Agriculture & Rural Development

Start Date: 2023-03-15 End Date: 2023-03-19

Scheduled Dates:

   15-19 May 2023

   20-24 November 2023

Venue:                    Windhoek, Namibia

Duration:                5 days

Course Fee:           USD 1850.00

Course Description

Most of the world’s poor still live in rural areas, and whilst poverty in the world’s growing cities is a major problem, a large proportion of the urban poor are migrants from rural areas. Rural development is about progress and change in the rural areas of developing countries. It is concerned with the factors that affect rural change, how we define progress, and what can be done to bring about the overriding objective of rural development, which is to reduce, and eventually eliminate, rural poverty.

Sustainable rural development is vital to the economic, social and environmental viability of nations. Rural livelihoods are enhanced through effective participation of rural people and rural communities in the management of their own social, economic and environmental objectives by empowering people in rural areas, particularly women and youth, including through organizations such as local cooperatives and by applying the bottom-up approach. The success of sustainable rural development depends on, inter alia, developing and implementing comprehensive strategies for dealing with climate change, drought, desertification and natural disaster.

The Aims of the Course

The course aims to:

• Provide a holistic view (broad perspective) on different issues related to rural livelihood/development/policy [from poverty to prosperity].
• Develop an understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture and its related impact on food security in rural communities.

Course Objectives

By the end of this training, delegates should be able to:

• Explain and critically review current debates in rural development regarding rural livelihoods and the respective roles of markets, the state, institutions, property rights, agriculture and the rural non-farm economy.
• Design and implement strategies for sustainable rural growth
• Demonstrate an understanding of implementation of Land Reforms
• Critically evaluate past and existing attempts to supply rural services, such as infrastructure, finance, research and extension, health and education.
• Analyse critically alternative rural development policies in terms of their potential impact on rural poverty, equity and economic growth, taking account of different regional and geographical circumstances.
• Outline and evaluate different approaches to the management of land and water resources and their potential impact on rural development goals.

Target Group

• Donor organisations,
• Policy makers,
• Development practitioners and researchers with
• An interest in sustainable agricultural and rural livelihoods
• Development, and training for rural development.
• Project managers

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