Distance Learning for Food Security and Rural Development: FAO Perspective

["Irfan Khan" <khania@super.net.pk>]

Distance Learning for Food Security and Rural Development: A 
Perspective from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 
 

Scott McLean (University of Saskatchewan Extension Division), Lavinia 
Gasperini (Extension, Education and Communication Service, FAO) and 
Stephen Rudgard (WAICENT Outreach Programme)


Abstract

This article introduces the work of the United Nations Food and 
Agriculture Organization (FAO), and describes its interest in the 
application of distance learning strategies pertinent to the 
challenges of food security and rural development around the world. 
The article briefly reviews pertinent examples of distance learning, 
both from the experience of FAO and elsewhere, and summarises a 
complex debate about the potential of distance learning in developing 
countries. The paper elaborates five practical suggestions for 
applying distance learning strategies to the challenges of food 
security and rural development. The purpose of publishing this 
article is both to disseminate our ideas about distance learning to 
interested professional and scholarly audiences around the world, and 
to seek feedback from those audiences.


read complete paper at http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.1/mclean.html