“A National Initiative to
Internationalize Extension”
Project Abstract
Mary P. Andrews, Director International
Extension Programs
Michigan State
University Extension (MSUE) will assist the International Programs Office of
USDA-CSREES as the managing entity in launching a National Initiative to
Internationalize Extension. The program, over a 30 month period, will encourage
state extension systems to explore administrative and operational strategies to
enhance and sustain their capacity to provide educational services within their
states and regions concerning international issues and challenges. Such a
proactive international dimension will help citizens and special audiences in
appreciating the complex nature of global systems and in developing the
knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate for life in a dynamic and
interdependent world.
Background: The U.S. Cooperative Extension System
(CES) is a respected educational arm of the national land grant university
system in partnership with USDA. Historically CES has been a leader in moving
innovative ideas and practices from laboratories and university classrooms into
people’s fields, homes and communities. CES championed the formation of
producer cooperatives to assist farmers in being independent marketers of their
products and developing self-regulating mechanism for their industries. CES
worked with the private sector to provide broad-based information on production
inputs, farm and household equipment, and management practices to assist
producers and households in being educated consumers and independent decision
makers. CES has taken a lead role in promoting environmental stewardship,
sustainable natural resource utilization practices and energy conservation,
often in times when such ideas were not popular. But CES has taken-on the
challenges of bringing awareness and motivating action even before ideas are
popular and widely accepted. Such is the case with the globalization of our
daily lives. Few champions exist to question widespread and often negative
attitudes about international trade, global competition, labor and
environmental standards, and increasingly, responses to security threats.
Balanced and objective information is needed to help individuals and groups
assess their own ideas, recognize biases, search out information and develop
more informed and balanced positions on critical and often controversial
issues. This is the challenge of internationalizing all areas of Extension.
Various states
within the national CES have taken the initiative to develop their
international capacities to be better prepared to provide educational services
to their citizens about international concerns. However, many of these
initiatives have been ad hoc, relatively focused or short lived. Some states
have invested heavily in training and in-service education. Others have
developed statewide educational campaigns or major programming activities. And
still others have worked quietly and as best they could in putting out
“brush-fires” and responding to international concerns as they emerged or
threatened. Thus a variety of past activities is available to critique and
build from.
The Programming Strategy:
A three-year
national initiative of dialogue, development and experimentation will include
the following objectives:
Timeline: The project timeline is
Phase One: (July-Dec, 2002) The first activity of
the initiative will be the hosting of a national workshop to bring
leaders across CES into dialogue with each other over the current status of our
Extension internationalization efforts. Teams of middle managers and program
leaders will be invited for a three-day workshop. A “working” atmosphere will
be established with observations, presentations, small group dialogue and
program planning. A new dimension to be
introduced at the conference is the theoretical back grounding of the “Global
Interdependence Initiative (GII)” out of the Aspen Institute and USDA-CSREES
that would provide new tools for assessing educational messages and approaches.
To assist in appraising the current status of CES international efforts, a
survey of states will take place to document current structures and initiatives
and to update a mailing list of international contact persons throughout the
system.
Phase Two: (Jan 2003-June 2004) The
second activity of the initiative will be the implementation of a mini-grant
program. States would be encouraged to partner with other states or
entities within their states to create unique experimental programs of staff
training and outreach. Guidelines for the competition will be developed to
encourage cost sharing, partnerships and the exploration of unique approaches
or strategies that can be documented and assessed as to their viability and
effectiveness. A series of case studies of these experiences will be developed
as a product of the program to aid future efforts and encourage replication.
Additional resources may be sought to provide an overall meta-evaluation
framework to these mini-grant experiences.
Phase Three: (July-December 2004) The
third and final activity of the initiative will be hosting of a second
national conference to share mini-grant results and lessons learned and
recommend future directions for continuing internationalization efforts.
Although this conference would include representatives from many of the same
states that attended the first workshop, hopefully other states would also send
representatives and that the research and instructional programs of the land
grant system would be represented to assist in searching for ways to integrate
broader-based internationalization efforts. A final report will be compiled to
serve as a handbook for states in exploring internationalization strategies.
The individual case studies and the comprehensive analysis of the mini-grant
program will be included, along with the recommendations forthcoming from the
second national conference.
Management Strategy:
Michigan State
University Extension serves as the managing entity for this national initiative
working in close relations with the International Programs Office of
USDA-CSREES and a steering committee made up of national leaders in Extension.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Mary P. Andrews will serve as lead
coordinator of the effort. She has been the Director of the International
Extension Training Program (IETP) at MSU for over 20 years and has a national
reputation for her international training and consulting activities. Dr. Diane Ruonavaara, recent PhD in Resource
Development, current member of the State 4-H Youth staff and experienced
internationalist will assist Mary. One of her most notable educational
achievements has been her contribution to a unique peasant round-table, the Permanent Seminar for Rural Development
in Oaxaca, Mexico, where village representatives come together to assist each
other in problem solving. Diane has been involved in the IETP and serves as a
respected cross-cultural and international educator.
Steering Committee: A steering committee of 11 individuals
and two alternates serves as a sounding board and development team to assist in
setting policies and directions. This group represents each of the Extension
regions and the 1890 and 1994 Institutions. Also included in this group are two
members of the USDA-CSREES International Programs Office. Although at least one
or two face-to-face meetings of this group are anticipated, the main method of
communications and work will be through email and conference calls.
Network Development: A major but secondary effort of the
initiative will be the development of a website to serve as a communications
hub and clearinghouse for information, resource materials and contacts to other
websites throughout the system. Special efforts will be taken to communicate
with and involve in this initiative NASULGC, ECOP, ESCOP, ICOP, AIARD, AIAEE
and other groups associated with GASEPA and international interests from the
land grant system.
Products:
A series of
products will be forthcoming from the initiative:
Evaluation: A series of monitoring and evaluation
activities will be organized to assess progress and develop analytical insights
into the evolving internationalization process. Annual reports will be
developed to present to USDA-CSREES and any other funding source. But
additionally, each event or major phase of the project will produce an output
that summarizes the key results and lessons learned from that activity. Ideally
a meta evaluation strategy will be incorporated into
the mini-grant program, with a set of impact indicators available to document
progress at the state level in internationalizing staff and programs.
Benefits:
A variety of
benefits are anticipated as a result of this national initiative. Included, but
not limited, are: