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This is a sociological study focusing on social networks, to understand what formal and
informal links and associations mean to the poor in rural communities in India, and how these
links help them in improving themselves and their communities at large. Understanding
when, why, and how social networks function best is important. Mixed methods appro...
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Even though migration has been seen as an expression of people's willingness to overcome adversity to find and live a better life within the complex socio-political and diverse world of today, it has become a problematic phenomenon in Canada, and elsewhere. Aside from definitional challenges, the illegal movement of people presents a wide range con...
Women make almost half of the population of Pakistan. Unfortunately the majority of this huge reservoir does not share the development process. The reason lies behind the fact that socio-cultural setup of Pakistan confines women to homes, and makes them psychologically less empowered. The present study focused on investigating the economic and psyc...
Women make almost half of the population of Pakistan. Unfortunately the majority of this huge reservoir does not share the development process. The reason lies behind the fact that socio-cultural setup of Pakistan confines women to homes, and makes them psychologically less empowered. The present study focused on investigating the economic and psyc...
Citations
... Traditional research and advisory systems viewed farmers as end-users who must be persuaded into adopting research outputs, rather than as partners in the process (Padmaja, 2012). Centralised approaches for transferring technologies such as Training and Visit were widely used in Asia and Africa until the 1990s. ...
... SNA has recently been applied to agricultural systems in developing countries (Spielman et al., 2011) and in turn, smallholder farming communities. For example, Misra et al. (2014) proposed SNA for the study of livelihood systems, Padmaja (2012) analysed village vulnerability to climate change by mapping social networks for information access, technologies and resources and Spielman et al. (2011) used SNA to study agricultural innovation processes. ...
... The recent application of SNA to horizontal farmer networks in developing countries has entailed discussion on which network measures are applicable and useful (Padmaja, 2012;Spielman et al., 2011). The framework we propose adds to the discussion and uniquely considers information flows as well as capacity for collective action, within the context of agricultural advisory systems. ...
Agricultural advisory systems aim to improve livelihoods and well-being of the rural community by enhancing information exchange and capacity for collective action. In East Africa, advisory systems are becoming more demand driven and are being provided by an increasingly complex range of actors using participatory approaches. Social network analysis (SNA) provides a tool to examine farmer networks for broad assessment of agricultural advisory systems. This paper proposes a framework linking social network measures to information flow and capacity for collective action and applies it to personal (egocentric) networks in 11 sites within East Africa. The results provide valuable insight into performance of existing advisory systems and areas for improvement. Limited capacity for collective action, based on information networks, anecdotal evidence and literature, within farmer groups and communities was found in the Rwanda and to some degree in the Kenyan sites. In Tanzania, few connections with external information sources were found, potentially limiting new innovations entering the communities. In applying the framework, consideration of external factors that can influence social network structures is required so that attribution is not overstated. Use of egocentric networks and recall error challenges exist but can be managed. The proposed SNA framework provides a new and useful assessment tool, particularly combined with broader frameworks, for government agriculture ministries, development practitioners and researchers to support the design and assessment of agricultural advisory systems.
... More specifically, our objective has been to value the gains for farmers in Maharashtra from this more rapid adoption of Maruti and to relate these gains to the investment made by the VLS project allowing this. According to Padmaja (2012) while Maruti was released in Karnataka (1986) there were no efforts by the formal seed sector or extension agencies in other states to introduce this variety elsewhere. Later in 1996-97 Maruti was released by the state seed company and was adopted throughout Maharashtra but we have chosen a narrower focus where the VLS project was likely to have been influential. ...
In our note, we tried to realise a comprehensive document dedicated to Social Network Analysis, in which we focused on its origin, application and adoption in analysing the diffusion of innovation, with particular attention paid to the agriculture sector, because we believe that farmers can easily exchange knowledge with each other and boost the diffusion of innovation in terms of agricultural techniques. Most of the scientific researches reported in our note in which SNA was applied are carried out in developing countries, we reckon that in these countries information is not usually recorded in a database, and farmers can easily get innovation through their system of acquaintances. We noted that SNA is a flexible and useful tool because it can be applied jointly with several approaches and theories. Through SNA, we can get relevant information about the network to understand how innovation gets shared and to assess the role and importance of different actors involved in the network.
Empowerment of women, in its simplest meaning refers to the process whereby women acquire an ability to make strategic life choices. Likewise, power is also thought of as an ability to make choices. This view of power focuses on structure or the social norms and forces that enable and or constrain thinking, action and behavior. Hence, there is now a focus and discussion on not just the power relations among actors and their agency (strengthening capabilities to act) but also on social structures, norms, and attitudes that enable (or constrain) the behavior of all actors – women, men, socially included and excluded (Hayward 2000).
