), and Life Satisfaction (LS) are valorized separately to represent economic capital, ecological capital, and social capital, thus valorizing sustainable wellbeing, and get the Sustainable Wellbeing Value (SWV). Based on this, we follow the principle of “the best system is one that achieves a simultaneously prosperous” advocated by the theory of sustainable wellbeing, and calculate the Sustainable Wellbeing Index (SWI) by the method of coupling coordination, so as to build up the interconnection of the three capital accounts of sustainable wellbeing: economic, ecological and social. We investigate the spatial and temporal dynamics dynamic changes of sustainable wellbeing in the Qinba Mountain Area based on the valuation and indexation of sustainable wellbeing. The results of the research show that, first, the value of sustainable wellbeing in the Qinba Mountain Area fluctuates upward, with economic capital contributing the most, ecological capital fluctuating the most, and social capital contributing most smoothly. Although economic capital is necessary for the development of all counties, it is obvious that developing counties rely on it more. The SWI in the Qinba Mountain Area fluctuates and rises, and it is overall in a stage of coordinated transition, showing strong social and economic capital and weak ecological capital. By county, the proportion of dysfunctional economic, ecological, and social capital interrelationships declined significantly in all counties. However, some counties still suffer from ecological lag, mainly stemming from an imbalance between human activities and the required ecosystem services. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the functional territorial zoning of regions and promote the structural transformation of development. This research will provide a valuable reference for the refinement research of Sustainable Development Goals and the optimization of rural development policies in mountainous areas.

Sustainable Livelihoods a Foundation for Rural Development Leads to Sustainability

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate and analyse the significance of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) and its application to rural development projects and policies. A literature review is conducted, with the primary focus being on the primary components of the SLA. The researchers noted that the SLA effectively interrogates the livelihoods of the poor and the various mechanisms in the approach. These mechanisms include all forms of capital, the vulnerability aspect, livelihood strategies, and outcomes, as well as the different laws and regulations governing the access and use of resources. The research also noted that the SLA effectively addresses the poor’s vulnerabilities. Scholarly heavy hitters like Chambers and Scoones (1992) have pointed out that this method is all-encompassing and hierarchical. The methodology has demonstrated in a theoretical sense that it is beneficial in understanding the livelihoods problem of the less fortunate in rural communities. It is strongly suggested that the government and its development partners adopt and incorporate the SLA into their policies to ensure sustainable livelihoods leading to sustainable development.

Gandhian Thought for Rural Development

This paper focuses on the role of Mahatma Gandhi in promoting the concept of Gram Vikas or rural development. Mahatma Gandhi was a visionary leader who believed that the key to India's progress lay in the development of its villages. He advocated for selfsufficiency and decentralization as fundamental to achieving rural development and called for the use of local resources and skills to promote sustainable and equitable growth. Gandhiji firmly believed that the well-being of India's society was directly connected to the development of its rural areas. The study examines how Gandhiji's philosophy of nonviolence and education influenced his vision of rural development. He emphasized the importance of promoting cottage industries, handicrafts, and the use of renewable energy sources to create employment opportunities and improve the quality of life for rural communities. Gandhiji's ideas of Gram Vikas are seen as a holistic approach to rural development, encompassing social, economic, and environmental aspects. This work highlight the relevance of his ideas in the context of modern-day challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and environmental degradation. The promotion of Gram Vikas or rural development is seen as a way to address these challenges and create a more equitable and sustainable society. The promotion of Gram Vikas or rural development is essential to achieving this goal, and the principles underlying Gandhiji's vision of rural development can be seen as a way to promote constitutional values of democracy, social justice and equality such as the right to education and gender equality. This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating Gandhian principles in rural development policy and policymakers adopting Gandhi's principles to achieve sustainable rural development. By incorporating these principles into policy formulation and implementation, policymakers can promote equitable and sustainable growth in rural communities. The paper concludes that policymakers must prioritize sustainability to achieve long lasting progress in rural areas and to retain this progress involvement of community and sustainable use of resources is necessary.

Community-Based Agro-Ecotourism Sustainability in West Java, Indonesia

Community-based agro-ecotourism is a tourism activity that utilizes the agricultural, natural, and cultural potential of environmentally friendly rural communities as tourism objects whose management is carried out by the local community. This study analyzes the sustainability and sensitivity of attributes that affect community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java. The study used a survey method of 237 agro-tourism actors spread across five tourist villages. The five tourist villages were selected purposively to represent the diversity of agricultural commodities and the zoning of West Java’s strategic crossroads. Data were analyzed using Multi-Dimensional Scaling in the Rapid Appraisal-agro-ecotourism technique (Rap-Agro-ecotourism). The results showed that community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java was sufficiently sustainable. The social dimension sustainability index has the highest score, while the technology dimension sustainability index has the lowest score. The most sensitive attributes affecting the sustainability of community-based agro-ecotourism in West Java are the number of tourist visits, availability of transportation facilities and infrastructure, cooperation with outsiders, preservation of agricultural businesses, waste management, and cultural arts festivals. This study contributes to the sustainability of community-based agro-tourism comprehensively through economic, social, cultural, institutional, ecological, and technological dimensions, so it is expected that adding literature on agro-ecotourism and become input material in the formulation of agro-ecotourism-based rural development policies, especially in West Java.

