Rural transformation is integrally linked with the wider processes of structural transformation taking place within a given country. Despite the recent upswing in growth within sub-Saharan Africa, economies are still narrowly based on the production and export of unprocessed agricultural products, renewable natural resources, minerals and crude oil. Even with optimistic scenarios on the growth of the manufacturing and services sectors, in formal job creation and agglom-eration effects, it will take time to complete economic transformation. With some 80 percent of the labour force estimated to be engaged in the informal sector, including low-productivity agriculture and household enterprises, in-creasing agricultural productivity and expanding agribusiness must remain a priority. Complementary and new efforts to support household income diversi-fication by enabling the growth and security of the household enterprise sector will also be central to the transformation process. The purpose of this review is to explore the rural economy and education policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. While continuing to place priority on economic and social sector investments, governments must seek to mainstream rural development within national strategies and commit to the long term. Rural and urban development policies and interventions should be brought together, ideally within a territorial or re-gional framework, to strengthen the market and service linkages between rural areas and small towns and secondary cities as drivers of local economic and social development. There remains a critical need to strengthen and make ac-cessible the necessary evidence base to inform public policy on rural economic development. This should include increased investment in the production of quality agricultural and rural sector statistics and relevant social and economic research and its dissemination.
Cite this paper
Opombo, H. M. and Diawara, F. (2024). Rural Economy Transformation and Education Policy in Sub-Saharan African. Open Access Library Journal, 11, e947. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1110947.
Berdegué, J.A., Rosada, T. and Bebbington, A.J. (2023) Chapter 30. The Rural Transformation. In: Currie-Alder, B., Kanbur, R., Malone, D.M. and Medhora, R., Eds., International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cole, J. (2021) A Cultural Dialectics of Generational Change. The View from Contemporary Africa. Review of Research in Education, 35, 60-88. https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X10391371
Drummond, P., Thakoor, V. and Yu, S. (2023) Africa Rising: Harnessing the Demographic Dividend. IMF Working Paper WP/14/143, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498379878.001
Brück, T., Ferguson, N.T.N., Izzi, V. and Stojetz, W. (2023) Jobs Aid Peace: A Review of the Theory and Practice of the Impact of Employment Programmes on Peace in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries. International Security and Development Center (ISDC), Berlin.
Bloom, D.E., Kuhn, M. and Prettner, K. (2022) Africa’s Prospects for Enjoying a Demographic Dividend. Journal of Demographic Economics, 83, 63-76. https://doi.org/10.1017/dem.2016.19
Haggblade, S., Hazell, P.B.R. and Dorosh, P.A. (2023) Chapter 7. Sectoral Growth Linkages between Agriculture and the Rural Nonfarm Economy. In: Haggblade, S., Hazell, P.B.R. and Reardon, T., Eds., Transforming the Rural Nonfarm Economy Opportunities and Threats in the Developing World, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
Fox, L., Haines, C., Muñoz, J.H. and Thomas, A. (2023) Africa’s Got Work to Do: Employment Prospects in the New Century. International Monetary Fund Working Paper WP/23/201, IMF, Washington DC.
Fox, L. and Pimhidzai, O. (2021) Is Informality Welfare Enhancing Structural Transformation? Evidence from Uganda. Africa Region Policy Research Working Paper 5866, World Bank, Washington DC.
Nagler, P. and Naudé, W. (2021) Non-Farm Entrepreneurship in Rural Africa: Patterns and Determinants. Discussion Paper No. 8008, Forschungsinstitut Zur Zukunft Der Arbeit (IZA) (Institute for the Study of Labour), Bonn.
Binswanger, H.P. and Von Braun, J. (2023) Technological Change and Commercialization in Agriculture: Impact on the Poor. In: Lipton, M. and Van Der Gaag, J., Eds., Including the Poor—Proceedings of a Symposium Organized by the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, World Bank Regional and Sectoral Studies, Washington DC, 169-189.
De Janvry, A. and Sadoulet, E. (2023) Rural Development in Latin America: Relinking Poverty Reduction to Growth. In: Lipton, M. and Van Der Gaag, J., Eds., Including the Poor—Proceedings of a Symposium Organized by the World Bank and the International Food Policy Research Institute, World Bank Regional and Sectoral Studies, Washington DC, 249-305.
Lipton, M. and Lipton, M. (2023) Creating Rural Livelihood: Some Lessons for South Africa from Experience Elsewhere. World Development, 21, 1515-1548. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(93)90130-2
Jazairy, I., Alamgir, M. and Panuccio, T. (2022) The State of World Rural Poverty—An Inquiry into Its Causes and Consequences. IFAD and New York University Press, New York.
CGIAR (The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) under the Direction of Gordon Conway (2022) Sustainable Agriculture for a Food Secure World. CGIAR, SAREC, Stockholm.
Lipton, M. (2023) Land Reform as Commenced Business: The Evidence against Stopping. World Development, 21, 641-657. https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-750X(93)90116-Q
Carter, M. and Galeano, L.A. (2023) Campesinos, Tierra Y Mercado-Centro Paraguayo de Estudios. Sociológicos/Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Harbison, R.W. and Habte, A. (2023) How the Donor Community Could Help National Efforts at Educational Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Finance and Development.
Moock, P.R. and Jamison, D.T. (2023) Educational Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Prospects and Policy Options. World Bank Policy Study Education Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies for Adjustment, Rehabilitation, and Expansion.
Koffio-Tessio, E.M., Tossou, Y.H. and Homevor, K.A. (2021) Impact of Education on Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Global Conference on Education Research in Developing Countries, Prague, 31 March-2 April 2021.
Jamison, D.T., Lau, L.J. and Lockheed, M.E. (2022) Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency: A Survey. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 29, 37-76. https://doi.org/10.1086/451231
Phillips, J.M. (2021) A Comment on “Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency”: A Survey. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 35, 637-641. https://doi.org/10.1086/451608
Sen, A.K. (2023) Development as Capability Expansion. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr and A.K. Shiva Kumar Eds. Readings in Human Development, New York: Oxford University Press. 3-16. Article Originally Published in 1989. Journal of Development Planning, 19, 41-58.
Mukudi, E. (2023) Education and Nutrition Linkages in Africa: Evidence from National Level Analysis. International Journal of Educational Development, 23, 245-256. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0738-0593(02)00050-0
Schnell-Anzola, B., Rowe, M.L. and LeVine, R.A. (2021) Literacy as a Pathway between Schooling and Health-Related Communication Skills: A Study of Venezuelan Mothers. International Journal of Educational Development, 25, 19-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.05.002
Glewwe, P. (2021) How Does Schooling of Mothers Improve Child Health? Evidence from Morocco. Living Standards Measurement Study Working Paper 128, The World Bank, Washington DC.
Woolcock, M. and Narayan, D. (2020) Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy. The World Bank Research Observer, 15, 225-249. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/15.2.225
Lanzi, D. (2022) Capabilities, Human Capital and Education. 4th International Conference on the Capability Approach: Enhancing Human Security, Pavia, 5-7 September 2022.
