A facilitator’s guide to incorporating gender awareness and analysis into extension training and programming

The Facilitator’s Guide is the overall summary of steps and processes to be followed by workshop facilitators during all or part of the sessions used. The Participant’s Guide is for use by participants during the workshop and accompanies the CD to be provided at the end of the workshop. The Appendices contain case study and gender tool examples for use during specific workshop sessions. There are also pre and post evaluations that can be administered before and after the workshop to track participant learning outcomes.

For the agriculture sub-sector, the constraints/challenges (organized marketing, low yields in small-scale agriculture, lack of drainage/irrigation, limited research/development, outdated farming practices/equipment, inadequate packaging & grades/standards, limited Government land available for agriculture & land tenure insecurity) facing the sector is determining the policies. Therefore, the [policy] focus will be on: accelerating the diversification of both local/export-oriented agriculture, promoting agro-processing and value adding as a means of expanding opportunities and increasing the income of the rural sector, actively promoting market/trade expansion both locally and internationally, increasing the efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of the sector, and improving and conserving the natural/productive resource base to ensure long-term sustainable productivity/ viability.

This paper explores the process of developing an agricultural extension policy in Bangladesh and describes the content of the final policy statement, as an example of the approach taken in one country to developing a facilitative environment for sustainable agricultural development.

Agricultural extension is moving away from externally imposed change programmes towards bottom-up planning, farmer participation and empowerment and catalysis of sustainable change, based on local needs and problems. However, many of these changes have been on a relatively small scale, in policy or institutional environments generally favouring a more traditional approach to agricultural development. For a broader process of sustainable agricultural development to occur, changes in the policy and institutional environment are required.

A New Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) has been devised and introduced in Bangladesh in 1996. The goal of the NAEP is to: “Encourage the various partners and agencies within National Agricultural Extension System (NAES) to provide efficient and effective services which compliment and reinforce each other; in an effort to increase the efficiency and productivity of agriculture in Bangladesh”.

Policy Summary Note.

The broad objective of the agricultural policy is to facilitate and accelerate technological transformation with a view to becoming self-sufficient in food production and improve the  nutritional status of the population.

Agricultural extension is a key component of the strategies and objectives of the Government's agricultural policy. As part of the Government.s responsibility for the establishment of policies, regulations and projects that will ensure sustained agricultural production, the need for developing a New Agricultural Extension Policy was felt.

This document presents a revised National Agricultural Extension Policy (NAEP) which sets extension policy directions for transferring technologies to crop, fisheries and livestock sector development. Here, key elements of lesson learnt from existing policy, macroeconomic scenario, agro ecology /bio-ecological zones and current issues in agriculture such as natural disaster, production stagnation, land ownership and tenancy, poor soil health status, decreasing agricultural land, irrigation water scarcity, lack of good agricultural practices, high demand of quality seeds/planting materials etc., livestock and fishery issues including emerging challenges and perspectives have been pointed out for strong consideration.

Power Point Presentation on the New Agricultural Extension Policy.

In the face of declining resources, national extension services need to review their priorities and modes of delivery. A policy framework that provides the national extension service and other actors with strategic direction can help to ensure that resources are targeted to where they are needed most in line with client needs and national priorities; that extension staff receive the appropriate training to carry out their duties; and that scarce resources are used more effectively through partnerships with NGOs and the private sector and use of information and communication technologies where appropriate. Monitoring and evaluating performance based on stakeholder feedback is also crucial to ensuring that extension staff skills remain up to date and relevant to client needs.

SPC Policy Brief 12/2010

In most states of Australia, agricultural extension policies and practices have increasingly been based on considerations of private/public goods, user pays and cost recovery. In addition, the delivery of extension has been strongly influenced by changing administrative structures and a change in the paradigm within which the extension community operates. These changes have had major impacts, including more extension being delivered by the private sector. There are positive aspects to the changes and, for some issues, they are appropriate. However, we have a number of reservations, particularly about the effectiveness of current extension systems in assisting the adoption of complex environmental and farming system technologies.

This book, and indeed the wider extension network in Australia, is replete with examples and models of various extension approaches that are employed by intervening agencies seeking to enable desired change(s) in sustainable production and/or natural resource management. Chapter 1 paints a picture of extension as a policy instrument, or a method or mechanism used by government and government agencies as well as other institutions including business to achieve a desired effect (also see Vanclay and Leach 2006)1. This chapter provides a perspective on extension policy in Australia, a framework in which a national extension policy platform can rest and a process model for negotiation of effective extension policy as an effective instrument for enabling change.

Rural research, development and extension (RD&E) has been a significant contributor to making Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries into what they are today—world-leading, productive and innovative industries.

The Australian rural sector includes a diverse range of industries, which largely comprise small family businesses. The incentive and capacity for individual small businesses to invest in RD&E is low, resulting in potential under-investment in RD&E in the rural sector. The government helps rural industries overcome this by providing rural producers with a means of investing collectively in RD&E to benefit their industry and wider community. This is done through the rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs)—a partnership between government and industry in priority setting and funding.

We should view extension policy as something beyond a statement of intent. It must be a means to develop strategies, procedures, and working relationships among a large number of other actors in the wider system where extension is situated. This note reviews the extension policy development process in four countries and examines some of the implementation challenges. It also highlights the need for more clarity on the purpose of policy, the importance of policy learning, and why efforts to achieve policy coherence are important for extension.

CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) are required to show how their work contributes to development outcomes such as changes in policies.  While better evidence has the potential to improve decision-making, it is insufficient for achieving policy impacts. That evidence needs to be communicated effectively so that it is useful to targeted decision-makers, and decision-makers need to have the incentives and the capacity to use it.  This requires that researchers and their partners understand how policy processes work and how they can be influenced. Deliberate strategies to influence policy can also be the basis for assessing the extent to which research has contributed to a change in a policy or in the policy process—for example by influencing the discourse, attitudes, behaviors or actions of decision-makers. 

Define priorities clearly is essential for structuring, resourcing and training the extension service and for monitoring and evaluating its performance.  The focus may change over time depending on circumstances, e.g., natural disasters, new industry, service development by NGOs and private sector. Farmers must have an effective voice in determining national research and extension priorities—through regular meetings, workshops or farmer advisory groups, or a centrally managed survey. Below is an example of a priority setting tool that can be used with stakeholders to determine priorities for the extension service.

From: Developing a Policy Framework for Extension Systems. Secretariat of the Pacific Communities. Policy Brief 12/2010

This paper aims at learning lessons from recent extension policymaking practices in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger in West Africa. Similar policymaking processes lead to context-based extension policy content. However, extension policy should include (i) strategic partnerships with the private sector, research and education organizations, (ii) self-renewal mechanisms for responding to environmental changes, and (iii) mechanisms for national extension systems to take advantage of global experiences of policymaking, implementation, and evaluation.