Knowledge and Rural Development - Dialogue at the Heart of Innovation

31/05/2011 - Article

A book on the changes required to agricultural research in order to ensure a type of development whose fundamental principles are dialogue, the active participation of local communities and consideration of the whole range of local know-how.

The 2008 food riots, against a backdrop of global environmental and economic crisis, triggered an in-depth questioning of the way international aid is administered in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Climate change and speculation mean a permanent threat of famine, which has placed food farming at the heart of global concerns.

What type of rural development is required, how can we do it, and with whom? Some African communities have begun to come up with answers. They have proposed innovative local or regional operations that have proved their merits and are productive. At the interface between cultures that have previously been overlooked, new types of development are emerging. The author describes some of these African initiatives, which respect the identity of rural populations.

These experiments are an illustration of an approach in which technical innovation is no longer central, but a part of a more general structure. Another type of development is taking shape. Dialogue, the active participation of local communities, and consideration of the whole range of local know-how are its fundamental principles.

Knowledge and Rural Development
Dialogue at the Heart of Innovation
Editorial coordination: Danièle Clavel
Editions Quae
2011