The role of social learning in fostering farmers’ pro-environmental values and intentions

Méndez, Pedro; Molera, Lourdes; Semitiel-García, María

doi:10.1016/j.jrurstud.2016.06.003

Cited by 35 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 40 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Social learning is a widespread concept in the literature on the management of natural resources (Noguera-Mendez et al 2016;Rodela 2013;van Mierlo and Beers 2018). It has predominantly been described in multi-stakeholder processes for the development of joint actions.…”

Section: Social Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining experiential and social learning approaches for crop disease management in a smallholder context: a complex socio-ecological problem

Tafesse

Mierlo

Leeuwis

et al. 2020

Socio Ecol Pract Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Effective management of crop diseases is a key precondition for sustainable crop production and to improve food security globally. However, learning approaches that improve smallholder farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices to deal with crop diseases by fostering social and technical innovations are seldom studied. A study was conducted to examine: (1) how a combination of experiential and social learning approaches influences potato farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices in bacterial wilt and its management in Ethiopia and (2) the implications of combining the two approaches for complex crop disease management in smallholder context. Data were derived from face-to-face in-depth interviews, reflective workshops, and participant observations. The findings showed that farmers’ knowledge and perceptions about disease incidence, the pathogen that causes the disease, its spreading mechanisms, host plants, and disease diagnosis were changed. Farmers’ practices in management of the disease were also improved. Learning about the cause of the disease stimulated the identification of locally relevant spreading mechanisms and the feasibility of a range of recommended disease management methods. Moreover, farmers recognized their interdependency, role, and responsibility to cooperate to reduce the disease pressure in their community. We conclude that learning interventions aiming to improve smallholder farmers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices to deal with complex crop diseases need to combine experiential and social learning approaches and consider farmers’ local knowledge.

show abstract

Section: Social Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining experiential and social learning approaches for crop disease management in a smallholder context: a complex socio-ecological problem

Tafesse

Mierlo

Leeuwis

et al. 2020

Socio Ecol Pract Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although the communities of practice theory has been proposed in literature as an analytical framework, there are still few studies that have reported application of this theory in empirical research within the African research context especially in assessing social learning through S-C-O programmes. Elsewhere, some empirical studies have been done involving the application of CPT of social learning especially in the rural communities of the Vietnamese Mekong Data (Tran et al, 2018) and in other research settings such as environmental management (Noguera-Méndez et al, 2016) and organizational environment (Angelle, 2008). However, empirical literature is generally lacking on interactions between rural communities and other actors in the context of the S-C-O model.…”

Section: Theoretical Framingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Social Learning as a Function of Student-centered Outreach in African Universities

Ekepu

Karubanga

Agea

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There are attempts in African universities to strengthen their engagement with communities through student-centered outreach (S-C-O). Although the concept of social learning has been introduced in S-C-O, there is still limited theoretical understanding of how the mechanism of social learning in the S-C-O model works due to inadequate availability of indicators for empirical assessment of social learning in S-C-O programs. This review paper explores possible indicators for measuring social learning in S-C-O. A desk review was conducted to obtain literature about the key concepts of the university outreach and social learning. A thematic-content analysis was employed to obtain indicators for measuring social learning. Our review has revealed that communities of practice theory (CPT) of social learning provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of social learning in S-C-O. The key tenets of CPT include practice, community, identity, and meaning. This implies that social learning occurs through collaborative learning processes as a result of social participation. Thus, efforts to investigate social learning in the S-C-O model should focus on farmers in order to assess their interactions in the prevailing social setting and/or institutional context.

show abstract

“…Recent articles tackle learning in environmental governance from a variety of conceptual approaches, from multi-actor learning (Schmid et al, 2016) and co-learning (Tschakert et al, 2016) to governance learning (Newig et al, 2016), policy learning (McFaden and Huitema, 2016) and social learning (e.g., Short and Duana, 2016;Noguera-Mendez et al 2016;Salvini et al, 2016). However, learning does not guarantee improved governance outcomes.…”

Section: Challenges To Learning In Environmental Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, lessons from research on environmental governance that explores factors that facilitate learning can be helpful in thinking about the institutional work that may be needed to make learning more intentional (Gerlak et al, 2017). For example, literature on social learning has argued that environmental governance processes can be designed to allow actors to develop shared meanings and more robust institutional choices (e.g., Short and Duana, 2016;Noguera-Mendez et al, 2016;Salvini et al, 2016). Additionally, scholars have looked at how transformative learning --or fundamental changes in values and assumptions --can lead to more sustainable solutions to complex environmental governance problems, such as biodiversity loss or climate change (Sims and Sinclair, 2008;Tschakert and Dietrich, 2010;Diduck et al, 2012;O'Brien, 2012;Rogers et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working on learning: how the institutional rules of environmental governance matter

Heikkila

Gerlak

2018

Journal of Environmental Planning and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Learning among actors engaged in environmental governance can be a critical pathway toward institutional change. Learning, however, is often unintentional or idiosyncratic in environmental governance. This paper considers how the rules structuring an environmental governance process can enable or constrain the institutional work of learning. We draw insights from theories of learning and from the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework's rule typology to identify how particular types of rules matter in learning. We examine how these insights can help uncover lessons from five empirical studies of learning in the environmental governance literature. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our analysis for devising rules of environmental governance to intentionally foster learning.

show abstract

The role of social learning in fostering farmers’ pro-environmental values and intentions

Cited by 35 publications

References 40 publications

Combining experiential and social learning approaches for crop disease management in a smallholder context: a complex socio-ecological problem

Combining experiential and social learning approaches for crop disease management in a smallholder context: a complex socio-ecological problem

A Review of Social Learning as a Function of Student-centered Outreach in African Universities

Working on learning: how the institutional rules of environmental governance matter

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About