The author examines the relevance of the monitoring and evaluation literature and practice to the issue of how to understand and to monitor and evaluate nonmaterial or nonproductive objectives of rural development. He discusses an alternative monitoring and evaluation approach that will resolve this issue. (CH)

An essential component of community-based rural development is the leadership and problem-solving abilities of local people. The Colorado Rural Revitalization Project--a joint venture of two universities and a state agency--provided educational, consultative, and technical assistance services for a 1-year capacity-building program in 47…

Vocational and technical training programs for less developed countries offer little in the way of training the intermediate cadres, technicians, and village level workers necessary for modernizing the primary sector on which developing economies depend. Training is vital because it secures cost reduction and maximum use of organization, enables…

Since the start of the second Five Year Plan (1969-74) in Tanzania, the national focus has been on developing and extending adult education (largely literacy) in general, and rural programs in particular. Systematic program evaluation is needed so that scarce human and financial resources can be used effectively without needless duplication of…

Describes the findings of a Florida State University evaluation of Colombia's Accion Cultural Popular (ACPO) program for nonformal adult education. ACPO promotes rural development and literacy through educational radio broadcasts which are linked to local monitors, textbooks, a weekly newspaper, and other support services. (AM)

Based on field work in rural areas of Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran in 1973-74, an examination of the nature of rural cultural houses in Iran was undertaken. Set up by royal decree in 1968, the rural cultural houses have had as their objective to assist peasantry in general and rural youth in particular to achieve a socially enriched…

An evaluation of four experimental programs designed to stimulate participation of agricultural and rural leaders in public affairs assessed the effectiveness of leadership training on young men and women in California, Michigan, Montana, and Pennsylvania. Varying from two to three years in length, the programs emphasized the analysis of major…

These proceedings contain 17 papers presented at a seminar to identify and evaluate research studies conducted in the past with a view to providing guidance and ready reference for those who wish to conduct research in the future. A summary of recommendations appears first. Issues, researchable questions, and suggestions are made in three areas:…

This report describes the cooperative extension system and evaluates the consequences of its educational programs. An executive summary provides an overview of the contents: background, highlights of findings related to consequences, interpretations, and implications for the future. Following an introduction, chapter 2 discusses extension in terms…

This report presents findings from an evaluation of 84 educational projects funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) during the 1990's. Data were collected via document reviews, interviews, a mail survey completed by 78 projects, and eight site visits. Most projects provided services to rural areas or community segments most in need.…

The 3-year Citizen Leadership Program was designed to develop citizen-directed planning in Wisconsin. The first year focused on citizen involvement in land use planning; the second year, on community goal setting; and the third year, on community development projects. A representative group of 30 citizens participated in the program's workshops…

The Third World countries of Botswana and Tanzania have used Radio Learning Group (RLG) campaigns effectively to get a limited amount of important information to a very large group of people at the same time. During campaigns voluntary participants organized in groups of 5-20 meet twice a week for about 5 weeks to listen to radio broadcasts about…

A four-section annotated bibliography is comprised of sources for information on evaluation intended for non-formal education (NFE) participants. Several themes and issues stand out in the documents cited: (1) the difficulty of isolating impacts and attributing them to a specific educational project; (2) the question of qualitative (focussing on…

This book documents the experiences that were gathered in project DELSILIFE, Development of a Coordinated Educational Intervention System for Improving the Quality of Life of the Rural Poor through Self-Reliance. The project was carried out by the Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (INNOTECH) for the South-East Asian…