Introduction to RPD*6291

RPD*6291 Rural Development Administration explores issues relating to the planning, administration and management of rural development in low consumption countries. The course provides a primarily institutional / organizational lens. Most of the activities that we associate with rural development are activities performed by individuals acting within organizations. Thus the structure, behaviour and interaction of organizations fundamentally shape rural development processes.

The overall scope of class topics and discussions include development theory as well as the activities of national, provincial, municipal and local government agencies, NGOs, producer or user associations, cooperatives, community organizations, private sector firms, social enterprises, international agencies and variations and mixtures of these organizational types. The course examines some broad macro theories such as modernization, dependency, neoliberalism and globalization before shifting towards the discussion of the micro-level work of development organizations and institutional arrangements for the design and delivery of development policies, programs, and projects. The course will also introduce SWOT a simple but helpful tool for organizational and planning analysis.