A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

A agricultura alternativa, nas suas diversas correntes, está conquistando, cada vez mais, a confiança dos agricultores e, por conseguinte, um importante espaço nos debates acadêmicos. A cada ano é crescente o número de famílias que vêm transformando seu sistema de produção agrícola convencional em outro alternativo. Está também, no centro dessa discussão, o fato de que as relações estabelecidas entre o homem e o ambiente, nos últimos anos, têm sido completamente fragmentadas, sendo a natureza tratada como algo à parte do mundo social, construído, humano. Nesse sentido, algumas correntes da agricultura alternativa têm, dentre seus pressupostos, o objetivo de reduzir os impactos socioambientais gerados pelo modelo produtivista dominante, bem como fortalecer o reconhecimento dos seres humanos enquanto pertencentes ao ambiente. Contudo, as motivações que levam os agricultores a optar pela transição são as mais variadas, podendo ser tanto a intenção de promover uma mudança socioambiental partindo de uma concepção mais sistêmica do ambiente, como ver na agricultura alternativa um novo nicho de mercado, pensando, unicamente, no produto. Utilizando-se, portanto, o que é proposto no arcabouço teórico-metodológico da Perspectiva Orientada pelo Ator, tem-se visto que essas manifestações, tais como as que se mostram através da agricultura alternativa, são extremamente heterogêneas e passam por diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais. Essas estratégias, por sua vez, são construídas a partir de diversos elementos, como interesses, critérios, experiências, perspectivas e percepções. Esta última é considerada um primeiro acesso às atitudes, aos valores e às visões de mundo dos sujeitos perceptivos, estando, portanto, fortemente vinculadas à conduta. Com o objetivo de apreender qual a percepção ambiental dos agricultores que realizaram a transição da agricultura convencional para alternativa, e aqui especificamente, para uma agricultura de base ecológica, e verificar de que maneira essas percepções se manifestam no cotidiano e nas práticas dessas famílias, iniciou-se uma pesquisa de campo com os agricultores vinculados à Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS). Para isso, utilizou-se, como ferramenta analítica, o estudo das percepções ambientais. Como técnicas de coletas de dados fez-se uso das entrevistas semiestruturadas, da associação livre de palavras, da observação não-participante e do diário de campo, sendo as três últimas tratadas como técnicas complementares. A partir da análise dos dados coletados pôde-se concluir que são diversas as percepções ambientais dos agricultores ecológicos da ECOCITRUS, as quais vão desde aquelas mais sistêmicas às mais antropocêntricas. Não obstante, essas percepções organizam-se em tendências, uma vez que compartilham algumas características. Conclui-se também que essas percepções se traduzem nas diferentes estratégias adotadas pelos atores sociais, mesmo diante de condições estruturais semelhantes. Essas estratégias manifestam-se, contudo, nas práticas que não estão vinculadas à produção ecológica de citros, chegando a ser, em alguns casos, completamente antagônicas às propostas da agricultura de base ecológica. / The alternative agriculture, in its various currents, is acquiring more and more the confidence of farmers and, therefore, an important space in academic debates. Each year there are an increasing number of families which are transforming their conventional system of agricultural production in alternative ones. It is also at the heart of this discussion the fact that the relationship between man and the environment, in recent years, have been quite fragmented. The nature has being treated as something aside of the social, built and human world. Accordingly, some current of the alternative agriculture have, among its assumptions, the objective of reducing the social impacts generated by the dominant model of production, and strengthen the recognition of human beings as belonging to the environment. However, the motivations that lead farmers to choose the transition are varied, being or the intention to promote a social change from a more systemic perception of environmental or the search of a new niche market, from the alternative agriculture, thinking only in the product. Therefore, by using what by proposed in the theoretical and methodological actor-oriented approach, it has been seen that such manifestations, such as those shown by the alternative agriculture, are extremely heterogeneous and go through different strategies adopted by social actors. These strategies, in turn, are constructed from various elements, such as interests, criteria, experiences, perspectives and perceptions. The latter is considered a first access to the attitudes, the values and visions of the world being strongly linked to behavior. With the aim of understanding which is the environmental perception of farmers that made the transition from conventional agriculture to alternative one, and here specifically to an ecological based agriculture; and to verify in what way these perceptions are manifested in daily life and practices of these families. A field research with farmers committed to the Cooperativa de Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí (ECOCITRUS) was done. For that, the study of environmental perceptions was used as analytical tool. As data collection techniques, semistructured interviews, free association techniques, non-participant observation and field journal were used, where the last three have been treated as complementary techniques. From the analysis of the collected data it was possible concluded that the ecological farmers have different environmental perceptions, which range from those more systemic to the most anthropocentric. However, these perceptions are organized into trends, since they share some characteristics. It is concluded that these perceptions are manifested in the different strategies adopted by social actors, even before similar structural conditions. However, these strategies are manifested on practices that are not linked to the ecological production of citrus, being in some cases completely antagonistic to the proposals of the ecological based agriculture.

