This brief explains the concept of gender equality in advisory services and discusses the opportunities that gender equality in rural advisory services can create for global and local food production, women’s economic empowerment, household food security, and nutrition. It summarises experiences of how gender equality can be pursued in advisory services and provides some practical examples.

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A Synthesis of Experiences, Lessons, and Recommendations

An executive summary

A Synthesis of Experiences, Lessons, and Recommendations

The major purpose of this study was to analyze and document the past, current, and future role of EAS, with regard to human nutrition. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge on the role of nutrition in EAS resulting from an extensive literature review, analyzing survey responses, and conducting interviews with actors from worldwide development organizations, governmental agencies, educational and research institutions, and the private sector.

The Executive Summary of ths report is available as a separate publication.

Este guia foi financiado por recursos da Fundacao Bill & Melinda Gates.Os resultados e conclusões contidos neste documento são dos autores, e não necessariamente refletem posições ou politicas da Fundacao Bill & Melinda Gates. O Instituto de Recursos Naturais - Natural Resources Institute (NRI ) contribuiu com os documentos de referencia e uma versão inicial deste guia.

2012 was a year of building on preceding GFRAS work. Forum members participated in several major international events to advocate for the importance of rural advisory services for global development. GFRAS also continued to strengthen its evidence and capacity strengthening functions. 

Roles, Strategies, and Capacities to Strengthen Extension and Advisory Services

Extension and advisory services (EAS) 1 play an important role in agricultural development. However, these services need new capacities to address the current challenges in agriculture and to contribute better to agricultural innovation – a process that that requires interactions and knowledge flows among a wide range of actors in the agricultural innovation
system (AIS).

A summary of this paper is available here.

Roles, Strategies, and Capacities to Strengthen Extension and Advisory Services

Extension and advisory services (EAS) 1 play an important role in agricultural development. However, these services need new capacities to address the current challenges in agriculture and to contribute better to agricultural innovation – a process that that requires interactions and knowledge flows among a wide range of actors in the agricultural innovation
system (AIS).

The full position paper is available here.

Extension services enable farmers to take up innovations, improve production, and protect the environment. Extension shows positive effects on knowledge, adoption, and productivity. With studies showing very high (13–500%) rates of return to extension, it is a cost-effective way to improve farmer productivity and income.

Experiences with extension programmes show the positive impact that they have on productivity and farmer incomes. For instance, a programme with cacao farmers in Peru saw productivity rise from 340 to 600 kg per ha in three years.

Extension services are essential to enable farmers to improve their practices and help them respond to emerging challenges. Knowledge, ideas, and skills gained through extension programmes can help farmers increase their productivity, reduce losses, and gain better access to markets.

The positive impact of extension services is well demonstrated globally. Whether through Farmer Field Schools, marketing training, or by using innovative technologies, knowledge sharing underpins sustainable agricultural practices.

The examples illustrate the importance of participatory processes and farmers’ proactive participation in extension programmes to ensure they meet their needs. The case studies highlight the diversity of issues that can be tackled through extension and advisory services, and the positive impacts these can have on farmers’ livelihoods. In many cases, extension services are an addition to existing structures, such as farmer co-operatives, and are offered as part of a package of services. This helps to ensure that the positive outcomes from extension, such as increased yields, can be translated into positive outcomes for farmers, for example by supporting the marketing of the improved crops.

There are three dimensions to sustainable development: social, economic, and environmental. Knowledge sharing is critical to supporting these dimensions, and extension and advisory services are a vital knowledge-sharing institution. Extension is key for linking scientific research, field-level innovations and innovators, markets, education, and other service providers.

This Guide to Evaluating Rural Extension has been developed by the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS). The purpose is to support those involved in extension evaluation to choose how to conduct more comprehensive, rigorous, credible and useful evaluations. The Guide supports readers to understand different types of evaluation, to make decisions on what is most appropriate for their circumstances, and to access further sources of theoretical and practical information. The Guide is intended to primarily be used by four sets of evaluation stakeholders:

• Those commissioning and managing evaluations
• Professional evaluators and staff responsible for monitoring systems
• Professionals involved in training and educating evaluators
• Researchers looking for ways to synergise their efforts with evaluation initiatives

The process of preparing this Guide began in 2010 with the production of a Review of Literature on Evaluation Methods Relevant to Extension and a Meta-evaluation of Extension Case Studies. These materials, combined with extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders, were then used to as background for the development of a draft version of this Guide. During 2011 the Guide was finalised based on feedback received.

There are routes to facing the challenges imposed by the situations described above. One of the most important is through technological change derived from research, extension, and innovation, variables that are becoming more important and strategic for growth and development. There is a new interest in repositioning and strengthening rural extension, which has become considerably weakened and has nearly disappeared over the past few decades. The Ministers of Agriculture of 34 countries in the Americas issued a statement during their October 2011 meeting in Costa Rica in order to promote agricultural innovation. They also made a commitment to promote investment in order to generate new knowledge and strengthen extension systems

Rural extension plays a significant and irreplaceable role in an innovation system that creates, designs, validates, and promotes new ideas, solutions, technologies, and forms of management focused on the resolution of problems and satisfaction of the needs of farmers and rural inhabitants and the organizations that represent them. In view of the above, this document presents proposals for making rural extension a key part of innovation systems focused on rural territorial development. This is understood as the productive and institutional transformation of a specific space in order to reduce rural poverty