Making integrated rural development programmes work: A communication strategy for ending poverty in Africa

Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDPs) and more recently, Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRSPs), have become the gateway to poverty reduction, food security and sustainable development. However, in spite of their importance and the fact that billions of dollars are being poured into these programmes, their success rate has been dismal at best. Based on a careful review of the literature and backed by field experience, the paper argues that IRDPs and PRSPs suffer a common calamity—their managers are unable to address human dimension concerns, such as participation, integration and capacity building that are deemed sine qua non to success. The paper offers Communication for Development (C4D), a new academic discipline and profession, as the key to meeting these human dimension concerns, and challenges developing countries to give the C4D approach a try. The paper notes further that leading development organizations, such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, recognize the value of C4D; and in their 2007 joint policy report, World Congress on Communication for Development: Lessons, Challenges, and the Way Forward, urge developing countries to mainstream C4D in their poverty reduction programme as a way to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It follows from the foregoing that The Bank will assist poor countries with grants or soft loans to pilot-test the C4D strategy. The C4D strategy has been field-tested and, therefore, offers great promise of making poverty reduction programmes work more sustainably. It is inexcusable, therefore, for developing countries not to try it

Communicator Roles in Third World Development

Although the importance of communication in development has been acknowledged as far back as the late 1950s, only now is attention focusing on the professionalism of communicator

Organic Farmers\u27 Need for and Attitude Towards Extension

The study reported here sought to determine sustainable agriculture farmers\u27 perceived attitude towards Extension. A random sample of 99 sustainable agriculture farmers in Ohio showed a highly favorable attitude towards Extension and an expression of a great need for Extension information, particularly on environmental issues. However, the study also found that the vast majority of sustainable agriculture farmers do not feel that Extension educators neither understand the needs of sustainable agriculture farmers nor have the know-how to assist them. Thus, the researchers recommend an examination of Extension educators\u27 need for sustainable agriculture training

Communication for strengthening agricultural extension and rural development in Malawi

Smallholder farmers in Malawi account for over 80 percent of the population and if the country is to achieve food security, poverty reduction and sustainable development attention to agricultural extension is a sine qua non. Since 2000, Malawi introduced extension reforms to better serve the needs of smallholder farmers. Some of the agricultural and rural development programs are quite complex, but as this study found, training to cope with their sophistication is lacking. Further, though extension workers are asked to facilitate entire development interventions, their training remains primarily in agriculture. This paper argues that extension workers need training in Communication for Development (C4D), an emerging body of knowledge for addressing problems, such as participation, integration and capacity building for them to relate more effectively with development partners. Thus, this paper proposes a C4D framework for strengthening extension in Malawi and encourages the Government of Malawi to trial this concept.Key words: Extension education, pluralistic and demand-driven extension, poverty reduction, sustainable development, extension theory and policy, communication for development, world ban

Enhanced Information Systems Success Model for Patient Information Assurance

The current health information systems have many challenges such as lack of standard user interfaces, data security and privacy issues, inability to uniquely identify patients across multiple hospital information systems, probable misuse of patient data, high technological costs, resistance to technology deployments in hospital management, lack of data gathering, processing and analysis standardization. All these challenges, among others hamper either the acceptance of the health information systems, operational efficiency or expose patient information to cyber attacks. In this paper, an enhanced information systems success model for patient information assurance is developed using an amalgamation of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Information Systems Success Model (ISS). This involved the usage of Linear Structured Relationship (LISREL) software to model a combination of ISS and Intention to Use (ITU), TAM and ITU, ISS and user satisfaction (US), and finally TAM and US. The sample size of 110 respondents was obtained based on the total population of 221 using the Conhrans formula. Thereafter, simple random sampling was employed to select members within each category of employees to take part in the study. The questionnaire as a research tool was checked for reliability via Cronbach’s Alpha. The results obtained showed that for ISS and ITU modeling, only perceived ease of use, system features, response time, flexibility, timeliness, accuracy, responsiveness and user training positively influenced the intention to use. However, for the TAM and ITU modeling, only TAM’s measures such as timely information, efficiency, increased transparency, and proper patient identification had a positive effect on intension to use. The ISS and US modeling revealed that perceived ease of use had the greatest impact on user satisfaction while response time had the least effect on user satisfaction. On its part, the TAM and US modeling showed that timely information, effectiveness, consistency, enhanced communication, and proper patients identification had a positive influence on user satisfaction

Student Publications’ Place in the Agricultural Communication Curricula

Many agricultural communication or journalism programs offer publication production opportunities as a way for students to use their writing, editing, design, and photography skills. This study evaluated the curriculum and make-up of student publications produced through these agricultural communication or journalism programs. The study also described the role advisers have in handling editorial, ethical, and legal issues. Data were collected through a questionnaire sent to members of the Academic Programs Special Interest Group in the Association for Communication Excellence. Fifteen programs identified offering a student-produced publication. The majority of these publications (n = 8) were offered as a course in an agricultural communication or journalism program, while five programs developed their publications as an extracurricular activity. Once the publication was produced, only three of the publications were reviewed and critiqued by industry professionals. While no advisers were concerned with obscenity issues, eight were concerned with a code of ethics, five were concerned with censorship, and four were concerned with libel issues. Recommendations are made for agricultural communication or journalism faculty

