Rural and community development
The main aim of integrated rural development and community development is to empower individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the necessary skills to effect change in their own communities and to participate in the development activities with their labour force or by providing some financial resources. The fields of community development can cover agriculture, water and sanitation, environment, small-scale infrastructure, awareness raising, micro credits and institutional capacity building as some examples. Integrated rural development aims to achieve the same goals as community development; however, it is ordinarily done on a larger scale, e.g. at provincial and district levels. Central in both approaches is the involvement of local people in planning, implementation and monitoring of these activities.
My expertise in rural & community development
I have worked both with small-scale community development projects and with a large-scale integrated rural development programme either by managing the projects or being responsible for their monitoring and evaluation. Thus, I have extensive field expertise through regular visits to villages as well as discussions and workshops with the beneficiaries. Due to my education as a social scientist I have concentrated on advising regarding the social aspects of development. I have largely worked in fields of agricultural diversification, water & sanitation, small-scale infrastructure, institutional capacity-building and empowerment of the communities. Through collaborating with technical experts, I have learned a great deal from their knowledge and insights.
My references in rural & community development
Terra Consulting Ltd. (Thua Thien Hue Rural Development Programme), Hue, Vietnam
Monitoring and evaluation of an integrated rural development programme covering livelihood services, small-scale infrastructure works, human resource development and public administration reform in 3 districts.
AWO International, Berlin, Germany
Project coordination of community development projects in India and Nepal, regular visits to the projects and daily communication with the projects.
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and Student Union of University of Helsinki, (Evaluation of the Grassroot Level Activity Centre Project for Adolescent Girls in District Chamoli), India
Community based development project that focused on women's and adolescent girls' self-help-groups with income-generating activities, civil and environmental education activities.
If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact me.
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