Browsing by Subject "Beratungssystem"

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    Capacity development of tribal forest dwellers through Participatory Forest Management in Bangladesh
    (2018) Kabir, Khondokar Humayun; Knierim, Andrea
    This thesis examines the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) approach in the micro-scale context of the Madhupur Sal forest in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, PFM has been the main policy instrument for managing natural forest areas in the last two decades. The present national forest policy in Bangladesh emphasizes the importance of the participation of different actors, especially forest dwellers, in forest management programs. The overall aim of PFM is to capacitate and to improve the livelihood conditions of forest dwellers through different forestry extension programs. Since its outset, many PFM programs have been conducted within the context of Madhupur Sal forest. Scientific studies have examined PFM contexts using a wide range of indicators, focusing on outcomes such as change in forest coverage, change in income level, poverty reduction and livelihood improvement to evaluate the impact of a PFM program. Few studies have also focused on institutional analysis and looked at formal and informal institutions and their role in natural resource management. According to scientific evidence, the impacts of PFM programs on livelihood and forest improvement remain contested. Despite the execution of different PFM programs over the last two decades in Madhupur Sal forest, the forest area reduced dramatically, the livelihood of forest dwellers became more vulnerable and forest dwellers engaged in conflicts with officials of the forest department (FD) concerning their rights. In the past, most studies considered that problem from the narrow perspective of a lack of ‘knowledge or empowerment’ of forest dwellers without systemic consideration of forest development agencies, and the roles of other actors in PFM. To date, there is still limited research which considers the capacity issue at the individual, organizational, and ‘enabling environment’ level. An improved understanding of the role of people’s capacity level is, however, vital to guide future PFM programs. Therefore, this study considers the PFM context from a holistic perspective that focuses not on forest dwellers but other actors within this system. Thus, the objectives of this study are: (1) to determine the changes in capacity level of participants in PFM programs and to explore the factors that influence changes in capacity level of forest dwellers, (2) to assess the role and performance of the pluralistic forest advisory systems, and (3) to explore the potential of a rights-based approach to create an enabling environment for collaborative action and cooperative conflict management. This thesis is composed of five chapters. The introductory chapter provides background information, the problem statement, the main research objectives, information about the study area and population, the theoretical embedding, and presents the outline of the thesis. The thesis combines qualitative and quantitative methods for collecting and analyzing data to deal with the three interrelated research objectives. The work on the first objective is based on a mixed methods approach (face-to-face survey, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and participatory observation). The second objective is pursued using qualitative methods (stakeholder analysis, semi-structured interviews, participatory workshops) while the third objective is followed employing a case study approach. In Chapter 2, a modified analytical framework is used to explore the assertion that capacity is the outcome of a process-oriented approach like PFM. This revised framework combines different components of social learning platforms with essential components derived from a capacity development framework developed by the Tropical Agriculture Platform (TAP). Key capacities include the capacity to navigate complexity, capacity to collaborate, capacity to learn and reflect, and capacity to engage in political and strategical processes. Changes in the capacity level of forest dwellers were investigated with regard to the PFM initiative ‘Re-vegetation of Madhupur Forests” (RMF). The findings show that this PFM approach has brought desired changes in different dimensions of capacity development, i.e., capacity to collaborate, capacity to learn and reflect, and capacity to engage in strategic and political processes. The initiative did not bring changes to the capacity to navigate complexity. Furthermore, the long-run engagement and a range of participatory activities with different development organizations increased the understanding of participants and kept them up-to-date about their rights in forest management. The results also reveal that the FD worked through existing social capital within the community and took initiatives like several group discussions and meetings with the tribal community and their leaders before the RMF program. This initiative resulted in a common consensus of the tribal forest dwellers and reduced conflicts between FD and tribal forest dwellers. Findings regarding factors that influence changes in the capacity level of forest dwellers reveal that extension services, credit support, trust within society, information and communication influence the level of capacities to adapt and respond to changes among the tribal forest dwellers. Chapter 3 presents the role and performance of a pluralistic forest advisory system, considering the influence and importance of advisory service providers for managing natural resources, their organizational characteristics, and their service quality. A stakeholder analysis was conducted to identify advisory organizations along with the dynamics