Rural development

Increasingly rural tourism, niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers.

[23][24] Because decentralization policies made development problems the responsibility of local governments, it also opened the door for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and other foreign actors to become more involved in the approach to these issues.

Within Africa, NGOs carry out the majority of sustainable building and construction through donor-funded, low-income housing projects.

[26] Furthermore, they are often faulted for being easily controlled by donor money and oriented to serve the needs of local elites above the rest of the population.

[28] Many scholars argue that NGOs are an insufficient solution to a lack of development leadership as a result of decentralization policies.

Human rights expert Susan Dicklitch points to the historical context of colonialism, organization-specific limitations, and regime restraints as hindrances to the promises of NGOs.

[29] In Uganda specifically, several mid-century centrist administrations, particularly the regimes of Idi Amin (1971–1979) and Milton Obote (1981–1986), described as brutal and ineffective led to a sharp drop in responsiveness to citizen's needs between 1966 and 1986.

This act led to the transfer of power to local governments in an attempt to encourage citizen participation and further rural development.

For example, despite increases over the years in local councils and civil society organizations (CSOs) in rural Uganda, efforts are consistently undermined by a lacking socio-economic structure leading to high rates of illiteracy, poor agricultural techniques, market access, and transportation systems.

[27] These shortcomings are often a result of taxes and payments imposed by local authorities and administration agents that inhibit farmers' access to larger markets.

[27] Umar Kakumba, a scholar at Makerere University in Uganda, notes of CSOs:[27]The CSOs' inability to effectively mobilize for and represent the local community's interests is linked to the disabling regulatory environment with cumbersome and elaborate procedures for registration and restrictions on what constitutes allowable advocacy activities; their desire to complement the work of government rather than questioning it; the difficulties in raising adequate resources from their membership; the inability to exercise internal democracy and accountability; the urban/elite orientation of most NGOs; and the donor funding that encourages a number of CSOs to emerge in order to clinch a share of the donor monies.Since independence, several rural development and extension education programs have been implemented in Nigeria.

A rural development academy in Bogra , Bangladesh. Many government and non-governmental agencies invest in capacity building and opportunities for rural communities to gain greater access to economic opportunities.
Gustave Courbet depicted nineteenth century rural poverty in this painting.
Many parts of rural Africa, such as this community in Mozambique, experience rural poverty. This woman was given access to a bicycle through a rural development program through a Bicycle poverty reduction program. Access to affordable transportation has been a key part of gaining access to greater economic mobility in many parts of the world. For example, distributing bicycles was one of the key strategies used by China to reduce rural poverty in the 20th century. [ 9 ]
A child is checked for signs of malnutrition in Katsina State, Nigeria, March 2011