Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people

living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas.[1]

Rural development has traditionally centered on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources
such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks and increased
urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, niche manufacturers, and
recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers.[2] The need
for rural communities to approach development from a wider perspective has created more focus on a
broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource
based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play
an important role in developing rural regions.[3] Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis
on locally produced economic development strategies.[4] In contrast to urban regions, which have many
similarities, rural areas are highly distinctive from one another. For this reason there are a large variety
of rural development approaches used globally.[5]

Development actions

Rural development actions are mainly and mostly to development aim for the social and economic
development of the rural areas.[6]

Rural development programs are usually top-down from the local or regional authorities, regional
development agencies, NGOs, national governments or international development organizations. But
then, local populations can also bring about endogenous initiatives for development. The term is not
limited to the issues for developing countries. In fact many of the developed countries have very active
rural development programs.The main aim of the rural government policy is to develop the
undeveloped villages.This was designed by Eric Kiplagat.

Rural development aims at finding the ways to improve the rural lives with participation of the rural
people themselves so as to meet the required need of the rural area.[7] The outsider may not
understand the setting, culture, language and other things prevalent in the local area. As such, general
people themselves have to participate in their sustainable rural development. In developing countries
like Nepal, India, Bangladesh, integrated development approaches are being followed up. In this
context, many approaches and ideas have been developed and followed up, for instance, bottom-up
approach, PRA- Participatory Rural Appraisal, RRA- Rapid Rural Appraisal etc.

Rural development agencies

 Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) Agricultural and rural
information provider

USDA Rural Development, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture

European Network for Rural Development

England Rural Development Programme by DEFRA

Agricultural Development & Training Society, India

Tipperary Institute, Ireland

Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project in Azerbaijan

Recognition

Jindal Prize

Sitaram Jindal Foundation, India has instituted an award Jindal Prize in which Rural Development and
Poverty Alleviation is one of five categories. Prize will be awarded to those individuals or organizations
rendering significant service to rural development and poverty alleviation without any profit motive.
Prizes of Rs. one crore in each category will be awarded annually.

See also

Agriculture

Comilla Project, the first comprehensive rural development project in developing countries

Development studies

District Rural Development Agencies (India)

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Regional development

RIGA Project

Rural flight
 Rural management

Social Work

Urban development

References

Moseley, Malcolm J. (2003). Rural development : principles and practice (1. publ. ed.). London [u.a.]:
SAGE. p. 5. ISBN 0-7619-4766-3.

Ward, Neil; Brown, David L. (1 December 2009). "Placing the Rural in Regional Development". Regional
Studies 43 (10): 1237–1244. doi:10.1080/00343400903234696.

Rural development research : a foundation for policy (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood
Press. 1996. ISBN 0-313-29726-6. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)

Moseley, Malcolm J. (2003). Rural development : principles and practice (1. publ. ed.). London [u.a.]:
SAGE. p. 7. ISBN 0-7619-4766-3.

Van Assche, Kristof. & Hornidge, Anna-Katharina. (2015) Rural development. Knowledge & expertise in
governance. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen

Chigbu, U.E. (2012). Village Renewal as an Instrument of Rural Development: Evidence from Weyarn,
Germany. Community Development, Vol. 43 (2), pp. 209-224.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15575330.2011.575231#preview

Pellissery, Sony (2012). "Rural Development". Encyclopedia of Sustainability 7: 222–225.

External links

Transforming the Rural Nonfarm Economy: Opportunities and Threats in the Developing World Edited
by Steven Haggblade, Peter B. R. Hazell, and Thomas Reardon (2007), Johns Hopkins University Press

CNN - For Rural Women, Land Means Hope, The George Foundation

Research on Agriculture and Rural Development from the Overseas Development Institute

European Network for Rural Development

Religiosity and education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The relationship between the level of religiosity and the level of education has been studied since the
second half of the 20th century.

The parameters of the two components diverse: the "level of religiosity" remains a concept which is
difficult to differentiate scientifically, while the "level of education" is easier to compile, such as official
data on this topic, because data on education is publicly accessible in many countries.

Different studies show contrasted conclusions regarding any link between the two concepts, depending
on whether "religiosity" is measured by religious practices (attendance at places of worship, for
example) or specific religious beliefs (belief in miracles, for example), with notable differences between
nations. For example, an international study states that in some Western nations the intensity of beliefs
decreases with education, but attendance and religious practice increases.[1] Other studies indicate that
the religious have higher education than the non-religious.[2] Other studies find that the positive
correlation with low or non religiosity and education has been reversed in the past few decades.[3][4]

In terms of university professors, one study concluded that in the US, the majority of professors, even at
"elite" universities, were religious.[5]

