061205SELN Enabling Change 12pp

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Enabling change in ruraland regional Australia:

The role of extension in achieving sustainableand productive futuresA discussion document produced by theState Extension Leaders Network

August 2006



National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-PublicationState Extension Leaders Network.

Enabling change in rural and regional Australia: the role o extension in achieving sustainable and productiveutures—a discussion document.

ISBN 1 74172 150 4.

1. Rural extension – Australia.2. Agricultural extension work – Australia.3. Sustainable agriculture – Australia.

I. Title.

307.720715

© 2006 State Extension Leaders Networkwww.seln.org.au

Disclaimer: This document represents the views o the members o the State Extension Leaders Network and does not necessarily re ect theopinions or policies o State and Territory G overnments or their departments or agencies. Endorsement o this document by them is recognition o extension as presented in this document in broad principle, and does not necessarily represent Departmental policy or practice.



Purpose of this Discussion Document

The purpose o this discussion document is to establish a common understanding o extension nationally in order to assist in creating world-class, competitive primaryindustries and in achieving sustainable natural resource management.

State Extension Leaders Network

The State Extension Leaders Network is a gathering o Government extension leadersand in uencers rom each State and Territory o Australia. SELN strives to provideleadership and strategic direction in the development o State and National ex tensionservice delivery.

In the short term, SELN aims to connect with rural and regional stakeholders acrossAustralia to:

• clari y the purpose and role o the extension policy instrument, both in its ownright and within policy instrument mixes;

• instigate e orts to improve communication, cooperation and collaboration acrossextension service providers;

• encourage key stakeholders to reassess the role o extension policy and extensionservices, and;

• progress the development o a national coordinated approach or extension.

SELN ur ther sees that its role in progressing these initiatives is to instigate and

acilitate interactions with State and Territory Governments, Industry Bodies,Research and Development Corporations, the Cooperative Venture or CapacityBuilding, rural industries and the Ministerial Advisory Committees or pr imaryindustries and natural resources. SELN also works with the Australasia-PacifcExtension Network (APEN), a pro essional association or extension practitioners.

SELN Membership

• Regina Fogarty – Department o Primary Industries, New South Wales• Greg Owens – Department o Primary Industry, Fisheries & Mines, Northern Territory• Gus Hamilton – Department o Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland• John James – Department o Primary Industries & Fisheries, Queensland• Greg Leach – Department o Natural Resources, Mines & Water, Queensland

• Locky McLaren – Rural Solutions South Australia• Robin Thompson – Department o Primary Industries and Water, Tasmania• Carolyn Cameron – Department o Primary Industries, Victoria• Peter Metcal e – Western Australia Department o Agriculture• Neale Price – Australasia-Pacifc Extension Network (President)• Pro Frank Vanclay – Tasmanian Institute o Agricultural Research, University

o Tasmania



Extension is the process of enabling changein individuals, communities and industriesinvolved in the primary industry sector andwith natural resource management.

As a process o bringing about change, extension isa strategic policy instrument or enabling proftableprimary industry value chains and sustainablenatural resource management (NRM) acrossAustralia. Extension is use ul in its own right, butalso has a vital role to play in conjunction with other policy instruments or achieving desired objectives.

Extension may well be a necessary precondition or the e ectiveness o many instruments. In times o discontinuous change, it is important to continuallyreview the use o policy instruments and their combinations to acilitate e ective change in urban,regional and rural communities.

A sustainable productive uture is heavily reliant onimproved community capacity building, new wayso interaction, and more e fcient use o resources.The pressures on the primary industries sector toimplement proftable production systems continueto increase.

Urban demands on Australian landscapes are

escalating. While many social and economicindicators are improving or most Australians,there is substantial evidence o declining social,economic and natural capital in rural areas.

Our resource management practices must changei we are to achieve sustainable landscapes,livelihoods, and li estyles. The needed changes willnot take place on their own. Intervention is requiredto acilitate and shape the practice changesrequired to achieve the desired onground outcomes.

