The ecosystem-literacy training employed in FFS is vital for enabling smallholder farmers to master the management skills required for sustainable crop production intensification and diversification. This is radically different from the approach used by more traditional extension systems which are designed for “technology-transfer” purposes. Agro Ecosystem Analysis (AESA) is the cornerstone of the field school approach and is based on the ecosystem concept, in which each element at the crop/farm/field has its own, unique role. It involves crops or commodity observations, data collection, analysis, interpretations or discussions, and recommendations. Farmers use AESA method to understand the situation of crop ecosystem in the FFS approach. However, the method still included a reasonable level of complexity where the farmer has to deal with numeric and textual data. This remained a challenge for the facilitator to communicate with the farming community, who cannot easily write and read the observations and perform analysis on a paper sheet and also in the presentation of the same AESA sheet. The New AESA Board is devised to mitigate the challenge of illiteracy and some other challenges in participatory group learning including the difference of age, education level, gender equality, wealth position, social activism in the field school. The pre-designed AESA board provides equal opportunity to all participants including literate, illiterate or poor literacy services. This AESA board along with analytical color language named Jam's 4 Colors by FAO Pakistan remains among the top innovations of 2020.

This document focuses on the implementation phase of farmer field school (FFS) programmes and provides guidance and tools that will help farmer field schools to bring about the change expected by the programme and the communities it supports, by setting up a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) system. It also introduces impact assessment as an integral management function linked to monitoring, evaluation and learning in FFS programmes. It is aimed at project and programme designers, managers and staff involved in planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning of project/programmes with a farmer field school component. It also targets those who will be involved in the initial design, planning, follow-up of monitoring, evaluation and learning and impact assessment to improve programme implementation. The document outlines background information and tools to help ensure that implementation of FFS programmes will lead to the anticipated outputs, outcomes and impacts, by setting up a robust MEL system and impact assessment methodology/framework for the improvement of ongoing FFS projects and programmes and the design of new ones.

This FFS Guidance Document focuses on the process and critical decisions that are necessary when starting a new FFS programme, and guides the reader through the essential steps required to establish a solid basis for such programmes, in tune with the specific local conditions. It also defines the essential elements and processes required to ensure programme relevance, quality, growth and sustainability. The document differs from most of the FFS manuals and guidelines available in that it focuses on providing support to FFS programme managers and formulators, as opposed to FFS field facilitators or trainers, who are the primary target group for most existing manuals.

Investing in farmers – or agriculture human capital – is crucial to addressing challenges in our agri-food systems. A global study carried out by the FAO Investment Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute, with support from the CGIAR Research Programme on Policies, Institutions and Markets and the FAO Research and Extension Unit, looks at agriculture human capital investments, from trends to promising initiatives. One of the nine featured case studies is the Twigire Muhinzi National Extension System in Rwanda. Twigire Muhinzi is the government’s homegrown, decentralized and farmer-oriented national system based on two complementary types of farmer-to-farmer extension approaches: farmer promoters and farmer field schools. The model showcases how an extension approach can improve farmer skills, knowledge and empowerment and thus lead to enhanced adoption of relevant technologies and practices. In Rwanda, mainstreaming the farmer field school approach into the national extension system along with financial support from public-private partnerships contributed to its scaling up. This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.

This document offers technical guidance in establishing and managing farmers' field schools and supporting local farmers in rice crop management, from testing soil texture and seedling preparation to water management and yield calculation.

This excellent book, newly available in paperback, addresses the growing dissatisfaction with the neo-liberal post-Washington consensus. The concern of the contributors in writing this collection was that this consensus has established itself as a new orthodoxy, more powerful and widespread than its predecessor. This broad-ranging critique explains that without a much broader political economy the consensus is unlikely to provide a coherent framework for successful development policies. Development Policy in the 21st Century is unique in its depth and assesses the postures of the new consensus topic by topic, whilst posing strong alternatives. It will improve and stimulate the reader's understanding of this important area, and is required reading for any student, academic or interested reader that wishes to understand one of the most important issues in international economics.