June 9, 2015 Katy Heinz

MEAS Symposium 2015

“Strengthening Extension and Advisory Services for Lasting Impacts”extension

The MEAS consortium and others committed to strengthening extension systems in developing countries converged in Washington, D.C. to consolidate the MEAS Project’s knowledge and practice contributions and to deliberate on their role for the future of extension and advisory services. How can we best strengthen extension systems in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and increase food security? What are the lessons from the MEAS experience and the experience of partners around the world? How can we sustain impacts to result in improved services for small-holder farmers, especially women farmers?

NOTE TO PRESENTERS: A presentation is available for download below or by clicking here.

Dates: June 3-5, 2015
Location: Conference Center at 20 F Street (near Union Station)
Washington, D.C., USA

Wednesday, June 3

8:30 am Registration
9:00 am Opening Ceremony

9:15 am Keynote:

    “The role of extension/advisory services in the Feed the Future initiative”, by Susan Owens, USAID. Director of BIFAD and our HICD efforts and the Acting Office Director for Agricultural Research and Policy in the Bureau for Food Security

9:30 am Leading Issues in EAS

    Keynote: “The Imperative of Extension” by Paul McNamara, Director of MEAS Project, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10:00am Leading Issues – Panel I

Moderator: Mike McGirr (USDA)

10:45 am BREAK

11:00 am Leading Issues – Panel II

Moderator: John Peters (USAID)

Planning for Scale: Using what we know about human behavior in the diffusion of agricultural innovation and the role or agricultural extension

12:00 pm LUNCH

1:00 pm Private Sector and Development Organizations’ Approaches to Extension Service Provision

Moderator: Suzanne Poland (USAID)

MEAS Case Study on Development Organizations Approaches to EAS

2:00 pm Small Group Breakout Session

2:30 pm BREAK

3:00 pm Harnessing the Power of Extension to Transform Gender Roles and Improve Household and Community Nutrition Outcomes

Moderator: Sandra Russo (UF)

MEAS Action Research on Extension and Advisory Service Delivery for Women’s Groups in Jordan: Assessing Competencies and Building Social Capital,
(click here for details)

4:00 pm Small Group Breakout Session

4:30 pm Reporting out

5:00pm End

5:30 pm International Ag Week Reception hosted by FHI 360 at Academy Hall, 1825 Connecticut Ave NW

Thursday, June 4

8:30 am Conference Center opens

9:00 am Public Sector Service Provision, Policy Making, and Enabling Environment

Moderator: Alex Winter-Nelson (UIUC)

10:30 am BREAK

11:00 am Policy Compendium

11:20 am Rebuilding Extension Systems in Transition and Post Conflict Settings

Moderator: Vickie Sigman (UIUC)

12:00 pm LUNCH

1:00 pm The Evolving Role of Information and Communication Technology for Extension

Moderator: Judith Payne (USAID) and Andrea Bohn (UIUC)

MEAS Report: Rapid Assessment on the Use of Radio in EAS in Mozambique, by Rex Chapota

2:30 pm BREAK

3:00 pm Strengthening the Role of Farmer-to-Farmer Extension and Farmer Organizations in Extension

Moderator: Marisa Paredes (RELASER)

4:00 pm Small Group Breakout Session

4:30 pm Roundtable Break Out Session

5:00pm End

Friday, June 5

8:30 am Conference Center opens

9:00 am Report out on 1-2 recommendations per table based on yesterday’s discussion

9:20 am Capacity Development: Needs and Ways to Address Them

Moderator: Kalim Qamar (Development Actions International) (Commentary)

Additional information: ECHOcommunity.org Extension Platform (by David Erickson)

10:30 am BREAK

11:00 am Building the Value Case for Extension

Moderator: Kristin Davis (GFRAS)

12:00 pm Closing Remarks: The Way forward for Extension and Advisory Services

Moderator: Gary Forbes

12:30 pm End

Presentations in PDF

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