Magdalena Marenga looks forward to IAALD-Africa 2012 Conference

Magdalena Marenga is the Senior Librarian at the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Namibia. She is interested in attending the IAALD Africa 2012 conference in Johannesburg to learn more about rural development and food security.

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Justin Chisenga announces the 2012 IAALD-Africa Conference

Justin Chisenga from FAO's regional office in Ghana, speaking from Windhoek, Namibia during the AIAEE-IAALD-INFITA international conference discusses ICTS and the upcoming 2012 IAALD Africa conference on e-agriculture.

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AIAEE to be held in Namibia in 2011

On the final day of the AIAEE conference in Saskatoon, Canada, the official invitation to the AIAEE 2011 conference was presented by the University of Namibia’s (UNAM) Vice Chancellor, Lazarus Hangula; Pro-Vice Chancellor, Osmund Mwandemele; and Executive Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Martin Schneider; as well as conference co-chair, Jack Elliot, Head, Department of Agricultural Education, TAMU.

Representing IAALD, Barbara Hutchinson, introduced AIAEE conference attendees to the mission and work of the Association and stated IAALD’s enthusiastic support for the AIAEE-Namibian conference.

The conference will be held July 3-11, 2011 at the Hotel Safari Court, Windhoek, Namibia with the theme “Sustainable Value Chain Agriculture for Food Security and Economic Development”.

Planning partner organizations include AIAEE through members at UNAM and TAMU as well as AGRISSON, IAALD, and IFITA. Many sponsors have been identified including the Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Forestry; Namibian Ministry of Education; Gobabeb Desert Training and Research; Namibian Women’s Action for Development; Centre for Research Information Action in Africa; FAO; UNESCO; and the University of Swaziland. Pre-conference workshops as well as an IAALD track are planned. In addition, post-conference tours have already been organized by the conference planner. For more information: http://www.aiaee.org.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services

At the AIAEE Conference in Saskatoon, Canada, Dr. Burt Swanson, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, presented information about several new international outreach initiatives. The Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services was officially launched January 1^st, 2010. This Forum builds on several previous initiatives focused on building more market-driven extension and outreach systems around the world. This includes the 2007 Neuchâtel Initiative.

The mission of the Global Forum is “to provide advocacy and leadership on pluralistic, demand-driven rural advisory services” as well as to facilitate more communication among extension-related services worldwide.

Located in Switzerland, the Global Forum is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the European Commission (EC), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the United States Agency for International Development. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Swiss Association for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas (Agridea) provide staff and host GFRAS, respectively.

Dr. Swanson also described a project he began, also in January of this year, to conduct a Worldwide Extension Study that will target public, private, and NGO extension organizations in more than 160 countries. This will involve an online survey with questions to identify human and financial resources, educational levels, numbers of extension workers, extension methods, gender mix, as well as links to farmer organizations. It is expected this project will take one year to complete. Dr. Swanson predicts there will be a stronger emphasis on extension-related projects and initiatives in the coming years.

story by Barbara Hutchinson

Using Social Networks for Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration

Dr. Pete Vergot, University of Florida, IFAS Extension, gave a workshop on “Using Social Networks for Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration” at the AIAEE conference in Saskatoon, Canada.

He suggested that social networks have always been around: camp fires, town meetings, office cork boards, and the 1970s electronic bulletin boards. Now, 85% of U.S. students in colleges and universities are using a variety of social networking applications. He suggested that social networking is a way to recruit new members in the Association and also mentioned that USDA uses Twitter to make announcements. He described the University of Florida’s decision to purchase Microsoft Communicator - a wireless network for online conferencing that integrates with other MS products. The University of Florida provides a campus server that allows all faculty members to communicate through this licensed program (pricing based on numbers of users). It includes a chat function, video, and allows for conferencing with any number of faculty and staff. The system checks Outlook calendars automatically to see who is available. Sessions can be recorded and archived and put in Outlook Inbox.

Dr. Vergot also provided overviews of Facebook, Twitter, Google Wave, and YouTube. Also mentioned was Google Wave - a new online communication and collaboration tool whose purpose is to seamlessly manage real-time interactions with multiple participants more seamless, although Dr. Vergot noted some are finding it difficult to use. During the discussion, an audience member from IICA said that of the 400 people they have in their system, only 3-4% were using their blog. However, when they changed to Facebook, usage went up 98% and involved 36 countries.

Story by Barbara Hutchinson

Innovative cooperation and collaboration in agricultural extension and education

The 26^th Annual AIAEE Conference, “Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration”, was held from May 16^th-19^th in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The opening session included greetings from the President of the University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Peter MacKinnon, and the Mayor of Saskatoon, Donald J. Atchison.

The keynote address was given by Mr. Bill Patrie, Executive Director of Common Enterprise Development Corporation, a North Dakota non-profit development corporation focused on the development of community-owned enterprises and cooperatives in all sectors, including value-added agriculture (http://www.cooperationworks.coop/about/members/common-enterprise-development-corporation). Mr. Patrie spoke on the value of using appreciative inquiry techniques to foster collaboration and referenced books on the subject by David Cooperrider (http://www.primarygoals.org/Readings/AppreciativeInquiry/PosRevInChange.pdf).

Conference sessions included training and evaluation, learning and extension systems, globalization, extension communication, and diffusion of technology and development (http://www.aiaee.org/upcoming.html)

story by Barbara Hutchinson