Purpose: To reflect on the opportunities that a systems understanding of innovation provides for addressing gender issues relevant to women, and to provide some insight on how these might be tackled. Approach: Review of literature relating to gender issues and how they relate to achieving, on the one hand, equity and efficiency goals, and on the…

Political power tends to overlap with economic power, thus favoring those with access to land, livestock, capital, and other productive resources; in virtually all societies women have fewer of those productive resources than men, which reflects and explains women's limited political power. Growing documentation indicates that men…

Non-Formal Education (NFE) is traditionally defined as any organizational activity outside the established formal education system. In India two major types of NFE exist. The first type is literacy courses, available for students of any age; these are taught in the evenings. The second type is vocational training, which often takes place during…

Discusses rural poverty in Bangladesh and describes the creation of the Grameen Bank, which combines business with social engineering. The rapid diffusion of the bank both within and outside Bangladesh is described; interpersonal strategies used in communicating its programs, especially to women, are explained; and the socioeconomic impact in…

More than 500 million women live in the rural regions of Third World countries and all are illiterate. This book is intended to give these women a face and a voice. The book contains eight chapters and a list of further readings. Chapter 1, "How is illiteracy defined?", views a literate woman as one "who possesses sufficient…

As the traditional water carriers and water managers, third world women are crucial to the success of rural water supply projects whose short term goal is increased water quality and quantity and whose long term goal is improved family health. Change depends on the utilization of local learning systems of the society and women are most often the…

In much of the nonindustrialized world, women are the main providers of water, fuel, food, and other basic necessities, and thus often play the part of environmental managers. Because they are more directly connected to the environment, women are the most directly affected by environmental degradation, yet rarely have women been heard in…

Based on a survey of written sources and perspectives of knowledgeable individuals, the report provides information on women's economic roles in Cameroon, and on aspects of social life which effect their economic performance. A description of the importance of traditional social systems and their evolution over the last 30 years follows a brief…

There has been growing recognition of the actual and potential contributions of women to the achievement of national development plans; in fact, national goals will not be met unless women become full participants in the process of social and economic development. Some attention has been focused on the potential of women's groups and indigenous…

Volume 3 of a five-volume portfolio of studies reflecting different facets of the concept of education for rural development contains three studies on health and nutrition. The first study, "Health Education in Rural Development," by K. D. Ariyadasa (Sri Lanka), discusses the role of education in the transmission of health and integrated…

Although women are a crucial element in national rural development, their role continues to be neglected in plans and programs for change--especially in Third World countries. In addition to the burden faced by rural people generally in developing countries, women carry a double burden because of their low social status, high illiteracy rate, lack…

This journal contains a series of articles dealing with the theme of development in Asia and rural Indonesia. Included in the journal are the following articles: "Nonformal Education in Rural Areas of Developing Countries," by members of the Rural Project Team from the Centre for Continuing Education at Australian National University;…