IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4180-d182522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effect of Inter-Organisational Collaboration Networks on Climate Knowledge Flows and Communication to Pastoralists in Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Chidiebere Ofoegbu

    (African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa)

  • Mark George New

    (African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa
    School of International Development, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK)

  • Kibet Staline

    (Department of Land Resource Management & Agricultural Technology, University of Nairobi Kenya, Nairobi 00100, Kenya)

Abstract

In Kenya, pastoralists have utilized natural grasslands using practices that often result in overgrazing, low productivity and low income. Such practices have caused environmental problems, which could be exacerbated by climate change. Although knowledge on practices that increase pastoralists’ capacity to adapt to climate and environmental challenges is currently available, the adoption rate remains poor. Hence, there is growing interest in understanding how cross-scale inter-organizational collaboration process either facilitates or hinders climate knowledge communications to and uptake by pastoralists. This study used network analysis to identify how inter-organizational collaborations in knowledge production and dissemination shape knowledge flow and communication to pastoralists in Kenya. A knowledge mapping workshop, key informant interviews and questionnaire surveys were used to identify the key organizations involved in the generation, brokering, and dissemination of adaptation knowledge to pastoralists. Two networks of configurations were explored: (i) relations of collaboration in knowledge production and (ii) relations of collaboration in knowledge dissemination. Measure of clustering coefficient, density, core-periphery location, and degree centrality were used to analyze the network structure and cohesion, and its influence on knowledge flow and adoption. Findings revealed a strong integration across the network with research institutes, NGOs (Non-governmental organizations), and CBOs (Community based organizations) identified as among the central actors, based on their degree centrality. Further, we observed a higher density of ties among actors in the knowledge production network than the dissemination network. The lower density of the dissemination network indicates there are not that many activities by key organizations aimed at ensuring that knowledge reaches the users, compared to activities related to knowledge generation. This also results in poor feedback processes from local pastoralists to knowledge generators and brokers. Knowledge transfer and uptake could therefore be enhanced by improving dissemination activities and feedback mechanisms in the dissemination network as a means of capturing pastoralist perspectives on the relevance, reliability, and usability of knowledge for action. Reflection and revision can be used to improve knowledge so that it is more in sync with a pastoralist context.

