11 pages., via online journal, This paper discusses the role of the community in agroforestry technology development and the extension approaches that have been used to spread sustainable agroforestry practices. It begins by stressing the importance of active community participation in the development of appropriate and sustainable agroforestry interventions for small holder farmers in the tropics. This is seen as essential because farmers understand their complex biophysical, socio-cultural and economic environment better than anyone else. It is therefore imperative that the community be involved in the whole process of technology development right frøm problem identification to technology transfer. Similarly, problem identification and prioritisation by, consensus of the community is seenas crucial, as is the role of indigenous knowledge in designing technologies that are cost effective, relevant and easily adoptable. Equally important is that interventions be tried out with a few farmers before involving the whole community and that farmers develop a monitoring system within their means that is effective in assessing the performance of these technologies. The paper concludes that a community-based extension system should be institutionalised in order to ensure sustainability in the transfer of the technologies. The system should be able to lead to the building of the capacity of the local farming community to continue utilising and transferring these technologies to solve their problems and ultimately creating sustainable fanning systems.
13 pages., Via online journal., This paper reflects a major concern of nutrition and health educators in the developing world today, namely, how to formulate and implement participatory nutrition intervention programs with community members and key government officials who may come from a number of different development
sectors. Through the description of a project entitled "Social Marketing of Vitamin A-Rich Foods,"
the paper highlights the value of a two-way concept of nutrition communication and problem-solving
which is put in operation by establishing mechanisms for working with both institutional and community
groups. This entails calling upon such conceptual frameworks as behavior analysis, nutritional anthropology, media advocacy and social marketing as means for working with collaborators in a decentralized, nondirective fashion. The paper also illustrates how mass media and printed nutrition education materials can potentially support broad institutional and community development processes as well as providing a guideline of requirements for future programs and projects.
17 pages., via online journal., In the face of widespread degradation of natural resources (including
deforestation), and socio-economic disparities, underserved populations
from rural and indigenous spaces of the global south face challenges to
conserve environmental resources. Many of these spaces, such as
sacred-groves, are important to indigenous people and are deeply
intertwined with their identity, worldviews and existence. This research,
embracing principles of critical/cultural environmental communication,
examines how indigenous people of eastern India mobilized collectively
to protect their sacred environmental resources, thus improving
community members’ well-being. Paying attention to engaged
environmental action; critical listening and dialoguing; and local-centric
participation, this research argues that contextually meaningful and
community-led environmental initiatives help motivate and raise
consciousness among future generations as well as among wider
indigenous (and marginalized) populations.