A range o strategies (policy instruments) canbe developed and implemented to in uence andaccelerate these changes.

The selection o e ect ive policy instruments andthe appropriate mix o instruments are crucial

or achieving desired outcomes. There is a realopportunity to recognise and use extension inconjunction with other policy instruments tooptimise their inherent potential to meet desiredoutcomes.

Extension di ers rom PR and marketing in thatit uses a wider range o methods, has a di erenttheoretical base, and responds to stakeholders’needs at all stages o the adoption process (i.e. notjust awareness-raising). It di ers rom educationand training by acilitating the social interactionscritical or progressing learning and negotiationthrough to practice change.

Suasion is one o the methods used by extension,but extension o ten shows that new technologiesor practices are in the potential adopters’ bestinterests. Extension and capacity building arehighly interconnected, with capacity building beingan important component o extension activities.

Policy instrument: a method or mechanismused by government, government agencies aswell as other institutions including businessto achieve a desired effect.

1. Policy instruments available to pave the way tosustainability and productivity



2. Extension has a new meaning

Extension is the process o enabling change in individuals, communities andindustries involved with pr imary industries and natural resource management(NRM). Extension is concerned with building capacity or change throughimproved communication and in ormation ow between industry, agencyand community stakeholders. Extension seeks outcomes o capacity buildingand resilience in individuals and communities. Extension contributes to

protecting, maintaining and enhancing the landscapes, livelihoods andli estyles o all Australians.

Extension is a signifcant activity across Australia in both the public andprivate sectors, and involves thousands o extension practitioners who reach

out to all landholders and community members. Extension seeks both publicgood and private good outcomes. The service delivery base has trans ormedover the last two decades becoming more diverse with private industryplaying an increased role.

The achievement o public beneft outcomes is the responsibility o government. There ore, public extension service delivery largely targets thesustainability aspects o production and NRM. While the Commonwealth andState Governments have remained signifcant players, industry programs,regional NRM bodies, and private practitioners have taken an increased role inworking with individual producers and natural resource managers:

• Private benefts such as increased proftability and competitive industriesare increasingly targeted by private sector providers;

• Private sector extension providers are also available to deliver public sector programs under contract;

• Not- or-proft organizations, such as Greening Australia and regional NRMbodies, are increasingly undertaking extension services, and;

• Public sector agencies are also providing some services on a competitivebasis with private deliverers.

It is clear that as the relationship between society and natural resources hasbroadened to ocus on issues o sustainability, and as knowledge o the ways toin uence people has increased, we need to rethink and adapt our ideas aboutthe role and meaning o ‘extension’.



1. Regulation, Enforcementand Compliance

Statutes, laws and regulations provide institutional guidelines and speci y agencyresponsibilities or en orcing minimum standards, prohibiting certain practicesand regulating resource use in policy areas such as landuse planning, vegetationmanagement, water allocation and development control. En orcement andcompliance o regulatory rameworks acilitate changed practices. A major risk isthat ‘command and control’ approaches limit e ectiveness in achieving more thanminimum standards.

2. Direct Investment Sometimes when specifc onground outcomes are desired, the most e ectivemechanism is direct investment – to employ a contractor to deliver a specifed outcome.

3. Covenants and MoUs Voluntary but o fcial agreements and contracts or per ormance o a particular activitycan support change processes. Examples include conservation agreements tied toproperty title.

4. Common Law, Duty of Care, Stewardship

Common Law re ers to a system o law based on custom and general social principlesthat are embodied in centuries o legal case history judgements. Common Lawrecognises social norms, community values and rights as key enablers o e ectiveand sustainable practice. Within Common Law there are notions o a Duty o Care thateach person has to ensure that they do not create harm. Potentially this Duty o Care

extends to the environment.5. Formal Agreements There are a variety o ormal mechanisms that can be used between governments and

other entities to acilitate action. Governments can commission regional NRM bodies,local government and/or NGOs to provide certain services or deliver certain outcomes.

