Helen Hambly Odame, Associate Professor

Page Contents
Research Profile | Research Contributions | Other Scholarly Contributions | Teaching Contributions | Contact Details

Research Profile

My research focuses on communication and learning processes in agriculture, environment and rural development, both internationally and in Canada. Gender analysis of household and community issues in rural areas has also been a focus in my work.

These areas are integral to the study and teaching of capacity development and extension, our graduate program at the Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph.

Systems thinking strongly influence our field of scholarship and specifically, the concept of systems of innovation to enhance agriculture and rural societies.

Internationally, I am involved in research on rural radio in Africa, agroforestry extension in Ghana and more theoretical work on systems of innovation in Africa. In Canada, I concentrate on rural broadband in Ontario and community media partnerships between First Nations and Africa.


Research Contributions

Refereed Co-Authored Books:
Trenholm, Sarah, Arthur Jensen & Helen Hambly. (2010). Interpersonal Communication. First Canadian Edition, Oxford University Press, Toronto, Canada.

Hambly Odame, Helen. (Guest Editor) (2005). Gender, ICTs and Development. Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Gijsbers, Govert, Willem Janssen, Helen Hambly Odame & Gerdien Meijerink. Eds. (2001). Planning Agricultural Research: A Sourcebook. Oxford, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau International (CABI) Publishers.

Chapters in Refereed Books:
Hambly, Helen, Helen Aitkin & Tanis McKnight. (forthcoming). "Three Helens: Canadian Women in International Farm Radio" In Women and Radio in Canada. Ed. Geneviève A. Bonin, McGill-Queen's University Press.

*Hambly, Helen. (2002). "Men in Women's Groups". In Masculinity Matters: Men and Development. Ed. Francis Cleaver, Zed Books, UK. Pp.138-165

Papers in Refereed Journals (Last Six Years):
*Arku, C.*, Odame, H. H. and Arku, S. F. (In press) Seeing through the Eyes of Beneficiaries: The link between Microfinance and Well-being in Rural Ghana "Business and Economics" (Accepted for publication, coming out in 2010) New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Pant, L. P. & H. Hambly Odame (2009). Innovations systems in renewable natural resource management and sustainable agriculture: a literature review. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 1(1):107-140.

Pant, L. P. & Hambly Odame, H. (2009). The Promise of Positive Deviants: Bridging Divides between Scientific Research and Local Practices in Smallholder Agriculture. The Knowledge Management for Development Journal 5 (2): 138-150.

Pant. L.P. & H. Hambly Odame. (2007). "Multi-stakeholder deliberation on dialectical divides: an operational principle of the systems of innovation". Knowledge Management for Development Journal. 2(3): 60-74.

Mahoney, Margaret, Victoria Henson-Appollonio & Helen Hambly Odame. (2004). "Strategies for Management for Intellectual Property Rights in Developing Countries and the Role of Farmers' Associations". ISNAR Briefing Paper 78. The Hague.

Hambly Odame, Helen. (2003). "Connecting the Two Stations of Agricultural Research and Rural Radio". Journal of Development Communications. 23(1):116-132.

Eley, Robert, Habib Ibrahim, Helen Hambly, M. Demeke & Michael Smalley. (2003). "The ILRI Graduate Fellows Programme: A Case Study of Impact (1978-97)". Journal of Extension and Training. 45(3).

Papers in Refereed Conference Proceedings:
*Hambly Odame, Helen. (2006). "Men in the Movement: Masculinity in Communication for Development" Proceedings of the World Congress on Communication and Development, October 25-27, 2006, Rome, Italy

Hambly Odame, Helen. (2005). Linking Agricultural Research and Rural Radio in Africa. Radio in the World. Proceedings of the Radio Conference 2005, 11 - 14 July 2005, Melbourne, Australia, RMIT Publishing, Melbourne, Australia.

Hambly Odame, Helen. (2004). "Gender and the Information Society", CTA Highlights Publication. CTA: Wageningen. [Accessed Nov. 11, 2007 http://www.cta.int/pubs/gender/index.htm]

Technical/Research Reports (Unpublished):
Hambly Odame, Helen & Silvia Sarapura. (2009). "Capacity Development for Gender Equality in Rural Employment" FAO/IFAD/ILO International Conference on Gender and Rural Employment, March 16-18, 2009, Rome, Italy

Pant, L.P. & Hambly Odame, H. (2008). Assessing Social Innovations in Agricultural Research and Development Partnerships. Workshop on Rethinking Impact: Understanding the Complexity of Poverty and Change at the CIAT Headquarters in Cali, Colombia, March 26-28, 2008.

Ekboir, Javier & Helen Hambly. (2007). A Learning Alliance in Agricultural Innovation Systems: Report of a Scoping Mission. Agricultural and Rural Development Division, World Bank, Washington D.C..

Hambly, Helen, John Fitzsimons, Laxmi Prasad Pant & Peter Sykanda. (2007). Innovations in farm families and rural communities: Capacity development for broadband use in southern Ontario. Guelph: School of Environmental Design and Rural Development: University of Guelph.

* SSHRC (Tri-Council) supported publication


Other Scholarly Contributions
  • Founding member of the Gender in Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) action research program in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, supported by the European Union, IDRC and IICD since 2000.
  • Member of the International Advisory Committee for the African Farm Radio Research Initiative, Farm Radio International supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2007-10).
  • Member of the Consortium for Communication for Social Change University Network including external reviewer/ lecturer for Masters programs at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication, University of the West Indies & Malmö University, Sweden (2004 - present)
  • Chair of the Mid-Term Review for the CAS-Intellectual Property of the CGIAR (2010).
    http://www.cas-ip.org/review/
  • Contributing editor/author to the 2010 World Bank Sourcebook on Agricultural Innovation Systems.

Teaching Contributions
  • Undergraduate coordinator/Coordinator DE Certificate in Communication Process (2007- present)
  • Graduate coordinator, Capacity Development & Extension (2010 – present)
Courses Taught (since 2003)

Undergraduate courses
    • Research Proposal Development
    • Seminar in International Agriculture
    • Teaching and Learning in Non-Formal Education
    • Interpersonal Communication
    • Educational Communication
    • International Communication
    • Organizational Communication
Graduate courses
    • Development Communication
    • Decision Making and Conflict Management
    • Qualitative Methods

Contact Details

Dr. Helen Hambly Odame
Room 119
Landscape Architecture
School of Environmental Design & Rural Development
Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1

519-824-4120 x53408



This page was last updated on June 22, 2010

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