The need for improved agricultural extension throughout the developing world has never been greater. Agricultural and rural development and hence rural extension continue to be in a phase of transition in this part of the world. The vulnerability of farming in the developing world to climate change, to changes in natural resources quality (including desertification over large tracts),and lack of coping and adaptation strategies at micro and macro levels of decision making are all well documented, while globalization of commodity trade offers a mix of opportunities as well as challenges. The role of extension and support systems in this background is undergoing profound changes while no unified alternative framework has emerged (Eicher, 2007). In this paper, we offer some suggestions on building new and more effective linkages between research and extension sub systems in agricultural knowledge systems, with a range of information and communication technologies offering platforms and mediation services. The focus is on assessing the effect of improved information access and development of human capacity in supporting extension processes at the micro-level.

/pdf/ict-enabled-knowledge-sharing-in-support-of-extension-2lo0a09rr7.pdf

ICT-enabled knowledge sharing in support of extension: addressing the agrarian challenges of the developing world threatened by climate change, with a case study from India

Bringing essential services to the poor, whether in remote rural areas, provincial towns, or in the slums of megacities, is a great challenge for governments in developing countries. Lack of governmental capacity and fiscal resources at the national and local levels prevents effective public provision of water, power, education, and health services to the poor. And private firms, which often step in to serve the middle and upper classes, are dissuaded by high risks and low affordability from providing these services to the poor, or what is sometimes referred to as “the last mile.” In contrast, social enterprises have been able to provide basic goods and services to the poor. This is the gap that the present book aims to fill. It catalogues over 40 of the most effective market-based solutions for service delivery to the poor brought about by social enterprises. It tracks how stylized business models have been developed to address development challenges. The sectors covered are education, energy, health, waste, water, sanitation, and finance. The book’s analysis employs and greatly benefits from systematically applying a common framework that helps explain the relevance and implementation of the model for even general development practitioners.

Reaching the last mile : social enterprise business models for inclusive development

The process of innovation-development to scaling is varied and complex. Various actors are involved in every stage of the process. In scaling the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi...

/pdf/approaches-of-integrated-watershed-management-project-urjnxnlx8s.pdf

Approaches of Integrated Watershed Management Project: Experiences of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Drought has emerged as a key concern in the context of climate variability induced by Climate
Change processes and over a billion people are vulnerable, according to UN estimates. Drought
preparedness is recognized as the preferred way to cope over relief, and information is the key.
Improved access to contemporary ICT in the form of mobile phones and the Internet can help
address the challenge of information deficiency in this matter. We have tried to develop an
integrated approach for improving the capacity of rural communities by bringing together
agricultural information with methods of ODL and effective exchange or delivery using video-
conferencing. This has also enabled skill building among vulnerable rural communities in the use
of color-coded maps derived from satellite imagery and GIS platforms. ICRISAT in partnership
with a community based all- women micro-credit organization, the Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya
(AMS), in South Central India has developed this blend of techniques to help the AMS and rural
communities to anticipate how vulnerable their villages would be to drought in a season. This is
an ongoing partnership, and we report here on joint studies carried out during March 2008-
September 2009.

Fostering Community Preparedness to Cope with Drought: new initiatives and results from a study involving ODL and ICT from South Central India

/pdf/theoretical-perspectives-on-the-contributions-of-col-protein-lb3nx2na1e.pdf

Theoretical Perspectives on the Contributions of COL-PROTEIN to Open and Distance Learning for Development

Drought is increasingly becoming a cause for concern in many regions of South Asia, because recurrent droughts often cause large-scale water and food deficits, hunger, famine, exodus of people and animals, diseases, deaths, and many other severe, chronic socio-economic problems. The degree of vulnerability to the impact of drought varies significantly from one nation to another. Many of the rural communities appear to forget the miseries of one drought season with the onset of good rains; and those miseries usually continue from one drought to the
next. This is due to lack of awareness and non-availability of the relevant information. There is an urgent need for sustained information, communication, education and social mobilization among strategic sectors, especially the most vulnerable rural communities and their intermediaries, to improve agriculture and to mitigate the effects of drought.
Drought preparedness is preferable to relief, and information is the backbone of drought preparedness.

/pdf/agricultural-extension-with-information-and-communication-2ozv4qv7nk.pdf

Agricultural Extension with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Mediated Open Distance Learning (ODL) Methods: A Case Study from Rural South India

There are various names and descriptions for rural knowledge centers, but their main role is facilitate the access to managed or direct information services for rural families. India is home to a very large number of pilot projects in this sector over the last about ten years. The number of internet-connected rural knowledge centers varies but is believed to be close to 10000 as of mid-2006. The recent decision of the Government of India to establish about 1,00,000 Common Service Centers has generated altogether new possibilities and opportunities to design and make available a wide range of information services for the rural poor in India.
Earlier studies indicated that the access to government information, and information on education were the two priority information demands. A number of projects include provision of governance-related information as a key service. Education mostly relating to IT literacy is offered on many projects although systematic efforts to measure the importance and impact of such information are not yet available.
One of the significant challenges that India faces is the recurrence of disasters that lead to large scale disruption of economic and development activities and causes considerable distress among the victims. Over a period of time, relief measures have become affordable in many situations but the cumulative losses are staggering. The Disaster Management Authority of India has identified drought and earthquakes as among the phenomena that can cause deep and lasting distress among the victims while generating massive economic losses to the system as a whole. There is a need to identify new systems that combine early warning arrangements with access for appropriate support services.
Over the last two years, ICRISAT has made an effort in partnership with CRIDA to study the possible use of rural knowledge centers in enhancing drought preparedness at the micro-regional level among the rural families. The pilot is premised on the assumption that a country such as India has reasonable arrangements for early warning communication in a top-down manner. International experience shows that such top-down flow of important information must combine with a bottom-up process for its rapid and effective use by the intended recipients, namely the rural families. The rural knowledge centers, operating in an interactive hub-and-spokes model for local value-addition and dissemination and capture, could provide the right interfaces to generate such blended communication.

Rural Knowledge Centers as Facilitators of New Learning Opportunities for the Rural Families: a case study

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Agricultural Extension with Information and Communication Technology (ICT)Mediated Open Distance Learning (ODL) Methods: A Case Study from Rural South India

Rural Knowledge Centers as Facilitators of New Learning Opportunities for the Rural Families: a case study