A Comparative Study of Life Quality in Urban and Rural Areas of Afghanistan: A Case Study of Jawzjan Province

The difference between households in terms of quality of life has many economic, social, and cultural consequences. One of the factors behind the difference in the quality of life and the level of welfare among households is the place of residence. This article compares the quality of life and the level of welfare among households in rural and urban areas of Afghanistan. The data used in this research is first-hand, which was obtained by the self-made questionnaire of the researcher. The variables of this research include all the socio-economic characteristics of rural and urban households, and the variables of the quality of life and welfare of the households in terms of nutrition, cost, housing, housing facilities, ownership of durable consumer goods, etc., have been studied. The results show that in all indicators of quality of life and welfare, urban households have a much better situation than rural households. The most important factors affecting the low quality of life in rural areas are the low level of income in rural areas, the methods of earning income, the type of work, the lack of rural development policies in the country, the low level of investment in rural areas, the lack of development projects.

Preface

The first International conference on Design Innovations and Management for Sustainable Environment (ICDIMSE) was conducted on 15th and 16th March 2022 jointly by Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, India and Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus held online in Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference aimed to bring together academicians, scientists, practitioners, researchers and students from a range of different disciplines to explore and share their experiences and research work in Sustainable Design of Built Environment. To prevent technical issues that can arise during the virtual mode of presenting, all the presentations of the accepted research papers were compiled beforehand which ensured a seamless conduct of the event by the participants who were from different parts of the world.Day 1 began with an opening session, which was followed by the keynote presenters Prof. DR. Shaleen Singhal, Dean (Research & Partnerships), TERI School of Advanced Studies, and Prof. Ali A. Alraouf (Associate AIA, Middle East and Gulf Chapter, Professor at HBK University in Qatar). Four parallel sessions that were moderated and chaired by DR. Monsingh David Devdas, Prof. Polat Hançer, Ar. Milon Dutta, and Prof. Illiona Outram followed the inaugural session.DR. Steffen Lehmann (Assoc. AIA, RIBA) and Prof. DR. Rohinton Emmanuel (Director of the BEAM Research Centre, Professor in Sustainable Design and Construction in Glasgow Caledonia University) delivered the keynote address on Day II of the conference. This was followed by four parallel sessions moderated and chaired by Tokie Laotan-Brown, DR. Abdul Razak, Yonca Hürol and DR.Swetha Madhusudhan. For all the eight sessions, best papers were awarded.Seventy nine research papers were presented during the conference under the themes: Design Innovations, Building Design and Performance Evaluation, Smart Materials and Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability in Architectural Design, Sustainable Design and Construction Processes, Urban Resilience, Safety, Disaster and Risk Mitigation, Sustainable Urban and Rural Development and Environmental Policy and Governance. The online conference was of great success having a diverse group of expertise and backgrounds with participants around the globe. This enabled a rich knowledge sharing environment with enthusiastic discussions.Forty of the conference papers were accepted for publication in the IOP EES Conference Proceedings. We express our gratitude to all the members who were a part of the peer review process and spent their valuable time in reviewing the papers.We express our deep gratitude to the Management of the Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology and Eastern Mediterranean University, invited speakers, reviewers, and session chairs for their hard work along the series of conference events until this proceeding publication. We also thank all participants and authors for taking excellent opportunity for discussing and publishing the papers. We thank all the committee members and all those who have contributed for the success of ICDIMSE 2022 and publications of the Proceedings.List of Organising Committee, Executive Committee, Advisory Committee, Scientific Committee, Peer Review Committee, Technical Committee is available in the pdf.

The who, the what, and the how of social innovation in inner peripheries:A systematic literature review

This article is a systematic literature review on social innovation in inner peripheries. It investigates what actors (who), processes (how), and topics (what) emerge from the literature on SI in marginalized rural areas. The aim is to understand under what conditions social innovation can be interpreted as a resource in inner peripheries and, at the same time, if inner peripheries offer a fertile ground for social innovation to emerge and develop. A focus on the role of planning in social innovation initiatives is also provided with the objective to recognize whether and how the literature mentions it in supporting or hindering the emergence of social innovation in inner peripheries. Results from the literature review show that social innovation in inner peripheries is frequently promoted by social enterprises and public-private partnerships that work synergically with a wide array of public and private actors, within multi-level and multi-actor governance arenas where different scales, sectors, and actors are connected and combined. The topics covered by social innovation initiatives mainly refer to rural development, with a specific emphasis on farmland and forestry management. In this strain of literature, social innovation is often viewed as a vital component of rural development policies and a means to strengthen collaboration and social learning in lagging communities. Findings suggest that social innovation can be interpreted as a resource in inner peripheries when the effort of the public sector is channeled into multi-level ‘middle-ground’ spaces and positively combined with the external and internal input of actors, and sources of innovation. In the conclusion, we argue the need to advance a ‘context-sensitive’ conceptualization of social innovation able to tackle path-dependent dynamics and address the specific problems and challenges of inner peripheries, preventing the risk that unreflexive innovative initiatives ‘borrowed’ from urban areas exacerbate existing socio-spatial inequalities.

