Rural communities have an interest in becoming thriving places to live and enjoy with amenities for all, attracting newcomers and retaining youth and offering productive employment and access to quality education programming and healthcare. Rural community leaders and organizations play a significant role in realizing these goals through development projects, yet many experience challenges in doing so. This project seeks to address these situations by designing a series of capacity building pathways that would enhance rural community development.  

Please see the Rural Capacity Building Project Overview and additional relevant links below for more project information!

Meet the Research Team: 

• Research Associate and Recognizing Prior Learning Coordinator: Dr. Gary McNeely
• Director of RDI and Researcher: Dr. Wayne Kelly

Project Video Updates: 

October 2024 Rural Research in Action: Capacity Building (Part 1)

Presentations:

• May 2024 Recognizing Prior Learning in the Context of Rural Community Development
• June 2023 Recognizing Prior Learning (RPL) is a Capacity Building Tool for Organizations and Communities
• June 2023 Building Skills for the Future through Experiential Rural Partnerships: Results from the RPLC Project’s Capacity Building Evaluation

Blog Content:

• May 30, 2024 Reflections on the 5th VPL Biennale in Kilkenny, Ireland
• December 5, 2023 Integrating Prior Learning Assessment Principles and Practices in a New Rural Capacity Building Framework
• June 28, 2023 Report on the 31st RPL Conference Presented Jointly by the Indigenous RPL Collective and Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario
• July 10, 2023 Moving in, Moving on, and Moving up: Living well in Rural Canada – CRRF 2023