How to strengthen existing FOs
Many farmer organizations that go through a high activity phase become inactive or defunct over a period of time. This is a normal process for many groups or FOs. VEWs can help the community to understand the reasons and causes for decline.
By reviewing the literature on groups and management, Chamala (1995b) identified twenty-six factors that factors, (2) service agency factors, (3) community factors, and (4) other external factors.
VEWs need to understand the factors that influence group or organization effectiveness or success (see details in Box 3). Many FOs have failed because of corruption, mismanagement, conflict, and lack of clear goals. It is important that VEWs understand these forces that influence their functioning. Several steps are suggested below to revive or revitalize existing FOs.
Box 3. Factors Influencing Community Group Effectiveness.
Group (FO) Internal Factors. At least ten factors are identified under this category:
1. Group composition
2. Group structure and size
3. Group atmosphere
4. Cohesion
5. Group standards and norms
6. Leadership styles
7. Balance between group maintenance needs, individual needs, and task needs
8. Level "group think" characteristics in the group
9. Development phase of the group
10. Group culture: empowering or controlling or a balance
Service Agency Factors. Government and nongovernment agencies can influence the effectiveness:
11. Technical capabilities of extension staff
12. Staff's "people skills" in managing groups
13. Staff attitudes and commitment to groups
14. Types of planning methods used: directive or participative, top-down or bottom-up, or balance of methods to maximize participation
15. Means or ends distinction: some groups are formed as means for development, while others are formed to harvest government subsidies. A group could get help, but it needs to mobilize its resources too.
16. Support for field extension officers
Community Factors. Groups and organizations are part of the community in which they exist. Hence the community influences a group's success.
Step 1. Understanding the Village Community and Gaining Their Trust
This step is similar to step 1 for establishing farmer organizations. The key factor here is for the VEW to gain the community's trust in order to help them develop.
Step 2. Talking to Leaders about Why FOs Are Less Active
Getting the multiple perspectives of identified leaders in the community informally is the next step. Putting pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together to understand why FOs are inactive requires diplomatic and detecting skills. The historical perspective of the FOs and various local factors that influenced their inaction must be obtained. The factors influencing community group effectiveness (Box 3) can be used as a guideline by selecting the relevant factors and ignoring the irrelevant ones.
Step 3. Seeking Ideas on Strengthening and Revitalizing Community FOs
Again, VEWs can talk to key leaders and seek their ideas on how to strengthen or revitalize the existing FOs or how to create new ones. It is the community's organization for their development, so the leaders' opinions and support should be obtained.
Step 4. Encouraging Local Leaders to Call Community Meetings
The VEW can help the leaders in setting up a community meeting to strengthen FOs or to form a new one.
The VEW can unobtrusively provide the format and make suggestions on how to conduct meetings and how to strengthen FOs.
Step 5. Establishing a Core Group of Leaders to Draft a Proposal
A core group of leaders or a steering committee will further deliberate, using the suggestions made by the members to design and develop a strategy to strengthen or revive the farmer organization.
Step 6. Getting Comments on and Community Endorsement of the Strategy
Leaders should be careful not to let the meetings and the community mood for "head hunting" or "apportioning the blame for the FO's inefficiency" to take control.
It is necessary to guide the community in a positive direction to develop working strategies. Several methods are available, such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, prioritizing, and action-planning methods. See Chamala and Mortiss (1990) and Carman and Keith (1994) for techniques on participative planning and community consultation.
Useful procedures are outlined in steps 7 to 10 in the section on establishing farmer organizations. It is important to help the community to understand that it is in everybody's interest to strengthen FOs with win-win strategies. Helping them to see beyond petty politics and personal jealousies and to develop inclusive principles for development is one of the main roles for extension personnel. Acquiring facilitation skills is important.