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Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
7
JER
KUSOED
* Corresponding author.
Email: vinayagum.chinapah@edu.su.se
ISSN: 2091-0118(Print)/2091-2560(Online)
© 2014 JER
Journal of Education and Research
August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 7-23
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jer.v4i2.12384
Good Practices in Pursuit of Sustainable Rural Transformation
Sarit Grinberg Rabinowicz and Vinayagum Chinapah*
Institute of International Education, Stockholm University, Sweden
Abstract
Responding to the world’s instability in the economy, society, and in the
environment, initiatives such as the EFA goals and MDGs acknowledge that the
developing world is in crisis. For the rural people, who are the majority of the poor
worldwide, economic, social, and environmental instability is a daily reality. Rural
people are among the most vulnerable, the most marginalized, and the most
oppressed groups and they make up the majority of the poor in most countries.
With education as a catalyst for transformation, providing the rural people with the
knowledge, skills, and tools they need to improve their lives, and taking into
account the context and reality of rural people, sustainability has to be a part of this
transformation process. Sustainable rural transformation as a holistic perspective
takes into account rural needs, the context, and the process of transformation. This
paper identifies the challenges that rural populations are facing, and argues how the
concept and practice of education for rural transformation should work towards a
sustainable development, envisioning a ‘sustainable rural transformation’. This
paper illustrates and examines the concept of sustainable rural transformation and
why education and good practices are important to promote an equitable sustainable
rural transformation and human well-being.
Keywords: Good practices, rural transformation, sustainable development
Introduction
Responding to the world’s instability in the economy, society, and in the environment,
initiatives such as the Education For All (EFA) goals and Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) acknowledge that the developing world is in crisis. For the rural people, who are
the majority of the poor worldwide, economic, social, and environmental instability is a
daily reality. Poverty remains largely a rural problem and it is estimated that by 2050 the
population of developing countries who will live in rural areas and will depend on the rural
economy will add up to 2.6 billion. Furthermore, rural people are among the most
vulnerable, the most marginalized, and the most oppressed groups, and they make up the
Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
majority of the poor in most countries. They also find it difficult to manage the risks
(natural and human-made) they face and they cannot seize the opportunities that may exist
due to lack of relevant and appropriate education and learning opportunities, be these of
formal, non-formal or informal educational nature and scope. This also means severe
poverty deprives human rights of mankind, whoever, whenever, and wherever we are.
The context of rural populations illustrates the current crisis, and demands us to
re-address the world´s increasing inequity, poverty and widening human development gap
through access to relevant, equitable and effective education of the rural population.
Although resources and services are typically scarcer in rural areas, education has taken
new forms, referred to as non-formal and informal education. By means of these
approaches, practices of education for rural transformation (ERT) can contribute to the
wellbeing of the rural people in addressing food security, health, employment, gender
inequality, protection of the environment, and the management of rural resources by
building skills, knowledge and empowerment to make a change in their lives and in the
community, with the long term goal of achieving equity, inclusion, sustainability, and
economic growth for all.
ERT requires good practices that highlight successful cases and are measured to be
‘good’ through indicators and set frameworks. These practices must also be sustainable and
should be envisioned as a pursuit towards sustainable rural transformation, reminding us
that rural transformation needs to account for all the components and values that
sustainability stands for, without which the transformation that rural people desperately
need cannot occur.
This paper starts from identifying the challenges that rural populations are facing to
defining the concept of sustainable rural transformation and the role of education in it.
It continues by identifying and describing the indicators of good practice, and finally, to
describing what good practices for education for sustainable rural transformation require.
This paper illustrates and examines the concept of sustainable rural transformation and
good practices and explains why education and good practices are important to promote an
equitable sustainable rural transformation and human well-being. Additionally, the example
of the Lake Tana Project in Ethiopia as a good practice further illustrates the potential for
sustainable rural transformation.
Rural Populations in Context and Crisis
The World Bank (2013) refers to a rural population as “people living in rural areas…
calculated as the difference between total population and urban population” (para. 1). By
definition, rural areas are determined by their small population size. While the livelihoods
of the rural poor are diverse across regions and countries, and within countries (Department
for International Development [DFID], 2011), the context of rural areas and populations
have much in common due to the characteristics they share that separate them from the rest.
Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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The staggering changes in the world economy, the fast pace of globalization, increasing
population growth and the world’s escalating resource consumption have magnified the
level of inequality between and within nations (Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development [OECD], 2012); the 1.2 billion poorest people today account for 1% of
the world’s consumption while the richest consume 72% of the world’s resources, attesting
to the claim that the global utilization of resources and their related impacts have already
surpassed sustainable levels under which humanity can operate (United Nations [UN],
2013; United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 2014). This has therefore
intensified the barriers to meet basic food, shelter, health and sanitation needs, for many
of the world’s human inhabitants, a concern expressed by the Programme of Action of the
World Summit for Social Development (see UN, 1995). Unequal distribution of wealth,
resources, and power directly impacts the lives of the poor; the situations of ‘chronic
poverty’ or the ‘chronically poor’, described as “poor people who have lived during a long
period of their lives below the poverty line”, are usually defined by structural and social
inequalities influenced by multiple discriminations (Ortiz, Moreira Daniels, &
Engilbertsdóttir, 2012, p. 49). Further, ‘chronic poverty’, and poverty in general, is mainly
a rural phenomenon that needs to be urgently addressed.
The Human Development Index (HDI) and the Ecological Footprint confirm that rural
regions and developing countries are far behind in the scope of human, social, and
environmental development. Yet, these challenges are becoming widespread, affecting
regions worldwide. According to the Living Planet Report (2012), humans are using fifty
percent more resources than the Earth can provide, and unless we adopt radical changes, by
2030, even two planets will not be enough to sustain our life on this planet. The Earth’s
ecological footprint is currently at an ecological overshoot, taking one and a half years for
the Earth to fully generate the renewable resources that people are using in a single year
(World Wide Fund for Nature [WWF], 2012). Although high income and developed
countries are using up the most natural resources and have the highest ecological footprints,
“the world’s poorest people feel the impact of environmental degradation most directly…
without access to land, clean water, adequate food, fuel and materials, vulnerable people
cannot break out of the poverty trap and prosper” (WWF, 2012, p. 11). Thus, the context of
the rural poor is verified to be in a critical condition, facing challenges of economic,
environmental, and social sustainability. These three dimensions of sustainable
development must be integrated. One cannot be sustainable without the sustainability of the
other, and we cannot have holistic sustainable development without responding to all three,
in balance. According to a UN report, the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the
Post-2015 Development Agenda, this integration has not been achieved by any country. The
panel therefore argues that “the moment is right to merge the social, economic, and
environmental dimensions of sustainability guiding international development” (2013, p. 5).
Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
Economic Sustainability
Within the reality of our present world, rural populations are in crisis. With a world
population of just over 7 billion, almost fifty percent (47.4%) of the world’s population
lives in rural areas (World Bank, 2013); rural people make up the majority of the world’s
poor (at least 70%) and 34% of the total population of developing countries is classified as
‘extremely poor’ with South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa being the regions worst affected
by poverty and hunger (International Fund for Agricultural Development [IFAD], 2010),
and have the highest rural populations. Despite considerable progress made in reducing
poverty in some parts of the world, there are still about 1.4 billion people living on less than
US$1.25 a day, and almost 1 billion people suffering from hunger (DFID, 2011).
Social Sustainability
War and inequalities exist within and between countries. There are currently twenty
one countries that have experienced armed conflict since 2000 and many others where
criminal violence is common, claiming 7.9 million lives each year (UN, 2013). Gender
disparity is also a key issue in the discourse on social sustainability in rural areas. In rural
areas, young women are more disadvantaged than young men. The gender gap is most
evident in education, where women living in rural poverty face this disadvantage in the
early years of schooling. Girls continue to face high barriers to schooling in North Africa,
Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Asia. In many countries they are still being denied their
right to education, particularly at the primary and secondary level (United Nations
Development Programme [UNDP], 2011a). Women and girls also face abuse and violence;
depending on the country, from 40 to 80% of women are victims of different forms of
violence (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO],
2010). Inequalities are especially unjust when particular groups are systematically disad-
vantaged, whether it be because of gender, disabilities, race or birthplace.
Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability was the topic of discourse long before the concept of
‘sustainable development’ was formed. Two declarations signify major achievements that
provided grounding for sustainable development; the Declaration of the United Nations
Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), and the Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992). In an agenda to eradicate poverty,
hunger and disease, the United Nations commissioned the MDGs, with goal number seven
set to ‘ensure environmental sustainability’. It is integral to discuss environmental
sustainability in the context of rural transformation when we are acknowledging the
environmental reality of rural populations; there are 1 billion people who are slum dwellers,
lacking clean water and sanitation; every year 2 million people globally die prematurely
due to indoor and outdoor air pollution; and 1.6 billion people are without access to
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Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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modern energy (UN, 2010). The 2011 Human Development Report had warned, according
to a UNDP (2011b) article that ‘environmental trends threaten progress for the poor,’
explaining that health and income advancement in developing countries are jeopardized
by the failure to act on climate change and habitat destruction, and that wealth and gender
disparities are linked to environmental hazards. Yet another reason for rural transformation
to be concerned with the environment is that agriculture is the predominant source of
livelihood for the rural people. According to UNESCO-INRULED (2012), agriculture will
continue to play a central role in tackling the problem of food insecurity, and is the primary
means for the poor to earn an income and to have adequate access to food. However, due to
scarcer natural resources, energy shortages and climate change, agricultural production is
becoming more problematic.
Rural Transformation and Sustainable Development
Rural transformation as a concept and practice is used to convey a vision of an active
and positive process of change and development of rural communities (UNESCO-
INRULED, 2012). Transformation does not mean only changing the outcome, but changing
the context. Ginsburg, Moseley, and Pigozzi (2010) argue that in the process of
transformation, education and learning need to be altered in order to effectively contribute
to economic, political, and social/cultural transformation of local, national, and global
communities.
Agoal of rural transformation is to empower people and communities and to advance
their agency. According to Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, focusing on what
individuals are able to do, human beings are at the centre of the development process. The
Capability Approach is an important outlook on human development as it refers to
empowerment and agency, and increasing a group’s or individual’s capacity to make
effective choices which will then transform into desired actions and outcomes (Alsop et al.,
2006, cited in Tiwari & Ibrahim, 2012). The latter explains that only by enhancing one’s
capacity and capability, can one be empowered and act as agents, free to make their own
choices.
Moreover, the concept of sustainable development is defined in the UN document Our
Common Future as “meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987). Within the rural
context, in developing countries in particular, there are too many needs that are not met;
a challenge then, is for rural people to think about sustainability as part of the future even
though they are desperate to fulfill their needs of the present. The concept of
sustainable development can also be defined as a requirement to “meeting the basic needs
of all and extending to all the opportunity to fulfill their aspirations for a better life”
(Brundtland, 1987, p. 25) According to Tiwari and Ibrahim (2012), development that is
sustainable has to address the problem of the large number of people who live in absolute
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
poverty and who are unable to satisfy even the most basic of their needs, otherwise there is
no sustainable development.
Taking the rural context into focus, in order for rural transformation to be successful, it
needs to be sustainable. Sustainable rural transformation is a holistic perspective, bringing
the concept of (education for) sustainable development and rural transformation together.
The objectives of these two concepts are aligned and have much in common, but most
importantly, they both set to improve the livelihood of rural people.
In order to understand what sustainable rural transformation entails, it is worthwhile to
identify the values and underlying assumptions that the international perspective of
sustainability carries:
·a healthy environment is essential for sustainable development;
·sustainability is a global goal for the betterment of both humanity and the planet;
·sustainability should be achieved through democratic processes;
·sustainability depends on peace, justice, and equity;
·the individual has basic human rights;
·no nation or people should prosper through the explicit impoverishment of another
nation;
·diversity, both biological and cultural, is intrinsically valuable;
·development is to be human-centred (i.e., for the betterment of humanity as a whole
as opposed to empowerment of a few); and
·intergenerational respect and responsibility will safeguard the rights of future
generations. (Hopkins & McKeown, 2002)
The above values and underlying assumptions of sustainable development and
sustainability identify closely with the values and requirements of rural transformation:
participation and community practices (democratic processes), gender equality (equity),
basic services and needs such as healthcare and education (basic human rights), poverty
alleviation (no nation should prosper through the impoverishment of another), inclusion
(diversity), skills and training for improved agricultural practices and awareness of health
issues and natural disasters (a healthy environment).
The Human Development Report 2011 argues that sustainability must be approached
as matter of basic social justice, for current and future generations alike (UNDP, 2011a).
