Farmer-led documentation (FLD) is defined as an empowering process in which local communities take the lead role in the documentation process. The results are used by community members for purposes of internal learning (within the community) and exchange between communities (horizontal sharing) and communities, development agents and policymakers (vertical sharing).
There is a growing interest by development agents in FLD. However, little is known about the best designs of such documentation processes or about the available and appropriate media and their use, including but by no means confined to those making use of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Another set of important questions relate to the impacts of FLD: how FLD has led to knowledge spread, a wider development process and ultimately to livelihoods improvements.
Contact person at Prolinnova is Dorine Ruter. Email: d.ruter AT etcnl DOT nl
FLD mailing list and online forum
A mailing list cum online forum about FLD is available via Google Groups. All who are interested in exploring the opportunities of FLD, sharing examples, addressing challenges and discussing possible solutions are very welcome to join this group, including non-Prolinnova members!
You can sign up online via http://groups.google.com/group/fldonlineforum. You can use your own email address to sign up, as long as you create an account at Google first. This will only take a minute of your time. To post a message, send an email to fldonlineforum@googlegroups.com or use the online forum. If you have any questions, contact the list moderator Prince Deh (GINKS). Email: Papalenzd AT yahoo.co.uk
Proposal for Sudan FLD View proposal(PDF file; size: 109 KB)
Activities 2008
Prolinnova country programmes are continuing their efforts to explore opportunities of FLD to support participatory innovation development. Results of the activities will be published on this page. In the meantime, information about ongoing FLD pilots and projects can be obtained from the FLD contact person at Prolinnova (see above).
Prolinnova is working together with PELUM and Oxfam Novib to learn more about FLD and share good FLD practices. More information about ongoing and upcoming activities of the FLD partnership can be found in the following overview. View overview (Word document; size : 60 KB).
Contact person at PELUM is Stella Lutalo (PELUM-Uganda) / Email: Pelumuganda AT utlonline.co.ug
Contact person at Oxfam Novib is Nicole Metz / Email: nicole.metz AT oxfamnovib.nl
Exchange workshop on FLD
28 Sept 2007 – Rome, Italy
Prolinnova, FAO and IAALD (International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists) organised a half-day workshop on FLD. This event took place on Friday 28 September 2007 in Rome, Italy, during the e-agriculture week. More information (including participants list and presentations)
FLD Dissemination workshops PELUM/Prolinnova
Various participants of the first FLD workshop (Kampala, Nov 2006) organised dissemination workshops to share FLD results and discuss future actions. Information about these workshops can be obtained from the PELUM Uganda secretariat. Email: pelumuganda AT utlonline.co.ugk.
2006
Exchange and Capacity Building Workshop on Farmer-Led Documentation for Sustainable Agriculture / Natural Resource Management Proceedings of the International Farmer-Led Documentation Workshop in Kampala, Uganda
6-10 November 2006
Facilitated by: PELUM-Uganda, Prolinnova and Oxfam Novib View proceedings (PDF file; size : 502 KB) View related news article about the FLD Workshop
2004
Participatory Video Training Training of Prolinnova and COMPAS (www.compasnet.org) staff in facilitating participatory video.
2004
Facilitated by: Insight (www.insightshare.org).
During this training, farmers of Shegu village (Ghana) made a short film about an innovative pig-rearing method. The film shows a nice example of a video product to which a participatory video process can lead.
Farmer-Led Documentation in Sustainable Agriculture and NRM An introduction to the use of FLD in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management. This 8-page publication contains key findings of the FLD workshop in Kampala,Uganda (Nov 2006), some cases presented at the workshop and contact details of organisations involved. View document (PDF file; size : 204 KB)
Sistematización Liderada por Campesinos – Para la agricultura sustentable y el manejo de recursos naturales View document (en Español) (PDF file; size : 260 KB)
Participatory Video on 'Siella' Mineral lick: Community film viewing and observed changes in 'Siella' lick development in Wapuli and Chagbani, Saboba –Chereponi District, Ghana
Bruce J; Karbo N; Nchor J and Malex A.
Prolinnova-Ghana participated in an international training on participatory video (PV) held in Ghana in November 2004. PV is a participatory tool that seeks to ensure that people, in this case community members, control the tools of communication and not outsiders who mediate information and representation. PV was therefore used as a tool to empower innovative farmers to share their innovations with others. To this end, two farmer groups at Wapuli and Chegbani, both in the Saboba-Chereponi district, were trained in PV and subsequently shot their own films about their innovations with 'Siella', a salty soil that animals like to eat. Some months after the shooting of the PV and editing, the edited films were taken back by a team of Prolinnova participants to be viewed by the film makers (the farmers) and their communities.
The aim of this paper is to share the experiences of viewing the film by the film makers and their community members. During the visit, we observed that the Wapuli farmers group had continued to improve upon their original innovation and the improvements are also captured in this paper. View publication (MS Word document; size : 66 KB)
Participatory Video: A Possible Tool for Farmer Expression in Ghana? Bruce, J., DORCAS Foundation, Tamale. The Savanna Farmer. A Magazine on Sustainable Agriculture. January–June 2007, Vol. 8 No.1 (pp.41-44) Publication of the Association of Church Development Projects (ACDEP)
Participatory Video (PV) seeks to provide a participatory methodology which could, on its own, empower the needy to be involved directly in the statement of their own issues and concerns. It ensures that the people who control the tools of communication are community members and not outsiders who mediate information and representation. The audience and the producers are therefore, often the same people working in the same local context where the viewing is taking place. Since its introduction in Canada in 1967, PV has been used in different countries to provide insight and a voice to the voiceless. Despite its reported success in some parts of the world, it is only fairly recently that most participatory research and development workers have been made aware of its many uses. This has become possible, most likely, as a result of the advances in technology which now provide video as a flexible and versatile medium which can be handled by anyone regardless of age or gender. This paper documents the first introduction of PV into Ghana as experienced by a group of researchers and development workers in northern Ghana. It also provides information and hints at the way forward with the use of this participatory tool.
