ZFA contribution to Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) is summarized as follows:

 

 

GFRAS efforts rely on a series of activities to make sure that this global initiative succeeds in achieving its purposes. GFRAS uses different methods and tools to learning that include policy dialogue, community- based extension approaches, etc. However capacity development has been considered a core activity. The use the position paper entitled ‘The “New Extensionist”: Roles, Strategies, and Capacities to Strengthen Extension and Advisory Services” translated into an e-learning activity has received support from organizations and donors.

 

ZFA contributed to the first draft for an e-distance learning kit which aimed to maximize the impact of the GFRAS publication by using its contents in an instructional design to strengthen capacity building programs at individual, institutional, and system levels.

 

There is a belief among various actors of agriculture including universities and research and development organizations that GFRAS leading a global e-distance learning program will reach out a larger audience who will develop better understand of the concept of new extensionist. In turn they will join the effort of the new extensionists to be able to respond to the demands of their new roles and functions and so improve the performance of the agricultural innovation system as a whole.

 

ZFA participated in a small group from the GFRAS consortium on extension education and learning who met to discuss the New Extensionist position paper and decide how to produce learning materials out of it.  This meeting took place in Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2014. The results of the meeting included the preparation of an Introductory Module to articulate the position paper concept.

 

During the planning phase, it was clear understanding among participants that the innovation system concept must be seen as an organising principle requires that capacity development is more than just ‘training’, but also includes patterns of interaction and the attitudes, habits, practices, and norms that shape institutions and identifies iterative and interactive learning as a key innovation process

 

The first draft of the e-distance learning kit was developed by ZFA, delivered “on-line” in January 2015 and presented during a meeting in South Africa for a larger audience. GFRAS received feedback of all kinds and now it is in the process of restructuring under with support of a special donor agency.

 

The first draft was composed of an introductory module to present the organization and design of the e-distance learning kit, followed by comprehensive instructional e-distance learning plan. The second part would comprise four sessions based on the major contents of the position paper.

 

It was envisage that a series of additional modules for the e-distance learning kit would be developed by GFRAS to make sure that the new extensionists would be prepared with the core competencies (identified as priorities during several GFRAS events) to succeed in performing their new roles and functions within the agricultural innovation system.

 

It is important to emphasise that the challenging new role and function of a “new extensionist” is highly interactive. This means that practicing the kinds of interaction recommended by the learning kit activities is core and must be carried out for effective learning results among its user