Despite decades of development efforts to combat desertification processes in southern Zimbabwe, a development deadlock occurs. Using the local knowledge systems as a basis, and making an effort to strategically facilitate the revival of their capacity for checks and balances as a development approach, endogenous development could become more realistic. The actor-oriented RAAKS.methodology offers relevant tools for a case study'in which an insight into the processes of innovation is obtained in order to confirm this. The Charurnbira case study shows that many local interfaces hinder development. Although the facilitation of platform processes could enhance endogenous development, the external environment provides a serious constraint. The method employed did ndt permit broad conclusions, but a deeper examination of recent experiences suggested that by giving local people a greater say in natural resource use, local knowledge could be utilized more effectively and better use could be made of traditional management structures. / Development Administration / M.A. (Development Administration)

<p>The research reported here is a meta-evaluative case study of project evaluation in the context of Official Development Cooperation (ODC) in the education sector in Tanzania, where the particular focus is on capturing the relative values attached to evaluation by various stakeholder groups.</p><p>Perspectives from the constructivist paradigm are adopted, implying relativist ontology, subjectivist epistemology, and naturalistic interpretive methodology. Based on these perspectives, a review is provided of development theories and evaluation theories, including the actor-oriented approach to development, participatory monitoring & evaluation, utilization-focused evaluation, and responsive-constructivist evaluation. An exploratory qualitative case study strategy is taken, combining several complementary methods e.g. in-depth interviews, questionnaires, document analysis, and observations.</p><p>Evaluation is considered as an applied social research, implying a managerial and political purpose. It is a reflective interactive process, where the relevance, effectiveness and impact of an intervention in pursuit of certain objectives are assessed, adding value in order to construct knowledge for the enhancement of decision-making. In order to facilitate understanding of the cases under study, their structural contexts are investigated: 1) ODC evaluation systems and strategies (international/ macro context); and 2) ODC in the education sector in Tanzania (national/meso context). Each case (at local/micro level) is located within these contexts and analyzed applying a meta-evaluative framework.</p><p>Integrating the perspectives of the stakeholders, the study demonstrates the strengths of, and constraints on, each case, factors which are to some extent determined by their respective time-frames. A number of significant discrepancies between theory and practice in ODC evaluation are reported. Findings indicate the significance of constructing consensus values that are based on a synthesis of multiple stakeholders’ values and perspectives complementing each others. The study also find that evaluation ought to be used as a powerful tool in which the values, needs and aspirations of various stakeholder groups can be reflected, especially those of local communities, who are now too often powerless in ODC projects in the education sector.</p>

The research reported here is a meta-evaluative case study of project evaluation in the context of Official Development Cooperation (ODC) in the education sector in Tanzania, where the particular focus is on capturing the relative values attached to evaluation by various stakeholder groups. Perspectives from the constructivist paradigm are adopted, implying relativist ontology, subjectivist epistemology, and naturalistic interpretive methodology. Based on these perspectives, a review is provided of development theories and evaluation theories, including the actor-oriented approach to development, participatory monitoring &amp; evaluation, utilization-focused evaluation, and responsive-constructivist evaluation. An exploratory qualitative case study strategy is taken, combining several complementary methods e.g. in-depth interviews, questionnaires, document analysis, and observations. Evaluation is considered as an applied social research, implying a managerial and political purpose. It is a reflective interactive process, where the relevance, effectiveness and impact of an intervention in pursuit of certain objectives are assessed, adding value in order to construct knowledge for the enhancement of decision-making. In order to facilitate understanding of the cases under study, their structural contexts are investigated: 1) ODC evaluation systems and strategies (international/ macro context); and 2) ODC in the education sector in Tanzania (national/meso context). Each case (at local/micro level) is located within these contexts and analyzed applying a meta-evaluative framework. Integrating the perspectives of the stakeholders, the study demonstrates the strengths of, and constraints on, each case, factors which are to some extent determined by their respective time-frames. A number of significant discrepancies between theory and practice in ODC evaluation are reported. Findings indicate the significance of constructing consensus values that are based on a synthesis of multiple stakeholders’ values and perspectives complementing each others. The study also find that evaluation ought to be used as a powerful tool in which the values, needs and aspirations of various stakeholder groups can be reflected, especially those of local communities, who are now too often powerless in ODC projects in the education sector.

Despite decades of development efforts to combat desertification processes in southern Zimbabwe, a development deadlock occurs. Using the local knowledge systems as a basis, and making an effort to strategically facilitate the revival of their capacity for checks and balances as a development approach, endogenous development could become more realistic. The actor-oriented RAAKS.methodology offers relevant tools for a case study'in which an insight into the processes of innovation is obtained in order to confirm this. The Charurnbira case study shows that many local interfaces hinder development. Although the facilitation of platform processes could enhance endogenous development, the external environment provides a serious constraint. The method employed did ndt permit broad conclusions, but a deeper examination of recent experiences suggested that by giving local people a greater say in natural resource use, local knowledge could be utilized more effectively and better use could be made of traditional management structures. / Development Administration / M.A. (Development Administration)