This Issue of African Journal of Rural Development, Vol 9 (3), addresses five broad themes, i.e., Transforming Higher Education for development and market relevance; market participation by different groups with focus on women participation; Trade dynamics and international competitiveness; Technology transfer; and technology generation, the case of poultry/chicken breeding and use of indigenous plant resources in fermentation. The papers therefore address issues for fostering rural development from different perspectives: strengthening human resource and institution capacities to foster and drive development, fostering participation, fostering competitiveness, technology generation and upscaling technology adoption. These issues are central for enhancing capacities for generating technologies and innovations, and ensuring both widespread adoption by various stakeholder groups and for national and international competitiveness. The case of Egerton University exploring various pathways for training skilled and market relevant graduates, and engaging the faculty and students in championing university-community engagement, provide useful insights for universities across Africa and indeed globally. Additionally, varied perspectives and case studies are presented from different countries including Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe thus providing broad experiences and insights for designing future interventions.