November 2001
by the Communication for Development Group
Extension, Education and Communication
Research, Extension and Training Division
in collaboration with Gary Coldevin
Part 1 of 2
previously published in a special issue of the "Journal of International Communication" (vol.7 no. 2, 2001) on participatory communication
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The past thirty years have witnessed unprecedented growth in the worldwide spread of electronic mass media, mainly due to the proliferation of communication satellites, along with lowered costs and increased sophistication of receiving equipment. Television as the dominant medium of the so-called "information explosion" during the 1970's and 1980's became one of the most powerful forces for stimulating social change and technological advancement. Much of the change was undirected, however, and largely due to the incidental effects of entertainment programming. Its global impact was mainly on people living in industrialised countries, and to a lesser extent those in urban centers of developing countries. By and large, the same pattern of distribution and access has been evident in the 1990's with the emergence of knowledge-based societies increasingly relying on Internet/Web access for information, communication, and entertainment.
Concurrently in the rural areas of developing countries, particularly Asia and Africa which together constitute almost three-quarters of the world's population and where nearly 70% live in the countryside, the idea of using communication for a variety of rural development projects, and agricultural improvement in particular, grew out of relatively consistent research findings that found that audience-oriented communication strategies could play a catalytic role in accelerating the rate of technology transfer through providing relevant information, changing negative attitudes, and skills training. "Small media" were mainly used (e.g., video, radio, flip-charts, illustrated pamphlets, village theatre) appropriate to a given community, province or region. Strategies ranged from multi-media campaigns to support for group meetings conducted by extension agents, and materials to strengthen interpersonal communication. Over time, participatory methods were refined to bring in the views of the intended beneficiaries from the start in designing project goals and selecting appropriate communication and adult learning approaches to support implementation. Nowadays, as wireless infrastructures spread and bandwidth increases, telecommunications and Internet-based ICTs (information and communication technologies) portend a radical shift in moving information and experiences from global to rural networks and a potential boon to erasing pockets of world hunger.
The need for knowledge and improved skills to increase food production is clear and present. Current statistics note that more than 65 low-income developing countries (90% in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa) suffer from inadequate food security, with about 790 million people living in hunger (FAO, 1999a). Another 34 million under-nourished people have been identified in industrialized countries and those in transition, mainly in Eastern Europe and the area of the former USSR. And looking further down the road, from a base of slightly over 6 billion people as the 20th century ends, using the high fertility path (Population Reference Bureau, 1999), the world's population may exceed 8 billion by 2025 and food needs in developing countries - which will account for 98% of the population increase - will double (Crowder, 2000).
The 1996 World Food Summit set a goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people in the developing world - about 400 million people - by the year 2015. The progress achieved during much of the 1990's though makes this goal appear to be a daunting task. In the 1990/92 period for example, out of a group of 96 developing countries, the number of undernourished was estimated at 830 million people; by 1995/97 this had dropped to 790 million or a decrease of 40 million overall, a seemingly positive result. A closer look at the data revealed, however, that only 37 countries, or 39% of the original 96, had actually reduced the number of undernourished by about 100 million people combined overall. Across the rest of almost two-thirds of the developing world, the aggregate number of undernourished actually increased by 60 million, resulting in a total net reduction of only 8 million per year for the five-year period. These sobering results dramatically suggest that unless more effective solutions are found for increasing food production among the hungry and most vulnerable, and better distribution of it, the goal of the 1996 World Food Summit may never be realised. As Sen (1998) wryly notes, "The contemporary age is not short of terrible and nasty happenings, but the persistence of extensive hunger in a world of unprecedented prosperity is surely the worst" (p. 204).
A growing number of development specialists and agencies argue that appropriate use of ICTs for accelerating the dissemination of research-based recommendations, blending them with indigenous practices, and rendering them locally useable though small media adaptation, may well provide part of the solution toward reducing the chronic food deficits (IDRC, 1999; Van der Stichele and Bie, 1998; Richardson, 1997; Woods, 1996;). Put more succinctly by FAO, the challenge in assisting farmers to sustainably produce more food implies the need for new technologies, new skills, changed attitudes and practices, and new ways to collaborate. All of this requires that farmers have access to relevant information and knowledge (Crowder, 2000).
