Community Development
Agriteam works with rural communities around the world in areas such as health, education, SME development and micro-finance, water and sanitation, agriculture and livestock and forestry. Our community development professionals have worked in Africa, Asia and the Americas on projects that empower villagers to both identify and achieve their goals for their own development.
Our toolbox of techniques for working with rural and remote communities—often with semi-literate and illiterate villagers—includes:
- community mobilization
- participatory methodologies including participatory rural appraisal
- (PRA) and rapid rural appraisal (RRA)
- group formation
- capacity development and training programs
- gender mainstreaming
Cultural sensitivity and working with marginalized groups is key to our community-driven approach. We work with governments and local NGOs to build their skills in working with villagers to support participatory, culturally sensitive, sustainable development.
For example, our Tibet Basic Human Needs Project included both villagers and governments in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Agriteam staff worked directly with villagers to help them plan for their own development and then be able to reach their goals, as well as with provincial and local governments to build capacity in participatory methodologies for poverty alleviation. This project provided villagers with true control over their own development for the first time.