| Concept | Definition |
| Rural Growth Pole | A rural area where governments deliberately encourage investment and resources to stimulate economic development |
| Top-down strategy | Rural Development Projects determined and managed by people and organisations outside the area using technology, methods and advice from MEDCs |
| Bottom-up stategy | local communities have ownership and involvement in managing rural development strategies |
| NGOs | Is a voluntary, non-political, non-commercial organisation that is neither funded nor controlled by a national government. NGO's often concern themselves with environmental issues or helping the less privileged members of society |
| Intermediate Technology | Simple technology that is straight-forward to build, small-scale, affordable and appropriate to the local communities' needs. This type of development also promotes self-reliance and use of local skills. |
| FARM-Africa | est. 1985 aims to reduce rural poverty by enabling marginal African farmers and herders to make sustainable improvements to their well being through more effective management of natural resources. |
| Fragmentation - "multi-heiring" | Occurs when agricultureal land is broken up so that one farm may actually consist of numerous small fields scattered over a wider area (often the result of inheritance laws) |
| Rural diversification | A diversification of resources (land, capital, labour) perviously committed to rural activites and non-traditional enterprises. |
| Teleworking | People working from home linked to telecommunications to their office. |
| Rural depopulation | The movement of people from rural areas, usually in search of work. |
| Repopulation | The movement of people back into an area that was previously depopulated. |
| Rural deprivation | Deprivation in a rural area, resultin |
| Cycle of deprivation | A circle of events experienced by diadvantaged people |
