Online from UI Library subscription., Reports a case study of efforts to control an infestation of water hyacinth in Lake Tana, largest lake in Ethiopia. Findings revealed that participatory communication was equated to a public relations activity of organizing campaigns with the local people urged to participate by providing labour contribution of harvesting and collecting the weed from the lake. The communication approach was found to be a one-way, top-down approach which does not facilitate a horizontal dialogue among stakeholders.
10 pages, Online via UI Library electronic subscription. Open access., "This paper re-affirms that women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises across the developing world. But there is much diversity in women's roles and over-generalization undermines policy relevance and planning."
14 pages., his paper evaluates the effect of the Rural Capacity Building Project (RCBP),
which aimed at promoting growth by strengthening the agricultural service systems
in Ethiopia, and by making them more responsive to smallholders’ needs, in particular women farmers. We examine the gender-differentiated impact of the RCBP
using panel data on 1,485 geographically dispersed households in project and control
kebeles. We find that women farmers’ access and satisfaction with extension services
increased significantly immediately after the start of the project, but that effect did
not last into the medium term. The project led to an increase in the adoption of high-
value crop farming, area of land cultivated, and economic participation of household
members, benefiting male- and female-headed households equally. Results point to
the positive impact of incorporating women’s needs and constraints in the design of
the agricultural extension system. However, the project was not able to reduce the
preexisting gender gap in agricultural outcomes.
