Browsing by Author "Maat, Harro"

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    High-yielding seeds in unyielding environments : Examining the learning process of maize and bean producers in eastern and midwestern Uganda
    (SAGE Publications, 2021) Riungu, Claris; Maat, Harro; Van Den Berg, Marrit
    This paper examines the learning process by which farmers come to a decision to use newly introduced seeds which were promoted through demonstration plots in midwestern and eastern regions of Uganda. Framed as social and material interactions, we investigated the learning process of the demonstration plots using data from focus group discussions, interviews and a survey amongst 983 individuals. The results reveal several constraints that impede learning, resulting in an overall low awareness and adoption of the introduced seeds. Some of the most prominent constraints resulted from the selection of location and demonstration plot host, the distance of agro-dealers, at district headquarters, limited interactions amongst farmers and irregular involvement of farmers in the demonstrations. Moreover, the prominent role of agro-dealers at field days suggests that informing farmers about where to buy seeds was considered more important than explaining farmers how to grow these seeds profitably. This commercial focus of field days and demonstrations plots had negative consequences for the social learning. This paper contributes to the learning and adoption literature by showing that interactions amongst actors can improve or reduce the balance between didactic, social and environmental learning.
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    Towards Sustainable Community-Based Systems for Infectious Disease and Disaster Response; Lessons from Local Initiatives in Four African Countries
    (Sustainability, 2021) Maat, Harro; Balabanova, Dina; Mokuwa, Esther; Richards, Paul; Mohan, Vik; Ssengooba, Freddie; Twinomuhangi, Revocatus; Woldie, Mirkuzie; Mayhew, Susannah
    This paper explores the role of decentralised community-based care systems in achieving sustainable healthcare in resource-poor areas. Based on case studies from Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Uganda and Ethiopia, the paper argues that a community-based system of healthcare is more effective in the prevention, early diagnosis, and primary care in response to the zoonotic and infectious diseases associated with extreme weather events as well as their direct health impacts. Community-based systems of care have a more holistic view of the determinants of health and can integrate responses to health challenges, social wellbeing, ecological and economic viability. The case studies profiled in this paper reveal the importance of expanding notions of health to encompass the whole environment (physical and social, across time and space) in which people live, including the explicit recognition of ecological interests and their interconnections with health. While much work still needs to be done in defining and measuring successful community responses to health and other crises, we identify two potentially core criteria: the inclusion and integration of local knowledge in response planning and actions, and the involvement of researchers and practitioners, e.g., community-embedded health workers and NGO staff, as trusted key interlocuters in brokering knowledge and devising sustainable community systems of care.