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the FAO Communication for Development Group's work, arguably the foremost practitioner of applied communication for agricultural and other areas of rural development (e.g., forestry, environment, nutrition, population), over the past thirty years. During these three decades the role of communication has undergone a 180 degree shift from a one-way, top-down transfer of messages by extension to farmers, to a social process which starts with farmers and brings together both groups in a two-way sharing of information among communication equals - in short, participatory communication.
In recognizing that rural people are at the heart of development, participatory communication has become what many consider to be the key link between farmers, extension, and research for planning and implementing consensus-based development initiatives.1 Too often, however, it has been a missing link and many projects have failed as a result. Norrish (1998 p. viii) sums it up neatly when she notes "What comes through clearly from the literature and discussions with those working in rural communities is the overwhelming need to focus on people not technologies, on what people do with technology, and on training".
Along with communication, it is also now widely accepted that a parallel investment in "human capital" through education and training of adults is essential for project success (Fraser and Villet, 1994). Awareness raising, knowledge acquisition, attitude change, confidence building, participation in decision-making, and action, all require processes of education and communication. And all are essential for effective development -- they are not just desirable options, some of which may be left out (Rogers, 1992). In this spirit, the article includes an overview of parallel movements in participatory adult learning, notably Farmer Field Schools developed by FAO, and the opportunities for combining participatory methods to refine both communication and learning as partners in supporting project implementation.2
The roots of "Communication for Development" started out under a number of descriptors including "Project Support Communication" (UNICEF), "Development Communication" (used in a number of academic programmes), IEC or "Information/Education/Communication" (UNFPA), and "Development Support Communication" or DSC by FAO. Communication support for projects was initially applied in the United Nations system by UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA during the mid-1960's. The topic continued to gain momentum during the 1970's such that by 1980 a Joint United Nations Information Committee recommended that efforts be made to "promote the inclusion of an information component in every development project in the UN system" (Coldevin, 1987, p. 4).3
FAO was quick off the mark as well in recognizing the emerging field; by 1969 it had established a DSC Branch as a field-oriented unit within its Information Division. It was later incorporated within the Rural Development Programme to service communication support requests from member governments and FAO technical divisions. At about this time, under the aegis of an FAO Expert Consultation in 1984, an enduring definition of communication for development was elaborated, namely, "a social process designed to seek a common understanding among all participants of a development initiative, creating a base for concerted action" (Balit, 1999, p. 9). Implicit in this definition was the idea that communication channels and techniques were subservient to the developmental tasks to be performed, and suited to the cultural, social and economic conditions in the rural areas where they would be used. During the mid-1990's the unit was renamed the Communication for Development Group and incorporated into FAO's Extension, Education and Communication Service.
The group's mandate encompasses both normative and field work. Normative work includes development of policies, strategies, methodologies, guidelines, best practices and information tools and materials. Field work is focused on project appraisal, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, technical backstopping and training, establishing partnerships and networks, and providing communication technology advice (FAO, 2000a).
Priorities for concentration include:
Advice and assistance provided by the group includes:
While agricultural improvement in developing countries remains its key sectoral focus, and with it a reduction in the number of undernourished people, other themes the group work with include gender and communication, youth and communication, communication for natural resource management, and HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Media and technology related topics garnering most attention include rural community radio, traditional, folk and popular media (e.g. story-telling, puppets, dance, local artists), interpersonal communication processes such as group dynamics and farmer-to-farmer exchanges, new information and communication technologies (e.g. Internet), multi-media packages and campaigns, and communication curricula, training, studies and research.
In carrying out its field work, much of the early activities in applying communication for development were subsumed within two main areas (Coldevin, 1987; Fraser, 1983): 1) information dissemination and motivation, and 2) training for field workers and rural producers. The gathering movement toward participatory audience involvement was assumed to be a subset of each.
