Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity Project

The Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) project galvanizes diverse extension and advisory service (EAS) stakeholders to measurably improve extension programs, policies and services. DLEC accomplishes this objective through three interrelated sets of activities: conducting targeted diagnostics on country EAS systems to identify gaps and opportunities and recommending potential areas for public, private and donor investment; implementing action research activities (engagements) that build local capacity and generate evidence on how to improve EAS; and mobilizing lasting communities of practice (CoPs) to advocate for scaling proven approaches.

DLEC is led by Digital Green in partnership with organizations such as the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS).

Posts

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Demo plot, Cambodia. Sara Hendery, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Integrated Pest Management

What do Agrilinks Users Think About the Future of Extension?

Kristin Davis

Sep 30, 2019

In our opening blog we asked your opinion about the future of extension. We asked whether you agreed or disagreed (and to what extent) with three statements...

Education and Extension

This September, Agrilinks Examines the Future of Agricultural Extension

Agrilinks Team

Kristin Davis

Sep 03, 2019

What future do we want in international rural development, and how can agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) contribute to this? This September, Agrilinks is teaming up with several Feed...

Education and Extension

The research-practitioner divide: Why we are still optimistic

Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity Project

Apr 19, 2019

The Feed the future Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) project is a rare and successful example of an extension researcher and a development practitioner teaming up as co-directors.

Education and Extension

Practices Impacting Yield & Incomes of Smallholder Farmers

Mar 27, 2019 United States online

Lessons and Results from Pilots on Impactful Practices in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria The Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity (DLEC) Project invites you to join a webinar to...

Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Food Safety Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Resilience

Combatting Fall Armyworm in Ethiopia

Suprita Makh

Oct 19, 2018

The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, was first reported on the African continent in early 2016 and, in Ethiopia alone, has infested approximately a quarter of the 2.6 million hectares...

Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Resilience

Designing for Gender Inclusivity in Video-Enabled Agricultural Extension

Bjorn Van Campenhout

Sep 12, 2018

Would targeting extension information to women farmers lead to better and more gender equitable outcomes? Would the involvement of women extension agents render agronomic information services more inclusive? In Uganda...

Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension Gender

Pluralism in Extension Services

Mahesh Chander

Sep 11, 2018

I asked a local farmer: “Why are you so critical of the public extension services, when a variety of options like private agri-business companies, NGOs, producers’ organizations and input dealers...

Education and Extension

Smallholder farmers in Issyk Kul Province in northern Kyrgyzstan learn about high-yielding potato varieties at one of Zarya seed farm’s fields.

Agrilinks Event

Measuring Performance in Agricultural Extension: A Common Metrics Framework

Sep 20, 2018 United States online

There is no universally-accepted framework for how to measure the performance of agricultural extension and advisory services. The best-fit framework suggests an impact chain approach, where components of the system...

Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension

Woman standing in a field with a child and a sheep

Evaluating Video-Mediated Extension in Ethiopia

International Food Policy Research Institute

David Spielman

Sep 04, 2018

For many researchers at IFPRI, the ultimate aim of our work is to convey findings to an audience that has a stake in the research and is in a position...

Agricultural Productivity Education and Extension

This September, Agrilinks Examines Trends and Challenges in Agricultural Extension

Feed the Future Developing Local Extension Capacity Project

Aug 31, 2018

Agricultural extension and advisory services (EAS) provide essential support to smallholder farmers to break the cycle of low productivity, vulnerability and poverty. This September, Feed the Future is teaming up...

Education and Extension

About us

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Launched in May 2016, DLEC is a five-year Leader with Associate cooperative agreement. The flexible award mechanism enables DLEC and our partners to test and share best-fit solutions to improve extension and advisory services through the core funding while simultaneously enabling USAID Missions to invest in associate awards for activities that further their country strategy.