6. Research andDevelopment

R&D increases the stock o knowledge through basic and applied research. Theimplementation and adoption o R&D outcomes contributes to practice change andthe achievement o sustainable and productive outcomes.

7. Monitoring, Evaluation,Benchmarking and Adaptive Management

All policy implementation needs monitoring and evaluation. While many NRMgoals are specifed, without monitoring progress towards these goals cannot beestablished. In many cases, especially with NRM issues, the baseline state o theissue being considered is unknown. Evaluation o methods used to create change isnecessary to enable fne-tuning o the instruments through adaptive management.

8. Assessment Procedures Structured assessment procedures enable change. Procedures such as environmentalimpact assessment (EIA), social impact assessment (SIA), health impact assessment(HIA), strategic environmental assessment (SEA), li ecycle assessment (LCA), triplebottom line accounting (TBL) and sustainability assessment all have goals o improvingenvironmental and social outcomes. By providing in ormation about sources o harm,and opportunities or improvement, these procedures actively assist in bringing aboutsustainable development.

9. Self-Regulation Codes o practice, codes o ethics, pro essional standards are approaches thatencourage stakeholders to change their own practices in order to meet commonlyaccepted standards o practice. The process o development o these codes, andawareness o them, leads to practice change.

10. Quality Assuranceprocesses, EMS andEcolabling

Encouragement o the implementation o Quality Assurance processes (such asEnvironmental Management Systems and Farm Management Systems) createschange because it encourages continuous improvement, re exive practice,monitoring and benchmarking against world’s best practice. Ecolabeling is a market-based mechanism where the establishment o an ecolabel potentially providescompetitive advantage to products produced under this label and compliance iscreated via the competitive advantage that exists. Ecolabeling is in e ect a code o conduct that mandates the quality assurance o environmentally sound practices.

Policy instruments for supporting change



11. Public Relations,Marketing and Advertising

The achievement o change can sometimes be acilitated by a publicrelations or marketing campaign utilising advertising. Awareness o anissue or o practical solutions is sometimes all that is required or changeto occur.

12. Formal Education and

Training

Public, targeted ormal education and training programs enable instruction

at a specifed kind or level. The aim is to use education and training toimprove knowledge and develop skills in a specifc area as a means toenabling practice change and onground improvements.

13. Suasion Suasion re ers to appeal to the right thing to do. It re ers to campaigns thaturge action because o what ought to be done, what is socially or morallydesirable.

14. Extension Extension is the process o enabling change in individuals, communitiesand industries involved in the primary industry sector and with naturalresource management. While extension seeks to improve communicationand in ormation ow between industry, agency and communitystakeholders, it is primarily concerned with building capacity or change.

15. Participatory Approaches

Solving complex, unstructured problems requires inclusive institutionsand participatory processes o mediation, negotiation, dispute resolutionand other deliberative mechanisms with community and industrystakeholders. Participatory approaches contribute to collective ownershipo an issue and to a willingness to take action and to change practice.

16. Market-basedMechanisms

Market-based mechanisms include a range o methods or encouragingchange usually involving the assignment o property rights to goods thatare not normally traded through a market.

17. Economic Incentives Economic incentives re er to a range o fnancial inducements that attemptto change behaviour through monetary reward or penalty including:taxes on bad practices, use charges, tax deductions and/or rebates/credits,rate relie , subsidies and co- unding arrangements, and penalties or poor practice.

18. Conditionalities Conditionalities re ers to the conditions that can be imposed on a businessin conjunction with the granting o a licence to operate. This may includestipulations on emission levels, o set compensation (such as vegetationregeneration in one area to compensate or clearing in another location),and/or per ormance bonds.

19. Institutional Arrangements

Responsive institutional environments are necessary or enabling other instruments, policies and management. The capacity o institutions tochange is essential or improving inter-organisational outcomes.

20. Change other policies Actions to in uence and/or distort policies or statutory objects can inducechange processes. Examples include: ine ective subsidies; con ictingpolicies; misplaced statutory objects.