Information dissemination and motivation, as the most basic area of communication for development, is concerned with simply informing rural people of new ideas, services and technologies for improving their quality of life. Given that one-third of adults in the developing world are illiterate (Population Reference Bureau, 1999), and particularly those in Africa (44%), the broadcast media and principally radio have performed a major service in this role4. Not surprisingly, with the advent of the transistor receiver, and lowering of prices, radio, either battery operated or wound-up by hand, became the ubiquitous medium for rural communication, a status that it is likely to retain well into the 21st century. While much of the emphasis in the 1970's was on supporting open broadcasting within a national or regional reach, a number of disadvantages were noted. Typically it was carried out in isolation from direct involvement of farmers or extension in its programming, and was literally "open" in the sense that programmes were directed at unorganised audiences. In the face of the criticism that by "attempting to reach everyone, it reaches no one", open broadcasting for educational purposes, including agricultural programming, has been given low priority, averaging less than 5% of total broadcasting hours (FAO, 1981). As a stand-alone medium, however, its main value was in reaching a lot of people quickly with fairly simple messages.
Early attempts to improve the educational value of open broadcasting, as a "magic multiplier" to enhance extension (Mody, 1992), included the creation of radio farm forums directed to organised farming groups built around the format "listen, discuss, act". A seasoned leader introduced each broadcast topic and initiated follow-up discussion, and action on its recommendations. The idea was originally developed in Canada during the 40's and subsequently adapted in a number of developing countries including Ghana, Zambia, Guatemala, Thailand and Senegal. A common problem experienced in most was the difficulty in maintaining active group attendance over an extended period of time since the farm forum was initiated when radio sets were expensive and access was limited. With the advent of cheap transistor sets individual ownership became more common, lessening the appeal of regular attendance using a shared village radio. A trend toward a mix of private and public sector broadcasting, as a result of deregulation in many countries, also provided competition through a broader range of channels and topics for rural audiences. Radio farm forums mostly disappeared during 1980's, and were replaced by listening groups for specific themes (see for example Mhonda, 1966; Balit, 1999), and a move, largely following decentralization, to participatory community radio stations (FAO, 1996). The continuing importance of radio as an information medium was soundly confirmed at the 1996 FAO international workshop on rural radio in Burkina Faso. Among its declarations was the confirmation that … "Radio remains the most popular, accessible, and cost-effective means of communication for rural people. Radio can overcome the barriers of distance, illiteracy and language diversity better than any other medium" (FAO, 1996, p. 9).
Radio, whether national, regional or local in reach has also formed the main stay for many multi-media campaigns, the most powerful of strategies in disseminating information and building motivation. Communication theory has tended to support the case for multi-media use based on the premise that having access to at least two channels allows a production team to present and reinforce the same points in different ways and with varied emphasis. Individuals also differ in their processing of information from different media; some learn better from and prefer visual media than audio and vice versa. In general, evidence from controlled classroom studies suggests that providing a variety of reinforcing channels caters to both learning styles and learning preferences (World Bank, 1983). Practical evidence from the field to reinforce the experimental classroom findings, however, especially in rural development, is rare.
Campaigns have been used in virtually every facet of rural development. Certainly among the best documented early examples were those launched in Tanzania during the 1970's, namely the 1973 health campaign, Man is Life, that ran for 12 weeks, and the 1975 nutrition campaign, Food is Life, which extended over 18 weeks (see Hall and Dodds, 1978; Coldevin, 1979). Both were built around village-based study groups, about 15 members in each. Basic elements included a weekly half-hour radio broadcast, an accompanying text book with each chapter reinforcing a radio programme, and trained group leaders supplied with study guide manuals. Other materials included posters, T-Shirts and dresses bearing campaign logos. Several radio speeches were made by Prime Minister Nyerere calling for full participation.
While an average of over 70,000 groups or about a million people were targeted in each campaign, both overran this amount by at least half (1.5 to 2 million people showed up initially). The unforeseen popularity, however, produced problems in supplies of textbooks, trained group leaders and manuals. And while positive gains were recorded in knowledge of causes and preventions of common diseases, and improvement in health practices in the first campaign, no before-after surveys were taken in the second. The legacy of these exercises thus rested mainly in guidelines for orchestrating action on a national level, and how to do them better the next time around.
