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| Action on Rural Communities | |
|---|---|
| Name | Action on Rural Communities |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Founded | 1980s |
| Headquarters | Rural headquarters |
| Area served | Rural regions |
| Focus | Rural development |
Action on Rural Communities is a rural development initiative engaging stakeholders across regions to improve livelihoods, infrastructure, and environmental stewardship. It collaborates with international agencies, local authorities, philanthropic foundations, and cooperative movements to implement community-led programs. The initiative emphasizes participatory planning, capacity building, and evidence-based interventions aligned with regional policy frameworks.
Action on Rural Communities operates at the intersection of regional planning, social policy, and development finance, partnering with institutions such as United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and national ministries. Field activities frequently coordinate with networks including Oxfam International, CARE International, Save the Children, Ford Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Program design draws on models from Grameen Bank, BRAC, Cooperative movement, Community Development Block Grant (United States), and Local Government Association (UK). Monitoring and evaluation frameworks reference standards from OECD, United Nations Environment Programme, World Health Organization, and International Labour Organization.
Origins trace to grassroots movements and policy shifts influenced by events like the Green Revolution, the International Conference on Population and Development, and policy documents such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals. Early pilots adapted methodologies from case studies in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Brazil, and Mexico, integrating lessons from Land Reform efforts, Decentralization, and Microfinance experiments. Donor strategies from agencies like USAID, DFID, and the European Commission shaped programmatic priorities, while legal frameworks including Common Agricultural Policy and national rural statutes influenced scale-up. Evaluation literatures citing work from University of Oxford, Harvard University, London School of Economics, and International Food Policy Research Institute informed iterative policy development.
Programs emphasize participatory governance models inspired by Participatory Rural Appraisal, Self-Help Group networks, and Village Savings and Loan Association practices. Interventions include cooperative enterprises modeled on Amul, Landless Workers' Movement (MST), and producer organizations linked to supply chains for commodities like rice, coffee, and dairy. Capacity-building curricula draw from Extension service traditions and training modules used by National Farmers' Union, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, and Master Farmers schemes. Gender and social inclusion efforts reference programming frameworks from UN Women, HeForShe, CARE International gender manuals, and rights-based approaches advocated by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Economic strategies combine value-chain development, market access facilitation, and financial inclusion. Interventions collaborate with Fairtrade International, Rainforest Alliance, International Trade Centre, Chamber of Commerce, and microfinance lenders such as Grameen Bank and Kiva. Agricultural diversification projects leverage crop varieties associated with International Rice Research Institute, CGIAR, and seed programs active in Ethiopia, Nepal, and Philippines. Nonfarm rural entrepreneurship links to skills programs developed with ILO, vocational institutes, and apprenticeships modeled on German Dual System. Social protection alignment references programs like Conditional Cash Transfer, Public Works Programmes, and national pension schemes.
Investments focus on rural roads, water and sanitation, energy access, and digital connectivity. Partnerships include multilateral finance institutions such as Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and national utilities alongside local councils. Projects draw on technical standards from International Telecommunication Union, World Bank Group infrastructure guidelines, and engineering inputs from universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Imperial College London. Service delivery coordination engages health networks including Doctors Without Borders, primary care models from Rwanda, and educational initiatives influenced by Teach For All and national education ministries.
Programming integrates conservation, agroecology, and climate resilience approaches tied to initiatives such as REDD+, Convention on Biological Diversity, Paris Agreement, and Green Climate Fund. Practices promoted include agroforestry modeled on CIFOR research, soil conservation techniques from FAO publications, and watershed management approaches seen in Integrated Water Resources Management pilots. Biodiversity protection coordinates with World Wildlife Fund, community conserved areas in Costa Rica, and landscape restoration inspired by The Bonn Challenge and Ecosystem-based Adaptation strategies.
Challenges encompass financing gaps, governance constraints, climate shocks, and market volatility documented in reports by International Monetary Fund, UNEP, and World Bank. Impact evaluations use randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental designs published in journals like The Lancet, Nature, Science, Journal of Development Economics, and working papers from National Bureau of Economic Research and Centre for Economic Policy Research. Outcomes vary by context: successful cases show improvements akin to results from Grameen Bank microcredit studies, Punjab irrigation reforms, and community forestry in Nepal; mixed results mirror critiques by scholars at University of California, Berkeley and Yale University. Ongoing adaptation emphasizes evidence synthesis with think tanks such as Overseas Development Institute, Brookings Institution, and Center for Global Development.
Category:Rural development organizations