"Featuring a range of examples from ACP countries, this booklet includes testimonies on how Web 2.0 and social media have contributed to policy dialogue and advocacy (Chapter 1), value chain development (Chapter 2) and provision of information services (Chapter 3). The booklet features 18 stories co
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vering all ACP regions, documenting the transformative power of these innovative technologies." (Page 6)
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"This ethnographic study used focus group discussions to investigate and gather ideographical information about why statistics from the Nankumba region of Mangochi in Malawi, where, from 2008 to 2010, Farm Radio International implemented the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) - a meticul
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ously and almost flawlessly planned hybrid maize variety promotion radio campaign - consistently showed that farmers preferred local to the promoted hybrid maize varieties before, during, and after the participatory community radio campaigns. The study found that in determining which maize varieties to opt for, farmers consider not only volume of yield per unit area but also taste, smell, flour extraction rate, and storability of the maize. The study further observes that preference of local maize varieties over hybrid is not restricted to rural farmers. Thus, farmer exposure to and participation in radio campaigns may increase awareness and knowledge as did the AFRRI campaign, but may not necessarily lead the farmers and consumers into adopting new maize varieties, technologies or innovations." (Abstract)
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"This article discusses the trial of visual research methods in a socio-economic research and development project with women subsistence farmers and their families in two regions of Papua New Guinea. It reports on the benefits and challenges of three visual research methods (drawing, participatory p
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hotography, and picture elicitation) to explore the agricultural practice of women subsistence farmers and their families. The paper discusses the potential of these methods for enhancing community engagement, reducing the power imbalance between researchers and participants, and promoting dialogue and reflection to better understand the needs and practices of subsistence farmers." (Abstract)
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"This sourcebook is meant to equip development and communication professionals with a useful set of guidelines, reference materials and learning resources to apply communication in rural development initiatives. The main goal is to enable readers to design and implement rural communication strategie
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s combining participatory methods with communication processes, media and tools best suited for a specific situation. In particular, the sourcebook aims to develop the following capacities in ComDev: Identifying the phases and steps in communication planning for development; Conducting situational analysis and participatory communication appraisal in the field; Developing a workable communication strategy and plan of action; Facilitating multistakeholder dialogue and collaboration to successfully implement ComDev activities; Designing, pre-testing, producing and using multimedia ComDev materials; Assessing the results of ComDev initiatives and promoting long-term sustainability; Understanding ComDev as it applies to agriculture and rural development issues." (Page 2)
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"In 2008, an NGO showed videos about rice to farmers in 19 villages in Benin. A study in 2013 showed that farmers remembered the videos, even after five years had passed. In most of the villages at least some farmers experimented with rice farming or with new technology after the video screenings, w
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hich attracted large audiences of community members, including youth and women. Some of the villagers also visited extension agencies to get rice seed, and occasionally to seek more information. Farmers can benefit from agricultural learning videos shown by organisations with little previous agricultural experience. Videos do not necessarily need to be facilitated by an expert who knows the subject. Sometimes the video can speak for itself." (Abstract)
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"This document has been prepared to inspire reflection about the role of communication in advancing family farming. It includes an analysis of examples of ComDev approaches applied to smallholder farming and rural development and the issues that they encompass: food security, natural resource manage
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ment, rural livelihoods, agricultural innovation, and capacity development. One emerging concept is that of “rural communication services,” which seeks to enhance rural livelihoods by facilitating equitable access to knowledge and information – understood as public goods – along with social inclusion in decision-making and stronger links between rural institutions and local communities. An additional concept pertains to the need to develop national communication for development policies and strategies that focus on the information and communication needs of family farmers and rural communities. Such policies would help to mainstream and institutionalize ComDev approaches at different levels and among all development partners, in particular among governmental agriculture and telecommunication ministries and media regulators but also among farmers’ organizations, rural institutions, community media and the private sector." (Executive summary, page VI)
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"This research project addressed specifically the information-seeking behaviour of small scale farming households in Kenya. It focused on how farmers are informed about innovation on new methods of increasing agricultural productivity, which is one of the main challenges for Africa's agriculture and
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its rural population. Shortcomings in information are presumed to be one essential element that might hinder the uptake of new methods that are made available by agricultural research. For this purpose a survey with 600 small-scale farming household was conducted, investigating the information needs and patterns. The main results of the survey point to (a) the dominating role of radio as the main media channel used by almost all farmers for receiving agricultural information and much less the mobile phone that is thought by Western donors and NGOs to be the new information tool (b) the high credibility of Government extension services as the most trustworthy source regarding agricultural information although farmers bemoan the fact that extension officers are difficult to reach and less available than expected, and (c) the apparent gap between what farmers need and what they get in two respects: They mainly get technical information, for example on new varieties, planting methods or new crops, but they also want more information on markets, gaining more income and more basic knowledge. They prefer to receive information as a comprehensive package and not isolated bits. Secondly, they prefer another mode of getting information, not the usual top down approach with little explanation, but a comprehensive mode which provides them with various options accompanied by a lot of explanation. Surprisingly, many farmers say that they lack even basic knowledge of good agricultural practice." (Executive summary)
