This article recounts our field experience and research in TfD in the Ofabo community, Kogi State, Nigeria. Through socially engaged performance and participant observation, this study finds that the poor state of drinking water in the Ofabo community results from government negligence, inadequate awareness, and the inactivity of community…

This chapter discusses an innovative state public policy which has incentivized Iowa's community colleges to become the economic drivers of their region. Created in the 1983 legislation, it continues to this day to affect Iowa's rural communities and their colleges.

This article reports on a technology stewardship training program to promote ICT leadership development with agricultural extension practitioners in Sri Lanka. Researchers used a multi-method approach with a single embedded case study. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, formal course evaluation, classroom observation, and…

Scholarship on service-learning demonstrates a variety of benefits to students, faculty, and the university. One clear benefit beyond these is the ability of service-learning to support and advance a university's civic mission within its community and region. This article offers an account of the use of service-learning in a collaborative project…

AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps) is a full-time, team-based residential program for men and women ages 18-24. AmeriCorps NCCC members are assigned to one of five regional campuses into teams of approximately ten members and complete 2-3 month projects responding to local communities' needs throughout the United States. To…

This article shows how community libraries can create and support literate environments, which are essential for building and sustaining literacy skills in local communities. The paper begins with a subject analysis reviewing available background materials and literature on the topic. Next, relevant issues are considered based on experiences and…

Telecentres in the 21st century may be able to improve standard of living, quality of life, and stability of knowledge for the rural population. The role of telecentres is widely increasing in developing political and management awareness, economic, socio-culture, technology, education and regulation awareness in rural communities. Telecentres in…

The New Mexico Rural Revitalization Initiative (NMRRI), an innovative program to enhance the growth and development of rural communities, involves schools and students as part of a holistic approach. The program requires community members to take responsibility for revitalizing their economy and fosters an entrepreneurial spirit among students.

This article documents and analyses the uneasy, if not contradictory, relationship between service learning and liberal arts thinking in an undergraduate programme in Global Development Studies (GDS) at a North American University. As an undergraduate, Cororaton participated in a service-learning project to build a greenhouse in Mongolia; at the…

Drawing on recent research with NGO-driven projects in rural Cajamarca, Peru, we examine the paradoxes of relying on wind, solar and micro-hydro generation of electricity for rural community development. In spite of cost, vagaries of these energy resources and limited material benefits, especially with wind and solar systems, villagers are eagerly…

Since its establishment in 2003, the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) has paid close attention to informal learning processes in community-based efforts to promote local sustainable development. ESD-J carried out two projects to collect information on and visualise community-based ESD practice: the…

In January 2003, the Northwest Area Foundation (NWAF) contacted land grant universities in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington to involve them in a program initiative to address rural poverty. After a strategic planning process, NWAF had shifted from traditional grant making to operating programs that…

The Rural Entrepreneurship Teaching Unit (RETU) is designed to acquaint university retailing and hospitality majors with rural entrepreneurship opportunities. The unit is an outcome of a federal grant focused on the contribution of the local retail sector to rural community resilience. The RETU integrates knowledge regarding rural development,…

Engelhard is a very isolated rural community in Hyde County, North Carolina, economically dependent on seafood, small scale agriculture, and logging. In the mid-1980s the agricultural crisis, the decline in seafood landings, and changes in timber industry technology contributed to rising unemployment. Several decades of declining population and…

This paper presents the activities of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) for 2009. The past year was one of accomplishment for USAC. USAC implemented a host of advances in operations, infrastructure, and outreach in an effort to continue to improve collection and disbursement of the Universal Service Fund (USF) support and to…