Retaining the Old Countryside, Embracing the New Countryside

Vietnam’s New Rural Development program envisages the creation of a newly modern rural Vietnam. Drawing on fieldwork, this paper argues that the program has had little bearing on peasant livelihood strategies. The emergence of deagrarianization has not arisen as a result of the program but because of household interest in maintaining a diverse set of income activities. These two contrasting rural realities—the advance of deagrarianization against a backdrop of continued subsistence farming—coexist and are mutually supportive. Peasant livelihood diversification strategies have been perpetuated without much attention to broader state-led initiatives aimed at “reforming” the countryside.

LEGAL BASIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN POLAND, BASED ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Sustainable agricultural development is a concept of rural and agricultural development programming that combines production goals with environmental requirements. The sustainable development of sustainable agriculture is aimed at harmonizing social, economic and environmental goals. The principle of sustainable development is the axiological basis of the European Union’s activity and is nowadays the motive for legal and agricultural regulations. In Polish law, the principle of sustainable development is contained in Art. 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of April 2, 1997 and is considered a systemic principle. The definition of sustainable development is included in Art. 3 point 50 of the Environmental Protection Law. In the provisions of the Act of February 20, 2015 on supporting rural areas with the participation of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under the Rural Development Program for 2014-2020, we do not find a direct reference to the principle of sustainable development. The aim of the article is to highlight the legal basis of the principle of sustainable development and to answer the question whether the Rural Development Program implements the principle of sustainable development?

Adjusting to Cultures

Cultures interact with policy choices in ways that produce unintended consequences (alas, often negative ones). On the positive side, better knowledge about the interactions between policies, cultures, and outcomes can lead to better outcomes. This chapter offers some exciting examples. The field of cultural ergonomics takes culture into account in the design of everything from stoves to truck interiors to housing for the poor. A successful agroforestry program in Haïti didn’t try to change local “cultures” but to include locals in culturally appropriate ways. Other inspiring examples of cultural knowledge in action include governance reforms among Indigenous nations in the United States, culturally attuned pedagogy in Hawai’i, and a remarkable rural development program in West Africa. They have in common the application of anthropological knowledge through processes that respect and empower local people.

Poverty In Indonesia: Critical Review

This article critically review the information regarding poverty issues in Indonesia, by unravelling the causes and impacts of poverty and its aggregates comprising rural poverty, women and poverty, as well as other social indicators. This review article based on data provided in secondary resources shows that Asian Financial crisis in 2008 was regarded as the greatest intrusion of economic stability, rendering more adverse poverty incidences in Indonesia. Although Indonesia could slowly recover from the crisis, poverty remains problematic for certain groups and women in some particular areas especially rural areas. Moreover, despite several policies have been stipulated to deal with poverty such as Rural Development Program and Social Safety Net, some poverty elements related to social capital such as education, employment and health need to be improved. Thus, Indonesian government should pay more attention to improve the quality of the provisions and policies, assuring the beneficial contribution to Indonesian citizens’ welfare.

Determinants of the result of new rural development program in Vietnam

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of the proportion of communes that met all national new rural criteria (hereafter NRD communes).Design/methodology/approachFirst, the method of propensity score (PS) stratification is used to classify 63 provinces into the subgroups. Second, the ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used with the subgroups classified from the PS stratification method as one of explicative variables. The dependent variable in the OLS model is the proportion of NRD communes.FindingsWith the sample of 63 provinces of Vietnam, the author found that per capita income growth rate, high growth of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) and effort of the provincial authority have positive impact on the proportion of NRD communes.Practical implicationsThis research suggests that the provincial authority should actively participate in the NRD program, and the economic development is key factor for success implementation of the NRD program.Originality/valueThis research contributes to understand the factors impacting the result of the NRD program and then help to identify the measures to support this program.