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ARAB FORUM FOR RURAL ADVISORY SERVICES (AFRAS)

Rural Advisory Services at Work

Rural Advisory Services at Work

Participatory and people-centred learning approaches go a long way in developing farmers’ capacities to produce and market their products more effectively, sustainably and profitably. These approaches create a space for farmers to exchange experience and practices and valorise their existing knowledge, while learning- by- doing. They leverage the power of collective action, engaging communities of farmers, women and men to discuss and find solutions that are relevant to them in an empowering and sustainable way.

Among prominent examples of such approaches widely promoted by FAO, embraced and further articulated by several international organizations, public extension services and civil society organizations across the Near East and North Africa Region and globally, are the:

Farmer Field School

The Farmer Field School offers space for hands-on group learning, enhancing skills for critical analysis and improved decision making by participating men and women farmers. FFS activities are field based, include analysis of agroecosystem and experimentation to solve problems, reflecting a specific local context. Participants learn how to improve skills through observing, analysing and trying out new ideas on their own fields, contributing to improved production and livelihoods.  In a typical FFS, a group of farmers/herders/fishermen meet regularly in a local field setting for a whole production cycle, under the guidance of a trained facilitator. They make observations on the local production system, focussing on the topic of study and observe and compare the effects of two or more alternative practices aiming to address the problem, one following local practice, the other testing the proposed ‘best practice’. A growing range of technical topics are being addressed through FFS: soil, crop and water management, seeds multiplication and varietal testing, IPM, agropastoralism, aquaculture, agroforestry, nutrition, value chain, and link to markets, etc. Since early 2000, FFS has been successfully implemented in most countries of the NENA, ,  including Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.

Farm Business School

The Farm Business School (FBS) is a curriculum-based participatory approach to strengthen capacities of service providers and farmers in transitioning towards market-orientation and “farming-as-a-business”.  FBS focuses on farm business management and aims to develop farmers’ capacities and entrepreneurial skills to foster a mind shift towards managing the farm as a profitable enterprise responsive to the market demands. The approach nurtures participants’ critical thinking to analyse their situation, identify opportunities for improvement, develop business plans, assess risks, and make informed strategic decisions to enhance their farm profitability. With simple language, yet comprehensive content, the FBS curriculum is designed to guide farmers over the full farm business cycle, with basic concepts and exercises on business planning, farm management, and financial literacy. Successfully introduced and contextualized in Lebanon, the FBS has garnered interest in countries of the Near East and North Africa, including in Iraq, Jordan, Oman and Syria.

    Cooperative Business Schools

    According to the 1995 definition by the International Cooperative Alliance, cooperatives are "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise." Globally, more than 12% of the world's population is part of one of the 3 million cooperatives. In agriculture, cooperatives play a crucial role in supporting small-scale family farming, particularly in the NENA region. They help address common challenges such as limited access to arable land, water scarcity, soil salinization, high production costs, market access issues, gaps in technical knowledge, and the impacts of climate change. Also, cooperatives play a key role in facilitating farmers' access to services, amplifying their voice, and articulating demands. Often playing a dual role of both service providers and service clients within a pluralistic system, these organizations are instrumental in mediating with market actors and other service providers, contributing to improved services in their communities. 

    To support cooperatives at the managerial level, FAO has developed various training and capacity-building approaches. The first is the My.COOP training package and program, focused on the management of agricultural cooperatives. This was developed in collaboration with the ILO, the International Training Centre of the ILO, Agriterra, the Royal Tropical Institute, and Wageningen University and Research Centre. The second is the Cooperative Business School (CBS), a participatory learning approach that evolved from the FBS. The CBS aims to build the capacity of cooperative leaders, managers, and members to collectively operate a business and make it more profitable. The CBS curriculum focuses on developing business and entrepreneurship skills, marketing, communication, and management.

    Dimitra Clubs

    Dimitra clubs are community-led groups of women, men and young people – mixed or not – who organize on a voluntary basis to bring about changes in their communities. By leveraging their own resources, capacities, and knowledge, these clubs empower members to collaboratively identify and address local issues, fostering a bottom-up and participatory approach to development. This approach not only promotes self-reliance but also decreases dependence on external support, as communities become active agents of change, resiliently shaping their own futures. For two decades, Dimitra Clubs have been powerful drivers for people’s empowerment and women’s agency and leadership throughout thousands of rural communities in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Near East and sub-Saharan Africa. Dimitra Clubs were recently introduced in Syria in the framework of two pilot projects to prevent Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWGs) in the Homs and Rural Damascus governorates. These VAWG pilots are part of the Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS) programme, funded by UK Aid and are implemented in collaboration with UNDP. The clubs promote inclusive community engagement, empowerment, and gender equality within the BLRS-targeted villages.

      Women Empowerment

      By integrating gender-responsive measures in extension and rural advisory services, RAS can significantly enhance its impact on rural transformation, contributing to a more equitable and sustainable agricultural sector. In the NENA region, gender inequalities are further exacerbated by conflict and climate change, among other factors. While fundamental to rural communities, small-scale family farming (SSFF) reflects gender-specific dynamics, with women constituting a substantial yet often overlooked segment of the agricultural workforce. To achieve rural transformation and sustainable change while ensuring no one is left behind, there is a need to intentionally address factors that hinder gender equality and women’s empowerment. Investing in women leads to improved livelihoods, nutrition and empowerment for the whole community while being role models for other women.  It promotes social change with increased acceptance of women’s role in agriculture, including in non-traditional gender roles, and improving women's socio-economic status. Women’s leadership in agriculture brings about positive transformative changes, thus increasing the resilience of families and communities.
      Youth Entrepreneurship

      FAO’s agribusiness incubation programmes are empowering young men and women to provide products and services that form a core part of rural advisory and extension. From diagnostic tools for plant and animal pests and disease, to sustainable and low cost agriculture inputs, to tools technologies to help small scale family farmers improve their productivity and resource efficiency, the products and services generated by FAO’s agribusiness incubation programmes are key to more pluranistic and market oriented rural advisory and extension. It is one example of interventions that aim to improve the quality and quantity of agrifood system jobs, and building the corresponding skills among youth in the Near East and North Africa. These programmes build capacity among young innovators and entrepreneurs while fostering decent employment opportunities. The resultant startups or small and medium enterprises provide products and services that are transforming agrifood systems to be more sustainable, nutritious, productive and resilient.