Rural development in Southeast Asia

The subject of Rural Development is one which figures promi nently in the Work Programme of the Asian and Pacific Develop ment Administration Centre. This is clearly a subject of great impor tance and interest to the countries of the Asian and Pacific region.

In our Centre's first activity in the field of Rural Development, an attempt was made to describe and analyse the different approaches to rural development which had been adopted by a number of Asian countries. A series of studies on this subject were prepared and pre sented to a Seminar of senior Government officials dealing with poli cies of rural development in their respective countries.

As a sequel to this project, and on the recommendation of the Seminar, APDAC initiated a second project relating to the Role of Rural Organisations in Rural Development. A number of scholars from various Asian countries were invited to discuss and evolve a common research design on the subject. Based on this design, two types of studies were undertaken in selected Asian countries - a set of macro level national reviews and a set of micro field studies at the village level. These studies were presented to a Seminar held in Kuala Lumpur in June 1977. Participants in this Seminar were senior Go vernment officials from Asian countries dealing with the subject of Rural Organisations in their own countries. At the end of the Semi nar, a Report listing the topics discussed and some concrete recom mendations were prepared and adopted.