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"This technical report seeks to understand the impact of improved access to information technology on farmers’ agricultural production and marketing practices in sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on Niger. Related research suggests in that access to mobile telephony can reduce communicatio
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n and search costs, thereby increasing rural households’ access to price and labor market information. Reducing information asymmetries should, in theory, allow households to better respond to shocks. We find that increased access to a mobile phone via an adult education program increases the diversity of crops planted, particularly marginal cash crops grown by women. This also increases the likelihood that these cash crops are grown, but does not increase the farm-gate price received." (Abstract)
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"This toolkit is designed to help USAID projects and other implementing organizations use interactive radio to augment the traditional agricultural extension services they are providing. In addition, it aims to provide practitioners with a foundational understanding of what is needed to create compe
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lling radio programming. It is important to stress that this toolkit does not assume that radio is the most appropriate solution for disseminating agricultural information. Rather, given the fact that radio continues to be the most readily accessible communication tool in much of sub-Saharan Africa, this toolkit aims to enable practitioners to develop a more systematic approach to using interactive radio as one medium through which they share information with farmers." (Introduction)
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"In 2011 five UK-based development agencies were given a unique opportunity to pilot the use of participatory video with farmers in six sub-Saharan countries, through small supplementary grants awarded by Comic Relief. The UK-based funder Comic Relief recognises that the impacts of climate change th
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reaten to undermine their grants portfolio. As part of their response, they initiated the participatory video programme to enable those grantees working on climate change related issues, and in receipt of grants to support these activities, to apply for a participatory video project to be delivered by InsightShare. This final programme report aims to present an overview of these six participatory video projects undertaken between January and August 2012. It represents a synthesis of the detailed narrative reports produced by InsightShare’s facilitators, with additional content drawn from conversations with key staff from local partners, UK agencies and the facilitators themselves. In addition it presents conclusions and recommendations drawn from an overview of the collated information." (Introduction)
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"Using low-Cost videos within your agricultural development project can be an effective way for increasing the scale of your activities by leveraging the expertise of local experts and farmers for a broader audience. Since the videos may be created in the field by your staff, the cost will be lower
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than professionally produced videos, and the turnaround time from concept to final product will likely be much faster. Given the cost and time benefits, you will also likely be able to create many more videos than you would be able to do otherwise. Also, if you find that one of your videos is not having the desired impact, it is much less expensive to create a newer, more effective video than it would be using a professional videographer. Last, producing videos with local stakeholders will likely increase local ownership of content, empower local farmers by giving them a voice, and increase local exposure to ICT tools." (Introduction, page ix-x)
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"[...] FAO’s Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (OEK) organized an Expert Consultation on Communication for Development: Meeting Today’s Agriculture and Rural Development Challenges, that was held at FAO headquarters from 14 to 16 September, 2011. The main purpose was to identi
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fy challenges and strategic actions to maximize ComDev contribution to the agriculture and rural development sector, while positioning it in the work of the Organization. The Expert Consultation was organized by the FAO ComDev team in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD). The event brought together 32 international ComDev experts and representatives from development agencies, donors, NGOs, communication networks, rural institutions and the academic community. Participants identified key challenges and strategic areas for ComDev support to agriculture and rural development (e.g. food security, innovation systems, climate change adaptation) such as capacity development for rural institutions and projects, interface with other approaches such as knowledge management, convergence between mass and community media, need for regulatory frameworks, and access to funding. Special attention was given to the need for documenting ComDev impact in the field and for mainstreaming ComDev into agricultural policies and programs." (Executive summary)
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"Despite the massive uptake of mobile phones by agricultural producers, there are few quantitative studies that provide hard evidence of a link between technology and poverty reduction. Those studies that have explored this, however, found that farmer access to market information through radio, mobi
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le phones and internet resulted in higher farm-gate prices and a better bargaining position with local traders. To make good on the promise of ICT transformation, however, the paper suggests that organizations from the public and private sectors will need to create new types of partnerships and business networks with the millions of smallholder farmers in the developing world. Some general recommendations for ensuring these technologies contribute to sustainable and equitable development include: promote investment policies that give communications companies incentives to cross subsidize investments from higher profit areas to expand infrastructure into less commercial rural areas; support income levies within the commercial communications markets so that a percentage of profit is made available for public goods services; in more remote areas combine wireless technologies with electrical power sources that can be used by communities to support other vital sectors, such as health and education; promote and support the development of content in local languages to improve the accessibility and inclusiveness of ICT applications." (Executive summary)
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