Rural 21 (Englische Ausgabe)

Focus 4/2018: Rural-urban linkages
By 2050, two thirds of the world’s population are expected to live in cities. The United Nations New Urban Agenda implies changing diets and thus the need to include sustainable food systems for the cities. So the rural areas have to transform in parallel. Secondary cities are growing enormously in the rural areas and play a crucial role in coping with waste management or wastewater treatment and other problems that are arising. Spatial regional planning approaches have to be adjusted to take rural and urban development into account in parallel. Do rural surroundings really feed urban areas? And what about other flows such as cash in form of remittances, or the dynamics of geographical closeness which can lead to health risks? Land and resource conflicts may arise when cities are growing, and the demand for goods and services is changing production in the rural areas. Do such linkages pose an advantage or a threat? This edition provides advices and examples of best practices as well as failures to bridge the gap between rural and urban regions. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 3/2018: Gender equity
No doubt a lot has happened in terms of gender equity and equality over the last few decades. There are women who head states and hold high positions in international organisations. There are women who successfully lead enterprises and have long ceased limiting their role to that of a caregiver. But progress is extremely slow. And some of it has been reversed, as the 2017 Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum notes. In 27 out of the 144 countries examined, progress towards gender parity is once again regressing. And since the #MeToo movement at the latest, it has become frighteningly clear just how commonplace it continues to be to mercilessly take advantage of the power structure between men and women – in order to inhibit, humiliate, sexually molest, hit and kill them. Whether we are in the Global North or the Global South makes little difference in this context. Gender equality and women`s empowerment represents a topic that is far too complex to be dealt with comprehensively in one single edition. We can only deal briefly with many of the areas that it no doubt encompasses, including both those mentioned above and education, the digital gender divide, reproductive health und female genital mutilation. We nevertheless hope that our selection of themes will make you more aware of this topic. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 2/2018: Agroecology
In 2008, the authors of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report arrived at the conclusion that “business as usual is not an option” to make global food security sustainable. The radical transformation of the existing food and agricultural system that the report calls for was initially given a lukewarm reception by many international organisations. But the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals provided the demands raised in the IAASTD report with new impetus. This edition illustrates the concept and the different definitions of agroecology. In addition, we asked representatives from various institutions – UN Organisations and research institutions, German and Swiss development co-operation, the German Agricultural Society and non-governmental organisations from the Global South – to inform us about which aspects of the agroecological approach they attach particular importance to and how this affects their own activities. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 1/2018: Measuring impact
On average, 400,000 US dollars and a period of three years is needed to measure the effect of a development intervention, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation concludes from its activities. These are valuable resources that need to be used carefully. Our authors describe which impact measurement methods have proved to be useful during the last few years and what their strengths and their limits are. And they demonstrate when impact evaluations make sense – and when they don’t. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 4/2017: Climate Change
Agriculture is a major contributing factor to climate change; at the same time, it is one of the areas most affected by climate change, which is jeopardising global food security. But is the significance of agriculture also reflected in international climate negotiations? And, after the recent world climate summit, what’s next? Our authors have a look at what progress has been made in the debate, and, taking different examples, they demonstrate how resilience towards climate change can be enhanced not only for agriculture, but also for communities as a whole. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 3/2017: Youth
Given that today, two out of five economically active youth around the world are unemployed, or work, but live in poverty, and that alone in sub-Saharan Africa, the youth population is set to double, reaching more than 350 million by 2050, creating income and employment opportunities for these young people is certainly one of the areas in most urgent need of action. We demonstrate initiatives addressing these issues from a wide range of countries throughout the world, and let representatives of development co-operation, politics, the private sector and, last but not least, rural youth give their views. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 2/2017: Digitisation
Digital technologies hold a huge potential for poverty reduction and inclusive development in rural areas, as numerous success stories show: recommendations on crop growing and veterinary extension services for farmers, vocational training for rural youth, health and nutrition consultancy for pregnant women and young mothers, mobile banking systems for those without a bank account, the set up of early warning systems …. However, much of the potential of the new technologies still lies in the future, and inherent complexities are often underestimated. We have asked our authors to keep an eye on the practical relevance of the examples they are presenting from their work – no isolated solutions but technologies and initiatives that bear a potential for up-scaling, are (or can be) locally adapted and can above all also benefit small-scale farmers and the young generation, who are more strongly represented in Africa than in any other continent. We also asked them to demonstrate why some solutions that seem promising at first glance are doomed to fail and which areas have a lot to catch up on if the rural digitisation potentials are to be unleashed in a manner that really deserves the attribute ‘inclusive’. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 1/2017: Trade and development II: The global dimension
Since the turn of the century, global agricultural trade flows have roughly tripled, reaching 1.2 trillion US dollars in 2015. However, the forecasts for future developments are mixed – also because of uncertainty caused by the new US President’s statements on trade policy. This second part of our trade focus isn’t meant to be a rehash of the familiar “free trade versus protectionism” arguments. But the framework really is different. Climate change, price volatility in the agricultural markets as well as Agenda 2030 all call for a review of how individual aspects relate to one another in the overall context. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 4/2016: Trade
In December 2005, the Aid for Trade initiative was launched at the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference. It was to enable developing countries to draw optimum benefits from global trade by assisting them in overcoming trade-related constraints. Today, just over a decade later, the success of the initiative is given a sometimes very mixed assessment. However, this has not been the case regarding its basic notion that trade can make an important contribution to sustainable economic development and poverty reduction provided that it can be made fair and inclusive. This is also reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals, in which the community of nations resolves to “correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets” (SDG target 2.b), to “increase Aid for Trade support for developing countries” (SDG target 8a) and to “significantly increase the exports of developing countries” (SDG 17, target 11). But it is also borne testimony to in the latest changes in development co-operation policy, which is increasingly focusing on trade and markets. The approaches and instruments applied in the context of agriculture and rural development are presented in this edition of Rural 21. Erfahren Sie mehr

Focus 3/2016: Land Governance
Land is a major source of people’s identities and livelihoods as well as being a key asset for households. Land ownership and land use rights crucially affect both equality of opportunity and economic and environmental stability. It is entirely justified to include these rights in the Sustainable Development Goals and not without reason that the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) attracted so much attention four years ago. Often, land remains the only source of livelihood for poor and marginalised households. Thus improved security of land rights first of all creates secure access to basic necessities such as housing and nutrition. When such needs are met, the poor are more likely to be able to afford education, which helps people exit the vicious cycle of poverty. Erfahren Sie mehr