Broad educational programme vital to lift rural people out of poverty – UN paper

With non-farm sources accounting for up to 50 per cent of household incomes in rural areas of some developing countries, a broad educational programme that goes beyond agriculture is crucial to improving livelihoods and combating hunger and poverty, according to a United Nations paper released today.

“If teaching programmes are too narrowly oriented to agriculture, they may restrict rural people’s opportunities for enterprise, and thus limit their possibilities for social and economic progress,” UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expert in rural development Marcelino Avila told an international meeting in Rome.

“A broad perspective on livelihoods is required when it comes to education for rural people. Education, including skills development, should be a critical aspect of support interventions aiming at boosting economic activities and growth,” he said on the opening day of the annual session of the Working Group for International Cooperation in Skills Development.

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to slash a host of socio-economic ills such as extreme poverty and hunger, maternal and infant mortality and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015, will depend on ensuring the basic skills of rural people, keeping in mind the links between skills development and livelihoods, the FAO paper says.

It highlights the role of the non-farm rural economy. “Available data shows that non-farm employment and income are significant in rural areas. Non-farm sources of income are estimated to average around 50 per cent of household incomes in sub-Saharan Africa and this share already represents around 30 to 40 per cent in South Asia,” it notes.

“This trend suggests some re-thinking about the relevance and role of education and training in promoting and enhancing rural livelihoods.”

The two-day meeting was organized by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Network for Policy Review, Research and Advice on Education and Training (NORRAG), in collaboration with FAO and the International Institute for Education Planning (IIEP) of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

It brings together education, economics and social experts from FAO, UNESCO, the World Bank, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and several other development agencies. FAO is the lead agency for the global education for rural people initiative launched in Johannesburg, in 2002, in cooperation with UNESCO, to address the basic learning needs of rural people.