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School leaders can significantly influence the conditions that affect teacher retention. Yet, leaders in rural and high-poverty schools often face limited opportunities to develop their abilities to enhance these conditions. In this case study, we examine how participating in a professional community supported school leaders' efforts to increase teacher retention and student learning outcomes.

We used case study methodology to study 14 leaders from rural, high-poverty or underperforming schools with greater-than-average levels of teacher turnover. The leaders were participating in a three-year research-practice partnership intended to assist them in using improvement science to address problems of practice related to teacher retention and student learning outcomes in their schools. We collected and analyzed data from interviews, exit surveys, artifacts and participant observations over a one-year period.

Participating in this professional community helped the leaders create the conditions for increased teacher retention and student learning outcomes by providing them with opportunities to collaborate with their peers, receive leadership coaching, exchange ideas and learn in a safe space.

These findings confirm and extend extant school leadership development research. A particularly interesting finding was the role of the professional community in reducing the leaders' feelings of isolation while providing them a safe space to learn. The findings also illustrate how universities and school districts can partner to provide professional learning opportunities that enhance school leaders' professional knowledge, leadership practices and well-being.

The protection and preservation of the environment, whether of an urban area or a rural area may not be disregarded. Most of the rural areas in the world lacks the knowledge on this issue. In so far as the developing countries are concerned, it has now become a societal problem mainly owing to the lack of public awareness in the rural areas of these countries. This chapter examines the principal causes of the lack of public awareness. The author also examines the correlation between poverty and deterioration of the environment and between industrialisation and deterioration of the environment, where possible. Both sophisticated and unsophisticated technology cause pollution. The other causes of pollution, industrial or otherwise have also been identified and explained. The relevant UN Resolution, namely, the Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources 1962, the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States 1974, the UN World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future (The Brundtland Report) have also received attention. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals have been mentioned.

In the opinion of the author, almost all of the important and relevant documents have received attention in this chapter in order to create awareness of the problems in connection with the protection of the environment.

The paper aims to explore gaps in women's empowerment in rural areas, specifically focusing on the alignment of skill development with job creation. The overarching goal is to understand how firms can contribute to achieving the 5th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to women's empowerment through skill development and job creation programs.

The paper reviews information available in various formats to analyse the existing landscape of women's empowerment, skill development and job creation in rural areas. It likely involves a literature review synthesising insights from diverse sources, including academic studies, government initiatives and reports from researchers working in the field. The methodology may also encompass an examination of success cases and challenges faced by government programs.

Gender disparities: Over 80% of the global impoverished population is in rural areas, with women constituting 70% of this demographic. Challenges in policy implementation: Despite women-centred policies, challenges persist in enabling rural women to recognise the potential of remunerative skills for improving their lives. Linking skills and decision-making: Scholarly work highlights the connection between remunerative skills and decision-making, emphasising the importance of financial independence for women's empowerment. Gap in job opportunities: Lack of industry and commercial setups in rural areas poses a significant challenge, hindering the recognition of the value that skill development can offer.

The paper reviews information available in various formats to analyse the existing landscape of women's empowerment, skill development and job creation in rural areas. It likely involves a literature review synthesising insights from diverse sources, including academic studies, government initiatives and reports from researchers working in the field. The methodology may also encompass an examination of success cases and challenges faced by government programs.

Briefly, sources of finance for rural development in developing countries have presented an almost insoluble problem. The Addis Ababa Action Agenda – Financing for Development, 2015 has received attention, Istanbul Declaration and Programme of Action, the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014–2024 have received attention. Some basic information on Microfinance at a rural level with special section in this chapter has been devoted to Professor Muhammad Yunus' work entitled ‘Banker to the Poor’.

Developing nations are starting to take centre stage and are becoming more conscious of their economic potential in the tourism sector. Earlier, these countries were largely left out of the tourist sector. Today, the foreign exchange reserves of these nations are mostly derived from tourism and a nation's balance of payments derived through tourism supports international trade and stabilizes the economy. The chapter adopts a case study method to evaluate the prospects of inclusive growth through socio economic well-being. In the dynamic and constantly evolving tourism industry, it is imperative to make the growth more inclusive so that there is a balanced approach to long term sustainable development. When it comes to using traditional skills and cultural heritage to participate in this economic paradigm, rural artisans face both opportunities and challenges as the global tourism landscape undergoes evolving transformations. The study commences by closely examining the current market obstacles that rural artisans in the tourism industry face, which encompass a range of issues such as shifting consumer preferences, market saturation and the aftermath of external shocks like pandemics. The chapter indicates major obstacles impeding the integration of rural artisans into the tourism value chain by means of a thorough empirical analysis. In order to overcome the obstacles, the study investigates inclusive growth and how it might act as a spur to improve the socio-economic circumstances of rural craftsmen. The findings in the chapter distil best practices that promote inclusivity, empower local communities and support sustainable tourism development by looking at successful case studies and policy interventions.

