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This article suggests that advisory services for visually handicapped children are not offering an adequate level of support to pupils within mainstream schools. Because of the wide differences in the number of peripatetic teachers in each team, in the size of their individual caseloads, and in their pay scales, little comparison can be made between the services provided in various parts of the country. The problem is further compounded by the fact that there are no uniform criteria for the selection of pupils to be supported.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the initiation, current issues, and further development of agricultural advisory services in Ukraine. Research methods. The research uses dialectical methods of cognition and monographic method (for the analysis of legislation, works of Ukrainian and foreign scientists on the problem of advisory services in agriculture), empirical and graphical methods (to assess and demonstrate the structure of organizational forms and marketing methods of advisory services), abstract logical methods (for theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions). Research results. The study has highlighted that agricultural advisory services institution is a powerful tool to help smallholders in Ukraine break the cycle of low productivity, vulnerability, and poverty. By providing farmers with knowledge and tools about modern agricultural practices, agricultural advisory services can be a critical force for change. However, the development of these organizations in Ukraine now meets such challenges as low level of governmental support for agriculture advisory activities, understaffing of agricultural advisory services, and confusing mechanisms of cooperation with formal institutions for agricultural advisory services organizations in Ukraine etc. Scientific novelty. This study has investigated the current perspectives and challenges of agricultural advisory services in Ukraine. It has highlighted perspective points of development and improvement for such organizations to support further rural development in Ukraine. In particular, governmental development programs to promote the agricultural advisory activities for both rural smallholder farmers and local authorities, creating the mechanisms of cooperation between agricultural advisory service organizations and formal institutions in Ukraine, support of professional development for advisors and experts, etc. Practical significance. Summarising the achieved and analysed data, scientists and policymakers to develop the support programs for agricultural advisory service organizations to support rural smallholder businesses and to improve the living standards of rural communities may use the results of the study. Tabl.: 2. Figs.: 3. Refs.: 14.

Rwanda is a unique African country with a unique history. Like many other sub-Saharan African countries, agriculture is the key livelihood for the majority of the nation's people. Rwanda is also one of the most densely-populated countries in the world, and there are many challenges for rural agriculture: access to land, access and high cost of agricultural inputs, small average landholdings, soil erosion and an undercapitalized private sector. Despite these barriers, Rwanda's agricultural sector has produced significant agricultural growth since the 1994 genocide, taking advantage of the many opportunities that the country's agricultural sector has including good technical capacity in both the private and public sector, two to three cropping seasons per year, manageable access to urban markets for most areas, good governmental support for ICT and business, lower levels of corruption compared to its neighbors, and opportunities for export to other countries in the East African Community. However, poverty levels, while declining, are still high. ; IFPRI5; DLEC; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Feed the Future Initiative; CRP2; Rwanda SSP ; DSGD; PIM ; Non-PR ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Producer organisations (POs) form the interface between farmers and their economic, social, and institutional environments (Box 1). The involvement of POs in the provision of rural advisory services (RAS) has been identifi ed as a solution to the limitations of both the hierarchical public sector extension system and market- driven private sector extension systems. POs can make a positive contribution by articulating the demands and needs of their members for RAS, and directly or indirectly ensuring that these services are supplied in an effi cient and sustainable way. However, not all POs have the required capacities to carry out all these functions. Depending on their aims, resources, vision, or institutional environment, POs have a wide diversity of RAS roles.