A number of successful campaigns have been undertaken in agriculture. One of the better known case studies, "Masagana 99", was undertaken in the Philippines during 1974 (Sison, 1985). "Masagana" translates as "bountiful harvest" with the project objective being to increase rice production up to 99 sacks (50 kg) of unmilled rice per hectare. The channel mix included radio broadcasting, a variety of print materials (bulletins, posters), and intensively trained farm technologists. Radio was used in three ways: a) jingles and spot messages for motivation, b) information through a daily 30-minute farm programme, and c) instructional courses through the existing Farmers' University of the Air. Prior to the campaign the Philippines had to import a substantial part of its rice to meet national requirements. Following the campaign 1974 rice yields had increased by 28% over the previous year and by 1976 a 40% rise was registered over 1973 pre-campaign levels. During 1977 national requirements were more than met and the country began exporting its excess harvest.
The Communication for Development Group has also accumulated a strong legacy in implementing and validating this powerful delivery strategy in a variety of topics ranging from stamping out rinderpest viruses in thirty-four countries across West, Central and East Africa (Villet, 1988) to increasing maize and sorghum production in Lesotho (Coldevin, 1990). One of its first campaigns, carried out during 1984 in Sierra Leone, was directed at increasing swamp-rice production (Coldevin, 1986). A baseline survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP), and media access and preferences was undertaken with a stratified sample drawn from both swamp cultivators and uniquely upland farmers. A nation-wide two-month campaign was then designed and launched involving a mix of four 15-minute "farming magazine" radio broadcasts per week reinforced by posters, pamphlets, and sound-slide presentations led by extension workers in targeted villages near swamp areas. Post-campaign results showed that, on average, all farmers had increased their knowledge levels by 60% over baseline scores. The highest gains were made by upland or non-rice farmers whose after campaign scores were over three times higher (307%) than baseline levels. This group also indicated a significant positive shift in their intention to start swamp-rice farming. And farmers who tuned in regularly to the radio broadcasts gained almost twice the amount of information when compared with non-listeners.
Well documented and validated campaigns have also been supported by FAO in Bangladesh and Malaysia (for rat control), for integrated weed management in Malaysia, and for pest surveillance in Thailand (Adhikarya, 1994). In each campaign KAP baseline surveys as well as focus group interviews for additional qualitative information were undertaken. An interesting variation in setting campaign objectives, which set a standard for future reference, was the use of a targeted estimate of how much the campaign should accomplish in terms of shifts in each indicator included, e.g., post-campaign knowledge levels and practices. The rate of success of the campaign could then be judged by the gap between targeted and actual achievements.5
Communication for Development interventions for training extension workers have been mainly directed toward perfecting their interpersonal communications skills, and, more recently, in facilitating participatory involvement of farmers in defining their own problems, reaching consensus on actions to be taken, information and skills development required to carry out the actions, and mechanisms for seeking research assistance on technical problems for which there is no ready solution available locally. In this cycle extension workers have the prime responsibility for selecting and interpreting farmers' requests to research agencies and for disseminating the results back to farmers.
Training for rural producers, typical involving extension or subject matter specialists as the vital interpersonal link, has tended to rely on group media such as slides, film-strips, audio-cassettes, flip-charts, village theatre and video. In the hands of a trained facilitator these media add punch and authority to a presentation. Perhaps the most advantageous aspect of group media is the possibility for immediate feedback from the audience and establishment of a two-way flow of information. Participants' level of understanding can be tested, central points can be repeated where necessary, and discussions can be started with a view toward initiating action on agreed upon development problems.
Cases abound where FAO has used film-strips and slides with sound commentaries in virtually all areas of its mandate (FAO, 1981). Normally the presentations are reinforced by booklets, which depict the visuals used in the script with accompanying dialogue. Routinely, the booklets become manuals in their own right. The pre-recorded audio-cassette is another low-cost medium, which FAO has promoted extensively. The cassette's chief advantage over radio is the control that a group facilitator has over the information flow and the ability to start and stop at will, and repeat messages. Cassette recordings are also an easy way to bring farmers' questions and information needs to the attention of extension and research. Folk media in the form of popular singers and musicians have also proven highly effective for focusing community attention on population issues (FAO, 1994).
