The theoretical part of the paper presents an overview of trends in the solution of economic and social problems in rural areas and rural development. It also makes an inventory of modern theories on European rural development and analyses aspects of strategic management of the activities of regional and rural communities. The documentary part of the paper analyses the EU and Lithuanian regional and rural development policy, the developments in the implementation of the EU LEADER programme in Lithuania in 2003 – 2010 and opportunities for its improvement, the establishment of local action groups (LAGs) and their key activities. The empirical part of the paper examines the activities of LAGs in Ukmerge and Radviliskis regions and offers a comparative analysis of the content of five strategies produced by the two LAGs for the period between 2003 and 2013. The research has demonstrated that the five rural development strategies of both LAGs are based on the principles of collaboration among the representatives of local authorities, businesses and rural communities, continuity and consultations with local population. The discussion part focuses on the guidelines for the improvement of the strategic management of rural development. The conclusions present an overview of the typical features, priorities, aims and objectives of the strategies of both LAGs.

This study explores the impact of climate change, social capital, and gender differences on the resilience of smallholder farmers in South Asia. Analysing data from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan from 2000 to 2020, the researchers have found that climate change significantly reduces agricultural productivity, while social capital acts as a crucial support mechanism. The paper summarizes gender-sensitive interventions in the improvement of adaptive ability and equality in the agriculture sector. It describes innovative farm-level practices and policy measures at various levels to strengthen resilience from environmental challenges. This approach gives room for researchers to find how the elements of climate change, put together with social capital and gender disparities, influence agricultural resilience. The present analysis recaps gender-sensitive interferences aimed at improving adaptive ability and equality in the agriculture sector, describing ground-breaking farm-level performs and policy measures to strengthen resilience against environmental tasks. Data shows that the climate change has a negative impact on agricultural output; therefore, any rise in temperature, change of precipitation, and extreme weather events worsen susceptibility. Social capital is also an essential part in resilience, being a source of resources, information, and support networks that can be drawn on. It calls for the interaction with the opposite gender and gender-sensitive interventions that increase adaptive ability and equality between men and women in agriculture. This study reveals that agri-diversification is pivotal for conservation agriculture enhancing climate resilience in South Asia.

Private pension plans envisage a voluntary choice of a person to make additional savings for the retirement by joining a private pension plan and making contributions. In 2023, six open private pension funds offered twenty pension plans. Private pension funds provide three types of investment strategies: conservative, balanced and active ones. The research aim is to assess the performance of the private pension plans in Latvia. The research is based on the analysis of the statistical data on the return of assets and other performance indicators of private pension plans as well as it employs the correlation and regression analyses. The data analysis shows a steady increase (annually 6.24% on average) in the population participation in private pension plans. Active plan participants account for 51.42% on average, while the proportion of deferred participants is also large, i.e. 30.40% on average. Short-term returns of private pension plans are very fluctuating with expressive increases and decreases where the active pension plans demonstrated the most unstable return trends. The sharpest return decline was observed in 2022, when the arithmetic total average return of all private pension plans was – 14.63%. The basic reasons mentioned are the changes in investment portfolio, global downturn of stock markets and sharp growth of inflation. Long-term returns show a positive growth through the entire period analysed, i.e. 4.16% on average. This means that a short-term decline of returns does not signal of future decrease in the amount of pension, since contributions to pension plans are considered to be a long-term investment.

The Baltic States have a three-tier pension system. Pillar II is the state funded pension scheme in which contributions are made automatically from an employee’s gross salary as part of social contributions. The contributions to Pillar II state funded pension schemes may be invested in several pension plans with different risk ratios of which three types are the most common: active, balanced and conservative ones. The accumulation of funds and consequently a partial amount of an old-age pension depends on the chosen pension plan and the manager of funds. The research aim is to assess the operation efficiency of the state funded pension schemes in the Baltic States. The research mainly employs and provides the analysis on the statistical data on the value and return of assets and number of Pillar II scheme participants. Theoretical discussion is built upon the use of scientific publications by means of monographic descriptive method, correlation and regression analyses as well as the methods of analysis and synthesis. In Latvia, 25.62% on average of all state funded pension plans participants have chosen conservative strategy, while only 8.36% on average have chosen this strategy in Lithuania. In Estonia (75.49%) and Lithuania (69.13%), the majority of assets are accumulated in the balanced strategy pension plans. The research results show that pension plans have positive return in long-term; though, sharp fluctuations and negative return might be demonstrated in short-term. Both in Lithuania and Latvia exists a negative correlation between Pillar II pension schemes and inflation, i.e. the return of a pension scheme decreases with the increase of inflation meaning that inflation alongside with other economic and political factors might be considered as a factor affecting the return of pension schemes.

