The introduction of cash cropping in the Solomon Islands and Tonga has had negative effects on women, leading to deterioration in their status, decreased leisure time, fewer opportunities to earn cash, increased birth rate (to help with the increased workload), and more sharply defined sex roles. (SV)

Presents historical trends toward rural development policy. Describes the agrarian perspective and the industrial and urbanization perspective as current visions which guide policy. Recommends a new vision focusing on "livability for people" and "viability of community systems." (KS)

Describes the work of Rod Soltis in developing interlinked telecommunications networks in all 14 of New York's Appalachian counties. The networks connect to each other, state and federal agencies and networks, schools, social service agencies, hospitals, and museums, and include private partnerships with telephone and cable TV companies. Soltis'…

Evaluation of a project in which Botswanan extension agents used participatory rural appraisal showed that agents can develop attitudes for adopting more participatory approaches, but they are hindered by institutional and contextual constraints, such as government bureaucracy and the political economy. (SK)

Describes an effective process for strategic planning of telecommunications in rural areas that includes a needs assessment and an action plan as well as input from businesses, public agencies, and households. Lists elements of a telecommunications needs assessment. Describes the planning processes used in Northeast Wyoming Economic Development…

This paper focuses on the capacity building of "local partnership" members or leaders as development agents in their Mayan communities. It relates to an education/training process started in 1995 in four different regions of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, which was carried out by Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and academic…

Some actors in the ''mainstream'' agricultural sector are beginning to engage in strategies of influencing public perceptions of farming, responding to public anxieties over industrialised agriculture and to a supposed separation of non-farming publics from food production. This paper focuses on agricultural shows as sites and events central to…

Changes such as the development of large international retail chains, retail concentration, locational changes, technological innovation, new labor practices, and the increasing scale of individual stores, have revolutionized the retail sector. This broad restructuring will have profound impacts in rural America because employment in retail is a…

The Dutch countryside forms the scene for pressing problems of management and allocation of land and water. These problems underscore the need for comprehensive rural policies. For that purpose, area-based rural policy has been initiated. This new policy is part of a larger policy shift, labelled in literature as "new rural governance".…

This paper explores the migration and cultural consumption practices of lesbian households within processes of rural change. Taking forward Phillips' (2004. Progress in Human Geography 28, 5-30) discussion of neglected geographies of rural gentrification, and building upon Halfacree's (2001. International Journal of Population Geography 7,…

This paper considers the importance of information and communication in rural development programs, especially their centrality to building the knowledge, motivation, and skills that lead to behavioral change in health, nutrition, family planning, economic enterprises, and agricultural development. The countries of Thailand and Indonesia, for…

REAL Enterprises (Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning) brings classes in "school-based enterprise" to rural high schools in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Washington State. Jonathan Sher, the founder of REAL Enterprises, believes that children learn better by doing, and that successful rural economic development requires an…

The Partnership for Rural Improvement (PRI) designs and tests methods of creating and strengthening cooperation among providers and between providers and users of rural public services. PRI has defined six types of collaboration (voluntary, involuntary, formal, informal, direct, and indirect) and strives for voluntary collaboration among agencies,…

The article is an account of the experiences of a missionary "enabler" helping with the settlement of families, the development of farming and community activities, and the general improvement of conditions in Nega Nega, Zambia. (Author/MS)

Male and female high school graduates are being enlisted as Educational Corpsmen for a two year period of military training and educational services in rural Iran. (LH)