Of all the group media, however, video has emerged as the medium of choice for supporting participatory farmer training in a variety FAO rural development projects (Coldevin, 1988). Its many advantages are unequalled by any other medium, namely, its production "immediacy" with instant replay in the field to check on shooting details, its ability to add on commentary in local languages, its ease of editing, and its "show anywhere, anytime" flexibility using battery or generator operated playback equipment where electricity is lacking. During extensive long-term projects in Peru, Mexico and Mali, FAO has perfected a complete learning package that combines video with discussion, simple printed materials, and practical field work. Often referred to as a model for international reference, the efficiency of the methodology has been successfully documented by World Bank studies in terms of both training costs (ranging from 1/3 to 1/5 the costs of traditional training; Balit, Rios and Masias, 1996) and internal rate of return (Fraser, 1997). More recent examples include training for women farmers in Jamaica where video was combined with drama performances, oral testimonies and printed materials (Protz, 1998).
The importance of popular participation in planning and executing projects was largely postulated during the 1970's (see for example, Freire, 1972). In a ground-breaking article on development communication, Rogers (1976) suggested that the passing of the "dominant paradigm" of top-down planning would signal a shift toward self-development wherein villagers and urban poor would be the priority audiences, and self-reliance and building on local resources would be emphasized. The role of communication in this process would be "1) providing technical information about development problems and possibilities, and about appropriate innovations in answer to local requests, and 2) circulating information about the self-development accomplishments of local groups so that other such groups may profit from others' experience" (p. 141). Despite these early predictions, rural communication systems continued to service the transfer of technology or "TOT" model in which information passed from researchers to farmers though the extension system (Ramirez, 1995). At least a decade would pass before participatory methodologies began to gain acceptance (the PRODERITH project in Mexico being a prominent exception). And where they were tentatively introduced, most projects up to end of the 1980' were mainly concerned with having beneficiaries discuss how to implement projects (what Pretty, 1995 would label "functional participation"). The practice of full "interactive participation", a product of the 1990's, started with beneficiaries deciding which development initiatives should be pursued, whether the initiatives were feasible and prioritising those that were, and only then deciding how to carry them out, all the while keeping in mind the requirements for sustainability and eventual "self-mobilization" upon project completion.6
Forerunner Trials in the Philippines
One of FAO's forerunner exercises in "interactive" participatory communication for development was carried out over a three-year period in the Philippines from 1991-1994 (Coldevin, 1995)7 . The UNDP funded project was implemented by the Applied Communication Division (ACD) of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD), and five of its Regional Applied Communication Offices (RACOs)8. Building on the mounting literature in participatory rural appraisal (PRA), and refinement of its methodology (e.g., Chambers, 1992), the over-riding goal of the project was to take the ACD and each of the five RACOs through prototype exercises in setting priorities for technology transfer in carefully selected, isolated and economically depressed pilot-communities (called barangays), one per region. This involved bottom-up needs assessment through a number of PRA tools (social and livelihood mapping, seasonal calendar, problem trees, key informant panels, media access and preferences) and quantitative baseline KAP surveys, which served as diagnostic profiles for the framing of communication support objectives. A variety of multi-channel communication approaches were then implemented, spear-headed by a new lead-medium in the form of community audio-tower systems or CATS9, in each participating barangay. "Broadcasting associations" were subsequently formed to manage, produce and broadcast programmes created by thematic sub-committees, e.g., agriculture, health, cooperatives and youth, on a weekly schedule (Ramirez and Stuart, 1994). In one typical example, a multi-media campaign was launched to promote increased rice production in a depressed barangay near Zamboanga, Mindanao. The campaign was built around a four-month School of the Air (SoA) with three half-hour CATS broadcasts per week, along with print support and field demonstrations by specialists covering all facets of rice farming, including integrated pest management. Knowledge level scores among the rice farmers rose from an average of 55% prior to the campaign to 92% following it, while practices of recommended technologies rose from a baseline level of 46% to a post-campaign high of 68%. As a consequence, in comparison with pre-campaign levels, rice harvest yields more than doubled where farmers had been exposed to the full campaign (Coldevin, 1995).
