Community Development Journal Advance Access originally published online on February 25, 2005
Community Development Journal 2005 40(3):313-328; doi:10.1093/cdj/bsi018
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The perceived effects of field-based learning in building responsive partnerships for community development
Department of Adult Education, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Address for correspondence: nthogo{at}hotmail.com
This paper argues for the use of field-based learning activities in the training of community-based extension workers (CBEWs). CBEWs are in a challenging position. They are expected to provide services to local communities in an integrated/coordinated manner. Thus, they require partnership skills to work as an effective group. Hermeneutic-phenomenological interviewing revealed that training systems in their current forms remain unable to address the partnership skill-needs of CBEWs. This paper argues for the re-orientation of the current training systems, to make field-based learning an integral element of the training systems.