County Health Leadership and Readiness for Noncommunicable Disease Services

Premature mortality resulting from the growing global burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is a contemporary development challenge. Low-income and lower-middle-income countries are disproportionately affected, with the poorest in society considered the most vulnerable. A paucity of literature exists on how leadership practices at the implementation level relate to ensuring readiness for NCD services. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether any relationship exists between leadership practices at the county level and readiness for NCD services in Kenya. Path-goal and adaptive leadership theories were used to guide this quantitative correlational study, using secondary data from a 2013 Service Availability and Readiness Assessment survey. Correlation and multiple linear regression tests were used to determine the strength and direction of any relationship between the independent variable of leadership practices (annual work planning, therapeutic committees, and supportive supervision), and the dependent variable of NCD readiness (county readiness score). The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between therapeutic committee (p = .002) and supportive supervision practices (p = .023) and NCD readiness. Leadership practices also had a statistically significant predictive relationship with NCD readiness (p = .009). This study may be significant to county health leaders in relation to their efforts to ensure proximal access to quality NCD services in Kenya. The results of this study may help to promote the development of capacity-building programs targeting health leadership and prioritization of actions to ensure access to NCD prevention and treatment services at the county level in Kenya

Enhancing Professionalism in Academic Agricultural Communications Programs: The Role of Accreditation

Enhancing professionalism in agricultural and applied communications has been an important topic of discussion among ACE members in recent years. Developing strategies to increase prestige and recognition of this specialized field are of particular interest to ACE members involved in administering academic programs in agricultural communications and agricultural journalism. One of the measures under consideration to bolster recognition is the development of accreditation standards and procedures that would allow for “certification” of academic programs. Among the often-cited advantages of accreditation are increased uniformity of curricula and the development of formal quality- control mechanisms. However, if accreditation standards and procedures are to be implemented successfully, more information is needed on the overall accreditation process, how it has been used in other disciplines, and what factors should be considered in applying it to agricultural communications. This paper attempts to fill this void by providing an overview of the accreditation process and a review of the accreditation literature to identify important issues in developing and implementing such programs. In addition, results from an electronic mail survey of academic agricultural communications program faculty are provided to document their perceptions of the need and role of accreditation in this field. The authors argue that development of a structured accreditation process is not in the best interest of agricultural communications at this time. The paper concludes with a set of discussion items and recommendations for agricultural communications faculty to consider in weighing for themselves the merits of national accreditation standards

Changing demands of clients of extension: What kind of competency is needed to meet the new demand?

Two studies were conducted in which the first one focused on thirty extension practitioners in Limpopo province. This study formed part of a bigger study which was initiated by Extension Africa, which is made up of African researchers from African countries and in the Diaspora. Extension Africa research organization has embarked on extension research in nine African countries focussing on problems that faced small holder farmers. One aspect of the study was to look at the competency of the extension staff in terms of delivering an efficient and effective service to satisfy the needs of farmers. This paper finds the study relevant for this purpose and it draws from its data. The findings suggest that an extension staff should be competent in the area of: development theory 93%, development policy, 93%, development practice 93%, training in development 90%, development process 80%, training in development 90%. There is also a need to be competent in communication from different facets e.g. communication for building linkages 90% , public speaking, 86%, facilitation 90%,Communication for integration 86.6 %, and for communication for coordination 87 %.The second study report on the relevant technical competency needed to resolve the climatic challenges faced by farmers, climatic challenges form part of the new mandate that extension staff is supposed to consider when addressing farmer’s needs. 194 farmers were interviewed from four local agricultural offices of Limpopo namely: Fetakgomo, Makhuduthamaga, Aganang and Blouberg. The information was collected through a questionnaire which was analysed through the SPSS system. The findings suggest that there are eight areas that farmers expect extension staff to be competent. These areas can be seen as strategies to mitigate against climate change and are summarized as good cultural practices. Some of these practices include the following: soil mulching skills, fertilizer recommendation, and zero tillage, knowledge of early maturity variety, early ploughing, drought resistant seed and water harvesting. The paper concludes with three recommendations namely, extension practitioners should acquire the necessary skills; they should be trained in both technical and in extension methods and they should be knowledgeable in terms of conflict resolution, negotiation, and persuasive communication skills. These skills are important in assisting farmers to cope with changes that they face due to forces of change that affect their productivities.Keywords: Extension, Extension Africa, climate study, and competenc

An analysis of HIV risky behaviors of college students in Malawi: A case study of Bunda and The Polytechnic

Malawi’s first case of HIV was identified in 1985. Since then the Government, assisted by international aid organizations, has mounted campaign to promote HIV&AIDS awareness, offer Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT), and to prevent the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS. The 2010 UNAIDS Report on Malawi shows that the spread of the epidemic has stabilized and even may be declining. The concern, however, is whether young men and women, who constitute the high-risk population of contracting the disease, such as college students, are paying heed to the campaign. This study of a small group of students at the Polytechnic and Bunda College campuses of the University of Malawi in 2008 examined the propensity of the students to engage in behaviors likely to expose them to HIV & AIDS. The study found that at least 20 percent of those studied exposed themselves through risky behavior, such as high alcohol consumption, unprotected sex and use of drugs, even though 80 percent were aware that such behaviors were likely to predispose them to the disease. Since the sample size was very small, we did not generalize our study to all university students in Malawi or even to all students on the campuses where the study was conducted. Furthermore, we recommend a broader study covering all constituent colleges of the University of Malawi, before significant recommendations can be made. The study, however, points to significant problems that need to be addressed before they get out of control, such as alcoholism and sex without condoms.Key words: Malawi, AIDS, HIV, University of Malawi, college student