Sustainability signifies that economic, social, cultural and environmental components of
sustainable development must be integrated (UNESCO-UNECE, 2007). The world has seen
drastic consequences when one component is ignored or is sacrificed for the other. A
significant example is that of developing countries and their race for economic growth
(catching up with developed countries in terms of per capita income) in the start of the
twenty-first century. This ‘catching up’ phenomenon saw increase in production, exports
and national income in developing countries, but from an ecological perspective, this
economic growth has caused serious environmental degradation and increase in carbon
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Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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emissions, to name a few, and these continued growth patterns, as the OECD (2012) argues,
are not sustainable, in terms of environment and equity. In many cases, it has been clear that
growth has been accompanied by increased inequality. Thus, it is necessary for sustainable
rural transformation to be equitable. Finding resilient solutions for environmental
challenges while also promoting equity and human development must take place in the
process of rural transformation, as progress in human development cannot continue
without reducing environmental risks and inequality (UNDP, 2011). Figure 2 below
illustrates the point, as practices that reach the greatest level of equity and sustainability
(mutually reinforcing), allow for human capabilities to be supported equitably and
sustainably. For example, we cannot disregard gender inequality (social sustainability) in
order to increase environmental sustainability, and vice versa.
Figure 2.Sustainability and equity in practices (UNDP, 2011a).
Education for SustainableRural Transformation
Education in all its forms (formal, non-formal, informal) has gained recognition
worldwide as a basic human right and as an instrument used to bring about a transformation
in rural people with a vision of improved livelihood, raised self-confidence, and improved
values and attitudes which will ensure them a development that is sustainable and increased
participation in social and economic change (Chinapah, 2011; Chinapah & Blom, 2012).
Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen has, in his essay in the book “Poverty and Inequality,”
cogently argued that education, in all its types and forms, can provide tremendous
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
opportunities for change and development for rural people (Sen, 2006). The role of
education has therefore to be brought into sharper focus not just in its instrumental role in
alleviating poverty, but also as a core constituent of development and human wellbeing.
Education and learning should serve as major avenues for equitable sustainable
development with an aim of confronting growing concerns such as poverty, gender
inequality, food security, health, employment, protection of the environment, and the
management of rural resources by building skills, knowledge and empowerment to make a
change in their lives and in the community, with the long term goal of achieving equity,
inclusion, sustainability, and economic growth for all. In fact, education’s unique power as
a catalyst for wider development goals can only be fully realized if it is equitable
(UNESCO, 2012). Yet, as education proves to be a necessary catalyst for change, research
shows that education is not reaching the poorest and most marginalized people. According
to UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) data, in 2011 there were approximately 57
million out-of-school children of primary school age, with highest numbers in South and
West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (UIS, 2013). There are 900 million people living on less
than US $1.25 per day, and the majority of them, living in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, India
and China, are socially and educationally excluded (UNESCO-INRULED, 2012).
Seeing as agriculture is an important source of livelihood for rural people and has the
greatest potential in alleviating rural poverty in developing countries, The Rural Poverty
Report 2011 reveals that the agricultural sector has received little attention in order to make
it effective in reducing poverty (IFAD, 2010). This is disturbing news considering the trend
of urbanization and changing demography as urbanization demands destruction of nature
and the reduction of arable land. Along with climate change, these challenges affect mostly
the rural poor, as they are the greatest sufferers of environmental degradation (UNESCO-
INRULED, 2012). Moreover, these challenges as well as keeping pace with the chang-
ing global population (demand for agricultural products is growing) requires more skills,
knowledge, and innovation to rethink and apply new strategies, and to adopt new
technologies. The 2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report emphasized education as the
ladder to build up young people with effective and practical knowledge, “giving them
opportunities to find decent work, earn a living, contribute to their communities and
societies, and fulfill their potential” (UNESCO, 2012, p.3). Education, skills and training
are the most hopeful instruments to aid in alleviating rural poverty and provide the tools
that rural people need to strengthen sustainability to survive.
New strategies have been implemented in order to provide the learning of skills and
knowledge in rural regions as quality of education and technical and vocational training
opportunities for rural youth and women have been taken as the pathway to create a skilled
labor force, who can prepare themselves to combat poverty and find sufficient employment.
