This book explores how education along with training and skill development are vital to building a sustainable future. While half of the world’s population now is urban, in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the proportions of rural people range from 55 to 70 per cent. In this context, education is seen as a key instrument for shaping and fulfilling the goal of rural transformation. The book focuses on the links between education and rural transformation, seeking to underscore the inexorable forces of change rural communities face and how education and training, by equipping people with appropriate knowledge and skills and fostering values of human dignity, can expand their choices and capabilities to exercise these choices. UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) decided to examine closely the issues of skill development within its broad mission of exploring concepts, policy and practices in education for rural transformation. The confluence of global forces and national situations, especially in the poorer countries and regions of the world, prompted UNESCO-INRULED to take this decision. These forces and factors include persistent and growing gaps between supply and demand for jobs and employment for young people, growing vulnerabilities and risks for poor people, threats to food security, and the urgency of building a sustainable green future.

An international joint study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) was conducted on education and rural development to review the status of the topic from the standpoint of public policies and the conceptual frameworks on which they are based and also to shed light on what may be called "good practice." The findings of the study are meant to serve not as models, but rather as points of reference for all those who are seeking ways of developing education in rural areas and contributing more effectively to rural development. Chapter I, "Education and Rural Development: Setting the Framework" (David Atchoarena and Charlotte Sedel), provides a contextual and theoretical introduction to the new rural development and poverty reduction thinking, as well as a discussion on the contribution of education to rural development. In Chapter II, "Basic Education in Rural Areas: Status, Issues and Prospects" (Michael Lakin with Lavinia Gasperini), the book reviews in depth the provision of basic education in rural areas and offers some policy directions for improvement. Further exploring a particular dimension of basic education, Chapter III, "Making Learning Relevant: Principles and Evidence from Recent Experiences" (Peter Taylor, Daniel Desmond, James Grieshop and Aarti Subramaniam), devotes specific attention to strategies linking the formal school teaching with students' life environment, including agriculture, and to garden-based learning. The intention is to provide updated information and new insights on much-debated aspects which are often associated with rural areas although their application is much broader. Chapter IV, "Strategies and Institutions for Promoting Skills for Rural Development" (David Atchoarena, Ian Wallace, Kate Green, and Candido Alberto Gomes), shifts the analysis from education to work and discusses the implications of the transformation of rural labor markets for skill development. A particular concern is the rise in rural non-farm employment and the need to enlarge the policy focus from agricultural education and training to technical and vocational education for rural development. This debate is taken further in Chapter V, "Higher Education and Rural Development: A New Perspective" (Charles Maguire and David Atchoarena), which considers higher level skills and the contribution of the tertiary education sector to rural development. Special attention is given to the reform of higher agricultural institutions and lessons based on case studies are provided to document good practice in institutional reform. Finally, Chapter VI, "Main Findings and Implications for Policy and Donor Support" (David Atchoarena with Lavinia Gasperini, Michael Lakin and Charles Maguire), concentrates on the main findings of the study and discusses policy implications and possible responses for donors and countries. (Contains 28 tables, 14 figures, and 64 boxes.).

Focuses on the potential of young rural men and women, and youth employment as engines of growth and development in rural areas. Stresses the importance of strengthening the access of rural youth to education and training as well as productive resources.

Nearly one out of six people of the current inhabitants of the world is suffering from hunger and illiteracy. This book was developed to assist policy makers dealing with rural poverty, food insecurity and education challenges confronting rural people. It seeks to address the correlation between education, training, empowerment and food security, mainly through a number of examples from all over the world. It is about strengthening the capacity of rural people to achieve food security. It identifies different dimensions of education and training that have proven useful, and covers formal education as well as non-formal education, literacy as well as skills training.