Building the capacity of rural communities to document and share experiences Jonathan Bakama
Published in Tumaini (The Hope) - An Africa 2000 Network newsletter
Volume 8, No 10, March 2008 (Capacity Development for MDG attainment) / pp 6-8 In November 2005, Africa 2000 Network-Uganda (A2N) took part in a 5-day international exchange and capacity building workshop on FLD for sustainable agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) which was organised by PELUM-Uganda, Oxfam Novib and Prolinnova. The purpose of the workshop was to increase insight into the role of local knowledge in agricultural development, its mobilisation and documentation by communities, and to share and analyse how different traditional and modern media can be used in FLD. After the workshop, A2N was one of three organisations selected to be supported by PELUM-Uganda/Oxfam Novib to pilot FLD. The pilot was implemented in Kabale District in 2007 with the aim of mobilising and empowering farmer innovators supported by A2N to share their innovations in order to generate and preserve a pool of indigenous knowledge. The following is Jonathan Bakama’s experience of participating in the FLD pilot, written in his own words. View document (Africa 2000 Network website, PDF file; size : 794 KB)
Insights into Participatory Video: a handbook for the field Chris and Nick Lunch, Insight (2006)
This 125-page booklet is a practical guide to setting up and running PV projects. It draws on experience in PV in several countries. Helpful tips for the facilitator clarify how to use video to encourage a lively, democratic process. Descriptions of games and exercises to introduce PV and case studies are illustrated with cartoons and photographs. A selection of video films made by local people and a training film are included in the accompanying CD-ROM.
The preparation and publication of this booklet and CD-ROM were supported by the UNDP Small Grants Programme of the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), HURIST (Human Rights Division) and CSO (Civil Society Division), also by Prolinnova, COMPAS and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex in the UK.
Order a copy (with CD-ROM) or obtain a PDF version of this booklet at Insight
"More than just describing a case, the aim of a documentation process is to build new knowledge. There is still a lot to learn about the techniques, methods, interactions and science involved in ecological agriculture. LEISA, as a concept, is constantly evolving and changing as a response to changes in the natural, social and political environments. Documenting new developments is therefore very important for the further development of LEISA. The articles in this issue show that the purpose of documentation is not only descriptive: the process needs to examine closely what results and impacts are achieved in a given case, and why. Going through this process is an opportunity to learn and to discover interesting and useful links, opinions and learning points. These can then lead to adaptations of the activities and feed into planning, whether planning large projects or cropping patterns on small scale farms." (Editorial.)
Participatory Video: Rural People Document their Knowledge and Innovations Lunch, Chris – Insight (2004)
IK Notes, No. 71, August 2004 (Worldbank) View article (Insight website, PDF file; size : 128 KB)
Eyes see; Ears hear By Donald Snowden, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada (1984)
This paper is an introduction to some techniques in improved communications which have been used successfully in a number of countries. The paper describes these techniques and the technology of portable videotape recording that provides the vehicle for them. The paper is written as a companion to the documentary film Eyes see; ears hear which is available in English and French and has been placed in libraries in a number of countries.
Farmer-led documentation Anne Piepenstock, AGRECOL Andes Foundation and Dorine Rüter-Noordzij, ETC Foundation / Prolinnova (September 2008)
This 3-page article was written for a GTZ newsletter published November 2008. It gives a general description of FLD, as well as some case examples. Specific focus of the newsletter, and thus of this article, are the opportunities and threads of using ICTs in context of grassroots communication.
"FLD has great potential to empower and build capacity of local communities. When exploring the opportunities of new ICTs to realise this potential, it is essential to also realistically address the challenges that come with applying these technologies."
View article (adapted from original GTZ publication,PDF file; size : 379 KB)
Gazing at the cradle of the dust storm: a photo story of humans and environment in Alxa Pingjun, Ding
Academy Press, Beijing, China, 2008. ISBN: 978-7-5077-3071-5
The following book review -- and, even more so, the book itself! -- may interest especially those of you who are involved in farmer-led documentation (FLD) activities -- whether you are trying to support local people to document their own innovations and experiments under the PROLINNOVA “umbrella” or whether you are otherwise involved in supporting local people to express their achievements and concerns in their own way and to make their voices and images more widely heard and seen. It is about a book made together with people living in Alxa, the "Land of Camels" in Inner Mongolia, describing the people's lives, hopes and fears in their own photographs and words.
If you are interested in obtaining this book, contact either the publisher (xueyuanyg@sina.com; www.book001.com/en) or the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology of Alxa (SEE; lauriegan@hotmail.com), one of the local NGOs that was involved in implementing this “Photo Story” project with the support of the Ford Foundation Beijing Office.”
Copyleft Statement: "Anyone may use the innovations described here and modify or develop them further, provided that the modified or further developed innovations or any follow-up innovations, of which the innovation described here is an element, is likewise freely available and any description of it includes this proviso and acknowledges the source of information." Refer to Prolinnova Guideline #3 (IPR)
