Abstract
Social learning is hypothesized to result in shared knowledge and skills, trust, self-efficacy, and democratic decision-making for collective action. This paper uses a multi-method approach, including ethnography and nonparametric and multivariate statistics, to test this hypothesis and describe what specific process characteristics can predict social learning outcomes. Data are based on two communities, each with a subset of members participating in social learning processes for communal timber management and collective Brazil nut marketing in the Bolivian Amazon. Those who participated in the social learning process had significantly more knowledge about communal forest management, gained more skills, were more active in specific management activities, and had more intentions to work collectively than those who did not. The development of trust during the process, the equal involvement of all who participated, and the presentation of various ideas were most predictive of these outcome variables.
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Acknowledgments
Funding was provided by an NSF Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) fellowship. Thanks to NGO directors and employees for their time providing and verifying data. The Centro de Investigación para le Preservación de la Amazonia Boliviana (CIPA) provided logistical support. Stephen Perz, Martha Monroe, Marianne Schmink, Bob Buschbacher, Christie Staudhammer, and Taylor Stein provided valuable feedback on initial drafts. Micaela Peralta and Nelson Gordillo assisted with data collection.
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Biedenweg, K., Monroe, M. Teasing Apart the Details: How Social Learning can Affect Collective Action in the Bolivian Amazon. Hum Ecol 41, 239–253 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9535-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-012-9535-y