Interviews with 120 rural Nigerian women found that 96% participate in self-help community development projects and 68% were engaged in farming. Constrains on participation included domestic responsibilities, lack of funding and resources, male domination, and politics. There was a significant relationship between their sociocultural beliefs and…

Describes Farmers Helping Farmers, a network of rural mutual-help support groups that aim to extend support, increase adaptive coping skills, and share information in rural communities. Discusses individual, family, and community treatment aspects as they relate to rural culture and the rural crisis. Contains 18 references. (SV)

Since 1970, the Servicio National de Desarrollo de la Comunidad (SNDC) has been in existence as an autonomous decentralized government agency. Its main effort has been to integrate Bolivia's 3.4 million rural inhabitants, the "campesinos," into the mainstream of national socioeconomic programs through self-help development projects at…

Two Central Illinois farming communities (one Amish and one non-Amish) were selected for this study on the basis of preliminary interviews with individuals knowledgeable about communities in this geographic area in which residents generally assist one another in times of need, rather than seek outside help. Residents of Amish communities and some…

SHE is a rural California home building corporation founded on the principles of self-help. Lacking sufficient capital to purchase or finance a home by conventional means, a low-income family may elect to "self-construct with SHE". A participant family agrees to invest its labor, up to 1,500 hours, in the supervised construction of its…

Evaluation of the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program as an antipoverty strategy was undertaken in 1977 by examining activities of paraprofessional Nutrition Education Assistants (NEA's) in the Ozark Foothills area of Missouri to determine how they helped their clientele families become self-sufficient and integrated into the mainstream…

Using the perspective of sociology and social welfare, the report focuses on issues and concerns by considering the concepts and underpinnings of personal development, social development, community development, women's issues, rural social welfare, and self-help. Contexts are the social development and social welfare of total societies as well as…

A 1971 message from the President of the United States, this report on government services to rural America discusses the American scene today, population, employment, income, community assets, education, health, housing, electricity and telephone services, the future of rural America, and program availability in rural areas. The appendix includes…

Despite political gains and the lowering of social barriers, most Southern blacks still face formidable economic obstacles. More than half of rural Southern black families are living at or below poverty level. Efforts to improve their lot have included a number of cooperative and self-help community programs. The Southern Cooperative Development…

Rural communities are often dependent upon their agricultural bases, which have undergone drastic changes. For communities to remain viable as economic units certain measures must be taken. Strategic planning can assist communities in assessing their situations and in developing plans and implementation schedules. Initially used in the business…

Based on a North Carolina feasibility study (1967-73) which focused on development of a pattern for providing comprehensive mental health services to rural people, this guide deals with promoting self-help via educational programs in Vance and Franklin counties. Emphasizing both cognitive and affective experiences, this booklet details the…

Four rural communities in northern Maine were the setting for a pilot program in Indian adult education that featured a new kind of instructional model. Developed by the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO), it featured peer instruction, strict performance orientation, and insistance on mastery of certain skills. A HumRRO representative…

Institutional success of an instructional model that featured peer instruction, a strict performance orientation, and an insistence on mastery of specific skills led developers to believe the same model could be used by communities to disseminate skills and information at low cost and with efficiency. The system was utilized in setting up an…

Intended for use as a planning tool by adult educators and program administrators, this manual is designed to offer guidance for the development of instructional, self-help, and training programs geared toward rural adults with low education and/or skills. Part I focuses on the "Tribes" process, an educational strategy built around…

From its inception in 1967 to the end of fiscal 1981, Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Inc. (PPEP), grew from a 1-bus school on wheels to Arizona's largest multifunded non-profit service agency. The self-help organization serving Arizona's rural and migrant poor grew through three phases. During the 1967-1969 contact phase, PPEP staff…