Community Development Foundation

The Community Development Foundation (CDF) was organized in 1948 by community leaders who saw the need for a unified effort to coordinate the economic and community development activities of the region and has been characterized by many as an organization that is at the center of innovation, as well as the most significant creative force in rural American economic and community development. The CDF has been undertaking diverse actions in promoting the socio-economic development of the Tupelo-Lee County region, such as:

• marketing the region to business, industry and professional leaders;
• developing a ten year strategy plan, an annual program of work designed to enhance agricultural, business, educational, industrial, private/public partnership and support efforts such as skills and technology enhancement, improved transportation and health care;
• establishing and/or supporting agencies that meet the needs of the community;
• establishment, in collaboration with government of nine industrial parks located in the area.

Visit the Community Development Foundation website here.

World Development Report (WDR) 2008

The World Bank's 2008 'World Development Report' (WDR), the 30th in the series, underlines the role of agriculture as a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction and provides guidance to governments and the international community on designing and implementing agriculture-for-development agendas that can make a difference in the lives of hundreds of millions of rural poor. The report thus addresses three main questions:

• What can agriculture do for development?
• What are effective instruments in using agriculture for development?
• How can agriculture-for-development agendas best be implemented?

Access the full report here.

A Global Comparison of National Biodiesel Production Potentials

Matt Johnston and Tracey Holloway of the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at the University of Wisconsin—Madison have developed a a consistent, national-level evaluation of potential biodiesel volumes and prices, replicated across 226 countries, territories and protectorates. The results show an upper-limit worldwide volume potential of 51 billion liters from 119 countries; 47 billion of which could be produced profitably at today’s import prices. The study also argues that Malaysia and Indonesia stand out above the remaining countries, making up almost 75% of the potential volumes from increased yields.

Read the draft document here.
More information on the research and country results here.

2nd Call for Abstracts for PECSRL Conference “Landscapes, Identities and Development”

The 2^nd Call for Abstracts for PECSRL Conference “Landscapes, Identities and Development”, to be held from the 1st to the 5th September 2008, in Lisbon and Óbidos , Portugal , has been posted at the TERCUD - Territory, Culture and Development Research Centre's website.

More information on abstract submission, programme and registration here.

Biomass Program Multi-Year Program Plan

The US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released earler this month its Biomass Program Multi-Year Program Plan, which aims at developing cost-competitive biomass technologies to enable the production of biofuels nationwide and reduce dependence on oil through the creation of a new domestic bioindustry, thus supporting President Bush’s goal to reduce gasoline use 20 percent by 2017. With an holistic perspective, the programme focus both on developing biofuel, bioproduct and biopower technologies which can enhance the economic potential of biomass and on overcoming barriers to end-user appropriation of biomass-based products.

Social capital and job creation in rural Europe, 8 - 9 November 2007, Lisbon, Portugal

The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in cooperation with the European Commission’s Leader+ Observatory; the Leader+ Portuguese Network; and the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is organisaing the conference 'Social capital and job creation in rural Europe', to be held in lisbon, Portugal on the 8th and 9th November 2007. The aim of the conference is to identify strategies or job creation in rural Europe through social capital initiatives. Practitioners, researchers and policy-makers will participate in the conference and participation is by invitation only.

Draft programme here.

INTERREG IVC Project idea - Wine Tourism

The Municipiality of Ribadavia, in Spain, is looking for wine routes associations or municipalities who which to be partners in the INTERREG IVC project Wine Tourism. The project aims at creating new tourism-related enterprises in wine routes and the expected outcomes are: standard management quality system for creating enterprises; trainers and counsellings in enterprises skills courses standard business plan; and an established enterprise incubator.

More information and contact details here.

Campaign to Protect Rural England

The Campaign for Rural England (CPRE) has been campaigning for 80 years for a sustainable future for the English countryside, a vital but undervalued environmental, economic and social asset to the English nation. In the Campaigns section one can confirm the dynamic of this lobby group and the Library section provides resources on different themes, such as development, planning, farming and food and environment.

Swiss cheese and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy

Switzerland has in its premium cheeses Gruyère and Emmental an example for the European Union on how agricultural-related activities can compete globally by focusing production on quality, heritage and new markets, decoupling subsidies from production, thus shifting from subsidising production to direct payment for looking after the countryside, and reducing import barriers on foreign products. A good example for the urgent reform of the CAP.

Read the full story here.

ConnectKentucky - Connecting rural America

The 2006 Winner of the United States Economic Development Administration's Excellence in Innovation Award ConnectKentucky programme is a public-private partnership charged with carrying out Kentucky's 'Prescription for Innovation' (page 22&23) comprehensive plan to accelerate technology growth. The partnership has now been recognized as the national leader in technology acceleration in rural communities, recognition gained due to the diverse ICT-based initiatives launched, of which the provision of inexpensive broadband services is the most visible. The outcomes are impressive: broadband availability has increased from 60% to 94%, broadband use at home has increased 73% and broadband use among Internet connected businesses rose from 65% to 85%.

Center for Rural Entrepreneurship

As its slogan states, the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship is a research and policy centre dedicated at stimulating and supporting entrepreneurship in rural America. The Library is definitively a plus, with case studies, development tools, stories of entrepreneurs and publications on entrepreneurship, amongst other material. The Energizing Entrepreneurs Compass is presented as a roadmap for those interested in learning more about entrepreneurship as a rural economic development strategy. You can also check the centre's old website.

Sustainable Communities Network

"Imagine what a safe, livable, healthy community might look like. Around the country citizens are coming together to create a vision of what their community might be and to develop steps toward making these visions come true. Alternatively called "healthy," livable" or sustainable communities, these efforts are integrative, inclusive and participatory. In many communities -- large and small, rural and urban -- issues are being addressed in an interconnected manner. They are demonstrating how innovative strategies can produce communities that are more environmentally sound, economically prosperous, and socially equitable."

The Sustainable Communities Network is a experience-sharing network for sustainable community and rural development. It has USA-wide case studies section which has invaluable experiences and a a very useful funding sources section for American practioners. Other resources include guides and a library.

Community Glod - Community Micro-Economic Development & Micro-Business Facilitation

An interesting and innovative community economic regeneration approach is being developed and implemented in Australia by Dr. Bob Neville. Dr. Bob Neville believes that "individuals’ seed ideas for new business in every community are sufficient - if effectively identified, planted, cultivated and grown – to ensure that the natural rate of business growth exceeds the natural rate of business closure – thus ensuring economic sustainability through natural regeneration". The identification of businesses ideas in the community, the 'micro-facilitation' of micro-entrepreneurs and community resources marketing are some of the steps this approach encompasses. Also, in a recent conversation, Mr. Bob Neville told me was looking for European partners for his project. More info at:

http://www.communitygold.net.au/about1.html
http://www.bobneville.com/index.html