Communicative action and reflection for engagement in a multistakeholder platform for problem solving: the Can Tho, Vietnam learning alliance

Innovations are usually forged through partnerships between people and institutions much like rice-based systems to solve agricultural challenges that are complex and uncertain. In the case rice-based innovation systems spearheaded by the International Rice Institute, multistakeholder platforms were formed. Multistakeholder platforms are socially shared spaces to implement agricultural research for development interventions. This is a platform where actors like farmers and researchers in the rice value chain use research-based farming practices to produce sustainable rice. In this sense, it is critical to establish strong partnerships among rice value chain actors to discuss problems and jointly determine solutions. However, little is known about what kind of communication dynamics and engagement occurred to organize and implement it, particularly, in a rice-based ecosystem. Using the Communicative Constitution of Organization as lens, a case study of a multistakeholder platform called Learning Alliance in Can Tho, Vietnam was investigated. Results revealed that using Learning Alliance for problems solving led to: (1)alignment of stakeholders' interest explicated by the changes in stakeholder (source/receiver) in every Learning Alliance activity and the problem/challenges tackled (message); (2)increase in adoption of government promoted best management practices; (3)showed positive and significant relationships between government-supported best practices and communication processes dealing with social networks (informal and extension agents), learning events, and media. Serendipitously, unintended outcomes may happen such as discontinuation of Learning Alliance among its external stakeholders and in larger systems, resulting to its discontinuance. Suffice to say that in an organization, the interactive process of interfacing with one another can be explained as a Communicative Action and Reflection for Engagement (CARE) process. CARE proposes typologies for engagement of a multistakeholder platform for problem solving such as Intervention-led, Intermediary-led, and Community-led. These typologies aim to guide future facilitators who can be scientists and development communicators, to efficiently facilitate agricultural innovations across different contexts and scales.