National Agricultural Extension Services (NAES) are usually criticised for not doing enough, not doing what they do well enough, and not being relevant enough to clients/farmers. This criticism applies to many public service delivery organisations worldwide. Participatory approaches can improve them by making them more demand-driven and accountable. In this article I will describe how management and field staff of Ohangwena, a region of Namibia, have improved the efficiency and responsiveness of the services they offer by making them more participatory (see also Loureiro, 2002).
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