C2 - 4 Enhancing RAS Capacities To Promote Climate-smart Agriculture

Ability to organize a wider search for solutions

In addition to collaborating with researchers to identify locally appropriate climate-smart agriculture practices, RAS personnel can benefit from learning about effective climate-smart agriculture practices from other regions facing similar challenges. RAS need mechanisms for learning from a range of practitioners. This will include includes systems for sharing knowledge and more effective virtual and face-to-face networking with practitioners in many locations. RAS providers need to have the ability to experiment and integrate newly gained knowledge in their activities to support rural communities in adopting climate-smart agriculture.

Capacities to expand the focus of RAS from households and farmer fields to the entire landscape

The promotion of climate-smart agriculture often requires collective action among farmers and collaboration among different stakeholders in the agricultural landscape. Climate-smart agriculture options related to adaptation and mitigation at the landscape level need to build consensus among the varied stakeholders (e.g. different ministries and departments; different communities and livelihood groups) and sometimes manage conflicts among them. Multistakeholder consultations and negotiations are needed to improve local governance, jointly prioritize options and make decisions on land use and access to and management of natural resources. These are important areas where RAS personnel need capacity development at different levels. Integrated landscape management is addressed in module A3.

Stronger set of functional capacities

Promoting climate-smart agriculture at the ground level involves enhancing farmers’ decision-making and problem-solving capacities. RAS personnel working in the field should have sufficient 'soft' capacities related to communication, facilitation, conflict management and negotiation. They should also be able to combine technical and institutional innovations to promote climate-smart agriculture options. The Farmer Field Schools approach provides an example of this. Skills related to policy engagement is also an important area of capacity development that has been identified for RAS (GFRAS, 2012; GFRAS, 2013; Sulaiman and Mittal, 2016).

GFRAS has been supporting new learning materials to enhance these core competencies for individual RAS providers. These approaches need to be widely promoted to influence reforms in the curricula of educational and training organizations that deal with RAS. There are currently limited capacities among RAS that would enable them to shift from their role of trainer to that of a facilitator capable of brokering connections between farmers and different sources of knowledge and service providers. This should be an important area for capacity development of RAS.

Recognizing the importance of strengthening capacities in the area of climate change among RAS providers, many organizations have published training manuals in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation (FAO, 2015; Simpson, 2016; Campbell et al, 2013; Solar 2014; GIZ, 2015; CCAFS, 2016b).

In a changing environment, developing new capacities and strengthening existing ones is critical for RAS to reinvent its role and embrace effective strategies that support of climate-smart agriculture. The GFRAS has articulated the capacities that for RAS need to develop at the individual, organizational and enabling environment levels (FAO, 2012; GFRAS, 2012.).

Capacities for promoting climate-smart agriculture at different levels, based on the GFRAS framework, are described below.