Mitchell Centre Seminar Series
| Dates: | 7 March 2018 |
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| Times: | 16:00 - 17:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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Angela Mae Minas, Sarah Mander and Patricia Thornley, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Civil Engineering and the University of Manchester
With the shift in approach to rural development towards social innovation – where knowledge and technology are co-created with communities instead of transferred – farmers have new opportunities to co-design solutions that meet their development needs.
Focusing on rice straw bioenergy development in Southeast Asia, we used network mapping to explore how farmers can mobilise resources within the community and allow them to actively engage in a potential business model for bioenergy. Specifically, we employed a qualitative network research approach to map how farmers in the Philippines and Vietnam make postproduction decisions through their egocentered networks, and also elicit stories about their interactions. This allowed us to develop insights on who among farmers’ networks has the most influence on decision making.
Rural communities tend to have strong social relationships. Southeast Asian communities, in particular, have been described by scholars to have ‘vibrant and supportive’ personal networks. Thus, engaging farmers in a social innovation – as the aim of rice straw bioenergy – relies heavily on the quality of their connections.
By mapping decision making, we learned how farmers’ egocentered networks can support social innovation and help deliver wider sustainable development benefits in rural communities.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
A114
Samuel Alexander Building
Manchester