This requires that education and learning move outside of the traditional and formal
education methods, and implement new ways of learning and teaching. Education for rural
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Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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transformation thus requires moving away from the ‘schooling perspective’ towards the
‘learning perspective’ (Chinapah & Blom, 2013). The instrumental use of education and
learning has been modified into formal, non-formal and informal practices that can help
rural people build capacity, raise self-confidence and increase agency. Each system is
practical for a particular population and context. For many marginalized and oppressed
rural populations, non-formal and informal educations are the dominant systems that exist
in their communities. Both are important in the process of lifelong learning.
Education and learning are thus necessary instruments in good practice, enabling people
to gain the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to improve and transform their lives.
Those who do not have the opportunities for formal education can enhance their capabilities
through non-formal learning and training, such as apprenticeships and farm-based training
or informal education. Thus, any kind of education that can bring sustainability in the lives
of rural people is crucial to bring rural transformation.
Identifying Good Practices
Although there is no one definition of good practice, the FAO (2013) includes the
elemental characteristics in its definition:
Agood practice is not only a practice that is good, but a practice that has been proven
to work well and produce good results, and is therefore recommended as a model. It is
a successful experience, which has been tested and validated, in the broad sense, which
has been repeated and deserves to be shared so that a greater number of people can
adopt it. (p. 1)
Cases of good practices have managed the risks and reduced errors in order to advance
rural growth strategies. In order for these errors to be reduced, rural communities tend to
adopt development or transformative strategies that are already implemented elsewhere
proven to be reliable, effective and cost efficient (Paveliuc-Olariu, 2009). These cases and
strategies can be improved through identifying, communicating and facilitating the transfer
of practices that appear to be working successfully elsewhere and have demonstrated to be
more successful compared to formulating abstract ideas of the ideal approach. Accordingly,
this approach of good practice research necessitates that cases be studied carefully, while
identifying and communicating “what works” and identify specific ways to attain them.
Furthermore, it is important to identify what conditions are present that contribute to
making a practice successful in one location, sometimes referred to as the ‘source site’, so
that it can be replicated in another location, referred to as the ‘target site’ (Veselý, 2011).
Veselý (2011) describes good practice as it specifically relates to transformation as
follows:
·Good practices are innovative and create opportunities to introduce new procedures
and approaches.
·Good practices are associated with successful projects.
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
·Good practice can be turned into new practices, where it includes elements needed
in problem solving, which can be transformed to suit different contexts.
It is important to identify good practices that can properly address the needs of rural
people. Yet at present, all efforts or practices to bring about rural transformation in the
poorest countries are not effective enough to leave sustainable impact on rural life. Still,
there have been remarkable initiatives that have embarked on many of the challenges that
rural people are living with (see examples in the following section). These initiatives or
good practices have the potential to achieve sustainable rural transformation.
While most studies can identify and describe successful practices, the final step of
analyzing practices in terms of their replicability appears to be lacking in many studies of
“good practice”. In the critique of transferability and replicability, the context is an
important issue. Copying a practice from one context and applying it to another is
inefficient and counterproductive. Each context is unique and deserves isolated analysis,
and should be the basis of creating a framework/strategy/action plan of the practices and
activities. As there may be many factors that affect the success of a particular practice in
one location (e.g. contextual factors such as social capital), it is very important to identify
all possible factors that contribute to the success of a practice in one location that may or
may not be transferable to a target site. Thus, indicators of a good practice can be highly
specific and dependent on contextual factors.
Good Practices in Education for Sustainable Development and Rural Transformation
Practices which are effective in improving and changing society and quality of life and
which are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable are defined as ‘good
practices’ (Chinapah & Blom, 2012). In any initiatives for rural transformation and as a
criterion, a ‘good practice’ must consider whether the practice is environmentally,
economically and socially sustainable; “A ‘good practice’ meets current needs, in
particular the essential needs of the world’s poorest, without compromising the ability to
address future needs” (FAO, 2014). A good practice, in addition, must meet the criterion
that: equity and sustainability be mutually reinforcing, while supporting human capabilities;
the transformative process of rural life and people to be in the path towards empowerment
and agency; and ultimately, to overcome poverty and improve the quality of life and envi-
ronment.