of power relations with forest dwellers. A ‘best-fit’ framework was used to explore the characteristics and service quality of the existing organizations. The findings reveal that a range of organizations including public, private, and social organizations was working with tribal forest dwellers and followed the common objective of improving forest management and the livelihoods of the local forest dwellers. Also, a number of organizations involved in the provision of advisory services were still struggling with lack of capacities such as a limited number of advisors, lack of training facilities for the advisors and a lack of need-based technological contents. The findings further reveal that the FD had limited linkages and partnerships with other actors at the local level, despite being a central coordinating and executing agency for furthering forest policies and programs. At the same time, analysis of the organizational pluralism highlights that some NGOs worked for the livelihood improvement of forest dwellers by providing a range of technologies and information. Here, social organizations collaborated closely with forest dwellers and provided necessary information about the rights of forest dwellers. The overall assessment suggests that public sector organizations should take more proactive roles in integrating the important services of NGOs and other social organizations with forest dwellers within the pluralistic system. The study on exploring the potential of the rights-based approach to creating an enabling environment (chapter 4) reveal that neglecting rights of the forest dwellers before the initiation of RMF program led to ineffective policies and programs and subsequently to long-running conflicts. Different development programs implemented by the FD without any prior concern of tribal forest dwellers’ rights and interests, such as social forestry, eco-park and rubber garden establishment, became subject to conflicts. Results further revealed that several tribal forest dwellers died due to the clashes with the police when they steered the action of social movements for the sake of their rights. Tribal forest dwellers experienced top-down, non-cooperative, and even aggressive interventions from the FD which brought uncertainties into their daily lives. In contrast, participants of the RMF program reported that the FD initiated several meetings with tribal people and their leaders to know about their needs and expectations and engaged them in RMF program by offering several promises. During the execution of the RMF program, the FD contributed to welfare provisions like financial support, jobs, training, social forestry plots, healthcare cards, and similar offers. The results also reveal that the FD acknowledged different non-material issues like mutual respects, mobility in the forest, freedom to make decisions as a community forest worker, individual and social security, harassment-free life, access to information and regular communication between FD’s and forest dwellers. Based on the above findings, this study provides some recommendations for the future design and implementation of PFM in Bangladesh which are: (i) the government should integrate the rights-based approach in the policy development since this can transform long-run disputes into collaborative action; (ii) more attention needs to be paid by the FD for the establishment of coordinated advisory services with other advisory service providers; (iii) the importance and influence of social organizations to mobilize the tribal forest dwellers towards cooperation and action should not be overlooked by the FD; (iv) any participatory forest management intervention in the future should be designed in such a way that it implies changes in the capacity level of the forest-dependent people, (v) the FD should integrate other public sector organizations in the provision of advisory services for forest management, because they are providing a range of technologies and information and working closely with forest dwellers, and (vi) the Government should move away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ thinking to a ‘best fit’ thinking.
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    Public agriculture extension and information and communication technologies : a case study in South Wollo, Ethiopia
    (2020) Birke, Fanos Mekonnen; Knierim, Andrea
    Effective agriculture extension services require a continuous transformation and introduction of new and effective interventions, approaches, methods, and tools. Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are given immense expectations to address some of the challenges of agriculture extension by improving the capacity and effectiveness of extension advisors through new modes of communication and easier ways of accessing up-to-date and relevant information. There is ample knowledge on adoption rates, use intensity, and impact of ICTs for agriculture extension, specifically in a farmers’ context. However, there is limited research on experts’ perceptions of ICT’s usefulness, as well as organizational dimensions that facilitate ICT use. In particular, the interdependency between ICT tools and the social and organizational aspects in the context of agriculture extension is poorly understood. This thesis aims to provide evidence on the implementation process of ICT initiatives in agriculture extension organizations and their use. The three specific objectives of the thesis are the following: (i) to provide empirical evidence on the complex interaction of social and technical actors and their assemblage to set up an ICT-based initiatives called Agricultural Knowledge Centers (AKCs); (ii) to provide empirical evidence on experts’ perceptions and their use of ICTs in agriculture extension offices; and (iii) to bring insights on organizational characteristics that facilitate