Diversity and Opportunities for Rural Development: Reflecting Awareness, Understanding and Activities in Rural Areas

What does rural development policy aim to achieve, and how does it go about it [...]

Building the plane in the air: Articulating neo-endogenous rural development from the ground up

Neo-endogenous rural development is driven by local people from the ground up but enabled and steered by policy actors from the top down; the balance of driving and steering, or where the power in the relationship lies, is thus a key point of enquiry. This paper interrogates contemporary theorisations of rural development using recent empirical evidence from Australia. We analyse a recent development process in the rural region of North West Tasmania, Australia: the “Regional Futures Plan”, conducted over the period 2019–2021. The Regional Futures Plan was a locally led development initiative that brought together regional actors across sectors in a structured process to address employment, population, and sustainability challenges. It received limited State government funding or support. In this paper we ask: to what extent is this locally led rural development process an empirical example of neo-endogenous rural development, classic endogenous rural development, or something else? Analysis through an anthropology of development lens deepens current theorisations of neo-endogenous rural development by revealing the logics and strategies local actors use as they work together for change in dialogue with external actors and the State. The analysis concludes that the Regional Futures Plan experience can be understood as a form of disarticulated neo-endogenous rural development whereby local actors seek to drive local development outcomes in dialogue with, but in the absence of formal relationships with more powerful governing institutions and the state. The existence of locally led but disarticulated rural development suggests both opportunities and challenges for future rural development policy.

Rural centralized residences and the health of the acting heads of rural households: The case of China

The rural centralized residence (RCenR) has been adopting to promote rural development in 24 provinces in China. Acting heads of rural households are older and their health is worse than average rural residents. However, their health has greater externalities since they play a central role in families and in daily village operations. It is therefore important to investigate the causal effect of RCenR on the health of the acting heads, which remains econometrically underexplored. This study controls for cross-prefecture contiguous-villages group fixed effects and uses the expected once-off government housing subsidy as the instrumental variable to estimate the causal effect of RCenR on the health of acting heads. It is found that RCenR significantly improves acting heads' health through increased income, reduced strenuous agricultural activities, greater use of clean energy and clean water, as well as easier access to local medical services. These findings are important because they can guide developing countries to improve their rural development policies.

The Role of Savings and Income Diversification in Households’ Resilience Strategies: Evidence from Rural Vietnam

Understanding households’ resilience-building strategies is vital for the domains of humanitarian assistance, economic development, and poverty reduction, especially in the places where are vulnerable to shocks. In this study, we offer the first trial that takes into account the correlation between households’ risk attitude and their resilience-building strategies, namely savings as an absorptive capacity and income diversification as an adaptive capacity. We examine the effects of these resilience strategies on reducing the impacts of shocks and poverty. We use a panel data of 1227 identical households for Vietnam in two waves of the Thailand–Vietnam Socio-Economic Panel project to investigate the above issues. We address the endogenous problems of households’ risk attitude, savings, and income diversification. Our results show that more risk-averse households tend to save more and diversify their income portfolios. These precautionary strategies to build up their resilience capacity help prevent them from reducing consumption caused by shocks and from falling into poverty in absolute, relative, and multidimensional measures. We suggest that rural development policies in developing countries should focus on facilitating more income generation and employment opportunities. Furthermore, the development of rural education and infrastructure for information and communication technology should be taken into account of designing poverty reduction programs.

Rationale of Management Principles of Providing Sustainable Development of Rural Territorial Communities

The motivation of the research is to find the answer to why the reform of decentralization of government in Ukraine does not contribute to the sustainable development of the countryside and the peasantry. The objective of the article is to substantiate the managerial principles used to ensure sustainable development of rural territories based on the establishment of a village preservation model of the agrarian system in Ukraine. The article identifies basic features of rural development policy and management using various agrarian system models, in particular, the agricultural holding model, which is currently being implemented in Ukraine, and the village preservation model, which is proposed for implementation in order to preserve and revive rural life in Ukraine. The main achieved results include managerial principles of sustainable rural development in the village preservation model of the agricultural system.

Geographical indications as an untapped opportunity for inner areas. An analysis of geographical indications from Southern Italy

Remote areas have been progressively obtained greater attention within rural development policies. Actually, a tool to foster the economic development of remote areas is valorising those high-quality agri-food products that are characterised by unique features through the use of Geographical Indications. In particular, socioeconomic characteristics and weaknesses might limit GI implementation, especially in remote areas. This work addresses this topic, by considering as a case study Southern Italian regions and their remote areas, as defined by the 2014 Italian National Strategy for Inner Areas. The work considers data on GIs at municipality (i.e., LAU2) level, adopting an empirical strategy based on the hurdle model for count data. Results suggest that geography plays a key role: actually, municipalities in the inner areas show a lower number of GIs compared to non-inner municipalities. Moreover, also social capital seems to play a role, stressing its importance when dealing with the registration of a new GI.