This study assessed the capacity for designing and implementing agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, and programs in Nigeria. Data for this study were derived from initial consultations at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR), Federal Ministry of Women affairs and Social Development (FMWASD), and the Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv) early in 2008. Two consultation workshops were also held, one for relevant staff in the ministries, parastatals, and NGOs; and the other for relevant university professors and researchers. This was followed by a review of relevant literature and a more detailed survey of institutions and individuals. A sample of relevant institutions and individuals were purposively selected from the Federal Capital, Abuja, Oyo, Kaduna, Enugu Ogun, Benue, and Abia States. At each location, trained data collectors compiled a list of state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and universities where 32 institutional questionnaires were administered, of which 29 were valid for further analysis. Similarly, 320 individual questionnaires were administered, of which 183 were valid for further analysis. The null hypothesis that job satisfaction and institutional incentive was independent of selected background information (gender, position, years spent on job, nature of institution, and level of formal education) of the experts was tested using the Chi square analysis. The respondents were mostly male (23 of 24) and were either heads of departments (10 of 24) or directors, their deputies and their equivalents (12 of 24). Most of the respondents (22 of 24) exhibited an indifferent perception to the general environment and processes involved in policymaking. Reported capacity- strengthening efforts (for 13 of the 24 institutions surveyed) amounted to an average cost of US$76.98 per person per day for the 1-3 weeks training provided. While the practice of strategic planning was widespread, mission statements were widely used in only two-fifths of selected institutions; near-term strategies were widely used in about one third; and long-term visions were widely used in a little more than one third. Even the practice of participation in planning from a broad range of personnel within the institution was only widely used in one third of the selected intuitions. Similarly, written guidelines were widely available (22 of 24), but fully disseminated in less than half of the selected institutions. However, respondents claimed that the financial guidelines were being followed strictly, but half of the respondents (12 of 24) did not know the frequency of receiving reports from the accounting system. Most of the selected institutions had both a human resource management unit (70.8 percent) and dedicated staff training centers (54.2 percent), but about half of the respondents neither knew the regularity of review of staff training needs nor when last staff training needs were assessed. The implication of this is that the extent to which the training exercises match the skill gaps of staff and capacity requirements of the institutions were unknown. Between 75–80 percent of the selected institutions engaged in some collaborative programs and linkages with other government institutions, relevant NGOs, international development partners, training institutions, and research institutions. These collaborative ventures worked mainly through cost sharing, exchange, joint engagements, and sharing of reports. Over 70 percent of the individual respondents (experts) had at least a Master of Science (MSc) or its equivalent. The majority (79.7 percent) were male who had spent more than 10 years on the job. About half of the experts worked with universities, compared to 13.1 percent in the ministries and 37.7 percent in parastatals. Their expertise cut across a broad range of subjects relevant for designing and implementing agricultural and rural development policies— more than one quarter were experts in agricultural economics, extension, communication, rural development, and rural sociology. The most frequently mentioned (51.4 percent) person responsible for agricultural and rural development programs, policies, and strategies was the officer-in-charge, but the list of stakeholders was long and varied. Over 60 percent of the respondents stated that at least some consultation was done with stakeholders through face-to-face communication at stakeholder fora, meetings, conferences, summits, and talks. According to the respondents, the major concerns of stakeholders about agricultural and rural development policies, programs, or strategies were the extent to which they achieve stated goals. More than half of the respondents claimed that research evidence such as the achievements of previous and on going programs, results of fresh surveys, and extension and On farm Adaptive Research (OFAR) reports were used to support the development of agricultural and rural strategies, policies, and programs. This evidence was obtained mainly from agricultural institutions and universities as well as available reports, journals, and publications. The respondents stated that the major sources of funds for the process of agricultural and rural development policy were the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), The World Bank, state and local governments, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). They also stated that the various agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, and programs largely benefited the poor (52.5 percent). It was noteworthy that respondents preceived that the number of women at the ministerial and research levels of agricultural and rural development was less than 1 percent. Even at the level of rural farming communities, only 15.3 percent of the respondents felt that there were more women. Furthermore, only 27.4 percent of the experts incorporated environmental issues in their work and only 20.4 percent undertook environmental analysis in their work. Finally, 91.3 percent were indifferent to their job, meaning that it would be difficult for them to perform to the best of their abilities without allowing them greater freedom in the performance of their jobs and work out a reasonable and acceptable reward package for the job done. The results of the Chi square tests showed that the experts’ perception of job satisfaction and institutional incentives is independent of all the background variables considered. The main capacity gaps for designing and implementing agricultural and rural development policies in Nigeria included 1) the need to entrench democratic principles and transparent leadership and 2) to bridge the gap between universities, research institutions, and policymaking and implementing entities. There was also a limited understanding of the relationships between institutional, human, and material resources versus impact of policy on target end-users at every level in the policy design, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Finally, there was a need for the institutionalization of effective measures for tracking changes in the role of evidence in strategic, gender-sensitive planning, through regular monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment, adequate documentation, and commitment to utilize the results of the exercise. Efforts should also be targeted towards improving the quality, gender sensitivity, timeliness, and circulation of policy-relevant evidence.