Elske van de Fliert

Conceptualizing integrative, farmer participatory research for sustainable agriculture: From opportunities to impact

This paper offers a conceptualmodel for participatory research projects thataim to improve the sustainability ofagriculture and natural resource management.The purpose of the model is to provide asystematic framework that can guide the designof participatory research projects, theiranalysis, and the documentation of results. Inthe model, conceptual boundaries are drawnbetween research and development, developmentand extension and between extension andimplementation. Objectives, activities, andactors associated with each of these realmsneed to be carefully selected, monitored, andevaluated throughout the course of a projectusing well-designed indicators. The depth ofdisciplinary and methodological integration,and quality of participation needed to reachthe desired impact effectively and efficiently,however, needs to be determined on acase-by-case basis depending on the context andissues surrounding each particular project.

What happened to participatory research at the International Potato Center

During the 1980s, when a flexibleapproach to research, known asfarmer-back-to-farmer, was developed, theInternational Potato Center (CIP) became famousfor participatory research. Subsequently itappeared to have lost leadership in this field.This article documents participatory researchactivities in CIP over the past thirty years tofind out what happened. Even in the 1980s,implementation of participatory research wasactually limited. Participatory research in thecenter grew unevenly, with little clearencouragement from the CGIAR. Decentralizationof social scientists in the 1990s led to thefragmentation of participatory research and, inthe absence of any clear champion, it seemedthat it might wither away. Recently, increasinginterest in IPM, donor support, and therecruitment of international staff who havebeen exposed to other currents of participatoryresearch and training has led to a revival ofinterest. This needs to be carefully nurturedto ensure that the flexibility for whichparticipatory research in CIP earlier gainedworld renown is retained.

From Collectives to Collective Decision-making and Action: Farmer Field Schools in Vietnam

Abstract In 1992, even before a formalized agricultural extension system existed, the Farmer Field School was introduced in Vietnam as a farmer education methodology aiming at enhancing farmers’ agroecological knowledge, critical skills and collective action to support sustainable agricultural development. Over the years, the model saw a wide range of applications and adaptations to serve different development needs, while preserving the underlying principles to capacitate, empower and organize farmers. The training experience has proven to be effective and is appreciated by farmers who benefit from learning to gather information, make informed decisions and manage their farms independently in a liberalizing and rapidly changing development climate. Despite convincing impact at the farmer level, the model has not been widely mainstreamed into the agricultural extension system, due to several reasons explored in this paper. Lessons learned should be more thoroughly evaluated and documented to influence future policy-making.

Integrated assessment of agricultural sustainability: exploring the use of models in stakeholder processes

Sustainability assessment is a challenging issue. Complex situations involving multiple dimensions (economic, ecological and social) and requiring decisions about future practices or policy support have to be analysed and evaluated. They are characterized by structural uncertainties and involve many interdependent stakeholders. Stakeholders often have diverging perspectives on a problem and on its solutions. Rotmans and van Asselt (1996) defined integrated assessment (IA) as ‘an interdisciplinary and participatory process combining, interpreting and communicating knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines to allow a better understanding of complex phenomena’. The assessment of agricultural sustainability has to consider the dynamic interactions between socio-economic and bio-physical elements in the system. For sustainable development, functional integrity of all these elements has to be maintained (Thompson, 2007). To be able to consider the various facets of a problem at hand, modelling has proven to be an appropriate tool to provide and combine the necessary information. Models can help blending knowledge and perspectives from different points of view. Moreover, they are able to describe the development of a system (e.g. agricultural land use) by building scenarios that show the potential impact of decisions. As such, models can support IA. The compilation and generation of information and knowledge represents the heuristic role of models in an IA process (Sterk et al., 2009). Ideally, IA should also be a learning process for all stakeholders, including modellers, other researchers, farmers and service providers, as stakeholder involvement is believed to be of importance to achieve adaptable and effective methodologies and tools that will contribute to sustainable development. As quoted from de Kraker in this issue: ‘Learning interactions range from stakeholders learning from scientists (informing) or vice versa (consulting), mutual or co-learning of scientists and stakeholders (co-producing), to scientists mainly supporting mutual learning among stakeholders (co-deciding, stakeholders deciding)’. An interesting proposition is then found in the exploration of the role models can play in enabling learning, networking and sharing perspectives, which is what this Special Issue is about.