Sustainability is a major indicator for good practices in ERT, as indicated in the
UNESCO document, Good Practices for Education for Sustainable Development in the
UNECE Region. The descriptions that follow can be considered equally applicable to
ERT. According to UNESCO-UNECE (2007), good practices in Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) “are initiatives… that demonstrate good practice, generate ideas and
contribute to policy development” (p. 187) and do the following:
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Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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1. Focus on the educational and learning dimensions of sustainable development
2. Develop new and creative solutions to common problems, such as: ways to discover
what the key local issues of sustainable development are; ways to adapt processes to
relevant teaching and learning strategies; ways of fostering links between learning
situations and the community; ways of integrating local knowledge and culture
curriculum development processes enabling content to be decided as locally relevant
3. Make a difference. They demonstrate a positive and tangible impact on the living
conditions, quality of life of the individuals, groups or communities concerned. They
seek to bridge gaps between different societal actors/sectors and are inclusive, in order
to allow new partners to join the implementing agents/bodies.
4. Have a sustainable effect. They contribute to sustained improvement of living
conditions. They must integrate economic, social, cultural and environmental
components of sustainable development and reflect their interaction/interdependency in
their design and implementations.
5. Have the potential for replication. They provide effective methodologies for
transdisciplinary and multi-sectoral cooperation. They serve as models for generating
policies and initiatives elsewhere.
6. Offer some elements of evaluation. They have been and can be evaluated in terms of the
criteria of innovation, success and sustainability by both experts and the people
concerned.
Furthermore, good practice in sustainable rural transformation, according to Csaki
(2001), should include the following elements:
·Multi-disciplinary and pluralist approaches to address poverty and social and gender
equity objectives.
·Integrated approaches – integrating hardware (infrastructure and agricultural
technologies) with software (institutions and capacity-building).
·Solutions that are based on community participation and empowerment,
strengthening rural governance
·Replicability (scalability) needs to be a design objective.
More specifically, good practices in ESD should meet the following criteria:
·Be locally appropriate, contextually sensitive
·Involve the community
·Involve different stakeholders
·Include appropriate skills and learning
·Empower and advance agency
·Respect all life forms
·Create opportunities
·Promote gender equality
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
·Stress the need for social and human development along with economic and
environmental development
·Recognize the critical importance of sustainable livelihoods
·Sustain the environment and natural resources
·Identify skills and learning as critical to achieving transformation and sustainable
livelihoods
·Aim to create sustainable transformation that will be shared to one another and to
generations to come. (Horton, 2005; UNESCO-INRULED, 2012; Csaki, 2001)
On the basis of the above definitions and criteria, it can be surmised that existing good
practices have the potential to exemplify sustainable rural transformation. As long as
strategies and frameworks troubleshoot the problems of the particular context and create
practices that address sustainability and rural challenges, as well as include the elements
above, there will be greater possibilities for transformation and resilience.
Below is an example of a good practice that has been identified as a successful case that
reaches towards sustainable practices and has enabled rural transformation. This practice
has aimed to improve environmental, social and economic sustainability of rural people.
Community-Based Integrated Natural Resources Management Project, Ethiopia
The Community-based Integrated Natural Resources Management Project in Lake Tana
Watershed, Ethiopia, led by IFAD, is a seven year project aimed to combat land degradation
in the watershed to protect and restore ecosystems and their essential services – a key to
reducing poverty. Lake Tana is important in economic and ecological terms, and it is
renowned for its biodiversity. The project’s objectives are to enhance the access of poor
rural people to natural resources such as land and water, and to introduce improved
technologies for agricultural production, mainly through sustainable land management.
Context
Ethiopia is one of the world’s poorest countries, with nearly half of the population
living under the poverty line, and more than 12 million people are chronically or
periodically food insecure. Moreover, degradation of natural resources is a crucial issue in
Ethiopia. The country loses some 2 billion tons of fertile soil annually as a result of land
degradation. In particular, siltation of water bodies is a major threat to the development
of irrigation. Although 90% of the area’s rapidly growing population of over 2.5 million
depends on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods, agricultural performance has
improved only a little over the past fifty years and food security has deteriorated – direct
results of the ongoing degradation of natural resources.
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Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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The project benefits:
·To benefit 450,000 households (through improved incomes and food security)
·Establishes and strengthens community based organizations
·Trains community members
·Using participatory approaches, project involves communities in the decision-
making processes as to empower them, and builds on indigenous knowledge and
institutions to promote sustainable land management, enhances collective action.
