A group of scientists, farmers and staff from development organizations in Malawi and Tanzania put together an integrated curriculum on agroecology, climate change, nutrition and social equity. This training material was written in such a way that rural people with limited education can use it to teach other farming households ways to build more sustainable, resilient, healthy and equitable rural communities. A team of farmers, agricultural and social scientists, nutritionists, development organization staff, theatre & communication specialists met regularly in ‘virtual’ space, compiled literature held a week long participatory workshop to develop the curriculum outline. Team members contributed modules which were then integrated using a ‘soap opera’ format, along with participatory activities, visual tools, stories & drama.
Once a draft was completed, farmers were trained by other farmers using the curriculum in both sites, and then revised and re-translated based on farmer feedback. In Malawi, half of households had a “drama-enriched’ curriculum to test the impacts of drama in farmer-led teaching, an example of which can be found here: Malawi Curriculum Example.
Research Design
A longitudinal, pre/post quasi experimental panel study design was used to test the curriculum with 500 households in Malawi (with the Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology project) and 400 in Tanzania (with the Singida Nutrition and Agroecology project). We tested the impacts on food security, nutrition, equity, farmer knowledge and practice. Data analysis is currently underway.
Sharing our Curriculum
Our long-term goal is to create a curriculum that farmers throughout southern and eastern Africa can use to improve knowledge and ultimately build resilient rural communities with improved soil health, human nutrition and community well-being. The current versions available for free download (for non-profit use only) have been tested in 3 African languages (Swahili, Tumbuka and Chewa). There is also an English version available.
To download a copy of our curriculum in any of the available languages from this website, please follow this link and answer a few questions about your interest in the project. We appreciate your feedback and would love to hear more from you.
Partners
This curriculum project was a collaboration between many people, based at Cornell University, SFHC, Northwestern University, University of Malawi, Chancellor College, University of Manitoba, Michigan State University, Action Aid Tanzania and Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology (NMAIST). It was funded through the generous support of a Academic Venture Fund from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University.
Lizzie Shumba joined SFHC in 2003 and since then has contributed much to our efforts and to the success of SFHC. The Agroecology and Livelihood Collaborative (ALC) from the University of Vermont conducted an interview with Lizzie to… Read More
The SFHC team and the communities we work with play a crucial role in helping us reach our goals of promoting sustainability, health, and equity, so we love to share the voices of the wonderful people that make… Read More
Exciting news: new research from our SFHC team has just been published! This research is centered around examining crop diversity and its effect on food security and women’s diet quality through an intervention in Malawi. As always, we… Read More
We are proud to share new research from our team within the last year! Both works come from our FARMS for Biodiversity Project, and they include a research approach to transdisciplinary agroecology and an assessment of local views… Read More
Participatory Integrated Curriculum Project
Summary
A group of scientists, farmers and staff from development organizations in Malawi and Tanzania put together an integrated curriculum on agroecology, climate change, nutrition and social equity. This training material was written in such a way that rural people with limited education can use it to teach other farming households ways to build more sustainable, resilient, healthy and equitable rural communities. A team of farmers, agricultural and social scientists, nutritionists, development organization staff, theatre & communication specialists met regularly in ‘virtual’ space, compiled literature held a week long participatory workshop to develop the curriculum outline. Team members contributed modules which were then integrated using a ‘soap opera’ format, along with participatory activities, visual tools, stories & drama.
Once a draft was completed, farmers were trained by other farmers using the curriculum in both sites, and then revised and re-translated based on farmer feedback. In Malawi, half of households had a “drama-enriched’ curriculum to test the impacts of drama in farmer-led teaching, an example of which can be found here: Malawi Curriculum Example.
Research Design
A longitudinal, pre/post quasi experimental panel study design was used to test the curriculum with 500 households in Malawi (with the Malawi Farmer-to-Farmer Agroecology project) and 400 in Tanzania (with the Singida Nutrition and Agroecology project). We tested the impacts on food security, nutrition, equity, farmer knowledge and practice. Data analysis is currently underway.
Sharing our Curriculum
Our long-term goal is to create a curriculum that farmers throughout southern and eastern Africa can use to improve knowledge and ultimately build resilient rural communities with improved soil health, human nutrition and community well-being. The current versions available for free download (for non-profit use only) have been tested in 3 African languages (Swahili, Tumbuka and Chewa). There is also an English version available.
To download a copy of our curriculum in any of the available languages from this website, please follow this link and answer a few questions about your interest in the project. We appreciate your feedback and would love to hear more from you.
Partners
This curriculum project was a collaboration between many people, based at Cornell University, SFHC, Northwestern University, University of Malawi, Chancellor College, University of Manitoba, Michigan State University, Action Aid Tanzania and Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology (NMAIST). It was funded through the generous support of a Academic Venture Fund from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University.
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An interview with SFHC’s Lizzie Shumba!
October 20, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
Lizzie Shumba joined SFHC in 2003 and since then has contributed much to our efforts and to the success of SFHC. The Agroecology and Livelihood Collaborative (ALC) from the University of Vermont conducted an interview with Lizzie to… Read More
Take a look into SFHC’s work!
October 20, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
The SFHC team and the communities we work with play a crucial role in helping us reach our goals of promoting sustainability, health, and equity, so we love to share the voices of the wonderful people that make… Read More
New Research Paper: Sept. 2022
September 28, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
Exciting news: new research from our SFHC team has just been published! This research is centered around examining crop diversity and its effect on food security and women’s diet quality through an intervention in Malawi. As always, we… Read More
2 New Research Papers: 2022
September 23, 2022
By Nicole Velecela
We are proud to share new research from our team within the last year! Both works come from our FARMS for Biodiversity Project, and they include a research approach to transdisciplinary agroecology and an assessment of local views… Read More