The role of the extension agent is a co-learning role

Another feature of extension work found in the literature is a reframing of the extension agent, from the role of transferring agent, to a co-learner, someone who is ready to learn from others. Elaborating the role of extension agents as co-learners, Worth (2007) noted that one of the roles of an extension worker is to organise participative learning where people share ideas and experiences on specific issues of common interest. Worth emphasised that there should be an exchange of ideas that facilitate learning between extension worker, farmer and policy maker and more importantly among farmers themselves.

Hara (2001) commented on the general functions of extension agents in co-management and identified them as encouragement of partnerships, provision of local incentives for sustainable resource use, and the sharing of power and responsibility for conservation. A co- management approach is a compromise between government concerns for efficient resource utilisation and protection on one hand, and resource user’s concern for equal opportunities, self-determination and self-control (ibid.) on the other. According to Campbell and Townsley 1996), community participation is the active, meaningful and influential involvement of individuals or groups in an activity.

As already mentioned, co-management is an arrangement where the power and authority to manage resources is shared between the user group and the government (see Section 1.2.3.3). However, little is said about the mediation processes that are needed when governments and user groups come together. One proposed approach that is being suggested is inter- and transdisciplinary research, especially for situations where one is dealing with uncertainties. It is said that inter- and transdisciplinary research that can address the social-ecological issues that affect stakeholders and can enhance social learning. Confirming the importance of this kind of research in social-ecological systems Wals (2007, p. 36) noted:

Sustainability education should bring about a closer link between sustainability problems that are faced by particular communities and focussing analysis of these by means of

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interdisciplinary comprehensive approaches which will permit proper understanding of sustainability problems.

For extension services to mediate co-learning successfully using such approaches will, however, require a clear recognition of all of the different stakeholders in the co-learning process. Jentoft (2000) noted that fishing communities are a missing link in modern fisheries management and that they represent untapped possibilities for making fisheries management more legitimate and effective. Management systems cannot expect to gain support from communities unless they help to nurture them (ibid.). Fishing communities have been in the practice and they have over the years gained considerable knowledge, skills and experiences that can be of benefit to fisheries management (Kachilonda, 2005). The engagement among them provides a potentially powerful platform to identify and develop contextual new knowledge to support sustainable fisheries where co-learning becomes key to new knowledge creation.

As can be seen from the above, a co-learning approach, as emphasised in the literature, requires a new set of competences. According to Wals and Bawden (2000), dealing with complexities, uncertainty and conflicting norms, values and interests associated with sustainability, extension workers need to be multi-functional so that they have the required transformational competencies for these complex issues. Developing such competence is not an easy it deals with sustainability concerns which people need to develop a combination of systems competences for them to be able to solve their own problems. This competence framework can potentially also be helpful for supporting extension services that are to mediate co-learning processes, and can potentially also support improved extension training. In this regard, it is salient to see that Chizari, Baygi and Breazeale (2006) suggest that an extension agent is supposed to be multi-functional, someone who is conversant with issues of participatory extension, participatory techniques in rural development, biodiversity protection methods, sustainable fertilisation methods and improved utilisation of indigenous knowledge and rural people, which reflects to a certain extent the scope of competences outlined by Wiek et al., but with less definition. Chizari et al. (2006) suggested that the above ‘mix’ of skills would enable an extension agent to be able to assist rural communities to address complex issues as the case is in most of the rural areas.

The literature reviewed above provides a broad perspective of who an extension worker is supposed to be and what needs to be done in order to train and motivate a professional extension agent. The review shows that, in a co-management context, the extension worker has an important mediation role, and that this requires certain knowledge, skills and competences. Key amongst these is a willingness to be a co-learner because in a social- ecological and socio-cultural context, he/she will have a considerable amount to learn from the people and will also need to be able to share knowledge and experience in order to

support them to implement new co-management approaches and practices. An extension worker should be able to allow for the exchange of ideas to facilitate learning between extension workers and people, policy makers and also among the rural people themselves. The review also shows that in a sustainability context, there are specific competences that the extension worker needs to develop, such as systemic / inter-or transdisciplinary competence, as well as anticipatory and normative forms of competence, in addition to social competences, and practical and strategic competences. The extension agent also needs to be able to work with multiple forms of knowledge, and have abilities to mobilise and utilise indigenous knowledge systems in the context of scientific knowledge systems, which can be used to improve different knowledge interactions in the society. Enabling such an extension agent’s professional development and growth will require a reflexive curriculum, and a curriculum that motivates the extension agent to be able to perform effectively in such a context.

This in-depth understanding of available literature on learning and extension in a co- management context also allows for further description of the social learning assumption potential of co-management approach, and its implications for curriculum development in the Malawi fisheries context. This is dealt with in Chapters 5 to 8. The literature review informs the following research goals:

1. First goal of my research which focuses on how fisheries co-management communities of practice learn to respond to the risks of declining fish catches, and also

2. Goal 2 on enhancing understanding of the historical and culturally constituted knowledge and practice differences and how these may influence co-management policy implementation; and

3. Goal 3 is to develop a model and tools for the education and training of extension officers and fishing communities involved in supporting co-management practices to expand learning for the sustainable utilisation of the fisheries resources.

This literature review is of course important for informing curriculum innovation in and for extension services, which is one of the goals of my study. Thus, after reviewing this literature and teasing out the recommended approaches to collaborative social learning processes and practices as they pertain to extension and co-management, I then consider their meaning in relation to current extension service curricula in Section 2.5 where I discuss extension service curricula critically (drawing on the literature review outlined above in Section 2.4).

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2.5 A critical review of international literature on extension and training