DLEC’s core activities are:

Diagnostics

During the project’s first two years, DLEC completed 10 diagnostics in Feed the Future and aligned countries to evaluate the EAS ecosystem. The diagnostic reports provide insight into the strengths and challenges faced by national extension systems and outline customized recommendations. The diagnostics evaluate the access, quality and sustainability of the governance structures and policy environment; organizational and management capacities and cultures of EAS organizations; advisory methods used within each system; the extent to which the system is market-oriented; how the system engages different communities, including youth and women; and how it supports overall livelihood strategies of farmers by addressing relevant topics such as nutrition and resilience. The profiled countries include Bangladesh, Guinea, Honduras, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal. DLEC also helps conduct additional studies at the request of local USAID missions, such as on youth and private sector engagement in extension.

DLEC also regularly engages with key national extension stakeholders to advocate for the uptake of recommendations and strengthen national EAS systems. In Liberia, activities recommended in DLEC’s diagnostic report have been incorporated into a proposal submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture to the Food and Agriculture Organization. View our latest diagnostics here: https://www.digitalgreen.org/resources-dlec/

Engagements

DLEC works with USAID Missions, public and private sector and civil society to implement locally-tailored, partnership-based solutions that address country-specific challenges and build the capacity of country stakeholders. Current and completed engagements include:

• In Uganda, a field experiment led by IFPRI found that providing information to both heads of the household led to an increase in joint decision-making, increased knowledge retention and greater uptake of practices.

• In Bangladesh, a transport-to-market mobile solution, implemented by Digital Green, provided smallholder farmers in Jessore convenient access to markets and connected them to extension services, quality inputs, financial services. Through the engagement, over 5,000 farmers (10% women farmers) sold 18k+ metric tons of fresh fruit and vegetables generating USD 4 million in sales. Participating farmers received 14% higher prices for their produce and experienced 25% reduction in cost of transportation.

• In Ethiopia, results of an impact evaluation, led by IFPRI, showed up to 37% greater likelihood of smallholder farmers receiving advice/training via video and adopting improved technologies. Digital Green also partnered with Fintrac, FAO, Ethiopia’s Agricultural Transformation Agency and CABI to test a holistic digital suite of tools to provide localized farmer-centric fall armyworm mitigation advice.

• In Honduras, Care International built the capacity of the national government agency overseeing extension provision on participatory and best-fit EAS models to reach Honduran smallholder farmers with quality public extension.

• In Kenya, Digital Green is partnering with the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization and the Makueni County Government to develop customized digital content on fruit fly prevention for mango farmers.

• In Nigeria, video-enabled extension implemented by two dairy processors trained by Digital Green, resulted in the processors (i) doubling their reach and quantity of milk processed; and (ii) reducing the rejection rate for spoiled milk from 40% to 0%. Digital Green, in partnership with the KANO Agricultural & Rural Development Agency tested a model for participatory curriculum development and dissemination on most impactful agronomic practices for the rice value chain. The customized curriculum of priority practices resulted in 23-35% yield increase compared to control plots.

• In Rwanda, Digital Green, in partnership with One Acre Fund and Rwanda Agriculture Board, tested incentive schemes to improve performance of volunteer farmer promoters. The engagement found a 37% increase in the adoption of good agricultural practices and an 8% increase in farmer knowledge due to the improved performance of the farmer promoters.

• In South Sudan, Digital Green partnered with the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and private sector seed companies to implement the community-video approach to build awareness on high-quality seed among smallholder farmers.

Communities of Practice

DLEC mobilizes lasting communities at national and global levels in collaboration with GFRAS and others to advocate for scaling proven approaches to catalyze change in EAS. We convene a global CoP and collaborate with several country-led EAS communities such as the Uganda Forum for Agriculture Advisory Services (UFAAS) and the Bangladesh Agriculture Extension Network (BAEN). Results from the DLEC engagements are used as a catalyst to advocate for change and contribute to current or future extension programs implemented by our community members. DLEC is also collaborating with multiple donors to lead the development of a common framework for extension metrics.

Join our global community of practice at https://dlec.hivebrite.com

To learn more about DLEC and how you can get involved, contact Dr. Kristin Davis, Project Co-Director at  k.davis@cgiar.org or Ms. Shreya Agarwal, Director - Strategy, Digital Green at shreya@digitalgreen.org 

For more information on accessing this LWA, contact DLEC’s AOR, Mr. John Peters  jopeters@usaid.gov

Contact

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