Interrogating the Theory and Practice of Communication for Social Change

List of Figures List of Tables Preface 1. Revisiting CSC Theory 2. Revisiting CSC Practice 3. Participation in Theory and Practice 4. Communication, Power and Social Change 5. Agencies, Structures and Social Change 6. The IT Fix 7. The Making and Unmaking of CSC Policy 8. Complexity, Transdisciplinarity and CSC Strategy 9. Communication Rights and Social Change

Positive Deviance in Theory and Practice: A Conceptual Review

ABSTRACT The term “positive deviance” has become increasingly popular in recent years, resulting in the co-existence of multiple definitions and applications scattered among diverse sources of academic literature. The aim of this paper is to bring conceptual clarity to the term by providing a comprehensive synthesis and review of the positive deviance literature. Analysis reveals conceptual and thematic differences in the language employed by authors applying positive deviance in a practical context compared with articles of a more theoretical nature. New directions are proposed for exploring the use and merit of the positive deviance concept into new areas of research.

The humanitarian imperative for education in disaster response

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an argument showing the importance of education as a disaster response activity, and why it must figure more prominently in financial and material support for humanitarian disasters. Design/methodology/approach A critical review of the literature and case studies that have considered humanitarian response activities is carried out, drawing together conclusions on the varied impacts of Education in Emergencies (EiE) on affected populations and identifying the need for more research in this area. Findings Despite rhetorical commitments to education as an emergency response activity, it is often dismissed as non-life saving, and receives the poorer share of funding and resources from humanitarian budgets. It places lower in the consciousness of states and donors than traditional response activities, yet rates highly by affected communities. However, education is both life-saving and life-sustaining when taking into account the impact of education beyond teaching and learning. The processes and effects of education as part of emergency response need to be better understood, and further research that links education and its life-saving capability will strengthen its case. Originality/value This paper argues how immediate response to restore education functions in affected communities after an emergency can significantly contribute to child protection and health. It provides compelling reasons for the status of EiE as a response activity, adding to the voice of more than 200 million people affected by disasters every year, many of whom continue to prioritise education.

Revisiting CSC Theory

The subtitle of this volume The Basis for a Renewal was deliberately chosen not only for its provocative possibilities but also because it reflects a genuine belief that this field has somewhat lost its way and is meandering along in a context rather ironically characterised by a global expansion and a multiplicity of Communication for Social Change (CSC) interventions. In theoretical texts on communication and social change, the turn towards participation is often highlighted as the beginning of a new era in communication, one in which horizontal communication has replaced vertical, top-down flows. However, participation, as practitioners from the field have reminded us, is always power-laden and is differentially experienced by people located on the value-chain. While it is tempting to ascribe to post-structuralist understandings of the ‘multidirectionality’ and multiplicity of power flows, which seem to characterise the nature of power flows in some countries and contexts, we argue that this is not a universal condition. In the specific context of communication and development in which a handful of organisations with vast resources exert both discursive and material power, power flows are much predictable. While one can argue that even in such contexts there is resistance, for example, by innumerable local groups who use new and old media in strategic and tactical ways to light up alternative pathways to development, such interventions are by their very nature small scale and their impact localised.

Agencies, Structures and Social Change

The report ‘Funding for Media Development by Major Donors Outside the United States’ (2009) provides an overview of some of the main agencies involved in the funding of media development — a broad term that includes funding of ICTs in development and community media — in Europe and elsewhere. Guy Berger (2010: 549) has pointed out that there is some conflation of the two terms ‘media development’ and ‘media for development’ resulting in the aggregation of ‘both the development of media institutions and developing media role as a means to other goals’. The fact that this study was commissioned by the US-based Centre for International Media Assistance (CIMA) at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose tag line is ‘supporting freedom around the world’, is indicative of the US government’s interest in and support for a variety of public sphere media. The NED is a private non-profit organisation based in Washington and is supported by funding from the US Congress. CIMA is among other pro-democracy initiatives supported by the NED, including the World Movement for Democracy. The NED’s priority countries in Asia, for example, include, among others, China, and projects in areas that have seen ethnic unrest, including Xinjaing Province, Tibet, support for Uyghur diaspora communities, North Korea and Burma.

Participation in Theory and Practice

The employment of participatory approaches in development projects has been a required element of project design for many donor organisations over the past 10–20 years. The assumption is that participation of stakeholders will cause decision-making processes to be more inclusive and, therefore, instigate ownership over development processes, which, in turn, leads to more sustainable impacts. The discourse includes terms such as ‘people-centred development’, ‘self-reliance’, ‘capacity building’, ‘equality’ and ‘empowerment’ (e.g., Burkey, 1993; Sen, 1999). While participatory processes were formally introduced in the development arena in the early 1980s by Robert Chambers’ ‘Rapid Rural Appraisal’ methodology, the literature about participation has built up as of the 1990s and become packed with theories, frameworks and guidelines advocating the need for and modes of ‘participation’. The number of acronyms representing approaches claiming ‘best practice’ is staggering. However, an increasing number of critiques have commented on how participatory approaches, and the investments they require, have not resulted in better development impacts (e.g., Cooke & Kothari, 2001).