This essay argues that capacity development is a response to changes in the organization and practice of agricultural extension as these changes have excluded small resource farmers. In this essay I trace the changes in the organization of agricultural extension through to the emergence of the concept and practice of capacity development. The idea…

In a rapidly changing society like Botswana, the competition for employment, training and progression on the job has become very high. The development of skills is therefore a crucial and integral part of nation building, which needs a direct link to a training programme to continuously help staff to cope with the different needs they meet in the…

Assessment of a participatory rural appraisal project in Ethiopia indicated that decentralization of extension in sub-Saharan Africa is an opportunity for farmers and extension agents to collaborate. The congruence of experiential learning and participatory approaches can contribute to the transformation of "top-down" extension…

One of the Millennium Development Goals declared by the United Nations in 2000 was to reduce by half the population of people living in extreme poverty, by 2015. Adult education can and should contribute significantly to this development goal. Nevertheless it has hardly been explored so far in the national Poverty Reduction Strategies Papers. In…