TY - CHAP
T1 - Farming for change
T2 - Developing a participatory curriculum on agroecology, nutrition, climate change and social equity in Malawi and Tanzania
AU - Kerr, Rachel Bezner
AU - Young, Sera L.
AU - Young, Carrie
AU - Santoso, Marianne V.
AU - Magalasi, Mufunanji
AU - Entz, Martin
AU - Lupafya, Esther
AU - Dakishoni, Laifolo
AU - Morrone, Vicki
AU - Wolfe, David
AU - Snapp, Sieglinde S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.
PY - 2022/11/21
Y1 - 2022/11/21
N2 - How to engage farmers that have limited formal education is at the foundation of environmentally-sound and equitable agricultural development. Yet there are few examples of curricula that support the co-development of knowledge with farmers. While transdisciplinary and participatory techniques are considered key components of agroecology, how to do so is rarely specified and few materials are available, especially those relevant to smallholder farmers with limited formal education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The few training materials that exist provide appropriate methods, such as compost making, but do not explain relationships and synergies between nutrition, social inequalities, climate change and agroecology. Some food sovereignty and agroecology courses aim at popular political education for those with more formal education. Here we describe the process of development of an innovative curriculum, which integrates agroecology, nutrition, climate change, gender and other dimensions of social equity across 2 weeks of training explicitly for smallholders in southern Africa with limited formal education. The curriculum is highly participatory; we use concepts in popular education, transformative and experiential-based learning, and theatre. It is also integrative; we link agroecology with climate change, human and soil nutrition, gender, and related components of social equity. Developed in partnership with Malawian farmers, community development experts and academics from fi ve countries, the curriculum was piloted with 520 smallholder farming households in Malawi and Tanzania, and evaluated using qualitative techniques. Clashes of language, cultural norms, and terminology were as great of a challenge as agreeing on and conveying technical information, to weave into a coherent whole. However, farmers who participated in the curriculum training demonstrated high interest, comprehension of material and interest in immediate application to their lives.
AB - How to engage farmers that have limited formal education is at the foundation of environmentally-sound and equitable agricultural development. Yet there are few examples of curricula that support the co-development of knowledge with farmers. While transdisciplinary and participatory techniques are considered key components of agroecology, how to do so is rarely specified and few materials are available, especially those relevant to smallholder farmers with limited formal education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The few training materials that exist provide appropriate methods, such as compost making, but do not explain relationships and synergies between nutrition, social inequalities, climate change and agroecology. Some food sovereignty and agroecology courses aim at popular political education for those with more formal education. Here we describe the process of development of an innovative curriculum, which integrates agroecology, nutrition, climate change, gender and other dimensions of social equity across 2 weeks of training explicitly for smallholders in southern Africa with limited formal education. The curriculum is highly participatory; we use concepts in popular education, transformative and experiential-based learning, and theatre. It is also integrative; we link agroecology with climate change, human and soil nutrition, gender, and related components of social equity. Developed in partnership with Malawian farmers, community development experts and academics from fi ve countries, the curriculum was piloted with 520 smallholder farming households in Malawi and Tanzania, and evaluated using qualitative techniques. Clashes of language, cultural norms, and terminology were as great of a challenge as agreeing on and conveying technical information, to weave into a coherent whole. However, farmers who participated in the curriculum training demonstrated high interest, comprehension of material and interest in immediate application to their lives.
KW - Agroecology
KW - Critical food systems education
KW - Critical pedagogy
KW - Food sovereignty
KW - Gender
KW - Transdisciplinary
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159116988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85159116988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-19400-9_3
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-19400-9_3
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85159116988
SN - 9783031193996
SP - 29
EP - 46
BT - Critical Adult Education in Food Movements
PB - Springer Nature
ER -