21. Reasoned Inaction Doing nothing is also an instrument or in uencing change. Non-response isvalid where justifed by due consideration, eg. allowing market orcesto prevail.



1990sPluralism—with a growing

literature on theories, methods,tools, providers and processes,

extension was increasingly able to deliveroutcomes while meeting diverse client

needs. Extension supported social learning processes and participatory methodologies as

a means to enabling practice change.

1980sSystems Thinking—

with the in uence of systemsapproaches, extension was in

transition. It became increasinglyconcerned with landholder needs

and solutions.

1970sFarming SystemsResearch—in response to

failure of ToT, farmer discussiongroups informed research and

extension priorities. Research wascarried out in a farming context or

in simulations.

1960sTechnology Transfer—

diffusion of innovationsand transfer of technology

(ToT) were accepted models of extension.

3. Methods of extension

Various defnitions o ‘extension’ have been developedover the years, with each being a product o its time.Extension necessarily is a continuously evolvingsystem o practice and theory. Extension modelshave shi ted rom methods o technologytrans er o expert knowledge, to processes that

support the co-creation o knowledge and theempowerment o stakeholders.

Current extension projects utilise a rangeo methods:

• Group Facilitation/Empowerment is the processo providing support or rural, regional andurban stakeholders to defne problems andopportunities, and to seek avenues to addressthem.

• Programmed Learning recognises the knowledgealready held by participants and encourages

experiential learning as they engage with newin ormation in a learning event.• Participatory Technology Development supports

participation and multiple stakeholder approachesor development o technologies.

• In ormation Development and Access supportsdecision-making processes through the provisiono appropriate in ormation at di erent stages inthe decision making process in orms that suitindividual needs.

• Individual Consultant/Mentor involves e ectivelearning relationships between client and consultantto improve the skill base o the client, and to solveimmediate practical problems.

In addition to these accepted approaches, urther methods are developing:

• Multi-stakeholder Negotiation supports collectivedecision-making in complex multiparty situations(eg. in public good issues) using acilitationapproaches that build on the enthusiasm o participants, target creativity and innovation as well asenabling e ective participation o interested parties.

• Institutional Development supports the acilitation o network building, learning and negotiation processeswithin and amongst institutional stakeholders,programs and networks.

These di erent extension methods are complementaryand all are necessary or e ective capacity building.Extension is not just a matter o decisions about whatis the best method, but rather what is the appropriatemix o methods to best achieve a particular purpose.The ability o these methods to achieve e ectiveoutcomes needs to be continually reassessed,improved and rein orced.

Although there is much extension activity

being undertaken in Australia, capacities withinthe extension system are limited, and supportor pro essional development is lacking.

Extension practitioners require pro essionaldevelopment support.



4. Extension adds value to investment

All policy instruments have a role to play in achieving desired outcomese fciently and e ectively. Extension is a crucial contributor to investments inrural, regional and urban development, providing a bridge between science,policy and community stakeholders to acilitate changed practice. Historically,‘agricultural extension’ raised the awareness and in many cases trans erredtechnologies and science rom research institutions to rural clients.

Agricultural extension targeted the adoption o new technologies to achieveimproved production e fciencies and rural development outcomes. Morerecently, the ocus o extension has widened to include the challenges acedby all communities, including urban dwellers, land managers and primaryproducers as well as those aced by the very organisations that seek outcomesthrough investing in service delivery. This wider ocus is essential or acilitatingchange in regional systems as well as addressing single issues.

Separating agricultural and other orms o extension in operation acrossAustralia rom other policy instruments is problematic. Extension projectscannot be considered in isolation rom other interventions occurring in acommunity, industry or issue. Extension has been regarded or centuries as apolicy instrument in its own right, however recent developments demonstratethat extension provides an integrator, acilitator and support unction or other policy instruments.

