Research on the Sustainability of Participatory Rural Poverty Reduction Projects

Poverty reduction and development is an important means for promoting coordinated urban and rural development and for building a harmonized society. Therefore, it is of practical significance to conduct the research on the issues of sustainability for participatory rural poverty reduction projects. This paper systematically reviews the latest development of the research literature relating to the application of Participatory Rural Approach (PRA) methodology in rural anti-poverty project management, as well as the impact of the learning behavior on project performances and sustainability. It proposes the main issues for urgent further studies in this area based on the status quo and limitations of the present research: (1) PRA methodology requires further innovation on the basis of introduction and adoption, in order to build a participatory rural project management framework for poverty reduction suitable for China's practical circumstances; (2) empirical studies should be conducted to explore the mechanism and general laws governing the impact of PRA and learning project management behavior on project performances and sustainability. Finally, this paper constructs a conceptual structure equation model (SEM) for the mechanism of participatory learning behavior's impact on sustainability of anti-poverty projects, which lays the foundation for further empirical studies.