The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine the following questions: Which are the main underlying forces behind the entrepreneurial process in a rural RIS characterized by traditionally low-tech, small-scale businesses? How can the development of a low-tech regional innovation system be conceptualized?

The design of the study is based on entrepreneurship theory. Data analysis followed practices used in phenomenography, a research approach used to analyse and identify commonalities and variations in populations' perceptions of a certain phenomenon. Data are composed using semi-structured interviews and a database composed of company information of all firms in the population.

A proactive mobilization of regional stakeholders and resources can be an important driving force behind the entrepreneurial process and generation of a rural RIS. Innovation can be generated within low-tech industries turning the rural context into an asset. An RIS in a remote rural context can be initiated and orchestrated by regional authorities, but knowledge brokering and orchestration can also be managed by networks of small-scale businesses brought together by mutual benefit and common interests.

Regional innovation systems theory is most often used to study high-tech industries. But by combining regional innovation systems with rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship context theory is a fruitful avenue to understand the role of rural entrepreneurship in regional development, even in remote and peripheral regions. Innovation does not need to entail high-tech international environments; it can appear as the result of efforts in low-tech industries in rural and remote environments. The authors’ findings need to be scrutinized; therefore, the authors call for more research on regional innovation systems in rural environments.

It is possible for regional authorities to orchestrate a development process through the actions of a strong regional agent but also by supporting the creation of networks of small businesses that are built on trust and common interests.

This study contributes to the literature with a new perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and of regional innovation systems. Entrepreneurship research with focus on rural contexts most often highlight limits to entrepreneurship and see entrepreneurship as “just running a business”. A perspective that starts from innovation and innovative behaviour, despite the rural context and embedded resources, helps to generate new knowledge that can enrich the understanding of entrepreneurship and also be the foundation for more precise business development policies in rural settings.

This study looked at the potential applications of geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) for inclusive community development and participation, sustainable tourism, and rural community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in sub-Saharan Africa and other rural areas worldwide.

To evaluate resource management systems for rural tourism and the environment in Africa and abroad. The study makes use of reviews of relevant literature and documents, and while linking applications for sustainable tourism and local community empowerment with CBNRM and GIS, vital content was manually analyzed.

The study shows a potential affinity between agricultural and tourism businesses that GIS in line with the CBNRM conception can strengthen. In many rural and underdeveloped regions of the continent, this highlights the need for a credible and varied tourism strategy to develop and empower the relevant communities.

Most agricultural communities in Africa are located in low-income regions. Such areas are rich in natural wildlife and have popular tourist destinations. A mix of regional community development initiatives can be built using GIS, sustainable tourism, CBNRM, and community-based tourism (CBT).

It is no news that Chinese construction companies are highly motivated to invest in Africa in terms of infrastructure and construction. This influx from the beginning of the millennium marked a game-changer for infrastructural development in most African countries. This study, therefore, explores how the partnership between China and Africa has impacted the construction industry in Africa with a focus on Nigeria.

A quantitative approach was adapted for the study, which is descriptive in nature, and the primary participants of the study were core construction professionals within the Nigerian construction industry. Data was collected via a structured questionnaire, and multivariate statistics was used to analyse the data.

The study results revealed that the benefits accrued from Chinese participation in the African construction industry can be classified into three distinct categories: socio-economic development through construction, land transportation system development and construction industry development. The study further revealed that Chinese involvement has been most beneficial to the development of the land transportation system in Nigeria with more investment in the construction and maintenance of roads and railways.

The study will serve as a basis for making informed future decisions on Chinese participation in the Nigerian construction industry as it exposes the impacts of the relationship within the current system. The outcome of this study can be used to refocus the partnership to ensure the optimum development of the local construction industry. The government and other relevant agencies can use the findings from this study to ensure that there is sustainable growth in the local construction industry through Chinese participation.

The study conceptualises universities as “cities of flows” to examine the East-West University Partnership (EWUP) in China, which is a pioneering initiative of cross-regional university collaboration linking over 220 institutions across China since 2001. The study explores the strategic enhancement of connective and collaborative capacity of universities to facilitate diverse flows of talent, knowledge and other resources within the broader context of China's sustainable development in higher education.

The study employs a qualitative single-case study design to investigate the EWUP within its real-life context using participant observation and documentary research. As an analogical inquiry, the study merges the insider and outsider perspectives of the researchers to identify patterns between theoretical constructs and empirical evidence.

The EWUP as a policy entrepreneurship has significantly contributes to coordinated, inclusive and sustainable development. Its spatial dynamics consists of structural, temporal and collaborative dynamics. They are characterised by centrality, connectivity and adaptability which are generated through the interplay among the nodes, linkages and fields of influence within the EWUP network. These dynamics showcase EWUP as a novel approach to managing long-term university partnerships between more and less developed regions.

The study reimagines universities and higher education systems through vivid analogies of cities and transportation networks and elucidates connectivity as a pivotal dimension of sustainability. It advocates for reexamining spatial theories in higher education, deepens insights into the dynamics of cross-regional university partnerships in coordinating educational and territorial development, and enriches discussions on Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD).