Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Agriculture and Human Values https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-09906-x SYMPOSIUM/SPECIAL ISSUE Farming for change: developing a participatory curriculum on agroecology, nutrition, climate change and social equity in Malawi and Tanzania Rachel Bezner Kerr 1  · Sera L. Young 2  · Carrie Young 3  · Marianne V. Santoso 4  · Mufunanji Magalasi 5  · Martin Entz 6  · Esther Lupafya 7  · Laifolo Dakishoni 7  · Vicki Morrone 8  · David Wolfe 9  · Sieglinde S. Snapp 10 Accepted: 18 December 2018 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract How to engage farmers that have limited formal education is at the foundation of environmentally-sound and equitable agri- cultural development. Yet there are few examples of curricula that support the co-development of knowledge with farmers. While transdisciplinary and participatory techniques are considered key components of agroecology, how to do so is rarely specifed and few materials are available, especially those relevant to smallholder farmers with limited formal education in Sub-Saharan Africa. The few training materials that exist provide appropriate methods, such as compost making, but do not explain relationships and synergies between nutrition, social inequalities, climate change and agroecology. Some food sovereignty and agroecology courses aim at popular political education for those with more formal education. Here we describe the process of development of an innovative curriculum, which integrates agroecology, nutrition, climate change, gender and other dimensions of social equity across 2 weeks of training explicitly for smallholders in southern Africa with limited formal education. The curriculum is highly participatory; we use concepts in popular education, transformative and experiential-based learning, and theatre. It is also integrative; we link agroecology with climate change, human and soil nutrition, gender, and related components of social equity. Developed in partnership with Malawian farmers, community development experts and academics from fve countries, the curriculum was piloted with 520 smallholder farming households in Malawi and Tanzania, and evaluated using qualitative techniques. Clashes of language, cultural norms, and terminology were as great of a challenge as agreeing on and conveying technical information, to weave into a coherent whole. However, farmers who participated in the curriculum training demonstrated high interest, comprehension of material and interest in immediate application to their lives. Keywords Critical food systems education · Agroecology · Transdisciplinary · Food sovereignty · Gender · Critical pedagogy Abbreviations HIV Human immunodefciency virus NGO Non-governmental organization PAR Participatory action research SFHC Soils, Food and Healthy Communities organization Introduction Food sovereignty is a long way from lived reality in southern and eastern Africa. Chronic food insecurity and malnutrition are persistent problems for smallholder farming households in rural Tanzania and Malawi; two-thirds of households in Tanzania and at least one-third in Malawi experience food insecurity annually (Ellis and Manda 2012; Knueppel et al. 2010; National Bureau of Statistics and ICF Macro 2017). Key reasons for this food insecurity include poverty, persis- tent inequality and marginalization in the political system for smallholder farmers, and severe land degradation in south- ern and eastern Africa, including high rates of deforestation and soil degradation (Kangalawe et al. 2008; Zulu 2010). Further, gender inequality also contributes to food insecurity * Rachel Bezner Kerr rbeznerkerr@cornell.edu Extended author information available on the last page of the article