Deadline: 15 August 2011
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in collaboration with several national regional and international partners is organizing an international conference on extension and advisory services: “Innovations in Extension and Advisory Services: Linking Knowledge to Policy and Action for Food and Livelihoods:” The conference will take place, 15-18 November 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Competition for ACP Journalists/ Media Specialists
Topic: Are Extension and Advisory Services meeting the Needs of Farmers in your country?
Several Awards and Prizes to be won!
This competition aims to encourage journalists and media specialists to investigate the challenges and opportunities in providing extension and advisory services to farmers, showcase success stories and best practices that can be replicated and raise awareness on the important role of agriculture and rural development.
The competition is open to all media and communication professionals (either print or electronic), from established media houses, private and public sector organizations (e.g government ministries) and non-governmental organizations including farmers’ organizations who are nationals of the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Group of States. Entries should be original pieces. The piece is restricted to the country in which the journalist/media specialist operates. Applicants can submit their entry in French or English in either print or electronic format. Entries should be submitted to extension2011@cta.int with a copy to info@fara-africa.org and info@g-fras.org.
Your journalistic piece must reach the organizers by 15 August, 2011 to be considered for inclusion in the Conference. Entries can be submitted in English, French or Spanish to extension2011@cta.int with a copy to info@fara-africa.org and info@g-fras.org.
COMPETITION THEMES
Your journalistic piece should correspond to one or more of the four main cross-cutting themes of the Conference:
Policy: Government policy shapes the structure, functioning and performance of extension and advisory services in different ways. What are the good/best practices or failures in policy? What policy instruments worked or did not work? Did they contribute to increased accountability, efficiency, empowerment and impact? Are there lessons for reforming governance structures and attracting public and private investments in extension and advisory services? Can they guide governments in providing extension and advisory services as public goods? What mix of regulations, goods and services is most appropriate for offering extension and advisory services that meet country-specific goals? What research is needed to fill the knowledge gaps?
Capacity Development: The capacities that are needed to bolster innovations in extension and advisory services are multiple and varied. Smallholder farmers and marginalized communities need to articulate demand, succeed in agribusiness and monitor and evaluate the performance of the services. Extension personnel need to deliver high quality, cost effective, efficient services as well as monitor and evaluate their impact. What are the good/best practices in capacity development? What new knowledge, skills, and infrastructure were identified as needed to meet the expanded role of extension and advisory services? How best can the capacity of the actors be strengthened in the short to medium term? What research is needed to fill the knowledge gaps? What types and level of investments were projected or are needed?
Tools and Approaches: Several tools and approaches have been piloted to improve extension and advisory services. What innovative TOOLS (including the use of ICTs and the mass media) and approaches are proving effective in the delivery of these services? Have they been up- and out- scaled? If not, how can this be achieved to ensure quality, cost – effectiveness, sustainability and impact on agricultural productivity, sustainable livelihoods and natural resource management? Have the lessons and good/best practices been shared within countries and across regions with policymakers, development actors and extension practitioners? How and what are the results? What are your recommendations for future knowledge sharing?
Learning Networks: Innovation is needed to trigger socio-economic development, especially development that benefits the poor and learning is essential to innovation processes. Such processes in turn hinge on the effectiveness with which the learning of farmers can be integrated, and how researchers, extension and advisory agents and other actors learn, participate in and add value to such networks. Do learning networks exist, who is involved and how and at what scales do they work? What has been the impact of the different types and configurations of learning networks on agricultural and rural innovation processes, and what lessons can be derived from the experience? What role did the extension and rural advisory services play within these learning networks? Did the network(s) contribute to increased efficiency and effectiveness of the extension and advisory services and how? What institutional arrangements need to be put in place to support lifelong learning by farmers and other key actors? How can the experiences and lessons be shared within countries and across regions with policymakers, development actors and extension practitioners?
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
The organizers claim traditional copyright protection of all material except where copyright is held by a third party such as a governmental agency or media house and, upon request, permit fair scientific and other use as long as the author and organizers are credited.
ENTRY CONDITIONS
Each candidate will submit only one print or audio-visual piece from any ACP country*. The title and the name of the author should be clearly written on the cover page to the piece. The piece should demonstrate realities on the ground. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 15 August, 2011.
All applications should submit a short biographical note including name and full contact details; email address, telephone number(s), postal address, town, country, and a scanned photocopy of the applicant’s identification card or passport details.
