Irish rural social enterprises and the national policy framework

There is a growing recognition of the role that social enterprises play in rural areas. In Ireland this is formally acknowledged in recent social enterprises and rural development policies which commit to developing a suite of supports to realise the potential of social enterprises and strengthen their contribution to place-based sustainable rural development. However, these policies offer a generalised approach to social enterprises, compounded to date by the considerable gaps in our knowledge of these organisations. The main purpose of this article is to fill a gap in our understanding of Irish rural social enterprises. Using Defourny & Nyssens’ meso-level framework (2017), this paper presents an analysis of surveys completed by 258 Irish rural social enterprises. Our findings illustrate five clusters which represent different types of Irish rural social enterprises. The findings confirm the validity of applying a meso-level approach for capturing in-country heterogeneity within the social enterprise sector and for informing policy supports for these significant actors in place-based sustainable rural development.

Innovation in Basilicata agriculture: From tradition to digital

The 4.0 technologies are changing agricultural production processes and with them the agro-food supply chains, fundamental for the competitiveness of the Made in Italy and Basilicata, a region of southern Italy. It has invested in modernization and restructuring of agricultural, agri-food and forestry farms by rural development policies, which address respect for sustainability and to reduction of renewable and non-renewable resources, preserving quality and the link with the territory.   Some Lucanian agricultural entrepreneurs, interested in experimenting with innovative and sustainable agriculture, has intensified relations with the local scientific world, the advisors, training institutions and with small and medium-sized agro-industrial enterprises, setting up clusters. Then European Partnerships for Innovation have formed inside them.   This paper analyses the eleven Operational Groups of the Lucanian European Partnerships which represent the incubators for the digitalization of agri-food 4.0. From the analysis it emerged that the maximum expression of digitization in Basilicata is Precision Farming, as evidenced by the establishment of a specific operating group, AgrotechBasilicata. However, the other Lucanian OGs can also be classified as digital because they are interested by information collection systems, software and data analysis, as well as robotics and automation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRADITIONAL VILLAGE AND COMMUNE ORGANIZATION IN THE NORTHWEST MOUNTAINOUS REGION (CASE STUDY OF THE MONG AND THAI ETHNIC GROUPS)

In the era of modernization and international integration, Vietnam must tackle the relation between cultural identity and traditional and modern development which are very important today. Vietnam’s culture not only is created by Viet people but ethnic minorities play a key role to diversify national identity. Thereby, researching village structure, social organization, and customs of the northern mountainous villages is very important. Researching traditional village models plays a key role to preserve positive values of minority culture, simultaneously, some proposed policies of modern villages may be applied for villages which lie in remote areas in Vietnam. This is a repercussion of the policy of making rural areas closer to urban areas and eliminating the disparity between the rich and the impoverished, cultural differences, and consolidating the national solidarity. Due to that, it is proposed to develop new rural development policies for the Northwest ethnic minorities in Vietnam. Because of the word limit of the article only the Mong people and the Thai people are the main case studies.

Rural Districts and Business Agglomerations in Low-Density Business Environments. The Case of Extremadura (Spain)

The strategy of the institutionalization and development of business agglomerations, in any of its analytical aspects (industrial district, local production system, cluster, etc.), has not had great results in Spanish regions with low business-density, probably due to the difficulty of finding an adequate implementation framework in administrative, geographic, and institutional terms. Based on the limitations presented by the identification methodologies of business agglomerations in low business-density territories, in this work we propose some methodological corrections that allow for reconciling these economic realities with the institutional and geographical framework offered by the local action groups (LAGs). This reconciliation is a useful tool to take advantage of the economies of agglomeration and, consequently, to explore the possibilities of endogenous development in rural areas, so that it can be a factor to take into account when planning and executing the public strategy of local and rural development. Finally, the results obtained for the specific case of Extremadura, the only Spanish region listed as a less developed one in European rural development policies, are presented.

Smart Villages Policies: Past, Present and Future

Highlighting the important role of rural development, this paper represents a review of rural policies. Data were generated, including a broad literature research and online survey on existing and future, post-2020 rural development policies. The survey was shared among project partners from six different EU Member States including eleven regions, all from the Alpine Space. The number of total policies covered in this review paper, together with policy projects, programs or actions, is 114. Based on these, key policy findings and future recommendations are provided, attributing to the future studies on this topic as well as for policymakers at the local, regional, national and EU levels.

Spaces of Innovation and Women Rural Entrepreneurship in Italy

This paper deals with “gendering innovation”, with the purpose of exploring the entrepreneurial spaces of innovation among Italian farms managed by women. More precisely, the hypothesis is that entrepre-neurial orientation has to be considered the engine of innovation adoption in different rural contexts, by creating new spaces for innovation. The research is grounded on primary sources using a questionnaire administered to a sample of women farmers in all regions of Italy, with the purpose of investigating complex dimensions behind the decision of innovation uptake, with a special focus on the relevance of entrepreneurial orientation. Empirical analysis lets different “worlds of female innovation” to emerge, which are grounded on both conventional and alternative agrifood networks. Taking on the perspective of entrepreneurial spaces of innovation implies to design a diversified set of policy action with the purpose of affecting these entrepreneurial spaces. This is particularly urgent in the perspective of gender main-streaming of rural development policies of the European Union.

Rural Development in Nepal: A Historical Perspective

Least developed country like Nepal, the development programmes and policies are key components for the livelihood of rural poor and sustainable development. This paper is tries to carry out the historical perspectives of rural development in Nepal. The rural development policies and programmes are also essential for the national development. But the implemented policies and programmes for rural development by the governments of different time periods in Nepal are not sufficient as rural Nepal needed. It is strongly required to launch the agriculture based policies and programmes for rural Nepal. Using secondary information, the paper analyzes the major provision for the rural development in the country. Moreover, the rural development sector needs to develop some more popular and specific development policies and programmes and models of development.