Posted July 1996
prepared by S. Balit
Chief, Communication for Development, FAO
M. Calvelo Rios
Communication Consultant
and L. Masias
Chief Technical Advisor, Project GCP, RLA/114/ITA
"More than natural resources, more than cheap labour, more than
financial capital,
knowledge is becoming the key factor of production"
World Bank Policy Research Bulletin
"What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember.
What I do, I know."
Peasant proverb
Information and knowledge are essential to improve the productivity of small farmers in Latin America. An FAO Regional Project (GCP/RLA/114/ITA), financed by the Government of Italy has created national capacity in rural communication in four countries - Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua and Chile - in addition to providing assistance to a number of other countries in the region, including Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Honduras. The main objective of the 3.5 year project has been to train national staff in the production and use of communication methods and media to promote the participation and training of small farmers and their families. The project has concentrated on the application of two communication delivery systems:
For the audiovisual training methodology, the emphasis has been on the training of national personnel, through intensive training courses: lasting 45 days for audiovisual producers and trainers (pedagogos audiovisuales) and 20 days for field workers/facilitators who use the audio visual materials in training sessions with farmers (capacitadores audiovisuales).
Audio visual training packages are produced on key themes, issues and technologies identified with farmers and technicians, merging farmers knowledge and experience with modern scientific knowledge and technology. Each course consists of a series of video programmes (normally 6 to 7 classes) accompanied by simple printed guides for the trainer/facilitator and the farmers. Each training session includes the viewing of the video programme, followed by a discussion with a technician and practical work. The farmer guides (with many drawings and little text) also serve as memory for the trainees. The video equipment used is low-cost, portable, battery-operated and sub-professional (Hi-8 and VHS). The technical content of the course and the programmes is provided by subject matter specialists.
In Chile and in Mexico computer technology is being applied to establish information networks to provide agricultural producers and farmer associations with essential data on crops, inputs, prices, markets, weather conditions, available social services, credit facilities, etc. to enable them to compete in the new market economy. Messages are generated, processed and transmitted through low cost computers via Internet and are received in farmer's organizations, cooperatives, town councils, etc., equipped with computers and printers. Local staff have been trained by the project in the use of electronic information technology for rural development. The information is then distributed to individual farmers and associations according to local conditions and possibilities. Messages are timely, appropriate and transmitted in a form that can be understood by the farmers.
In both cases messages and programmes are identified and produced in close cooperation with the users, so that the content, the language and the structure of the programmes correspond to the needs, practices and local culture of the beneficiaries, and a true interactive dialogue is established.
As a result of the new market economy and the shrinking role of governments, rural poverty and the marginalisation of small and subsistence farmers, women and rural youth, is increasing in the region. Extension systems are either very weak or non-existent. Rural producers are in great need of information and knowledge and skills to improve their decision making, increase productivity, and survive in the new market conditions. The technologies and the information exist in the region, but they are not accessible to small and subsistence farmers for lack of appropriate delivery systems and training methodologies. Communication technology and delivery systems have helped to overcome the constraints of the large numbers of people to be reached, illiteracy, many local languages, large distances, poorly trained extension workers, lack of transportation and the need for standardised scientific and specific technical information.
Communication staff trained by the project work with groups of farmers, with the entire farm family, including women and youth, carrying out the training sessions in the villages, in the field. The multi-media approach (inter-personal, face-to-face communication, video programmes, practical work and written materials) reinforce learning, especially among illiterate rural populations. The cost effectiveness, quality and outreach of the training activities have substantively improved. In addition, the project has not been working only with government institutions but with all the stakeholders involved in rural development. New institutional frameworks have been established to produce and use the audiovisual training and information materials including government institutions, NGOs, farmer associations and cooperatives and private sector groups. These new institutions are generating income by producing and applying the communication materials and training field workers in their use. For example, in Bolivia, CECODER was created in the Santa Cruz Department with the participation of public and private organizations.
After three years the project has developed national capacity in four countries, and received requests and provided assistance to many more (Argentina, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, etc). At the request of Governments in the region projects are in the pipeline to continue the activities of the project when it terminates in December 1996. (Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua and Tratado de Cooperación Amazonica)
An independent evaluation mission carried out in December 1995 has confirmed that the methodologies applied are appropriate to the needs and conditions in the region and are cost-effective. A World Bank study (in Bolivia, Venezuela) has indicated that costs for audio-visual training activities have been 1/3 to 1/5 of the cost of traditional extension activities.
There has been a significant increase in the demand for audio visual training and information systems from various stakeholders including government agencies, rural development institutions, NGOs, municipalities and farmer associations. Several of these institutions have contributed to the financing of these activities, generating income for the project.
Extensionists, facilitators and field workers have been trained and have tools to better dialogue with rural people, identify their needs, knowledge and experience and provide them with standardised, quality technical information and training.
The major beneficiaries are subsistence farmers and their families, including women and rural youth who are actively participating in the training activities. Government agencies, NGOs, municipalities and farmer associations now have communication systems, methodologies and tools to disseminate information and transfer knowledge and skills on a wide scale. The donor has expressed satisfaction with the results achieved with the investment made ($5 million over a period of three and a half years) and has expressed its intention to participate in a multidonor programme which is being formulated to continue the activities of the project after December 1996.
Modern communication technologies, when systematically applied and adapted to conditions in rural areas of developing countries, can be used for rural communication to increase participation, disseminate information and share knowledge and skills. The establishment of new institutional frameworks, including all stakeholders, which are autonomous and income generating, can lead to sustainable and cost-effective efforts, as opposed to working only with government agencies. There is a need to invest in a critical mass of trained staff to enable communication technologies to be applied in an effective and systematic fashion. This critical mass would vary from country to country, depending on the scale of the programme, the objectives, and the number of farmers to be reached.
Needed are a communication for development project or a communication component of a larger development project that would include international expertise and/or consultancies, an appropriate institutional framework, a critical mass of national staff to be trained, and some equipment. Considering past experience in Latin America, an efficient audio visual training system can be established in three years and information networks in eighteen months.
These technologies and methodologies lend themselves to mass and wide scale applications. Once the initial investment has been made in equipment and training, costs are reduced as training activities are applied on a wide scale. For example, the production cost of a complete pedagogical package is about US$25,000. If the package is applied with 1,000 farmers, the cost of the course per farmer is US$25. If applied with 10,000 farmers, the cost is reduced to US$2.50 per farmer.
If the conditions described above are met, (a critical mass of trained staff, equipment and an appropriate institutional framework) training or information activities for agricultural cash crop producers competing on the market can become financially sustainable in a period of five years. Information and training activities for subsistence farmers will take longer and will require some form of subsidies. These activities can become financially sustainable only if one can scale up activities to large dimensions in terms of numbers of trainers, training packages produced and farmers trained.
Knowledge is the least expensive available input for rural development. It requires only a policy decision, some equipment and trained rural communicators to share knowledge and skills to increase participation and promote sustainable development.
To receive an orientation on the methodologies described above it would be sufficient to visit project activities (in one of the four countries in Latin America or CESPA (Centre de Services de Production Audiovisuelle) in Mali, Africa. Alternatively, an orientation workshop could be organised at the World Bank. To start to learn the methodologies applied, an intensive training course would be required for the audiovisual training methodology (45 days of total immersion in a rural area), and a 15 day workshop for the electronic information system. FAO, the project GCP/RLA/114/ITA or the network of institutions established by the project could collaborate with the World Bank in the development of such activities. Collaborative efforts have already been initiated with World Bank projects in Mexico, Argentina and Bolivia.
|
