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"Let them transfer"

The challenge of second-order team training in socio-ecological integrated management

Nils Ferrand, Géraldine Abrami, Wanda Aquae-Gaudi

UMR/JRU G-EAU Managing Water, Stakeholders & Uses

IRSTEA : French National Institute for Research and Technology on Environment and Agriculture - Montpellier, FRANCE

www.irstea.fr

Pour mieux affirmer �ses missions, �le Cemagref devient Irstea

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Take-Home Insights

→ « Let them transfer» to learn how to change

2^nd order transfer as a strategy to foster better methodological integration and wider social extension
Adapted to complex methodological sequences
Tested in various cultural contexts
Issues with meta-rules and validity constraints

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Background & context

International applied research on multi-level governance and management, incl. social extension goals

Water & other Nat Res focus

CoOPLAaGE approach & toolkit development since 2007, with 110 Wat-A-Game case studies, worldwide

Cf. ECOS16 S10.14, Ferrand & alii, « Coupling […] »
> 3500 users, 350 trainees in 2015

Education / training on participatory methods & decision procedures, not on substantive « solutions »
All levels, all types of trainees (ministers, PMs, managers, scientists, citizens, students, pupils…)

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A typical process

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e.g. Natural Resource Management�in Africa (FP7 Afromaison 2011-2014)

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Co-design the process itself

Share equity preferences

Propose actions�Build and assess integrated strategies

Build own model�Simulate new actions and norms

Agriculture intensification and soil degradation in uncertain land tenure context

Proposal and validation of INRM plan in context of overexploitation of land and resources

Source: E. Hassenforder, 2015

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As multi-stakeholders process, coupling tools (Uganda)

Source: E. Hassenforder 2015

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Toward « deep » resilience and autonomy

Aiming at communities & institutions able to adapt and revise their own boundaries, within their own pre-set (i.e. fair) procedural / deliberative rules

= assess own situation & compare with values

= discuss goals, actions (options) and strategies

= assess possible consequences

= choose

= implement

= monitor & evaluate

→ → → capacity to analyse, decide & act, minimizing « external » dependency = autonomy (Castoriadis, Varela)

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Challenge: let them learn to change, if they wish

Support social change about practices, norms and deliberations on… change !

Focus on socio-ecological processes

But limited means, time, human resources to do it
Cultural, linguistic, legitimacy, relational barriers (for « us »)
And social change IS challenging

How can we support such large social change?

>>>Tested strategy = 2^nd order transfer

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2^nd order transfer

Getting some selected actors’ groups to quickly learn how to teach others in their own social environment how to address change

« Us » → « transfer group » → general population

→ Research on methods and tools to facilitate this process, and evaluate its impact at larger scale

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Recent cases

Uganda (FP7 Afromaison): 3rd order: us → 2 champions → 32 facilitators → ~1500 participants in 300 reg. events
Kenya (IMAWESA IFAD-IWMI): us → 9 traineers → 2 community groups → … ?
New-Caledonia (Fonds Pacifique): us → 7 traineers → 5 working groups
Costa-Rica & Nicaragua: us → 9+3 traineers → 4+3 transfer groups
Kiribatis (Fonds Pacifique): us → 3 traineers → 5 target groups
France (MSc courses): us → 22 + 80 students → 15 external extension groups

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Main protocol

« We » identify group level 1 (« traineers »)
Practical training on methods applied to the local real case study
Self-test
« They » select & engage their transfer groups
« They » repeat the process toward the transfer groups, under our loose coaching
Evaluation and debriefing
Autonomous extension under monitoring and evaluation

TOTAL timing ph 1-6 : 2 weeks maximum

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Key results & insights

Low control on final result… (« lâcher prise »)
Methods and tools must be free, adaptable, robust
Level 1 group selection is critical: for engagement, social position, freedom of innovation, stability
Targets « traineers » groups mainly: mutual support
Trade-off between accuracy & completeness vs. adaptability, relevance & quick delivery to be accepted
2^nd order challenge to be known early & planned
Legitimacy issues for more technocratic target groups
Process robust to cultural / context diversity
In Uganda, demonstrated multi-level transfer
Monitoring & evaluation critical but (as usual) tricky to get accepted and autonomized

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Conclusions & perspectives

A general process minimizing cost vs. impact for socio-environmental transformative processes
Adapted to low-tech open methods & tools
Can cope with complexity, but requires good 1st lv group

Ongoing developments:

Digital strategy (AgreenCamp) → e-learning for 2^nd order transfer challenges & groups training
Improving material attached to CoOPLAaGE toolkit
Phd on M&E of groups’ impacts

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2d order outscaling by training facilitators and full transfer

A wide international multi-level training program (2015: 350)
Training trainers by letting them « do » CoOPLAaGE on their own case study AND directly test it with a test group

(cf. ECOS S08-25 Let them transfer": The challenge of second-order team training in socio-ecological integrated management. Session 180 Aug 30, 15:15 Joffre)

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