Institute for Rural Development

South Africa’s higher education sector is faced with the challenge of accelerating transformation and restructuring in order to align itself with the 21^st Century national and international development imperatives. At the same time, there is a greater need than ever before to promote internationalization and create an environment that enables the mobility of students and professionals across national boundaries.  These strategic and policy thrust realities have over the years partly compelled UNIVEN to weave them into its teaching and learning, community engagement, and research and innovation as it  recalibrates itself to become a comprehensive university. Also, the university’s strategic location in relation to the rest Africa and the fact that most of its students come from poor rural areas demands that it offers programmes that resonate with this reality. Thus, it was not surprising that in 2007 the university adopted the vision. The subsequent re-engineering, rationalisation and reconfiguration of UNIVEN’s core business saw it merging the then eight year old Centre for Rural Development (CRD) which had been a component of the School of Agriculture since its inception, and the Institute of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Poverty Eradication in the now defunct School of Postgraduate and Integrated Studies. This process gave birth to the Centre for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation (CRDPA) in November 2008 and its retention as a component of the School of Agriculture.

In November 2010, the UNIVEN Council approved the CRDPA’s business plan. Thereafter, the phenomenal growth of the CRDPA, particularly in terms of its postgraduate research and community-based programmes  led to the partial delinking of the CRDPA from the School of Agriculture. This institutional re-engineering was designed to enable the CRDPA to enjoy some autonomy and also facilitate better growth and development, which indeed occurred. In recognition of this, the CRDPA was, in 2012, elevated to the current Institute for Rural Development (IRD).

The IRD Mandate

The IRD was established to serve as a flagship unit of UNIVEN with the mandate to spearhead efforts towards achieving the university-wide vision. In order to fulfil this mandate, the IRD strives to demonstrate excellence in participatory action research, teaching and learning as well as postgraduate studies on rural transformation and development. This is realized through appropriate deployment of expertise in research and practice-enriched teaching and learning, and processes that might precipitate people-centred rural development. As the rural development propeller, the IRD’s work derives its energy from the dream of “Taking the university to its rightful owners – grassroots communities”. Below are the key elements of the IRD mandate:

• mobilizing and organizing staff, students, rural communities and other stakeholders for collective action against poverty and underdevelopment;
• mobilizing resources for use in formal and non-formal education, training and skills development programmes;
• facilitating university-wide activities that inculcate an entrepreneurial culture and support development initiatives;
• serving as a focal point for structured deliberations and debates on contemporary rural development issues in South and southern Africa;
• mounting appropriate technology-focused programmes in order to close the gap between the knowledge generated in research institutions and the impact it has on the growth and development of rural communities; and
• establishing healthy national and international partnerships and networks to support rural development.

The mandate articulated above informed the IRD vision, mission and strategic goals. These pillars of the IRD core business are explained below:

Our Vision

To become a leading university-based player in combating poverty and rural underdevelopment in southern Africa

Our Mission

The Institute for Rural Development applies people-centred action research principles, and innovative teaching and learning methods in its quest to provide effective leadership in finding appropriate solutions to the multiple and complex  underdevelopment-related challenges of rural communities in southern Africa.

Our Strategic Goals 

• To combat poverty and rural underdevelopment through facilitating implementation of community-based, people-centred and self-reliance programmes;
• To enhance research and innovation for rural development;
• To promote facilitation of quality teaching and learning in postgraduate training and need-based short learning programmes for rural development; and
• To establish viable linkages and strategic partnerships for combating poverty and rural underdevelopment.

Our Values

The desire to excel in participatory action research, teaching and learning in a comprehensive university that is located in a rural area defines the nature of our academic endeavour and development practice. In addition to upholding the core values of UNIVEN, we believe in the following set of professional principles: 

1. Commitment to serving rural communities: Our passion for people-centred development and research-informed decision-making underpins our work. This recognizes and embraces various socio-cultural values, among which are respect, love for others, social giving and trust.
2. We endeavour to ensure that the strategic and collegial teamwork we create determine the nature of our development practice.
3. Benefit sharing: The benefits that arise from our collaborative work are shared to mutual satisfaction.
4. Inclusivity and participation: The equity and dress policies of UNIVEN and supremacy of the South African Constitution of 1996, including the centrality of stakeholder participation, shape our professional practice.

• To combat poverty and rural underdevelopment through facilitating implementation of community-based, people-centred and self-reliance programmes;
• To enhance research and innovation for rural development;
• To promote facilitation of quality teaching and learning in postgraduate training and need-based short learning programmes for rural development; and
• To establish viable linkages and strategic partnerships for combating poverty and rural underdevelopment.