Examines two small-scale projects being implemented in northeast Thailand that illustrate how participatory strategies are being used successfully to meet basic rural development needs. (JOW)

A study was conducted to determine whether the tenets of rural social work were applicable only to the developing countries or whether they were also meaningful in the context of other industrial nations of the West. (CT)

Discusses elements of an implementation methodology for the removal of poverty in India. Includes background, methodology, aggregation of demands, economics of the strategy, complementary activities and infrastructure, mechanics of implementation, and monitoring. (CT)

Muintir na Tire was founded in 1931 as a cooperative society for rural development in Ireland. From 1937-70, it shifted to a vocationalist mode; 1970 to the present focused on restructuring the movement. Currently, it needs to press for its share of available funding for community development. (SK)

Explores the causes of the demise of community development and shows how a community development department could become the major agency for social and economic development. (JOW)

Discusses the importance of communication in rural social development. People-centered development planning looks at the creative initiative of people as the primary resource and their materials and welfare as the end. (JOW)

Development agents need to examine their assumptions, motivations, neutrality, and terminology, which is often imprecise and misleading. The combined cooperativist and constructivist approach has proved successful in overcoming these problems. (SK)

In India development strategy is shifting toward recognition of the importance of initiative and the role of nongovernmental organizations. Revival of communitarianism (community volunteer action) is playing a major role in improvement of the rural environment. (SK)

Examines the perspectives and dimensions of social change and community development in rural United States. Argues that the causes of poverty must be reconceptualized, and emphasis placed on long-range institutionalized programs of community services, training, and citizen participation. (SK)

In Peru, the Social Compensation Fund uses various strategies for fighting rural poverty: linking social investment to other development strategies, considering poverty indicators in determining project priorities, developing a productive infrastructure, and involving local institutions in solutions. (SK)

Introduction of cereal mills in Gambian villages affected the lives of women and their communities in terms of women's access to the technology, the time and energy it saves, its sustainability, and their level of control. The energy saved enabled greater participation in the community, but they were still constrained by illiteracy and poverty.…

Discusses the concepts of agricultural education, women empowerment, and sustainable rural development. Suggests that, because women make up more than half of Nigeria's population, their empowerment would assist the efforts for sustainable rural development. (Contains 48 references.) (JOW)

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)

Although the content model based on behaviorism and the process model based on humanism can both be used in training, a case study of training rural development workers in Thailand shows advantages of the process model. The model is based on similar principles to rural development and on adult learning principles. (SK)