Book of Abstracts
11th IFOAM
Scientific Conference
11-15 August 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark

Abstract front page
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Symposia

Rural development, sustainablel agriculture: myth or reality? S26

Duhaylungsod, Levita

Appropriate Training Centre for Rural DevelopmentManila, Philippines
and Department of Agricultural Education and Rural Studies University of the Philippines at Los Banos College, Laguna 4031Philippines

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After decades of rural development efforts in the Philippines, a synthesis is deemed in order. The paper consists of two parts: a theoretical critique and a case study. The first section focuses on a historical review of rural development strategies in the context of ideological and philosophical assumptions that these strategies reflect vis-a-vis the north-south differential discourse. Particular attention is given to the active role taken by non-government organisations and the emergence of the sustainable development (agriculture) paradigm in the recent decade.

The case study is an analysis of the ten-year experience of the Appropriate Training Centre for Rural Development (ATD-RD), an NGO in the Philippines. It is an attempt at providing an empirical contextualisation of the historical discourse on the paradigms and issues on rural development. The analysis focuses on the dialectical processes and strategies that the organissation emerged in organising marginal peasant communities in selected upland and lowland areas across the Philippines. Lessons and issues from the experiences are highlighted in the context of defining what indeed is rural development for the south. Implications on the north-south relations are also drawn.