Browsing by Subject "Social networks"

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Climate change adaptation, social networks, and agricultural extension reforms in Ethiopia
(2016) Tensay, Teferi Mequaninte; Bennewitz, Jörn
Research on the impact of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa shows that climate change is expected to cause an increased frequency of extreme events such as high temperature and rainfall intensity, droughts and floods, desertification, and spread of animal and human diseases. These extreme events are likely to have a negative impact on food security. Using the case of Ethiopia, this thesis analyses the role that social network and agricultural extension can play in enhancing farmers’ ability to adapt to climate change. The thesis builds on recent research, which has highlighted the role of social networks and extension in promoting adaptation to the negative impacts of climate change. Social networks between farmers can build community resilience and increase adaptation to climate change. They also affect technology adoption and climate change adaptation through social learning, joint evaluation of new technologies and collective action. Current research on social networks in Ethiopia has mainly focused on the effects of network size on technology adoption and there is no empirical study on which types of social networks matter the most, and how do such types of social networks matter for climate change adaptation. Agricultural extension is expected to facilitate climate change adaptation through training and education of farmers, enabling them to anticipate climate change and to update their knowledge, attitudes and adaptive capabilities in response to climate change. In addition to their well-established function of promoting technologies and natural resource management practices, agricultural extension services are expected to play new roles in building farmers’ social networks and supporting climate change adaptation strategies. There are various studies on agricultural extension reforms in Ethiopia, but there are still gaps in this literature, especially regarding the capacity of the extension service to promote adaptation to climate change and to promote social networks. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to fill these knowledge gaps and to contribute to the current debate on the dynamic links between climate change, social networks and extension reforms. The thesis combines quantitative and qualitative methods for analysis of three inter-related research topics. First, the thesis examines farmers’ vulnerabilities to climate change and the role of adaptation in increasing productivity at the household level. Second, it assesses how the different types of social networks are related with the adoption of sustainable land management practices for climate change adaptation. Third, by examining what works and what does not work well in the agricultural extension reforms in Ethiopia, the thesis investigates the interactions between climate change, social networks and extension reforms in Amhara region of Ethiopia. The thesis is based on a mixed methods approach. It combines a quantitative analysis, using World Bank data from a survey conducted in 2011 covering 1338 farmers. The analytical methods include a probit model, an OLS analysis and an endogenous switching regression model. Qualitative research methods included Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) combined with an individual scoring technique, and a Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis. The study on climate change adaptation found that the effects of climate change and adaptation practices differ across agro-ecological zones and adopter groups. In the kolla agro-ecologies, the major hazards were drought, floods, and migration. In contrast, snowfall, landslides and crop diseases were the main hazards in the dega and woyna-dega agro-ecologies. Erratic rainfall, soil erosion and livestock diseases were common hazards to all agro-ecologies. Households’ responses to the hazards were differed across the different agro-ecologies. In the kolla agro-ecologies, the most common coping strategies were reducing the number of daily meals, migration, livestock selling and utilization of irrigation. In the dega and woyna-dega agro-ecologies common coping strategies included: changing consumption patterns; adopting drought resistant crops (sorghum and millet); sale of chickens, eggs, sheep, goats, eucalyptus trees; soil conservation and tree planting; zero grazing and water harvesting. In all agro-ecologies, local institutions support communal adaptation strategies such as communal water harvesting and irrigation schemes, reforestation, rangeland enclosure and prevention of soil erosion. The empirical results also revealed that farmers who implemented climate change adaptation strategies have significantly increased their food productivity and food security, compared to farmers who did not implement such strategies. The findings regarding the relationship between social networks and sustainable land management revealed that networks with relatives have a positive impact on planting trees, but the impact of such networks on soil conservation was found to be negative. This finding can be interpreted as an incidence of self-interested behavior, since farmers may plant trees as a means of securing land holdings. When farmers are faced with the risk of losing their land to relatives, due to common heritage, they prefer planting trees to soil conservation. Farmers can reclaim all their investment costs by cutting trees, should they lose their land holding rights to relatives. In contrast, it would be difficult to regain soil conservation investment costs in this case. Friendship networks were found to be insignificant in both planting trees and soil conservation, while neighborhood ties only had a significant association with tree planting. This suggests the potential contributions of friendship and neighborhood networks, which can significantly affect sustainable land management practices, but may remain untapped. The analysis of extension conducted as part of this thesis suggests that a uniform reform approach, as pursued in Ethiopia, does not fit well with the diverse agro-ecologies and extension challenges in the country. While the number of service providers increased substantially, they still lack skills, incentives and resources, which affect their work motivation and job performance. Moreover, the planning, monitoring and evaluation system was found not to be very effective in regularly assessing what has been achieved at the farmers’ training centers and what remains to be done in