Suggested Citation

  • Chidiebere Ofoegbu & Mark George New & Kibet Staline, 2018. "The Effect of Inter-Organisational Collaboration Networks on Climate Knowledge Flows and Communication to Pastoralists in Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4180-:d:182522
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4180/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4180/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Conley & Udry Christopher, 2001. "Social Learning Through Networks: The Adoption of New Agricultural Technologies in Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 668-673.
    2. Luseno, Winnie K. & McPeak, John G. & Barrett, Christopher B. & Little, Peter D. & Gebru, Getachew, 2003. "Assessing the Value of Climate Forecast Information for Pastoralists: Evidence from Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(9), pages 1477-1494, September.
    3. Bruce Evan Goldstein & William Hale Butler, 2010. "Expanding the Scope and Impact of Collaborative Planning," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(2), pages 238-249, April.
    4. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    5. Borg, Riikka & Toikka, Arho & Primmer, Eeva, 2015. "Social capital and governance: a social network analysis of forest biodiversity collaboration in Central Finland," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 90-97.
    6. Eric Abrahamson & Lori Rosenkopf, 1997. "Social Network Effects on the Extent of Innovation Diffusion: A Computer Simulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(3), pages 289-309, June.
    7. Oecd, 2009. "Climate Change and Africa," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 5-35.
    8. Chinwe Ifejika Speranza, 2010. "Drought Coping and Adaptation Strategies: Understanding Adaptations to Climate Change in Agro-pastoral Livestock Production in Makueni District, Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(5), pages 623-642, December.
    9. James Risbey & Milind Kandlikar & Hadi Dowlatabadi & Dean Graetz, 1999. "Scale, context, and decision making in agricultural adaptation to climate variability and change," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 137-165, June.
    10. Peter D. Little & Kevin Smith & Barbara A. Cellarius & D. Layne Coppock & Christopher Barrett, 2001. "Avoiding Disaster: Diversification and Risk Management among East African Herders," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 401-433, June.
    11. Thornton, P.K. & van de Steeg, J. & Notenbaert, A. & Herrero, M., 2009. "The impacts of climate change on livestock and livestock systems in developing countries: A review of what we know and what we need to know," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 113-127, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mateusz Naramski & Adam R. Szromek, 2019. "Configuring a Trust-based Inter-organizational Cooperation Network for Post-industrial Tourist Organizations on a Tourist Route," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Kimberly Pugel & Amy Javernick-Will & Matthew Koschmann & Shawn Peabody & Karl Linden, 2020. "Adapting Collaborative Approaches for Service Provision to Low-Income Countries: Expert Panel Results," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-26, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philippe Delacote & Julia Girard & Antoine Leblois, 2019. "Agricultural households' adaptation to weather shocks in Sub-Saharan Africa: What implications for land-use change and deforestation," Working Papers 1902, Chaire Economie du climat.
    2. Giuseppe Maggio & Marina Mastrorillo & Nicholas J. Sitko, 2022. "Adapting to High Temperatures: Effect of Farm Practices and Their Adoption Duration on Total Value of Crop Production in Uganda," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 385-403, January.
    3. Dilshad Ahmad & Muhammad Afzal, 2021. "Impact of climate change on pastoralists’ resilience and sustainable mitigation in Punjab, Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 11406-11426, August.
    4. Mandleni, B. & Anim, F.D.K., 2011. "Climate Change Awareness And Decision On Adaptation Measures By Livestock Farmers," 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 108794, Agricultural Economics Society.
    5. Sèyi Fridaïus Ulrich Vanvanhossou & Luc Hippolyte Dossa & Sven König, 2021. "Sustainable Management of Animal Genetic Resources to Improve Low-Input Livestock Production: Insights into Local Beninese Cattle Populations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Crook, David R. & Robinson, Brian E. & Li, Ping, 2020. "The Impact of Snowstorms, Droughts and Locust Outbreaks on Livestock Production in Inner Mongolia: Anticipation and Adaptation to Environmental Shocks," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    7. Headey, Derek & Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum & You, Liangzhi, 2014. "Diversification and Development in Pastoralist Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 200-213.
    8. Sauer, Johannes & Finger, Robert, 2014. "Climate Risk Management Strategies in Agriculture – The Case of Flood Risk," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 172679, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Lenis Saweda O. Liverpool-Tasie & Awa Sanou & Justice A. Tambo, 2019. "Climate change adaptation among poultry farmers: evidence from Nigeria," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 527-544, December.
    10. Ayu Pratiwi & Aya Suzuki, 2017. "Effects of farmers’ social networks on knowledge acquisition: lessons from agricultural training in rural Indonesia," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, December.
    11. Manuel Portugal Ferreira & Fernando Ribeiro Serra & Emerson Maccari, 2013. "When the innovator fails to capture rents from innovation," Working Papers 101, globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
    12. Wolfram Laube & Benjamin Schraven & Martha Awo, 2012. "Smallholder adaptation to climate change: dynamics and limits in Northern Ghana," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 753-774, April.
    13. Tahereh Zobeidi & Jafar Yaghoubi & Masoud Yazdanpanah, 2022. "Developing a paradigm model for the analysis of farmers' adaptation to water scarcity," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 5400-5425, April.
    14. Sanga, Udita & Sidibé, Amadou & Olabisi, Laura Schmitt, 2021. "Dynamic pathways of barriers and opportunities for food security and climate adaptation in Southern Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Muhammad Irshad Ahmad & Hengyun Ma, 2020. "Climate Change and Livelihood Vulnerability in Mixed Crop–Livestock Areas: The Case of Province Punjab, Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-31, January.
    16. Ashenafi Yimam Kassaye & Guangcheng Shao & Xiaojun Wang & Marye Belete, 2022. "Evaluating the practices of climate-smart agriculture sustainability in Ethiopia using geocybernetic assessment matrix," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 724-764, January.
    17. Joseph Daron, 2015. "Challenges in using a Robust Decision Making approach to guide climate change adaptation in South Africa," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 459-473, October.
    18. Kabubo-Mariara, Jane, 2009. "Global warming and livestock husbandry in Kenya: Impacts and adaptations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1915-1924, May.
    19. Gregory Chingala & Cletos Mapiye & Emiliano Raffrenato & Louw Hoffman & Kennedy Dzama, 2017. "Determinants of smallholder farmers’ perceptions of impact of climate change on beef production in Malawi," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 129-141, May.
    20. Carla Roncoli & Benjamin Orlove & Merit Kabugo & Milton Waiswa, 2011. "Cultural styles of participation in farmers’ discussions of seasonal climate forecasts in Uganda," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(1), pages 123-138, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4180-:d:182522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.