Videos Bridging Asia and Africa: Overcoming Cultural and Institutional Barriers in Technology-Mediated Rural Learning

Published in the Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (Vol. 16, No. 1, pps. 75-87), this paper poses the question: Will African farmers watch and learn from videos featuring farmers in Bangladesh? The approach underlying this cross-cultural initiative is called zooming-in, zooming-out. It integrates participatory learning and action research with the development of technology-mediated learning tools, such as radio and video programmes, whereby the empowered farmers feature as key actors. Local and scientific knowledge form the building blocks of these learner-centred videos, and a few regionally relevant and locally appropriate, practical examples are provided to illustrate the diversity of solutions.

The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) introduced these types of learning videos on rice seed management, made with rural women in Bangladesh, to Africa in 2005. As detailed here, many scientists and civil servants thought that the videos would be culturally inappropriate and hence irrelevant to African smallholder farmers. "However, African farmers who watched the videos did not experience cultural barriers. In fact, they enjoyed seeing another part of the world where farmers faced similar problems as theirs, and were able to solve these problems by themselves. To promote wider uptake of the videos a key challenge was to overcome the institutional barriers. Public sector agencies especially had to be convinced that African smallholders appreciated Asian videos. By watching the videos with farmers and listening to their feedback, the skeptical scientists and service providers changed their minds. By 2009, the Bangladeshi rice seed videos had been translated into 20 African languages and so became national products. Videos made according to the zooming-in zooming-out approach can bring farmer-to-farmer extension to a higher level of social aggregation."

The authors conclude that "[f]armer-centered learning videos can be used in a cross-cultural setting if they address real concerns and if the farmers featuring in them are real-life farmers rather than actors. Seeing that people in other parts of the world face similar problems, and were able to solve these problems by themselves, proved an additional source of motivation....Skeptics changed their minds when watching the videos alongside the farmers. Having a few people in the group who have a high level of intercultural sensitivity also helps..."

Editor's note: English versions of the low-resolution videos (to enable viewing in countries with slow connectivity) can be viewed by clicking here. The French versions can be viewed here.

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