The SADC (South African Development Community) Regional Centre of Communication for Development
The SADC Centre of Communication for Development based in Harare officially began operations during mid-1966, assisted by a 4-year FAO project. Its opening marked the first regional multi-purpose communication facility for rural development in Southern Africa, serving all 14 countries under the SADC mantle. The Centre's mandate is broad and encompasses providing communication advice, setting up linkages, clearinghouse documentation, production of information and discussion materials, and training for all development sectors with an emphasis thus far on agriculture, health, sanitation, and environment.
The Centre has carved out its principal aim as "facilitating people's participation at all levels of the development effort to identify and implement appropriate policies, programmes and technologies to prevent and reduce poverty in order to improve people's livelihood in a sustainable way" (Anyaegbunam, Mefalopulos and Moetsabi, 1998, p. 10). To operationalise this aim, the Centre has developed a revitalized methodology, Participatory Rural Communication Appraisal or PRCA, as the basis for starting with the people. Using and refining techniques and tools from PRA, advertising and marketing research, in practical terms PRCA assists rural communities in formulating development projects based on a mix of qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative aspects of PRCA refer to developing a profile of a given community's needs, opportunities, problems and solutions, key interaction groups, traditional and modern communication networks, and influential sources of information. The qualitative portion of PRCA also provides basic indicators and sharpens the focus for framing quantitative baseline surveys of awareness, knowledge, attitudes and practices or AKAP of the development problem to be addressed. Results of the full PRCA in turn make it possible to formulate specific AKAP objectives, segment key interaction groups, plan problem-solving communication strategies and approaches, design messages, select appropriate media and interpersonal channels, and develop and pre-test materials. PRCA also sets the basis for monitoring and adjusting a communication programme or campaign as it unfolds, and for measuring its immediate AKAP outcomes and longer-term impact after completion.
The Centre's main draw thus far has been a series of "Action Programme" or AP workshops, initially lasting ten weeks, but now reduced to seven following a market research survey. Each presently comprises an initial two-week introductory workshop in Harare (theory of communication for development, preparation for field PRCA, and baseline AKAP surveys), two weeks of field research at project sites in participating countries, and back to Harare for a final three weeks of analysis of field research, communication strategy design, setting objectives, message content, media-mix, preparation of sample of media materials, budget and work plan to carry out actual communication programme or campaign for a given project. Eight such AP workshops have been given thus far - for the most part focusing on multi-media communication campaigns - each with an average of about 25 middle-level communication and extension personnel drawn from about 4 to five organizations (e.g., UN Agencies, Government Ministries, NGOs). Following each AP workshop, the Centre provides backstopping as the various field projects are undertaken.10
As in the case of CESPA in Bamako, the SADC Centre is working toward self-sufficiency and services are provided on a cost-recovery basis. Based on recommendations of a business plan commissioned in 1998, a cost recovery strategy was worked out in which the "phase in" internal revenues of the Centre versus the "phase out" of donor funding would start at a 30/70 ratio in the first year (i.e., 30% internal revenues versus 70% external) to about 75/25 in year three and thereafter. Assuming that training and advisory services are charged at prevailing market rates, the Centre would still require something in the neighbourhood of 25% outside funding support to remain fully functional. One of the avenues to seek external support would be through contracts with development agencies, at the regional and national levels, that would appoint the Centre to act as a service agency under their yearly development programmes.11
Networking through Village Telecentres
While the call for "networking" has become the 1990's mantra, sub-Saharan Africa in particular has faced deepening marginalisation. According to current data provided by IDRC, in 1999, excluding South Africa, only one African in 9,000 has access to the Internet, while around the world the average is one person in 40 (IDRC, 1999). IDRC has responded with project "Acacia", designed to encourage access to ICTs by low-income groups in cities and the countryside, to provide tools and techniques that make it easier for low-income groups to use ICTs, and to adapt applications and services to meet community needs. The vehicle for doing this is though the establishment of information and communication service centers or telecentres accessible within an hour of home by foot.12 Most of its emphasis has thus far been on urban telecentres - which have been mushrooming - with typical services offered consisting of telephone, fax, photocopying, e-mail, Internet, and small group training in ICT proficiencies (e.g., information data navigation, networking, Web designing). Pilot telecentres are also being tried out in a limited number of rural settings (e.g., two communities in Mozambique; one each in Mali and Uganda).
