Rural Development and Food Security

Master of Management of Development

 



Content programme

 

Course structure

 

This one-year course consists of 1.) a nine-month teach­ing period and 2.) a three-month research project culmi­nating in a thesis. It involves a series of competency-building modules that advance your disciplinary expertise and hone your professional skills.

Study load per module is expressed in European Credits (EC). The total programme requires 1,960 study hours, and leads to the award of 70 EC.


The Rural Development and Food Security programme has the following modules:

  • Introduction (4 EC)
  • Management of Development (8 EC)
  • Professional Environment (13 EC)
  • Management and Planning (4 EC)
  • Agricultural Development and Food Security (10 EC)
  • Agriculture and Economics (9 EC)
  • Research and Thesis (22 EC)

 

rural development and food security with nutrition and spices in bags

 

 

Course content

  

  • Introduction. This module includes skills related to study and personal development.
  • Professional Environment. These activities analyse your development organisation in its institutional context - i.e. your clients, and stakeholders such as the government, NGOs, and community-based organisations. There is a specific focus on organisational change and food security, and also on the competencies necessary for training people in communication and leadership.
  • Management of Development. After an introduction to Development Theories, this module conducts a Visual Problem Appraisal (VPA) - a simulation of a consultancy assignment in which stakeholder consultation is essential to analysing and framing a complex multi-disciplinary problem.
  • Management and Planning. This includes project-cycle management, financial management, and food security analysis and planning.
  • Specialisation modules:
    • Agricultural Development and Food Security: Introduction to food security concepts, dynamics of rural livelihoods, development approaches and management of food security programmes. Mainstreaming Food Security in Agriculture and Rural Development. Service delivery and enterprise development.
    • Agriculture and Economics. Local agriculture and local economy in a globalizing world. Food security and local/ regional markets.
  • Research and Thesis. After examining the role of research in addressing human needs, this module outlines research types and tools, the design of research projects, and the interpretation of research output. To demonstrate your proficiency in the analytical and synthetic skills relevant to your subjects, you will then spend a 12-week period writing a thesis reporting on your own research of a specific problem. You may wish to focus on the consequences of policy changes to management and organisational issues, communication and innovation, extension, or staff development and transformation. Similarly, you may examine ways in which policies and interventions can be influenced.

 

rural development and food security is nutrition with vegetables and garlic

 

 

Competences

 

At graduation, you will have developed the following competences:

  • the ability to define the economic, commercial and marketing needs, constraints and opportunities of those in rural communities who produce for local and regional markets
  • the ability to develop support programmes for those producing for local and regional markets
  • the ability to formulate and recommend any organisational adjustments that are needed within service-delivery organisations
  • the ability to analyse local food security
  • the ability to analyse the livelihoods of farmers who produce for local and regional markets
  • the ability to develop support programmes for such farmers
  • the ability to mainstream food security within agricultural and rural development programmes

 

 

 


rural development and food security with nutrition and fruit and oranges