Action Research is
another vital component of the Academy’s trident strategy to rural
development. The main purpose of undertaking action research is to find out
appropriate solutions to socio-economic problems of the countryside and develop
replicable models for rural development. The major objectives of RDA’s action
research are as follows:
i)
To test
development hypothesis in order to come up with solutions for various emerging
problems of rural life;
ii)
To evolve
appropriate strategies and methodologies to help the villagers
solve their problems;
iii)
To analyze and
evaluate the findings and experiences of action research for deciding future
course of action;
iv)
To feed the
rural development planners and practitioners in the formulation of pragmatic
rural development programmes and policies for the country; and
v)
To document and
publish the findings for consumption of wider groups of scholars, experts and
practitioners.
Till December 2007, the
Academy has undertaken as many as 31 action research projects on different
aspects of rural development and out of them 27 are completed and the rest 4 are
ongoing projects and are in different stages of progress in various places of
the country. Most of the action research projects are included in the Annual
Development Plan (ADP) of the government. Besides ADP-funded action research
projects, there are also Non-ADP projects which are financially assisted by and
collaboratively implemented with different international and national
development agencies.
Apart
from these, RDA, Bogra also undertakes a series of self-assisted demonstrative
agricultural activities in different units of its Demonstration Farm. Since its
inception, RDA has completed in total 32 action research projects. The Academy
has been implementing as many as ten action research projects during the finical
year of 2007-08.
Out
of these ten projects, four are under ADP and the rest are under Non-ADP. A
short account of the salient features of all these projects is highlighted in
the following pages. The title of all the projects are categorically classified
and presented below: