While half of the world’s population now is urban, in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the proportions of rural people range  from 55 to 70 percent. By 2050, these will still be 45 percent in India and the 50 least developed countries and a full one-third in the developing regions as a whole.

The term rural transformation - rather than rural development, rural change or rural education - is used advisedly to convey a vision of pro-active and positive process of change and development of rural communities in the context of national and global changes. Education is seen as a key instrument for shaping and fulfilling the goal of rural transformation.

UNESCO-INRULED decided to examine closely the issues of skills development within its broad mission of exploring concepts, policy and practices in education for rural transformation. The confluence of global forces and national situations, especially in the poorer countries and regions of the world, prompted UNESCO-INRULED to take this decision. These forces and factors include persistent and growing gaps between supply and demand for jobs and employment for young people, growing vulnerabilities and risks for poor people, threats to food security, and the urgency of building a sustainable green future. 

The report focuses on the links between education and rural transformation, seeking  to underscore the inexorable forces of change rural communities face and how education and training, by equipping people with appropriate knowledge and skills and fostering values of human dignity, can expand their choices and capabilities to exercise these choices.

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