Rural communities such as Stanthorpe on Queensland's Southern Downs, in Australia, are familiar with turbulent environmental, social, technological and economic change and the adversity that frequently accompanies such changes. The capacity of individuals and communities to bounce back from adversity is referred to as resilience. Participation in…

Rural community development is undergoing changing visions, activities, and methodologies. Factors impacting this change include decentralization, budget reduction in the public sector, and globalization and downsizing in the private sector. Community "building" (community-generated change and emphasis on capacities rather than…

Moving rural development program and research information to users summarizes the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) Plan of Work for 1978. One of 4 regional centers set up by the 1972 Rural Development Act, SRDC coordinates cooperation between research and extension at 28 land-grant institutions in 13 states and Puerto Rico which have rural…

Over the last decade, there have been rapid developments in field methodologies within participatory approaches to rural and agricultural development. At the same time, the use of "soft systems" methodologies for bringing potentially conflictual or disparate actors together for action has spread from the business world to other applications. These…

Several of the articles in this document arose out of the International Council for Adult Education's World Assembly held in Bangkok, Thailand, in January 1990. The first article is on the 1989 evaluation of the Hilltribe Development Project, a long-term project undertaken in the north of Thailand. The article briefly describes various aspects of…