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Prospects of Rural Transformation Centre (RTC) of Malaysia from the Perspective of Inclusive Rural Development

Shawon Muhammad Shahriar1 * , Chamhuri Siwar1 , Rospidah Ghazali1 and Norshamliza Chamhuri2

1 Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), The National University of Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, 43600 Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia

2 Faculty of Economics and Management, The National University of Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.9.3.12

In the contemporary discourse, it is argued that the ultimate objective of rural development is to improve the quality of life for rural people. This makes it essential to go beyond the income-related factors of rural development. Inclusive Rural Development, a more specific concept than the concept of conventional rural development, accommodates the variables for the quality of life in rural development. This concept covers three different but interrelated dimensions: economic dimension, social dimension and political dimension. Rural Transformation Centre (RTC), implemented by the government of Malaysia, is among the third generation of the rural development programmes in the country. RTC is a site to implement some integrated initiatives for the rural communities within 100 kilometre radius of the sites. There are eight major initiatives under the RTC implementation programmes, which are: training of rural population; setting up of 1 Malaysia information kiosks; high-value agriculture initiatives; agro-food products processing; agricultural produce supply chain management; university cooperation; food safety and pharmaceuticals services; and rural population financial facilities. RTC brings a unique opportunity for members of the rural communities to benefit from a myriad of initiatives and activities related to their livelihood and well being within the same premises. Despite some challenges, this programme has enormous potentials to address many important aspects of rural development. Based on review of relevant literature and field visits, this paper attempts to examine the prospects of the RTC concept of Malaysia in light of the theory of Inclusive Rural Development. The findings of this paper will help relevant governmental and non-governmental bodies and researchers gain an insight about the potentials and challenges of RTC for further improving the quality of life for the rural communities.

Transformation Centre (RTC); Rural development; Inclusive rural development; Rural livelihood

Copy the following to cite this article:

Shahriar S. M, Siwar C, Ghazali R, Chamhuri N. Prospects of Rural Transformation Centre (RTC) of Malaysia from the Perspective of Inclusive Rural Development. Curr World Environ 2014;9 (3) DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.9.3.12

Copy the following to cite this URL:

Shahriar S. M, Siwar C, Ghazali R, Chamhuri N. Prospects of Rural Transformation Centre (RTC) of Malaysia from the Perspective of Inclusive Rural Development. Curr World Environ 2014;9(3).
Available from: http://www.cwejournal.org/?p=7651

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