the future. Similarly, there is room to improve partnerships and linkages of actors, especially by including key actors that are currently missing. Based on the above findings, this thesis derived the following policy implications: 1. The potential capacity of schools and religious organizations in supporting climate change adaptation should be tapped. The case study identified agricultural extension, health extension, NGOs, cooperatives, indigenous institutions (Iddir, Kirre, Jiggie, Debo, Iquib), microfinance institutions, schools, local governments, youth and women groups as key institutions providing rural services. However, extension organizations, cooperatives/unions, local governments and NGOs were the only institutions providing services relevant for climate change adaptation. Surprisingly, important local institutions (schools and religious organizations) did not have any short or long term plans to support climate change adaptation efforts despite the fact that they have the social capital to plan and implement some communal strategies such as terracing and planting trees on communal lands. 2. The regional and national policies should support local climate change adaptation strategies. The study showed that adaptation efforts should not be left to only farmers and local governments. Regional and national policies should support the local adaptation strategies. It was found that the absence of communal land and natural resource use policies was encouraging farmers to over utilize natural resources, and the long delay in land use rights (certification) was discouraging farmers from making long term investments on their land (e.g., tree planting and soil conservation). Therefore, the findings suggest that it would be useful to promote the introduction of communal land and natural resource use policy and a speedy land certification process. 3. The potential contributions of social networks as alternative channels of extension services should be tapped. The findings revealed that funds for agricultural extension are declining and extension managers should look for alternative source of funding and move away from a “one-size-fits-all” thinking to a “best fit” approach. It needs to become a priority for the current extension system to better understand what types of social networks matter most for technology adoption. 4. The findings also indicate that extension reforms should consider current agricultural challenges, especially climate change. In dega and woyna-daga agro-ecologies, the main challenges were getting information on climate change related hazards (rainfall and temperature), commercial marketing (cooperative development, price and new markets), post-harvest handling (drying and storage technique). In the kolla agro-ecologies, the major problems were lack of dry land farming methods (contour plowing, mulching, strip farming, summer fallow, seedbed preparation and planning in rows). So far, the extension system is not geared towards addressing these different challenges, which calls for aligning the extension reforms to the different local farming systems. 5. It can also be derived from the findings of this study that the regional government should design a new incentive system for the extension service. The case study showed that current incentives are inconsistent with the regional goal of promoting commercially oriented agriculture. Service providers in the region were found to lack the soft skills, incentives and resources to provide commercially oriented services. This finding calls for designing a new incentive system, which may include better salary, improved career prospects, and recognition as well as incentives for extra work. Such provisions will motivate and enable frontline service providers. 6. The governance and management structures of the Agricultural Development Partners’ Linkage Advisory Councils (ADPLACs) should be redesigned. The case study revealed that when measured against indicators such as information sharing and feedback, joint planning, monitoring, evaluation and implementation, the linkages between farmers, NGOs and research institutes were very weak. This calls for redesigning the governance and management structures of the Agricultural Development Partners’ Linkage Advisory Councils (ADPLACs), which was responsible for facilitating the partnership and linkages of extension actors in the region. 7. The findings of this thesis also suggest that the roles of NGOs and the private sector in the provision of extension service should be enhanced. The case study found that key actors such as the private sector and NGOs were missing from effective provision of extension services. The private sector and NGOs may have a comparative advantage in activities such as provision of improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, vaccination, deworming and artificial inseminations. NGO and private sector engagement in these areas will allow the regional government to free up and reallocate funds to its broader extension strategies such as development of new incentive schemes, education and training, technical advisory services, sustainable natural resource management practices and organizing farmers to link them with new markets.
Knowledge networks in the German bioeconomy : network structure of publicly funded R&D networks
(2019) Bogner, Kristina
Aiming at fostering the transition towards a sustainable knowledge-based Bioeconomy (SKBBE), the German Federal Government funds joint and single research projects in predefined socially desirable fields as, for instance, in the Bioeconomy. To analyse whether this policy intervention actually fosters cooperation and knowledge transfer as intended, researchers have to evaluate the network structure of the resulting R&D network on a regular basis. Using both descriptive statistics and social network analysis, I investigate how the publicly funded R&D network in the German Bioeconomy has developed over the last 30 years and how this development can be assessed from a knowledge diffusion point of view. This study shows that the R&D network in the German Bioeconomy has grown tremendously over time and thereby completely changed its initial structure. While from a traditional perspective the development of the network characteristics in isolation seems harmful to knowledge diffusion, taking into account the reasons for these changes shows a different picture. However, this might only hold for the diffusion of mere techno-economic knowledge. It is questionable whether the artificially generated network structure also is favourable for the diffusion of other types of knowledge, e.g. dedicated knowledge necessary for the transformation towards an SKBBE.