Entries received after 15 August will not be considered. Notification of approved selections will be announced on 15 September, 2011.
SELECTION PROCESS
An international panel of judges from the media, extension and advisory services, policy, and farmers’ organizations will review entries and make their recommendations to the International Steering Committee for the Conference.
The pieces should demonstrate that the author(s) understand the issues as well as the potential of extension and advisory services in agricultural and rural development.
The main selection criteria for the pieces are:
• Originality and quality of analysis;
• Creativity;
• Relevance and responsiveness to development challenges;
• Quality of language (engaging writing style, good spelling and grammar, etc.);
• Presence of bibliography and/or other relevant references;
• Respect of the prescribed format of the text:
o Number of words - print: between 1,200 and 1,500. Audio-visual piece should not exceed 5 minutes.
o Font : Arial;
o Size of characters : 11
o Line spacing: 1.5
• NB: Marks will also be awarded to journalist/media specialists whose pieces are published or broadcasted in national, regional or international news outlets before the deadline for submission. The date of publication must be included on the submission as only original pieces that have been prepared after the announcement of this call will be considered.
AWARDS AND PRIZES
The best journalistic piece will be selected for each of the six ACP regions (West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, Pacific and Caribbean) using established criteria. The top six finalists will be announced in September, 2011. The six regional finalists will be fully supported to attend the international conference on extension services in Nairobi, Kenya. They will also each receive Euro 1,000 (one thousand) cash prize. In addition, they will be required to report on the event during the conference.
The top three “Winners” will be announced during the International Conference on Extension and Advisory Services. The overall “Winner” – 1st place, will receive an additional Euro 1000. The second place winner will receive an additional Euro 500. The third place winner will receive an additional Euro 300. The top 3 “Winners” will also receive CTA trophies and book prizes.
The selected pieces will be published and promoted regionally, internationally and on the CTA and partners’ websites and other publications. Participants in the contest, in particular prize-winners, will have the opportunity to be involved in other CTA media related project activities.
ADDITIONAL RULES
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation reserves the right to disqualify any entry if it does not meet the contest criteria and present regulations;
• By entering, participants warrant that their entry materials are original and do not infringe on any third party's rights;
• Entry to the contest constitutes an agreement to allow CTA to make, if necessary, articles, name, occupation and state of residence of applicants, public.
• In addition it constitutes an agreement to allow CTA to use the material in its publications and in the framework of promotional activities. Applicants will retain ownership and all other rights to future use of their texts;
• CTA will not return submitted articles / videos to their authors;
• All local taxes and fees on awards and prizes are the sole responsibility of the winner;
• If, for any reason, the competition is not completed as planned, CTA reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend it;
• The decisions made by the panel of judges and CTA are final and beyond dispute;
• All participants in this competition implicitly accept the rules presented in this document.
ACP Countries
“ACP” stands for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries who are signatories of the ACP-EU (European Union) Cotonou Agreement. ACP countries are the following: South Africa – Angola – Antigua and Barbuda – Bahamas – Barbados – Belize – Benin – Botswana – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cameroon – Cap Vert – Chad – Comores – Central African Republic – Congo (Brazzaville) – Congo (Kinshasa) – Cook Islands – Cuba – Djibouti – Dominican Republic – Dominica – East Timor – Eritreia – Ethiopia – Equatorial Guinea – Fiji – Gabon – Gambia – Ghana – Grenada –Guinea-Bissau – Guyana – Haiti – Ivory Coast – Jamaica – Kenya – Kiribati – Lesotho – Liberia – Madagascar – Malawi – Mali – Marshall Islands – Maurice – Mauritania – Federated States of Micronesia – Mozambique – Namibia – Nauru – Niger – Nigeria – Niue – Palau – Papua New Guinea – Republic of Guinea – Rwanda – Saint Christopher and Nevis – Saint Vincent and Grenadines – Saint Lucia – Samoa – Sao Tome – Senegal – Seychelles – Sierra Leone – Solomon Islands and Principe – Somalia – Sudan – Suriname – Swaziland – Tanzania – Togo – Tonga – Trinidad and Tobago – Tuvalu – Uganda – Vanuatu – Zambia – Zimbabwe.
Contact Information:
For inquiries: extension2011@cta.int
For submissions: extension2011@cta.int with a copy to info@fara-africa.org and info@g-fras.org
Website: http://extensionconference2011.cta.int/