Academic network-building for agroecology and sustainable agri-food systems in Southeast Asia: critical reflections on a regional initiative

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses a regional academic network-building initiative that advocated university reforms to promote sustainable agriculture in Southeast Asia, and strengthen agroecological/agri-food systems knowledge in campus policies, research, curricula, and extension. Beginning in 2015 the network complemented global higher education responses to SDGs, IPCC Reports, ASEAN work-plans, FAO’s scaling-up agroecology initiative, UNESCO sustainability programming and more. University partners, farmer groups, research institutes, NGOs, regional organizations, governments, international agencies, and donors collaborated. This new Southeast Asian academic network was an innovation to address perceived gaps in other academic networks, alliances, or intergovernmental and non-government membership organizations. It facilitated cross-sectoral cooperation and transdisciplinary discussions with representatives of both specialized or mandated national agriculture colleges or universities as well as multi-purpose universities with agri-food faculties or schools. The network lost some momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic but FAO collaborating with SEAMEO-SEARCA and others initiated some follow-up online. Nonetheless, the initiative remains an unfinished experiment in regional network-building and academic reform. The paper contributes to literatures on higher education sustainability, regional learning, sustainable agri-food systems, and agroecological transitions while critically analyzing network aspirations, outputs, outcomes, and future research needs.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic reform
• agroecology transitions
• higher education institutions
• regional learning
• network-building
• Southeast Asia
• sustainable agri-food systems

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful for seed funding from SIANI partnering with SEI’s Asia Office for a small pilot project in early 2015 which led to establishing the HESA network. He especially thanks CUSAR for hosting HESA with support from Deputy Dean, Dr. Supawan Visetnoi and collaboration with Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Surichai Wun’gaeo. Both helped secure small Chulalongkorn University and Thai government grants for various HESA-related activities. Support from other institutions including AliSEA, APAARI, ASEAN, FAO, SEAMEO-SEARCA, and UNESCO was also instrumental in building the HESA network. Numerous scholars and universities across Southeast Asia, too many too mention individually, helped immensely to host national or regional meetings and coauthor various publications generously contributing valuable knowledge, time and campus resources. However, the author alone is responsible for research and writing of this paper. The analysis is not intended to speak for other scholars or the official views of any organizational partners. Finally, the author thanks two anonymous peer-reviewers for helpful suggestions to improve the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Currently ASEAN has 10 Member states: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam with various sectoral departments, committees, etc including separate units for both Education and Agriculture headquartered in Jakarta (www.aseansec.org). SEAMEO, headquartered in Bangkok represents Education Ministries of Southeast Asia with 11 Member states, overlapping with ASEAN plus Timor Leste (www.seameo.org).

2. Available on SIANI’s website and project home page: (www.siani.se/expert-groups/hesa). ALiSEA posted additional reports (https://ali-sea.org).

3. Recent national estimates by percentage (ranging lowest to highest) are: Thailand 8.5; Malaysia, 9.6; Philippines 10.1; Indonesia 13.3; Vietnam 14.85 (in 2020); Laos 16.1; Cambodia 22.8 and Myanmar 23.5%. Based on available 2021 data from “Agriculture, forestry and fishing value added (% of GDP),” World Development Indicators https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.AGR.TOTL.ZS (accessed 7 September 2022)

4. Registration on SIANI’s online membership platform (open world-wide) was required for direct beneficiaries of SIANI projects. Funding covered travel and meeting expenses for a limited number of academic experts selected by peers to represent national or regional events. No funding was available for research time or salaries except one part-time regional coordinator

5. HEIs represented were: Andalas University, Indonesia; Asian Institute of Technology; Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Philippines; Chulalongkorn University; Institute of Technology, Cambodia; Kasetsart University, Thailand; MJU, National Institute of Development Administration; Rajamangala University of Technology; Organic Agricultural Innovation Network; National University of Laos; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Universiti Putra Malaysia; Vietnam National University of Agriculture; Yogyakarta-Magelang Polytechnic in Agricultural Development. CGIAR agriculture research centers, NGOS, government and UN agencies attending included: ALiSEA; Thai Education Foundation; Asia Pacific Island Rural Advisory Services; FAO; UNESCO; National Education Policy Commission of Myanmar, Bioversity International; CIAT-CGIAR Hanoi.