Even though local knowledge has become a buzzword in international development efforts, very little evidence exists on the nature of institutionalised practices leading to processes of learning and change. Their influence on decision-making and collective choices has been overlooked frequently, often leading to project failure and frustration among stakeholders involved. By exploring case studies in East Africa, where local and scientific epistemologies play a significant role in rural development projects supported by Austrian and international donor agencies, we expect to learn more about different ways of knowing existent in development-related research projects in rural development.

Project background:

Farmers and scientists meet on many occasions, such as field visits, on-farm research activities, stakeholder workshops and farmer field schools. However, what exactly happens when people from such different lifeworlds meet? Scientists experience pressure from their research institutions, and they have to present results such as publications and new projects. Farmers have to make sure that the crops and the livestock thrive, and that their income will support their families. Yet, farmers and scientists seek a common interest when they work together: they meet as experts, but they also meet as human beings.

To better understand what happens when farmers and scientists meet in agricultural research projects, we look at case studies in tree and soil management in the Ethiopian highlands, as well as livestock breeding projects in Ethiopia and Uganda. We seek to understand more about the different social worlds of farmers and scientists, and the way they come to know or not know about certain aspects of tree, soil and livestock management.

We try to understand how different ways of knowing and doing influence the way farmers and scientists meet, and we hope to learn more about the way people communicate in agricultural research projects. What questions are asked, and by whom? Do people participating in agricultural research projects access each other’s knowledge? Do they influence the way they know, and the way they do things?
Different groupings and networks develop when people meet in research projects. Some of them may exercise power and try to influence the outcomes. Other people may be silenced, or may decide to keep silent for unknown reasons. We would like to find out which stories are told, or remain untold, and why.

When farmers and scientist meet in research projects, it is a meeting of human beings, with shifting roles as experts, as teachers and as learners. It is also a meeting of diverse and multiple ways of knowing and doing, and sometimes very different ways of seeing the world around them.

The results will contribute to a better mutual understanding and appreciation between farmers and scientists. They will provide a useful basis for policy makers to improve research funding programmes, provided that they take into account that sometimes the meeting of farmers and scientists in research projects can be very complex.

Methodology:

The researchers will apply a combination of qualitative social research methods:

• Review of research documentation and secondary sources
• Interviews with scientists, farmers and government representatives
• Participant and non-participant observation of ongoing research activities, and different lifeworlds of scientific and farmer communities
• Focus group discussions with/between stakeholders
• Participatory workshops in cooperation with local partners

The researchers have developed guidelines for scientific cooperation for the purpose of this project. Interviews will only take place if prior informed consent has been given.

Social Studies of Science and Technology:

Social studies of science and technology (STS) is a rather young, interdisciplinary research field in the social sciences. It looks at how society shapes science and technology, and it tries to understand the impact of scientific and technological developments on the way citizens think and live. Historical studies as well as gender relevant issues play an important role in this research field.

Research Project Team:

The project leader is Prof. Christian R. Vogl, leader of the Working Group on Knowledge Systems and Innovation, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna. The research in the field will be performed by two PhD students:

Birgit Habermann, who holds an MSc in Ecology from Vienna University, and an MSc in Agroforestry from the University of Wales Bangor (UK). She has been working as team leader and coordinator of the Austrian Commission for Development Studies for 5 years in the field of research policy and research partnerships. Her research experience involves projects in parts of Asia and East Africa.

Frederik Oberthür, who holds an MSc in Crop Science and Rural Sociology from Wageningen University (NL), and has been working for five years as consultant and project manager for the Scandinavian consultancy firm NIRAS, performing short-term training and facilitation assignments for agricultural development projects in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa.

Partners:

• Ulrike Felt (Vienna Interdisciplinary Research Unit for the Study of (Techno)Science and Society VIRUSSS, Vienna, Austria)
• Melissa Leach, John Thompson (Institute for Development Studies at Sussex University, Brighton, UK)
• Abrham Abiyu Hailu (Amhara Regional Agricultural Research Institute, ARARI, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia)
• Gerald Eilu (Department of Forest Biology and Ecosystems Management, Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Makerere University, Uganda)

This is a project of the Working Group Knowledge Systems and Innovations (Arbeitsgruppe Wissenssysteme und Innovationen).

Download:

Projectflyer: WAYS OF KNOWING.pdf

Links:

• www.scidev.net/en/
• ikmemergent.wordpress.com/about/
• ourworld.unu.edu/en/
• www.worldagroforestry.org/af1/index.php
• www.cgiar-ilac.org/node