Contents

1 Relationship between education and religiosity

1.1 Positive relationships

1.2 Negative relationships

1.3 Mixed relationships

2 In specific religious denominations

2.1 Mormons
 2.2 Evangelical groups

2.3 Christian fundamentalists

3 See also

4 References

Relationship between education and religiosity

Positive relationships

According to the General Social Survey, which has collected data on Americans since 1972, people who
are educated often are more religious by various measures. For instance, as of 2010 sociologist Philip
Schwadel found that with each additional year of education: the likelihood of attending religious
services increased 15%, the likelihood of reading the Bible at least occasionally increased by 9%. The
likelihood of switching to a mainline Protestant denomination increased by 13%.[6] On belief in God or a
higher power, Schwadel said, “With more years of education, you aren’t relatively more likely to say, ‘I
don’t believe in God...But you are relatively more likely to say, ‘I believe in a higher power.’”[6]

According to the Gallup's 2002 Index of Leading Religious Indicators for the US, the relationship between
education and religiosity are complex. For instance, there are slight differences in belief in God and
membership in a congregation: 88% of those with postgraduate degrees believe in God or a universal
spirit, compared to 97% of those with a high school education or less; 70% of postgraduate degree
holders say they are members of a congregation, compared to 64% of those with a high school
education or less.[7]

Differences in educational attainment by religious groups in the U.S., 2001 ARIS data.[8]

Sociologist Bradley Wright reviewed results from the 2008 Pew US Religious Landscape Survey and
noted that religious groups normally have significant levels of education compared to those who are
non-religious. "The irony" he states "is that some of the religiously unaffiliated explain their rejection of
religion in terms of superior learning, but several religious groups have much higher levels of
education." He found that Hindus, Jews, Episcopalians,[9][10] Buddhists, and Orthodox Christians have
the highest levels of education, Catholics, Mormons, and Muslims are at about the national average, and
Jehovah's Witnesses have by far the lowest education. Evangelicals are somewhat below the national
average. The religiously unaffiliated are just slightly above average in levels of college education.[11]
Sociological research by Patricia Snell and Christian Smith on many dimensions of general American
youth have noted that older research on baby boomers showed correlations where higher education
undermined religiosity, however, studies on today's youth have consistently shown that this has
disappeared and now students in college are more likely religious than people who do not go to
college.[4]

Sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox said that people with less education have decreased in religiosity in
America. Their views on family and work have been associated with this effect.[12] Research on
secularity has noted that, in America, agnostics have significant levels of education, while atheists have
relatively low levels of education.[13] Sociologist Christian Smith has done research on American
evangelical and has found that on average, self-identified evangelicals have more years of education
than fundamentalists, liberals, Roman Catholics, and the nonreligious, but slightly less than mainline
Protestants.[2] He also found that evangelicals were the least likely to have high school education or
less, the nonreligious were the most likely to have high school education or less, and higher proportions
of evangelicals had studied at the graduate level than fundamentalists, liberals, and the nonreligious.[2]

Sociologist Philip Schwadel found that higher levels of education are associated with increased religious
participation and religious practice in daily life, but also correlate with greater tolerance for atheists'
public opposition to religion and greater skepticism of "exclusivist religious viewpoints and biblical
literalism".[14]

Cross-national sociological research by Norris and Inglehart notes a positive correlation between
religious attendance among the more educated in the United States.[15]

Research in nonreligion in Britain has shown that the positive relationship between education and non-
religion has been reversed with generations after 1955, in other words, that the nonreligious
populations tend to have less education and that religious populations tend to have higher education,
even though religious affiliation has decreased for both.[3]

Negative relationships

In one analysis of World Values Survey data by Edward Glaeser and Bruce Sacerdote, noted that in 65
former socialist countries "there is a negative relationship between years of education and belief in
God", with similar negative correlations for other religious beliefs while, in contrast, there were strong
positive correlations in many developed countries such as England, France and the US.[1] They
concluded that "these cross-country differences in the education-belief relationship can be explained by
political factors (such as communism) which lead some countries to use state controlled education to
discredit religion". The study also concludes that, in the United States and other developed nations,
"education raises religious attendance at individual level," while "at the same time, there is a strong
negative connection between attendance and education across religious groups within the U.S. and
elsewhere." The authors suggest that "this puzzle is explained if education both increases the returns to
social connection and reduces the extent of religious belief," causing more educated individuals to sort
into less fervent denominations.[1]

In Ireland, the non-religious have a greater level of education than the general population.[16] A study
noted positive correlations, among nonreligious Americans, between levels of education and not
believing in a deity.[17] An EU survey finds a positive correlation between leaving school early and
believing in a God.[18] Frank Sulloway of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Michael
Shermer of California State University conducted a study which found in their polling sample of
"credentialed" U.S. adults (12% had Ph.Ds and 62% were college graduates) 64% believed in God, and
there was a correlation indicating that religious conviction diminished with education level.[19]