FAO/SDRE has been actively supporting the use of ICTs for agricultural development (Richardson, 1997; Richardson and Paisley, 1998) through rural telecentres, and other means (such as cooperatives and farmer associations), although the pace has been much slower than the explosion in urban settings. Rural multipurpose community telecentres (RMCTs) have much or all of the capability of their urban counterparts as well as access to more traditional media such as audio and video playback equipment. Typically, they can also serve as venues for formal and non-formal distance education training for extension and subject matter specialists. As information "depots" or "hubs" they can place regional, national and international information at the fingertips of agricultural development workers - information on markets, weather, crops, livestock production and natural resource protection (Crowder, et al., 1998).
Much of the debate revolving around the RMCTs has been in establishing the link from the global networks to national, town, and finally to village levels, the latter referred to by some as "the last mile" of connectivity (Van der Stichele and Bie, 1997) and others, "the first mile" (Moetsabi, 1998). Costs appear to be the main constraint. IDRC estimates that if a wired land-based network is to be put into place, the expense for connecting rural subscribers in Africa will be five to ten times higher than that of city dwellers. The cost of equipment, and training of those to operate it, must also be factored in. But the issues of connectivity, start-up costs and sustainability can be solved, according to Woods (1996, p. 24), through establishing rural telecentres as a "Community Utility", accessible on a pay-to-use basis. Based on IDRC's experience, however, the report card on making RMTCs financially viable is still in the making. Others, more optimistically, suggest that trend is clearly wireless, mobile, multi-media and broadband ICTs, with costs dropping appreciable (Crowder, 2000).13
Undoubtedly, a strong case can be made for using PRA/PRCA principles to bring crystallised farmer group's technology information needs to telecentres, tapping the relevant data bases available through the net that provide useable recommendations, and then packaging the results to respond to local demands and disseminating it through a variety of conventional media, and especially radio for maximum reach. Sustainability, in turn, will increase in direct proportion to client's satisfaction of the service. As noted by a frustrated development worker in Mozambique, however, "IT has to be clearly and immediately useful or people won't have the motivation to use it" (Adam, 2000). Clearly, the lessons learned through past communication experiences and approaches should be applied to current investments in rural telecentres. With this in mind, it is evident that approaches that incorporate the unique characteristics of ICTs with participatory communication and learning strategies can help to improve the contributions that telecentres can make to rural development (Anderson, et al., 1998).
FAOs initial experience with Internet-based ICTs started in Latin America in the early 1990's when farmer-operated information networks were established in Chile and Mexico. Operating under the banner of FARMNets (the term that has been applied to initiatives growing out of the Latin American experience), linkages were established with agricultural producers, farmer associations, extension services and NGOs. The networks provide data on crops, inputs, markets, weather forecasts, and credit facilities, among other essential topics. All told, it has proven an effective way for farmers to access local, regional, national and even global sources. By knowing market price information in larger centers, it has also increased profitability in setting local crop selling rates, and a base for better planning of quantities to plant in the future (Crowder, 2000).
A more recent FAO development has been the Virtual Extension, Research and Communication network or VERCON, designed as an open network to improve communication between research and extension and for those with access, farmers themselves. Prototype software has been developed which can be readily adapted locally to improve the flow of information between extension and research departments. A pilot VERCON project is currently under way in Egypt to test and refine the system (FAO, 2000b).
In step with this development, the World Bank, under a recently activated four-year Decentralised Agriculture and Forestry Extension Project (DAFEP), will establish a Farmers' Information and Technology Service or FITS (a concept adapted from the Philippines) as part of district extension services in 10 selected provinces. Each FITS will have Internet connectivity with relevant international, national and regional research databases; multi-media production facilities will also be provided for adapting research recommendations into extension and farmer-oriented materials.14
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