A young woman teaches a member of her community about a new pair of cocoa pruning scissors. Image: Swisscontact
When it comes to being an influencer on Instagram and other social media platforms, women rule the roost. But, social media isn’t the only domain where women lead – they can also be the drivers of change in their local communities and lead the implementation of new sustainability and development initiatives, according to a new study published today in Agriculture and Human Values.
Led by Associate Professor Petr Matous from the University of Sydney's Faculty of Engineering, the study analysed the social networks of agricultural communities on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia to determine which members of agricultural communities could spur change for good, in the context of international development work and sustainability programs.
The researchers conducted a survey of over 2,000 farmers who were asked to identify the most influential opinion leaders in their communities: people defined as those they consulted for advice and information on farming.
The respondents identified eighteen popular opinion leaders, who were then selected for a further experiment where they were asked to convince as many other farmers as possible to improve the health of their cocoa trees with pruning scissors donated by the program. Among these perceived opinion leaders, older males dominated the rankings.
As a comparison, a second group of eighteen farmers was then selected at random, comprising a larger proportion of young farmers and women who had not been selected in the initial survey as agricultural opinion leaders.
