Climate change adaptation and pluralist extension approaches in California and Malawi: Examining challenges, successes, and opportunities for strengthening global extension systems

Authors: ZABRONSKY, HOPE - University Of California, Davis; KOUINDA, VIKRAM - University Of California, Davis; Ostoja, Steven; PARKER, LAUREN - University Of California, Davis

Submitted to: Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/12/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Climate change is projected to have a significant impact on global food production systems. According to the FAO, climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices can help to guide actions needed to support sustainable food production given changing climate conditions. However, the development of CSA curriculum and delivery of these messages to farmers are not always collaborative or consistent amongst extension providers. This session addresses this challenge by sharing the collaborative process used to develop CSA curriculum with extension professionals, and evaluate educational content generation, methodology, and dissemination by different types of extension providers in order to improve future content creation and increase information transparency amongst service providers. The session will also provide an opportunity for attendees to examine how extension providers are using new extension approaches and evaluate how these extension approaches impact the type of climate change adaptation information disseminated to farmers and what gaps exist in providing clear and timely messages to farmers. The knowledge gained from this session will help to inform the direction of future research and improve the implementation of curriculum and teaching methods by extension providers in order to increase the adoption of CSA practices and effectively adapt to climate change. Session Proposal & Objectives (i.e. session proposal submitted to the conference): Conflicting messages disseminated to farmers and a lack of coordination amongst extension providers pose significant challenges across global extension systems. Co-production processes aim to address diverse stakeholder needs and empower extension providers to effectively support farmers. This session will incorporate two presentations by the facilitators; the first on the process of developing climate adaptation resources and curriculum, and the second on the delivery of adaptation information by extension providers. The session will begin with a presentation of the facilitators’ co-production framework used to evaluate climate adaptation needs among agricultural extension agents in California, USA. Then, facilitators will share findings from research evaluating how different types of extension providers develop and disseminate climate adaptation information to farmers in Malawi. Facilitators will share results and conclusions of this research to address the following questions: 1. 2. How do climate 3. adaptation experts in California engage in the co-production of climate awareness and response frameworks for extension professionals? 4. 5. 6. How is content 7. developed in Malawi to address climate change? 8. 9. 10. How do extension 11. providers in Malawi engage and collaborate with other organizations that support farmers? 12. Attendees will then have the opportunity to discuss their own experiences in extension and share best practices, challenges, and innovations to address extension efforts supporting climate change adaptation in their countries. Attendees will be encouraged to share their recommendations to strengthen findings from the facilitators’ experiences, and to share knowledge about effective teaching methods utilized in global extension systems. This session will provide a platform for learning and discussion around two frameworks and processes for the development of climate adaptation resources and information dissemination for agricultural extension professionals. First, using a California, USA case study we will share an iterative co-production framework for assessing the needs and priorities of representative stakeholders related to the development of climate adaptation resources for a diverse population of agricultural extension professionals. Second, we will present an evaluation of agricultural extension and climate adaptation information dissemination in

Technical Abstract: Title: Climate change adaptation and pluralist extension approaches in California and Malawi: Examining challenges, successes, and opportunities for strengthening global extension systems Presenters: Hope Zabronsky, Vikram Koundinya, Steven Ostoja, and Lauren Parker, University of California, Davis, USA Session Description: This professional development session will share knowledge gained from an assessment of climate adaptation needs among extension providers in California, and research on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) content development and dissemination in Malawi. Participants will first learn about the facilitators’ co-production framework used to evaluate climate adaptation needs among extension agents in California. Then, participants will examine the content developed and shared by extension providers to educate farmers about CSA practices in Malawi. Through a discussion with facilitators and attendees, session participants will gain new insight into current best practices for adapting extension curriculum given changing climate conditions.