TRAINING AND EXTENSION (T&E)
About The Department
It is the Training and Extension (T&E) Division that is charged with the responsibility of implementing AICAD’S training programmes. These relate to:
a) Universities’ Outreach Activities
b) Community Empowerment Programme
c) Training courses
TRAINING AND EXTENSION DIVISION
AICAD organizes short training courses (2-5 weeks) to solve identified socio-economic problems. 3 main categories:
- • Regional training courses
• In-country training courses
• Grassroots training courses
Regional Training Courses
These generally target officers who provide services to their communities, and who are in a position to use experiences of the training to inform the wider public.
- • Provide a forum where officers within the African region can share experiences and explore solutions to similar problems.
• Equip officers with knowledge and skills for improving their practice.
• Provide a foundation for attitude change.
• Build capacities that will be used to benefit their home communities.
• Provide a forum for comparing current and best practice
NUMBER OF REGIONAL TRAINING COURSES IMPLEMENTED
In-Country Training Courses
- • Designed to address various specific community needs. These needs are identified from broad themes and include for example improved agricultural production, value addition, enterprise development, health and sanitation etc.
• Participants to the courses are identified through the involvement of communities they come from and are involved in various sectors e.g. farmers, traders, women.
Grassroots training courses
- • These are a second version of the in-country courses that are normally carried out on-site, that is where participants live.
• They deal with smaller and specific aspects of courses and themes carried out at AICAD central venues.
Courses currently running
- • Irrigation and Water Resources Management
• Enterprise Development
• Value Addition
• Rural Women Empowerment
• Grassroots Training
• Export Trade of Commercial Crafts
NUMBER OF IN-COUNTRY TRAINING COURSES IMPLEMENTED
Some impacts from training
Value Addition
-Created awareness of opportunities offered by value addition esp. root crops, cassava, sweet potatoes and groundnuts.
-Imparted skills in development of products – a good number of ex-trainees were able to demonstrate production of market-appropriate products.
-Many trainees reported that they are now processing products for the local market & have improved their marketability through proper packaging, labeling and storage.
-Some trainees have adopted use of a few postharvest technologies, including drying and preservation of vegetables and pressing oils from various crops.
-Livelihoods improved. Trainees reported ‗able to pay school fees, ‗buy assets (cow) using savings‘, ‗improved health‘.
Irrigation and Water
Resources Management
-Efforts made by farmers to apply new technology and introduce new crops e.g. sweet potatoes, water conservation and use of compost.
-Expanded area under cultivation & increased profit levels.
-New thinking – farming as a business & marketing of products
Enterprise Development
-Farmers visited were able to demonstrate high levels of knowledge & skills in business management, ability to conduct market surveys, manage inputs, maintain records & market their produce. Ability to negotiate e.g. contracting, renting land etc.
-Improved customer relations, ability to evaluate performance of business.
COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME
The Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) is a community oriented programme targeting selected community groups in specific areas using multiple interventions simultaneously with particular emphasis on community participation towards socioeconomic development.
Core Principles/Values/Features of the CEP
- • Focus on community needs.
• Emphasis on participatory management.
• Provision of Technical support.
• Collaboration with stakeholders.
• Promotion of efforts towards self-reliance.
• Progressive steps towards empowerment.
CEP Concept
Community Empowerment Process
- 1 AICAD together with relevant government departments selects target community after field reconnaissance
2 A baseline survey is carried out in the target community to assess current status
3 Community identifies their needs, main problems and discusses the causes & effects
4 The community is assisted in formulating projects that address the problems through community action plans
5 AICAD working with partners, supports the transfer of the relevant knowledge and technologies.
CEP PROJECTS
Some achievements & impacts of CEP
- • A total of 178 people and 114 households in the target sites have directly benefited from CEP.
• Mean income per person increased.
• Women use extra income for educating children and purchasing household appliances.
• Number having 3 meals per day increased by almost 30% (Kariandusi).
• Confidence raised, sharing knowledge.
General aim of AICAD’s UOA Programme
- • Sensitize the universities in the region on the importance of implementation of Universities‘ Outreach Activities (UOA).
• Support implementation of actual activities—referred to as model activities under the UOA programme—for poverty reduction in the communities.
The main aim of this programme is to bring research, training and outreach into the service of local communities
General aim of AICAD’s UOA Programme
- Awareness created among the member universities that UOA should be regarded as one of the three pillars of university missions: research, teaching and outreach
• All AICAD/JICA supported UOAs implemented and completed with satisfactory results
• Technologies introduced were applied by a number of the target community members.
• Tanzanian implementers of ―Improvement of Banana Production in Mkuyuni and Matombo Divisions‖ visited JKUAT‘s UOA, ―Use of Bio-Control Technologies to Control Pests and Diseases in Tissue Culture Bananas‖ – participants were able to share knowledge which was useful for the improvement of their projects.