The limited effectiveness and fiscal unsustainability of professional-led public sector extension systems in developing countries have aroused considerable interest in Farmer-led Extension (FLE) approaches in the recent decades. A key challenge facing these initiatives is a lack of sustainability of the farmer groups developed through project or…

Purpose: New approaches to extension service delivery are needed that stimulate increased agricultural production, contribute to collective action and which also foster the emergence of agricultural innovation systems. Research in Peru and Mexico explores some of these new approaches. Design/methodology/approach: In both countries, a qualitative…

Communication planning in developing countries is discussed in individual articles on theory, knowledge production and utilization, planning at the regional level, software, and rural development. A nutrition education project and three experiments in developing educational materials with feedback from villagers in Africa are described in the…

Describes a project in which summative evaluation was successfully applied in guiding the content of a rural media campaign to increase rice production in Sierra Leone, and in judging the campaign's impact upon completion. The pretest phase of the evaluation, project material development, and evaluation results are described. (MBR)

The keynote article in this issue describes some empirically demonstrated beneficial functions of radio in development communications: (1) it improves the quality and relevance of education; (2) it keeps educational costs down; (3) it broadens access to education; and (4) it extends the impact of time, money, and effort outside the formal…

Common problems and possible solutions in communication with rural villagers in developing countries are discussed in terms of communication extension strategies, mass communication media, the use of simple communication technology in place of the more sophisticated and expensive methods, a case study of a successful communication project in…

The five papers in this volume examine the methods, costs, and effects of traditional agricultural extension services and basic education and about the use of mass media for extension and education. The first paper, a literature review regarding the effectiveness of agricultural extension, reports that extension agents' studies of internal…

Case studies presented by graduate students from the United States and seven other nations dealt with topics in extension education. A system analysis approach to the problems in organizing extension services in developing nations was described, as well as physical and sociocultural problems (including illiteracy) which hinder audiovisual…

This Spanish-language manual, developed for training Peace Corps volunteers for service in Spanish-speaking developing countries, explains the process of agricultural extension and provides practical guidance on carrying out an extension program. The first of six chapters explains what agricultural extension is and how it is used in the Peace…

This manual, developed for training Peace Corps volunteers for service in developing countries, explains the process of agricultural extension and provides practical guidance on carrying out an agricultural extension program. The manual is organized into six chapters. The first chapter explains what agricultural extension is and how it is used in…

This symposium on assessment and evaluation modeling consists of three presentations. "Training Assessment Among Kenyan Smallholder Entrepreneurs" (George G. Shibanda, Jemymah Ingado, Bernard Nassiuma) reports a study that assessed the extent to which the need for knowledge, information, and skills among small scale farmers can promote…