Creating new tools for livestock development clients including practitioners, researchers and the poor themselves

• Main Author: Lin, Yibo
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Reading 2009

Knowledge transfer is a complicated and enduring issue in overseas development, particularly in relation to poor livestock keepers. Indeed, for over 60 years, agricultural extension has been at the forefront of disseminating information to farmers. Nevertheless, during this time period there have been many criticisms leveled against the delivery of information to the poor. First, many approaches have had little or no impact on learning. Second, often there are few overt behavioural changes noticeable on the ground. Indeed, over the course of this time period, livestock disease has increased rather than decreased in many nations around the globe and productivity levels for the poor have declined. While not all of these impacts can be blamed on poor extension services, it is clear that sustainable livestock keeping is dependent upon effective knowledge transfer and translation. Nevertheless, as the ICT revolution sweeps both the North and the South, knowledge transfer to the poor, as was formerly practiced, has been dramatically revitalised. Indeed, a wide body of research has illustrated that these tools can enhance communication and learning for both individual learners and groups and have rapid uptake among the poor. However, it is important to remember that the poor are not the only stakeholders in livestock development. Policy makers, practitioners and researchers are also important to the sector. Therefore, any solution regarding knowledge transfer to the poor must also incorporate and accommodate these other actors. Indeed, these actors also have their own particular knowledge needs. For exampliple, practitioners often cannot access accurate and relevant mtormation to transier to tneir poor clienis. Policy makers equally must sift through large amounts of information to obtain that which is relevant to the issue at hand.