Mixed relationships

According to a 2015 global survey by Gallup International, the most religious had lower levels of
education, however, religious people in general were a majority in all educational levels.[20]

Research done by Barry Kosmin indicates that Americans with post-graduate education have a similar
religious distribution to the general population, with a higher "public religiosity" (i.e. membership in
congregations and worship attendance), but slightly less "belief."[21]

Research done by Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar on college students looked at 3 worldviews: Religious,
Secular, Spiritual and looked students from various levels from Freshmen to Post-graduates from various
majors such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), Social and Behavioral Sciences,
Arts and Humanities, and Undecided. The Religious were 31.8% of total sample (40% from STEM, 27%
from Social and Behavioral Sciences, 27% from Arts and Humanities, and 5% from Undecided; the
Secular were 28.2% of total sample (38% from STEM, 29% from Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30%
from Arts and Humanities, and 3% from Undecided; the Spiritual were 32.4% of total sample(29% from
STEM, 36% from Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31% from Arts and Humanities, and 4% from
Undecided).[22]
Research by Neil Gross and Solon Simmons done on more than 1,400 professors from 20 disciplinary
fields and religiosity found that the majority of professors, even at "elite" universities were religious
believers. As a whole, university professors were less religious than the general US population, but it is
hardly the case that the professorial landscape is characterized by an absence of religion. In the study,
9.8% were atheists, 13.1% were agnostic, 19.2% believe in a higher power, 4.3% believe in God some of
the time, 16.6% had doubts but believed in God, 34.9% believed in God and had no doubts. At "elite"
doctoral universities 36.5% were either atheists or agnostics and 20.4% believed in God without any
doubts, furthermore the authors noted, "...religious skepticism represents a minority position, even
among professors teaching at elite research universities." [5] They also found that professors at elite
doctoral universities are much less religious than professors teaching in other kinds of institutions with
more atheists and agnostics in numbers, however, both groups were still a minority there also.[23]

A survey conducted by Times Of India revealed that 22% of IIT-Bombay graduates do not believe in the
existence of God, while another 30% do not know.[24]

In specific religious denominations

Mormons

Studies of Mormons in the US show that Mormons with higher education attend church more regularly
than less educated Mormons. Survey research indicated that 41 percent of Mormons with only
elementary school education attend church regularly, compared to 76 percent of Mormon college
graduates and 78 percent of Mormons who went beyond their college degrees to do graduate study
attending church regularly.[25]

Evangelical groups

Edward Dutton studied findings which indicate that universities which are particularly transitional and
prestigious tend to have (in contrast to less transitional universities), tightly differentiated and
‘fundamentalist’ student evangelical groups and higher levels of conversion while at university. He
argued that Oxford University students are likely to be not just more intelligent in IQ terms than
comparable students but more creative, more original in their thinking and more able to acquire
knowledge- factors Dutton found made religious experience more likely in an individual.[26]

In 1975, Norman Poythress studied a sample of 234 US college undergraduates, grouping them into
relatively homogeneous religious types based on the similarity of their religious beliefs, and compared
their personality characteristics. He found that "Literally-oriented religious Believers did not differ
significantly from Mythologically-oriented Believers on measures of intelligence, authoritarianism, or
racial prejudice. Religious Believers as a group were found to be significantly less intelligent and more
authoritarian than religious Skeptics." He used SAT as a measure of intelligence for this study.[27]
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs,
and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed
research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also
educate themselves.[1] Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that
has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The
methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Education commonly is divided formally into such stages as preschool or kindergarten, primary school,
secondary school and then college, university, or apprenticeship.

A right to education has been recognized by some governments, including at the global level: Article 13
of the United Nations' 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes a
universal right to education.[2] In most regions education is compulsory up to a certain age.

Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices, world views, sacred texts, holy places, ethics,
and societal organisation that relate humanity to what an anthropologist has called "an order of
existence".[1] Different religions may or may not contain various elements, ranging from the "divine",[2]
"sacred things",[3] "faith",[4] a "supernatural being or supernatural beings"[5] or "...some sort of
ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life."[6]

Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of God or deities),
sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation,
prayer, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religions have sacred
histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that
aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are sometimes said
by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life, the Universe, and
other things. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious
beliefs.[7] There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide.[8] About 84% of the world's
population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism or forms of folk religion.[9]

With the onset of the modernisation of and the scientific revolution in the western world, some aspects
of religion have cumulatively been criticized. Though the religiously unaffliated, including atheism (the
rejection of belief in the existence of deities) and agnosticism (the belief that the truth of certain claims
– especially metaphysical and religious claims such as whether God, the divine or the supernatural exist
– are unknown and perhaps unknowable), have grown globally, many of the unaffiliated still have
various religious beliefs.[10] About 16% of the world's population is religiously unaffiliated.[9]
The study of religion encompasses a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology,
comparative religion and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the
origins and workings of religion.