or hinder the learning of an organization for successfully applying ICTs in agriculture extension services. This thesis analyzes the innovation process of ICT-based initiatives in agriculture extension by building on the definition of innovation as an alignment of hardware (technical devices, bodily skills), software (mode of thinking, discourse, perceptions) and orgware (rules, structure, and standards). The thesis adopted a research approach that can be broadly labeled as an interpretive research approach that allows for understanding a phenomenon by interpreting stakeholders’ and research participants’ experiences. It relied on a case study methodology and review of existing knowledge on ICTs in agriculture extension. The case studies are AKCs located in agriculture extension offices in South Wollo, in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The research-for-development project, ‘Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders’ (LIVES) from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), piloted AKCs to contribute to the government’s effort to strengthen the extension system. This thesis contains three empirical chapters in addition to the introduction and general discussion. The first empirical chapter analyzes the process of establishing AKCs in five extension organizations in South Wollo by capturing the role of human actors (employees of the project, experts in the extension offices, and the ICT managers) and the role of the non-human actors (computers, internet connectivity, texts, and office infrastructure) in carrying out the AKC initiative. The Actor Network Theory (ANT) framed the analysis of the results. The findings show how people and technology came together to establish AKCs that provide access to digital knowledge. Conditions that contributed to creating and stabilizing the AKC actor network were the following: (i) the presence of an actor to facilitate the process, (ii) alignment of interests among actors in the network, (iii) building the capacities and motivation of the various actors to execute their roles, and (iv) availability of computers with strong internet connections. The second empirical chapter analyzes extension experts’ perceptions of ICT’s usefulness for their extension job and how they used ICTs in four AKCs in South Wollo. The three concepts from the Theory of Planned Behavior: attitude, social norms, and perceived behavioral control framed the analysis of the results. Extension experts had a positive attitude towards the usefulness of ICTs for personal benefits. However, they did not perceive ICTs as useful for searching and exchanging agricultural information because the rigid extension approach used in their organizations allows primarily for specific printed knowledge resources. The results show that while access to the ICT hardware is a prerequisite, it is not a guarantee that extension experts will apply ICTs for professional use. For ICTs to be used by agriculture extension experts, there needs to be greater flexibility for experts’ response to farmers’ needs and favorable conditions that facilitate self-initiated knowledge-seeking behavior among extension experts. The third empirical chapter analyzes the organizational characteristics identified in the existing literature for accelerating or hindering ICT use for agriculture extension. The qualitative review of 49 articles highlights that most of the scientific studies focus on individuals’ characteristics to explain ICT use and only partially investigate organizational aspects. Organizational characteristics identified in these 49 articles were further analyzed using the seven dimensions of the learning organization concept. The analysis showed that opportunities for training and creating structures to encourage learning were prominent characteristics limiting or supporting ICT use. However, the literature documented no evidence on characteristics such as collaboration, leadership style, and empowerment for creating a shared vision for improving services via ICT use. The review results illustrate the importance of strategizing ICT use in agricultural advisory organizations and following principles of organizational learning for capacity development at an individual, team, and organizational level. Based on the three empirical chapters, chapter five discusses that optimal ICT use for agriculture extension can be achieved when the introduction of technology is supported by new rules and organizational structures, and when the intended purpose fits the shared way of thinking and the future vision employees have for their extension work. This section highlights that successful ICT use in agriculture extension organizations requires not only the technical devices, individuals’ attitudes, or institutions, but also the alignment of all the three dimensions. Therefore, aiming to improve the extension services only through the provision of ICT devices would be too simplistic; it ignores the complex interaction of the various components. This thesis makes the following recommendations for the design and implementation of future ICT-based initiatives in Ethiopia and other countries with a similar context: (i) a project initiator should create awareness on the purpose of ICT for agriculture extension and develop the capacity of targeted beneficiaries on ICT use; (ii) organizations that aim to utilize ICT should create organizational conditions that facilitate learning at the levels of the individual, team, and organization; (iii) development projects and programs should recognize and stimulate interaction between innovation components to successfully implement ICT in agriculture extension and ensure their utilization; and (iv) the government should create an enabling environment that provides support structures for knowledge sharing and information exchange to respond to farmers’ needs.