·Promotes off-farm employment opportunities
·Encourages farmers to invest in land improvement
·Promotes income-generating activities for the poorest members
·Empowers women to have a stake in conservation
·Objectives:
·Support implementation of about 650 watershed management plans
·Restore the productivity of a large area of degraded land (more than 32,000 hectares)
·Increase the productivity of agriculture, including forests and fisheries
·Improve food security and the incomes of people living within the Lake Tana
watershed
·To increase carbon sequestration
·To foster an enabling environment for integrating sustainable land management best
practices into regional policies, strategies and development programmes. (IFAD,
2009; 2013)
Good Practice of Sustainable Rural Transformation
The elements of the Lake Tana Watershed project (see Box 1) reflect many of the
components described of a good practice for sustainable rural transformation, namely:
Solutions that are based on community participation and empowerment,
strengthening rural governance. The project places significance to the contextual and
participatory/community-based approach, with commitment to community capacity
building. Local communities are actively involved in planning the project and will take the
lead role in a wide variety of activities.
Models for generating policies and initiatives elsewhere. The project aims to foster
an enabling environment for integrating sustainable land management best practices into
regional policies, strategies and development programmes. According to UNESCO-
UNECE (2007), good practices have great potential for replication, which can in turn serve
as models for developing policies and practices in other locations. The project intends to
document and promote traditional and recent local innovations for replication throughout
the region.
Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
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S. G. Rabinowicz and V.Chinapah
Sustain the environment and natural resources. The project aims to restore
ecological balance in this globally significant ecosystem. Conserving, protecting and
rehabilitating the natural resource base will result in invaluable long-term benefits.
Identify skills and learning as critical to achieving transformation and sustainable
livelihoods. The project provides training at individual, community and government levels
to help people gain the skills and knowledge they need to practice improved sustainable
land management.
An aim most critical for sustainable rural transformation is to achieve sustainable
livelihoods by meeting the needs for social and human development along with economic
and environmental development. The Lake Tana Watershed Project has shown to be
successful (see IFAD 2009; 2013) in integrating socio-economic and ecological issues, thus
heightening the tension between livelihood and conservation aims; the effort to bridge
productivity enhancement, environmental protection, and social well-being. Thus, such a
good practice exemplifies the mutually reinforcing relationship between sustainability and
equity (as described earlier).
According to German, Mowo, and Opondo (2012), integrated natural resources
management initiatives are successful in that they consist elements, such as Integration,
Participation,Collective Action, and Institutional Innovations, which enable the
involvement of different stakeholders, community participation and decision-making, and
innovative practices that will generate new policies and replicability. The Lake Tana
Watershed Project is comprised of these elements, which drive to transform rural
communities by empowering communities through community-based approaches and
training at community level. Education and training, whether organizational or technical,
should be seen as an integral component in rural initiatives in order for real transformation
to take place. With an aim to empower communities and individuals as well as to encourage
capacity building, initiatives with successful training programmes increase the chance for
transformation that is resilient.
Conclusion
This paper has identified rural challenges and accordingly underscored the need to
emphasize the concept of sustainable development and sustainability within the framework
of education for rural transformation. The facts reveal that we are living outside the
capacity limits of our planet, and this is evident by the detrimental effects of environmental
degradation and the lack of resources, particularly for the rural poor as they are most
directly affected. This reality demands researchers, governments, NGO’s, and community
leaders to reflect on the practices that are currently being planned and implemented to
understand if they are truly addressing the needs of the rural poor and their context, and if
they are sustainable.
Journal of Education and Research, August 2014, Vol. 4, No. 2
Good Practices in Pursuit of Rural Transformation
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Sustainability is approached as a matter of basic social justice and equity. In order for
practices to be equitable they must work towards the goals of sustainable development.
Sustainable transformation as an active and positive process of change and development
can be possible with education, a basic human right, as the catalyst to such a change. }
Transformation through education can empower and advance agency, and create
opportunities that may break the poverty cycle and improve the quality of life. In order for
this to be possible, practices for rural transformation need to be contextual, and they require
indicators and elements that can be used to identify good practices. The elements of what
makes a good practice are described in this paper, with the example of the Lake Tana
Project in Ethiopia, which exhibits an initiative towards sustainable rural transformation
that can improve the life of rural people, their environment, and enhance resilience. The
example of the Lake Tana Project has further demonstrated the potential for rural
communities to participate in their own transformative process. Such good practices show
the immense potential for sustainable rural transformation and for the replicability of such
practices.
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