The achievement o positive return on investment or each policy instrumentdepends on e ective communication and in ormation ow, and on thecoordination and integration o associated intervention mechanisms. Further e ort is needed to clari y extension’s integrator unction and other emergentroles that add value to investment in sustainable and productive rural andregional utures.



5. A coordinated approach is needed

The development o a coordinated extension approach to better organise and gain value rom public and private extension servicesis essential. This coordinated approach is needed to underpincross-sector and political dialogue leading to improved pro essionaldevelopment, coordination, and extension policy in Regional,Industry, State and Australia-wide service delivery systems.

The ocus o extension has moved rom its original agricultural andrural development mandate to include environmental and other concerns o the wider society. A broad range o stakeholders aremaking increasingly competing claims on rural communities, naturalresources, the rights o land managers, and on production systems.

Extension needs to be considered as an e ec tive policyinstrument in its own right and in combination with other instruments. Ongoing commitment to unding the pro essionaldevelopment o extension practitioners is necessary to providethe needed capacities or achieving institutional and policydevelopments as well as on-ground change.

6. Concluding comments

The achievement o e ective and sustainable outcomes in primaryindustry value chains and improved natural resource managementpractices in Australia requires understanding that:

• Extension is a use ul policy instrument.• Extension can be used in its own right and in conjunction with

other policy instruments.• The meaning o extension has changed rom problem-based

technology trans er to the process o enabling change inindividuals, communities and industries involved in the primaryindustry sector and with natural resource management.

Extension is most valuable or achieving e ective outcomes whenused alongside and in combination with other policy instruments.Establishing a common understanding o extension in Australiawill assist the many stakeholders in uencing the creation o world-class, competitive primary industries and the achievement o sustainable natural resource management.



Key Extension Resources• The Australasia-Pacifc Extension Network: www.apen.org.au/• The Cooperative Venture or Capacity Building:

www.rirdc.gov.au/capacitybuilding/• National Extension/Education Project Database: www.couttsjr.com.au/pd/• Black, A.W. 2000. ‘Extension theory and practice: a review’, Australian

Journal o Experimental Agriculture 40(4): 493-502.

• Leeuwis, C. 2004. Communication or Rural Innovation: Rethinking AgriculturalExtension, Ox ord: Blackwell.

• Pannell, D.J. et al. 2006. ‘Understanding and promoting adoption o conservation practices by rural landholders’ Australian Journal o Experimental Agriculture 46(11): in press.

• van den Ban, A.W. and Hawkins, H.S. 1996. Agricultural Extension (2nd edn),Harlow: Longman.

• Vanclay, F. 2004. ‘Social principles or agricultural extension to assist inthe promotion o natural resource management’, Australian Journal o Experimental Agriculture 44(3): 213–222.

Glossary

Capacity building: involves externally and internally initiated processesdesigned to help individuals and groups appreciate and manage their changingcircumstances by increasing access to skills and resources.

Community engagement: the process by which the target group activelyparticipates in planning, development, implementation, decision-makingand evaluation.

Extension: the process o enabling change in individuals, communities andindustries involved in primary industries and natural resource management.

Market failure: re ers to situations when the ree market does not result inan optimal outcome, or when a desired outcome can not be provided by themarket, as is o ten the case with public goods. Market ailure is o ten regardedas a justifcation or government intervention.

Natural resource management (NRM): re ers both to the management o naturalresources, and also to the issues themselves. NRM includes a broad range o issues that a ect primary production and habitat protection, including salinityand declining water quality and quantity; pest, weed and eral animal issues;and land degradation.

Participation: the process o actively involving stakeholders in the developmentand delivery o projects and programs.

Policy instrument: a method or mechanism used by government andgovernment agencies as well as other institutions including business toachieve a desired e ect.

Public bene t: re ers to the advantages o an activity or practice that arecreated or the community as a whole, even i there is also a private beneft.Thus, when a armer plants a highly proftable tree crop in place o grain crops,they may generate both private benefts (greater commercial returns) and publicenvironmental benefts.

Target group: a subset o the community that has been identifed as theintended benefciary o the project or program.



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