This Course involves academic experts at the national and international level. The Experts are from the University of East Anglia, International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid and Tropics (ICRISAT), Panjab University, Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN), NNedPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). They possess a rich repository of community based knowledge of extension approaches as well as the latest approaches to extension, community resource management, and have worked with traditional knowledge systems of existing sustenance practices.  

The goal of this Course is to learn about creative extension approaches and communication strategies to address the wellbeing and empowerment of rural and urban communities, especially women and children, by producing and exchanging relevant contextual knowledge and practices. 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals 2015 provide for specific targets that can be achieved in the next 15 years. The emphasis is on “global partnership” involving collaboration between governments, the Major Groups such as women, children and youth, indigenous peoples, NGOs, local authorities, local communities and several other stakeholders. In the light of globalisation and modernisation, traditional knowledge systems and related resources are eroding among the younger generations, and there needs to be rapid intervention to prevent further loss for ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the economy, its resource base and social fabric. Using a variety of communication tools and channels can allow messages to shape mass media or interpersonal, small group, or community level campaigns. We need to move beyond traditional training and extension methods to listen to different stakeholders, especially from the communities, build on their knowledge, and thereby make the process both more creative and reciprocal.

This Course will equip learners with knowledge and skills on the latest creative tools in extension, training and advocacy, drawing on the community resources in indigenous communities. It is therefore important to reach a wider audience of students, academicians, frontline workers, NGO workers and women in rural and tribal belts of India. The will further help learners to help these communities in making informed choices that would go a long way in improving sustainability, and build a strong research base.

Course layout

Books and references

SLMs with web-links provided in additional readings

Instructor bio

Prof. Heena K. Bijli

Indira Gandhi National Open University

Prof. Heena K. Bijli is currently Professor in the School of Continuing Education, at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi and specializes in the area of Community Resource Management and Extension. Her academic career of over 24 years has spanned across universities like the Aligarh Muslim University, University of Delhi, the SNDT Women’s University, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, and Jamia Millia Islamia. Prof. Bijli is an active resource person for several institutes of higher learning and research, for core areas like Extension Education, Community Development, Non-formal Education, Communication for Development, Open and Distance Learning for Inclusive Education, Gender and Technology, Gender and Health, Corporate Social Responsibility, Resource Management, Event Management, Social Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Livelihoods. She has worked extensively with rural communities during her academic career. 

Prof. Bijli has been honored for outstanding contribution to her field by the University of Delhi.  She has authored a book titled Women and Health: Intersectional Issues and Social Constraints that centre-stages the issue of maternal health concerns of the most marginalized women in India. She has several research contributions and publications to her credit in the areas of Gender and Technology, Extension, Nutrition Extension, Panchayati Raj, Non-Formal Education, Open and Distance Learning, Curriculum Development for Open and Distance Learning, amongst many others. Prof. Bijli is a member of academic advisory boards, committees and statutory bodies of several universities including IGNOU. She has contributed to skill based MOOCs and programmes of study for IGNOU and has developed curriculum at the graduate, post graduate levels and for PhD programmes of different conventional and open universities.

Summary