Establishing partnerships for rural development

Abstract

Over the last three decades partnership development among various groups has been increasingly encouraged as means to stimulate development in rural areas. Nevertheless, despite the support given to partnerships between organizations, critics question their effectiveness and the economic endeavours to stimulate local development are contested. Consequently, our study seeks to investigate what are the economic and organizational conditions that influence consideration when joining a local partnership but also the main constraints and individual motivation to develop cooperative behaviour. The analysis shows that while there is openness in creating or developing joint ventures, the availability of financial resources, lack of strategic planning, lack of communication and trust are factors that can have significant influence on the effectiveness of the partnership and consequently on its contribution to the local development.