NPCA Rural Futures initiative builds on RuralStruc

Going back to promoting an integrated approach to rural development that encompasses an inclusive multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral approach and embraces micro and macro-level policies and interventions was one of the central claims of a strategic briefing meeting organised by the NEPAD implementation agency NPCA and partners.

Meant to further the inception of its Rural Futures initiative in Addis Ababa some 70 international experts from different fields gathered.

Emerging as a major input provider to the event, RuralStruc is an initiative whose purpose was to better understand the implications of liberalisation and economic integration for agriculture and rural development in developing countries, including in African countries such as Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco and Senegal. Supported by the Donor Platform members World Bank, IFAD and France, it explored over five years the trajectories of structural change in the evolving environment of rural economies and sought to identify similarities or differences in transformation processes through comparative analyses.

As Rural Futures prepares to take ownership and build on the legacy of the RuralStruc, the results of the latter are expected to facilitate the understanding of the transition processes already underway, provide guidelines for policy making and foster dialogue with national partners and debate within the donor community, an endeavour the Platform is willing to continue supporting through a wide dissemination of finding through a series of workshops and events, including the June 17 planned meeting in Paris.

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