Small-Scale Farmers as Experts: Mitigating Secondary Injustices By Co-Designing Technology-Enhanced Learning Through Critical Digital Pedagogy

Small-scale farmers often suffer from poverty due to their dependence on unjust practices in global supply chains. On-farm training could help them address this, but it often lacks scalability and reach. Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) can tackle this issue but risks creating secondary injustices, such as epistemic injustice, by neglecting marginalized users’ unique needs, knowledge, and local context. This case study analyzes the process of co-designing a digital peer training model for marginalized users, in this case, cacao farmers in Nicaragua. The authors draw on comprehensive data from participatory action research, as well as facilitator conversations, surveys, informal discussions, and field observations. Based on the findings, the authors suggest a framework to mitigate the risks of introducing secondary injustices in TEL design through a critical digital pedagogy (CDP) lens.