A call for cases on Pluralistic Extension and Advisory Services in Africa, March 2024

Background

Agricultural extension and advisory services (AEAS) consist of all the different activities that provide the information and services needed and demanded by farmers and other value chain actors in rural settings to assist them in developing their own technical, organizational and management skills and practices to improve their livelihoods, as well as promote a more sustainable agriculture. The Public EAS systems are commonly facing challenges in terms of accessibility, accountability, affordability, adaptability, sustainability, and coordination of EAS. As a result, in many countries pluralistic EAS emerge, either spontaneously or as a part of the state’ efforts, in which diverse service providers helping beneficiaries/target groups with wide and multiple services, as a way of overcoming the challenges of agrifood systems transformation.

Therefore, the overall purpose of the call is aiming at documenting and showcasing of good pluralistic EAS practices and facilitate knowledge and experience sharing among countries. Good cases will be published as good pluralistic EAS practices. In addition, a regional webinar will be organized to present selected cases to facilitate experience sharing among countries in the region.

Scope: The types of pluralistic EAS cases that are of interest for this initiative are good and innovative practices that have been implemented and being implemented with practical experience on: fostering partnership and collaboration among multiple and diverse actors; inclusiveness and provision of access to services to a wide range of clients/beneficiaries. Pluralistic EAS cases should clearly demonstrate its innovativeness in terms of partnership, coordination, and funding mechanisms. 

Themes: Practices that showcase and demonstrate practical experience in improving national agrifood systems, crop/livestock/forestry/fisheries production, and productivity, postharvest, marketing, food and nutrition security, and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. In addition, practices that are responding to systemic challenges in the transformation of national agrifood systems including FAO’s crosscutting issues: gender, governance, nutrition, and climate change adaptation.  

Criteria for Selection: cases will be selected based on its inclusiveness, diversity of actors and level of partnership, innovativeness in terms of coordination, funding, communication, and learning, deploying of methods, approaches and tools, scalability and its potential impact. 

Guidelines for submission: to ensure consistency in submissions, below are the detailed guidelines for submitting good pluralistic cases. For submission of cases, click https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q2GC2ZR .

Timeline: key deadlines

1. Submission of pluralistic EAS cases (Maximum of 500 words abstract): 31st March 2024
2. Review and announcement of selected cases: 14th April 2024
3. Resubmission of updated final cases (Maximum of 1800-2000 words): 30th April 2024

Contact Information: For any inquiries, clarifications, and submission-related communication, please contact: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected].