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Area	Bani Knanah County
Place	Irbid City
Country	Jordan
Topics	Agriculture / Rural development
Author(s)	Amal-Kanimozhi-Kamolshanok-Doraed

Landscape Democracy Rationale

Why do you think this community context is relevant from a landscape democracy perspective? What is your hypothesis considering the landscape democracy challenges?
It is a rural region with good agricultural land and natural resources. meanwhile, farmers in this community are facing some issues regarding their activities which make it less profitable and force them to live in bad economic situation. these farmers are not involved on the policy making process. which make the national or state policies to play a negative role in their community

Location and scope

The Location is located in Jordan.
Our main focus area is the Bani kinanah county, Irbid City.

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Phase A: Mapping your Community

Welcome to your community and its landscape

Bani Kinanah County is one of nine counties in Irbid. It represents an important center for agriculture because of the breadth of its fertile land, its rich red soil and its moderate climate. It is one of the largest counties in Irbid governorate in terms of population, the majority of its residents work in the public sector, trade and agriculture. The county includes 27 towns with population ranging between 165 and 11706 inhabitants The county is an extension of three types of terrains; plain, mountain and valley. Its land is considered as one of the richest agricultural lands in the country where it produces about 11% of total olives productions in Jordan.

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Groups of actors and stakeholders in our community

1- smallholder farmers : Involved in Small agricultural businesses / local trading or family consumption .

2- stakeholder farmers who are involved in large agricultural businesses / importing and exporting agricultural products & Agro-industrial businesses(like olive oil production) / local and international trading.

3- Jordanian Farmers union: Group of people from the civil society involved in the issues of the agricultural sector.

4- commuters Rural-Urban job commuters

5- local workers : people who have a job inside the county in the private or public sector .

6- King Abdullah fund for development: involved in the development and supporting of small and medium economic projects for people who don’t have a decent job. (Governmental organization).

7- Woman microfinance fund association : involved in the development of improving the socio-economics of women.

8- International NGO’s : involved in infrastructure development , economic development and refugees.

9- policy makers National policy maker (such as ministry of transportation / ministry of economics/ Ministry of agriculture) State policy makers (Greater Irbid Municipality ) Local policy makers

10- Local authorities / municipalities: involved in the monitoring and development.

11- Refugees

12- investors in tourism sector : local and national investors in the historical sites and natural resources in the region .

Relationships between your actors and groups

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Summary of your learnings from the transnational discussion panel on April 22

On April 22 you will present the PPT version of this first assignment to other seminar groups working in other geographical community contexts. Please give here a short summary of your learnings during this presentation, for example:

Other analytical approaches
Other representation styles
Other value schemes: any surprises?
Constructive comments we received on our presentation

Theory reflection

Focusing on the topics about poverty and economical developments, how to improve and integrated idea as proposal to the community.

Evolving liabilities of income by promoting agricultural and attraction sectors.

Indicated our main group of users as first priorities which are mainly farmers, local worker.

Difficulties:

Unable to access the community by ourselves, we worked based on collected information and assumption of how it will affect. In the region, almost all communities have the same evaluation and value with small differences. Have to assuming and eliminating some minor issues.

Reading / Theories relations:

Landscape based on economy : agricultural economy – farmers, workers. All interrelated to private and public sectors Stories behind cultural and historical Landscape. Change of Time related to quality of living. Feedback loop for planning, observing , monitoring action and reflection.

References

give a full list of the references you have used for this section

Phase B: Democratic Landscape Analysis and Assessment

The Scene in your Story of Analysis

The Actors in your Story of Analysis

The Story of Analysis

Reflect on your Story of Analysis

Phase C: Collaborative Visioning and Goal Setting

The Scene in your Story of Visioning

Landscape challenge : Urban growth / urban sprawl and its effect on agriculture activities

The goal: improving and encouraging agricultural activities to achieve economic returns to farmers and community

The vision: expanding the agricultural landscape and controlling the urban sprawl

The Actors in your Story of Visioning

Uncle Jack [35]

Status : Farmer Story : He’s diligent with farm works. Love farming. But he cannot make much profit with current situation.

Susan [25]

Status : Citizen She’s young adult who want to settle in city. But she think in the city still lacks facility and seem to undeveloped.

Sam [45]

Status : Policy Maker He’s always follow the rules and concern about the overall consideration. He’s thinking in very logical way.

Peter [29]

Status : Researcher He’s currently research about integration in the community. He want to find a way to help local people.

John [20]

Status : Uncle Jack’s nephew -Farmer Story : He’s only do his tasks. He’s also lack motivation to improve his skill.

Janie [32]

Status : Citizen She has a big family and like to spend time with them in the park and walking at streets. She want more green space.

Ken [30]

Status : Merchant / Seller He’s really talkative. He’s also the best seller in town. He want more products from farmers.

The Story of Visioning

Reflect on your Story of Visioning

Phase D: Collaborative Design, Transformation and Planning

Prototyping Action: Workshop on Mock-up Market

The Evolution of Your Prototyping Action

The Plan Behind Prototyping Action

To launch an action plan. We need several material resources such as agricultural lands, farming equipment, and especially funds. For running a workshop we also need specialists for each type of educations which will happen during the workshop. Besides, we need approvals and supports from the government, policymakers, local citizens, and stakeholders.

Timeframe for this project following: Start project: with proposals, gathering potential participants, then starting the workshop. In 6 months: workshop with open field studies, first build of a mock-up market. In 1 year: develop a mock-up market to 3 stalls per group -> promote mock-up market to local citizens, then open farmer market in a first community with small scale market. In 2 years: develop small market to medium size market and then open 2 more farmer markets in other communities, starting from small scale. In 3 years: Expanding from medium to large scale market, and open more 4 farmer markets in other communities. In 4-5 years:Establish the central farmer market in the region, and also local farmer market for possible area in region.