Hermeneutic-phenomenological interviews were conducted to explore community-based extension workers? (CBEWs?) previous work and training experiences and how such experiences contributed to their present working relationships as partners in community development. CBEWs? responses foreshadowed challenges and problems of coordination that could have otherwise been addressed had they been considered integral elements of previous training curricula. The findings throw light on how government policies, though explicitly formulated to enhance conditions of service coordination, can be in variance with realities of coordination at the village level. Awareness of the fissure of policies and actual coordination does not refute the importance of government intervention in community development, given CBEWs? status as government employees. Rather, it is only with understanding of and familiarity with CBEWs? circumstances that such policies would truly address the challenges, problems, and possibilities of effective coordination.CBEWs? comments reflected both awareness and learned understanding of social and political complexities surrounding their work as partners in community development. Authority and interventions such as political interference, illiterate communities, enlightened communities, and passive and negative attitudes complicate their working together, resulting in problems of resistance, rejection, and other tensions that defeat the spirit of working together. Meaningful acceptance of community development as a collective undertaking needs to be backed by a deliberate unification of CBEWs through centrally organized training. Such training programs must not only illuminate the lived experiences of CBEWs as they work among themselves and with other community-based groups in the villages, but also provide opportunities for CBEWs to take active roles by engaging in activities such as placements in authentic work settings, mini-interdisciplinary groupings of CBEWs with local communities, and other team activities. There will be no end to the reservoir of learning if intentional efforts are made to incorporate local knowledge and needs, that is, immediate challenges, problems, and needs of CBEWs as they work with the local communities. Further, effective coordination requires basic skills of communication, leadership and management, personal and human relations, technical skills and relevant attitudinal orientations.The features described here are not exhaustive, but have in common the intent of making training programs truly sensitive to CBEWs? needs as partners in community development

Agricultural extension plays a number of important roles in the growth and transformation of the agricultural sector, including improving agricultural productivity and food security and reducing hunger and malnutrition. Extension programs and interventions that will achieve significant impacts in terms of behavior and practice changes, as well as agricultural productivity increase, will succeed as a result of suitable policy formulation and an effective implementation process. Ultimately, agricultural extension reform requires policy vision and determination and a state-level strategy that can be implemented. This paper documents issues, challenges, constraints, and potential solutions and opportunities in implementing the national extension policy (NEP) at the state level in Nigeria, using Cross River State as a case study. We use both quantitative and qualitative methods, in the form of descriptive statistical analysis and an inclusive consultative process with a focus on the multistakeholder participatory model, respectively. The descriptive results show that, generally, there is low access to agricultural extension service across commodities and their respective values chains in Cross River State. We also document interesting insights from the multistakeholder consultative process. We find that collaboration and partnership between private and public extension service providers is key to developing a sustainable extension, advisory, and support service in Cross River State. We also found that coordination and standardization of the activities of the extension service providers is a way to avoid pollution of the agricultural innovation system in the state. Funding of extension services is another important factor affecting the effective implementation of the NEP. We therefore suggest that agricultural extension services can be funded through decentralization, involvement of farmers’ associations and nongovernmental organizations, contracting out of extension services, public-private partnerships, privatization, and embedding advisory services in other types of contracts. The results of this study further validate our approach of using multistakeholder engagement at the state level as an effective and insightful method of implementing the NEP at the state level.

The framework of development; Understanding extension; Social and cultural factors in extension; Extension and comunication; Extension methods; The extension agent; The planning and evaluation of extension programmes; Extension an special target groups.

Abstracts of dissertations available on microfilm or as xerographic reproductions.