IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nwe/eajour/y2018i2p250-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural Technology Park – A New Inclusive Rural Development Concept for the Reduction of Poverty in Rural Afghanistan

Author

Listed:
  • Sayed Nasrat
  • S Fakhrudin Sadat
  • Hidayatullah Sapi

Abstract

This paper explores the Rural Technology Park (RTP) as a new inclusive rural development concept for the reduction of poverty in rural Afghanistan. The analysis of this paper is based on literature review, interviews, focus group discussions and field observations. The primary data were collected between 2010 and mid-2017 from 9 out of 34 provinces in Afghanistan. Despite the efforts of the donor community and the Government of Afghanistan, rural poverty is on the rise in the country. Afghanistan is an agrarian country and most rural people have access to varying resources in their locality. However, they do not have adequate knowledge, skills, appropriate and affordable rural technologies, access to finance and markets to better use the available resources. Therefore, in 2009 the concept of the RTP was launched by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) to contribute to poverty reduction. The RTP works in the sectors of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development, renewable energy, water supply and sanitation, and rural housing. Yet rigorous, substantial and timely support has not been given to the RTP by the MRRD and its key stakeholders. This paper finds that the RTP as a multi-functional concept is crucial in contributing to poverty reduction in rural Afghanistan. It equips poor rural people to come out of poverty and have endogenous development, social capital, and Community-Based Enterprise (CBE) development elements as its key features.

Suggested Citation

  • Sayed Nasrat & S Fakhrudin Sadat & Hidayatullah Sapi, 2018. "Rural Technology Park – A New Inclusive Rural Development Concept for the Reduction of Poverty in Rural Afghanistan," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 250-266, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nwe:eajour:y:2018:i:2:p:250-266
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.unwe.bg/uploads/Alternatives/Sayed_EAlternativi_2_2018-8.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen Camarero Izquierdo & Carlos Hernández Carrión & Sonia San Martín Gutiérrez, 2008. "Developing relationships within the framework of local economic development in Spain," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 41-65, January.
    2. Maria Costanza Torri, 2009. "Community Entrepreneurship Among Lower Castes In India: A Grassroots Contribution Towards Poverty Alleviation And Rural Development Under Conditions Of Adversity And Environmental Uncertainty," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(04), pages 413-432.
    3. Narayan, Deepa & Pritchett, Lant, 1999. "Cents and Sociability: Household Income and Social Capital in Rural Tanzania," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 47(4), pages 871-897, July.
    4. Galey Tenzin & Kozo Otsuka & Kaoru Natsuda, 2015. "Can Social Capital Reduce Poverty? A Study of Rural Households in Eastern Bhutan," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 243-264, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Md. Shahidul Islam & Khurshed Alam, 2018. "Does social capital reduce poverty? A cross-sectional study of rural household in Bangladesh," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(11), pages 1515-1532, August.
    2. Jan Fałkowski & Maciej Jakubowski & Paweł Strawiński, 2014. "Returns from income strategies in rural Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 22(1), pages 139-178, January.
    3. Antonio Bubbico, 2013. "Administrative Continuity: Enhancer or Constraint for Regional Governments' Efficiency?," ERSA conference papers ersa13p493, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Giuseppina Guagnano & Elisabetta Santarelli & Isabella Santini, 2016. "Can Social Capital Affect Subjective Poverty in Europe? An Empirical Analysis Based on a Generalized Ordered Logit Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 881-907, September.
    5. Takeshi Aida, 2019. "Social capital as an instrument for common pool resource management: a case study of irrigation management in Sri Lanka," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 952-978.
    6. Grootaert, Christiaan, 1999. "Social capital, houshold welfare, and poverty in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2148, The World Bank.
    7. Kuhudzayi, Brierly & Mettos, Daniela, 2018. "A Model for Farmer Support in Zimbabwe – Opportunity for Change," Cornhusker Economics 307060, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    8. Sandra Viviana Polanía Reyes, 2005. "Capital Social E Ingreso De Los Hogares Del Sector Urbano En Colombia," Documentos CEDE 2099, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    9. Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, 2000. "Food policy research for developing countries: emerging issues and unfinished business," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 125-141, April.
    10. Salazar, César A. & Jaime, Mónica M., 2009. "Participación en Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil en Chile. ¿Una Alternativa para Mejorar el Bienestar Económico? [Participation in Civil Society Organizations in Chile. Is it an Alternative to ," MPRA Paper 12797, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Beatrix Eugster & Rafael Lalive & Andreas Steinhauer & Josef Zweimüller, 2011. "The Demand for Social Insurance: Does Culture Matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(556), pages 413-448, November.
    12. Mikucka, Malgorzata & Sarracino, Francesco & Dubrow, Joshua K., 2017. "When Does Economic Growth Improve Life Satisfaction? Multilevel Analysis of the Roles of Social Trust and Income Inequality in 46 Countries, 1981–2012," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 447-459.
    13. Komppula, Raija, 2014. "The role of individual entrepreneurs in the development of competitiveness for a rural tourism destination – A case study," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 361-371.
    14. Haddad, Lawrence James & Maluccio, John A., 2002. "Trust, membership in groups, and household welfare," FCND briefs 135, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Micheels, Eric T. & Nolan, James F., 2016. "Examining the effects of absorptive capacity and social capital on the adoption of agricultural innovations: A Canadian Prairie case study," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 127-138.
    16. Sabatini, Fabio, 2006. "The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12097, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    17. Adil EL Fakir & Richard Fairchild & Youssef Lamrani Alaoui & Dora Chan & Mohamed Tkiouat & Zaid Amer, 2024. "Kinship, gender and social links impact on micro group lending defaults," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 2527-2542, April.
    18. Fiorillo, Damiano, 2005. "Capitale Sociale Civile: una nota sui concetti e sulla evidenza empirica macro [Civil Social Capital: a note on the concepts and on the macro empirical evidence]," MPRA Paper 3822, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Mallick, Debdulal, 2009. "How effective is a Big Push to the Small? Evidence from a Quasi-random Experiment," MPRA Paper 22824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Miguel, Edward A. & Gertler, Paul & Levine, David I., 2003. "Did Industrialization Destroy Social Capital in Indonesia?," Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series qt9kt2m860, Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nwe:eajour:y:2018:i:2:p:250-266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Vanya Lazarova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/unweebg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.