Rural Institutes (RIs) in the country are diverse in their focus owing to the local specificity of issues (social, economic), their area of expertise and operations. RIs today are perceived as the key link between the government / donor agencies / implementers and the community. Participatory development approaches and growing importance of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), of late, have made the RIs indispensible in effective implementation of the programmes aimed at rural welfare and empowerment. The Millennium Development Goals, National Missions in several sectors and other programmes among a host of development projects foresee a greater role for the RIs. In brief, RIs can become potential change drivers providing the necessary cutting-edge lto programmes aimed at rural development, and with the right kind of capacities, can help in effecting change required for the rural sector.

A combination of factors help RIs play a crucial role in rural reconstruction and act as allies of government and donor agencies, the civil society, academic bodies and industry. Recent development of volunteerism in the country has also contributed to the emergence of networks among the RIs. Networks of RIs provide scale of economies in terms of outreach, capacity building or mobilisation of community participation. It also ensures better strategies for assessment of the ground realities and evolving appropriate interventions through community involvement. It is with this need to develop the capacities of the RIs, the Rural Resource Informatics Centre (RRIC) was conceived to provide integrated information and knowledge services to RIs.

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